During the opening morning of the NAC's 2022 Purchasing Universities, a panel discussion focused on "Digital skills", skills that have become crucial for purchasing digital goods and services but above all for mastering specialized software solutions.
The 7Th editing Universities Of National Purchasing Council (CNA) began, on June 20 at the Théâtre de Paris, with an opening morning rich in exchanges around the theme "The human at the heart of shopping". Among the highlights of this morning, which was also an opportunity for the association to celebrate its 75 years in front of an audience of more than 500 decision-makers and managers (contractors, suppliers, publishers, service providers, etc.), the round table "Digital skills at the heart of purchasing transformation" made it possible to understand the importance of the mastery of the digital domain in the practice of the profession of buyer today.
Alongside purely business skills and the famous "Soft skills" such as relational ease, digital has indeed become a unmissable topic, offering stimulating perspectives to the function. "Digital technologies already occupy an important place in the function and will play a colossal role in its development," explained Gérald Karsenti, CEO of SAP France, publisher of SAP Ariba and Fieldglass, to start the debate. Provided, however, that we "find the right symbiosis between the machine and the human", tempered Emmanuel Erba, purchasing director of a large IT services group.
The digital skills expected of a buyer actually relate to two aspects: the technicality to know the digital goods and services, which will weigh increasingly in the purchasing portfolio, on the one hand, and the ability to use business software solutions on the other hand. On the first aspect, "a buyer must understand what he is buying, and digital purchases are no exception", explained Emmanuel Erba: not the technical detail of each software or hardware purchased, but its ability to meet the needs of internal users, as well as its ecosystem, including competing solutions and related offers (complementary products, associated services, etc.). "Above all, we must understand the overall added value that the supplier brings to the company, in terms of its strategy," said Jean-Luc Baras, Purchasing Director at Eiffage and President of the CNA.
The mastery of specialized solutions in the purchasing business, the second aspect, has become just as crucial for buyers, while processes are already largely digitized and the movement will accelerate. This, at all stages of the purchasing activities : sourcing, consultation, contracting, placing orders, etc. The observation is valid for the teams in place, but also for young people who have understood the role of solutions to simplify the buyer's job. "Digital has even become a pull factor for recruiting," says Christelle Rogé, Director of Purchasing Human Resources at the Renault Nissan Alliance at Renault.
However, it is essential to note that "the more we digitize, the more important the human aspects become," said Gérald Karsenti, of SAP. Moreover, "today, when choosing a digital solution, functional coverage is no longer enough," he explained, pointing to ergonomics and driving change. "For the function to operate in a harmonized digital environment, support is essential, especially to support employees who may encounter difficulties," concluded Jean-Luc Baras.