| | NOVEMBER 20199CIOReviewwhile also having the brand strength and marketing resources to drive compliance globally. One more unique aspect that we tend to focus on is ensuring that our partner practices green and sustainable initiatives and is considerably cautious about the environmental impact of their products. This aspect not only depends on what products they are bringing in but also how they are utilized, and whether there is a recycling process deployed for leftover waste. Another point that is significantly important for us is to make sure that our partner supports supplier diversity and has an intensive and extensive program deployed to address components of corporate social responsibility such as animal welfare, human trafficking and child labor within their supply chain. Over years of your vast experience in the procurement landscape, what have been the prevalent challenges that you have witnessed over the time and how have you addressed them? Ironically, I wouldn't call them challenges or difficulties; rather I looked at them as opportunities to do better and change to become a game changer in multiple ways. Undoubtedly, implementing a global e-procurement program across 30 countries and in over thousands of hotels was a challenging endeavor for us along with the complexities of dealing with diverse languages and cultures. Not to mention the requirement of a program for accessing data that we need to make critical, necessary and strategic decisions. Again, procurement is part of a solution, as there are several other parameters that we need to implement in order to be successful. Therefore, irrespective of all the challenges and affordability issues, our primary focus has always been to take the procurement process and the industry to the next level while being able to control 80 percent of our total spend. As a leader, what is the strategic thought process spearheading the procurement business? From a strategic point of view and as a leader, my first thought is to acquire smart people around me to answer the simple questions - What is next in procurement? Where we are today and where do we need to be in future? And finally, what is our end goal and how can we get there? I would want the right people beside me thinking about these aspects of the industry and implementing that into our core business. Given that our core business is to best cater our guests and manage hotels on behalf of their owners, my procurement organization needs to be in tune to the underlying facts of where the business is headed and how to optimize their resources to push towards excellence. Since I was born and raised in Africa with a family that travelled vastly, I was able to visit different nations and embrace a lot of different cultures. This has helped me gain a distinct understanding of the global complexity and a unique affiliation to global mindset. The experience has shaped a big part of me as a leader in appreciating the values and crucial differences of people while trying to take the best I can from every single person I'm working with. I will position `access to the right talent' as one of the most imperative parameters to a successful procurement business
< Page 8 | Page 10 >