
On October 24, Mercado Eletrônico held the second episode of Conexão Compras, the B2B market talk show. The objective of the program is to bring professionals and specialists from the purchasing area to share their experiences, talk about trends, practices and challenges of the day-to-day work.
This time, our guest was Daniela Ferreira, head of purchasing at Bridgestone, who has more than 10 years of experience in purchasing and market intelligence, and is completing her master's degree in Administration with an emphasis on Industry and Procurement 4.0.
The topic of the debate was Procurement 4.0: how the purchasing area is positioning itself in the face of new technologies and digital transformation. During the conversation, Luiz Gastão Bolonhez and Daniela spoke about topics such as the “4.0 Scenario in Brazil and the World”, “Technologies and innovations in the purchasing area”, “Challenges and risks of implementing technology in purchasing” and “People management in the 4.0 world”.
Now, you can follow the main points covered in the chat here on the blog. And if you want to watch the entire conversation, just click here access this link!
Scenario 4.0 in Brazil and the World
Daniela began the conversation by talking about the changing behavior of the market and used the automobile industry as an example. Before, when buying a car, people took into account the vehicle's performance, engine (1.0, 1.6, 1.8, etc.), horsepower, etc. Nowadays, they also want to know about connectivity, multimedia kit, and other functions. The same behavior evolution is happening in the B2B segment. Buyers and suppliers need to be alert, because relationships change as the market changes.
All these changes are happening due to the 4.0 scenario, which brings with it many new features. However, like everything new, technological advances end up raising many questions, both in Brazil and around the world. What is the best technology? How to implement it? Will this change be good for the company? What will be the role of the buyer in this digitalized world?
The only thing that sets our country apart from others is in relation to the bureaucratic and tax aspects, since Brazil presents more barriers and complexities to adopting innovation and, therefore, making it difficult for companies to digitize.
The role of the buyer
A recurring question is “what will be the role of the buyer in the 4.0 world?”. For Daniela, the buyer’s role has already changed and will continue to change. The professional will no longer perform mechanical and tiring activities and will start to act strategically, cultivating relationships with suppliers, bringing innovation and new business to the company.
The strategic position has always been one that the buyer should occupy, but never had the time. Now, it will be possible to perform it with the help of technological advances.
Technologies that already influence the purchasing area
There is no way to be part of the disruptions and changes that are happening without having access to tools and connectivity.
Currently, technologies that are most influencing the shopping area are the cloud to user needs in the fields of distributed systems, software engineering, or artificial intelligence, as it brings mobility to the sector, Internet by stuff, which makes the processes talk to each other, and the data, which have the power to guide decisions and map customers.
Together, these three technologies offer agility for day-to-day purchasing, allowing professionals to have mobility and be closer to the user without missing out on negotiations and market updates.
Artificial intelligence in purchasing
Many people believe that artificial intelligence will be responsible for decision-making in the purchasing area, which is not true.
Obviously, this technology has the necessary automation for this. However, currently, within the sector, it is necessary to take into account numerous variations, from the medium and long-term scenario to the tax and other inconsistencies.
However, it is possible to use technology to optimize some processes and make them more fluid, eliminating repetitive work.
The risk of using 100% artificial intelligence is that the market will change its way of behaving and the algorithms will remain working the same way, until something goes wrong.
Therefore, it is essential to have human labor to evaluate all possibilities.
Procurement x E-procurement: the challenges of transformation
One of the biggest challenges companies face is putting their digital transformation plan into practice. In other words, making the transition from offline to online without neglecting important day-to-day tasks.
During this change, it is common for the processes in place to be questioned. To support and smooth this transition, it is important for leaders to keep teams motivated, as changes, until they are completed, cause difficulties that end up influencing the sector from end to end.
Try to highlight the gains that the team will have after completing this transformation.
The profile of the buyer of the future
The buyer will not be able to think only about quotes and orders, he will need to take into account the company and market scenario, always thinking in the medium and long term.
O purchasing professional will no longer be evaluated by the number of orders and how many requests are made per minute. Not that this is not important, but this responsibility will fall to the platforms with algorithms. The professional will need to think about how to improve processes, how to add to bring better negotiations and contracts.
One of the main skills for the buyer will be how well he can relate to suppliers, strengthening ties and fostering innovation between companies and encouraging a win-win relationship for both parties.
Watch the full episode here!
Take advantage and subscribe to our newsletter, because we will soon release another episode of the B2B market talk show! ?