Paul Vincent
Services Procurement initiatives will only deliver sustainable business benefits if they are designed to enable, rather than control. Change is not easy in the Statement of Work (SOW) arena, it requires a practical and intuitive understanding of how each stakeholder will be impacted. But the results that can be achieved from applying this understanding can deliver far reaching value to an organisation.
Paul is our Global Head of Services Procurement, and thanks to his experiences across procurement, sales, marketing, operations and workforce management, he is uniquely positioned to be a Services Procurement change agent for Hays Talent Solutions and our clients.
He has a distinct understanding of Services Procurement challenges and opportunities, which he regularly brings to life in thought leadership pieces, such as our Ultimate Guide to SOW.
During the past 30 years he has been globally responsible for more than £1.5 billion of indirect spend across an array of procurement categories. Paul also understands the pressures and common challenges that occur in Services Procurement having been the operational client and budget-holder for a variety of people-based Statement of Work (SOW) projects.
But crucially he also understands the supplier view too. Having been the adviser that companies looked to when they needed to buy and sell business services more effectively, via his own consulting practice. And, having been a strategist and product lead for two of the most qualified Managed Service Providers in the staffing industry.
Outside of work, when he’s not recording Podcasts for The Source, or authoring articles for the Future of Sourcing, Paul can be found playing snooker and walking his two rescue greyhounds, Bonnie and Gypsy.
Experience
- Extensive strategic and operational procurement leadership. Paul has managed categories ranging from HR and recruitment services to management consultancy/professional services to travel and facilities management to mobile and telecoms network infrastructure to IT/software and even consumer equipment for onward resale. He has surpassed every £ savings target he has ever been given.
- As BT Group’s Global Procurement Director for Consultancy, Recruitment and Professional Services he designed and delivered a category transformation programme that was regarded as a stand out example of how procurement professionals can positively influence discretionary areas of spend.
- Paul is adept at influencing and managing stakeholder relationships at all levels within an organisation. His core skills have been enriched by his Black Belt training in Lean Six Sigma and they have been fully tested whilst leading a variety of functional and enterprise wide business change/transformation projects.
- In 2011 he devised and led the Consultancy Buyers Forum on behalf of the Management Consultancies Association, the leading industry body for consulting firms. For 6 years the Forum provided support to buyers and clients of consulting services by sharing knowledge, experiences and best practice. The network included over 100 buying organisations from both the private and public sector.
- Whilst running his own consulting practice Paul provided proposal and bid coaching support across numerous market sectors and this has given him a practical and instinctive understanding of how service providers can stand out in a crowded marketplace.
- Paul has generated an extensive amount of thought leadership material during his career and he has become a regular speaker at online and in-person events.
Recommended resources
1. Selling to the C-Suite whitepaper
2. The four key ingrediebts to effective SOW management
3. Ultimate guide to SOW management