Two years into his role as global procurement category manager over staff augmentation and IT managed services at IBM, Ross Mandiwall has strategic responsibility for IBM’s procurement of temporary labor across a program spanning 74 countries and accounting for over $4 billion in annual spend and 30,000 resources. Previously, he led a significant agile transformation of procurement, redesigning the UK, Ireland and Nordic organizational structure and shifting from a category-focused mindset to business unit and brand focus.

Buyers are more aligned with stakeholders and better understand business unit needs, with ambitious process and technology transformation, including AI and blockchain, to achieve extreme data clarity and accelerate the time to value. For example, they can use AI to read, rank and recommend top resources to hiring managers while stripping out the potential for unconscious bias. “It’s all about finding the right skill, right quality, at the right time and getting them on board at speed,” Mandiwall explains.

According to Mandiwall, there is never a dull moment in his job, as IBM never stops transforming and there will always be relationship-building opportunities across suppliers and the business. Mandiwall most enjoys seeing strategy come to life and resonating with his stakeholders. He proudly reflects, “Previously, CW was just seen as an expense. Now, senior stakeholders see it as a strategic element of their business plans.”