Ep 60: Make v. Buy in Procurement Tech feat. Sean Sieper

‘Make v. buy’ is a classic business decision - one that procurement often helps the business evaluate for their own needs. But what about procurement’s own needs, especially in the area of technology? It may be that there is an opportunity for added value and control that procurement has been overlooking.

In this episode of The Sourcing Hero podcast, Host Kelly Barner welcomes Sean Sieper. Sean is the Director of the Indirect Center of Excellence at Retail Business Services, where his team provides services to the nation’s fourth-largest retail group, including omnichannel grocery brands Food Lion, Giant Food, The GIANT Company, Hannaford and Stop & Shop. He has experience in private brands (i.e. store brand) product sourcing and logistics as well as indirect sourcing.

In this conversation, Sean shares his point of view on the benefits of building custom technology in-house:

• When procurement should consider a ‘make’ option for their own technology
• The types of talent procurement needs in house to execute this effort successfully
• How choosing this route and acquiring the talent required to support it may affect procurement’s relationship with IT
• What parts of building a solution procurement should NOT be willing to attempt