Jun 30, 2022
In this episode, Beth and Lee talk to Microsoft's Dave Andrews, Procurement Lead, about the issues around sustainability in the area of supply chains and procurement. From responsible air travel to diversity and inclusion in suppliers, we cover a lot!
Some useful links: Procurement | Microsoft Responsible Sourcing Recent article from Dave Andrews: From modern slavery to sustainability: A deep dive into responsible procurement – Microsoft Australia News Centre
Diverse business communities that Microsoft Australia works with include:
GlobalSocial impact reporting and certifications:
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TRANSCRIPT For this episode of The AI in Education Podcast
Series: 5
Episode: 5
This transcript was auto-generated. If you spot any important errors, do feel free to email the podcast hosts for corrections.
Hi and welcome back to the uh increasingly and again Beth we really
got to think about changing the name the AI and education podcast
that talks about almost everything other than AI and education. Uh
Beth, how are you?
I'm well thank you Lee. How are you? Did you enjoy a long weekend
just now?
I did. Yes, I did. Although Usually these things go by so quickly.
And I remember my daughter said to me on I think it was on Saturday
afternoon. She said, "Dad, it feels like Friday today." And I said,
"Well, that's good because you know, actually we got this extra
time." And I said, "But in my head, it feels like it's sun Monday
evening, 9:00, and everything's about to come smack smacking me
back in the face, but it's great to have the weekend off. Did you
do anything fun with your weekend?"
Oh, well, um, in some cases, yes. Although it always sounds more
fun before you have the actual experience. So, we got a a puppy um
on Friday. So this little kavoodle which um the kids have been
looking forward to for months turned up and um and he was the the
center of attention for you know an hour um before the novelty wore
off and kids were bitten and messes were made on the floor.
Yes.
We've been trying to keep up with him ever since. So uh it's it's
going to be a wild ride I think for the next um couple couple of
weeks and then hopefully he'll settle down. But no, he's he's good
fun. Um and uh and it should be it should be a a great experience
um once I'm over the the sleepless nights. And it's it's like
having a baby again.
It is. It is. Yeah. We we we grabbed what we we grabbed we got a
puppy during co uh who's now falling asleep next to me. He's 18
months old, so he's no longer a puppy anymore. But yes, that whole
early stage, nobody talks about that. They talk about the magic of
puppies, but early age puppies. We had to sleep on the floor next
to him and take him out for a we every 20 minutes. Thankfully now
we've got a dog that is pretty well house trained and I can tell
you at that point it is a wonderfully like it's the best thing
ever. Um except for the fact he he does take up the bed space but
um but no loving having a puppy.
Oh yeah. Absolutely. Absolutely. Do you know the other problem I
have with a long weekend is you never leave me alone in front of my
computer too long and if I can open up eBay or Amazon or anything
like that because I tend to make rash purchases and I started down
a journey of going a bit nostalgic. In fact, I'm going to show you
this on the camera. Apologies for people who are not here. I went
out and bought this thing. Now, this is a Nomad jukebox. See, it's
a circa 1999 MP3 player because I started having one of those
nostalgia moments like, "Oh, I remember the tech I used to use."
And I've now acquired through eBay purchases three or four of these
ancient MP3 players that will be of no use to me whatsoever. I
don't know what I'm going to do with them. So, long weekends
probably not, but I've got it just in case. This one was sealed.
brand new from like 1999. It was actually still had. So yeah, it's
great that
sex, you know, is the Walkman making a a comeback anytime soon.
Well, this is an interesting link because we're going to we're
talking about things that have lasted a long time. We're talking
about sustainability and we had this whole conversation last
podcast about sustainability. Uh but Beth, I think today you've
brought along a really interesting gu. Oh, by the way, for folks
know Dan today, Dan couldn't make it so you just got Beth and I and
our guest. But Beth, I'll let you introduce our guest today.
Yeah, thank you. So, uh, we are joined today by a wonderful
Microsoft colleague, Dave Andrews. Dave is, um, a partner of both
of ours, I think, across lots of different projects. And, um,
having worked with people in this area before, I think we're really
blessed to have someone with Dave's passion and experience um, and
sense of humor in regard to the work that he does. So, hi Dave.
Thanks for joining us. Hey Beth. Hey Lee. Thanks for the
invite.
Ah, it's great to see you.
Can you tell us a little bit about who you are and what you do at
Microsoft?
Yeah, sure Beth. Um, well, my my role at Microsoft is uh the
procurement lead for Australia and New Zealand and we've got an
outstanding group of procurement professionals that work at
Microsoft. We've got over 260 professionals, but lucky for me, I'm
the single representative across the Australian and New Zealand
markets. And and my job essentially is to to to be the account lead
or the director of procurement looking after um all of the needs of
our business and that spans every business group that lands in our
country from our data center team to our quantum team uh to our
marketing and operations team philanthropies team and even
sometimes when Lee gets a bit curious about old technologies you
might have a a chat to me about that as well um but I I think the
the important part for me I'm lucky to represent a lot of our core
services Um, and I'm lucky to to represent this cap company and
have an opportunity to to follow a lot of my passions, one of which
is procurement, but also inclusive procurement and and how we apply
technology moving forward.
So that's awesome, Dave. And yes, now I know I'll go to you to buy
old stuff. You can get me better prices. Um, but like so you say
procurement a lot there and I I mean I don't know what the word
means, but kind of in real terms that means that whenever Microsoft
buys something for us to use, it goes through you and your team. Is
that kind of how it In reality, it works.
I think uh in the olden days, Lee, yes, when when your uh MP3
player was new, that is probably how um procurement was looked at.
But I think as we have evolved, procurement has really had to look
at itself in a different way. Um we I often use the analogy that
sometimes the most powerful thing a procurement professional uh can
do is know when to get out of the room. Um and the the feeling that
we know when to get out is because we have coached, educ educated
and mentored the business on how to do procurement well. Um we we
sometimes forget that people procure things every single day. Um
what we're really here to do is empower Microsoft employees to
procure things in a compliant way, make sure they get great value
for money, but above everything, make sure they drive great
business impact and outcomes. Um and uh my philosophy is really uh
around uh empowering people to do that independent of us. Uh we
provide the structures, we provide the policies, the frameworks,
the tools. Um but ultimately we need to support our stakeholders to
do procurement effectively and efficiently without having to engage
us every single day. Um if if that was if they engage me every
single day, I'd have over three and a half thousand stakeholders
talking to me every single day. Some days it feels like I have that
many stakeholders. case of me, but it's more important that we play
an advisory role and really help the business achieve the outcome
that they want in the time frame they want with the budget that
they have. Well, I mean you absolutely in all seriousness you lead
to that issue of scale like you are one team and there are
literally hundreds of thousands of people across Microsoft and
certainly thousands in Australia who are buying stuff all the time.
So that so I got to ask because obviously you know from a tech
point of view how do you do you use technology to scale out a
function you do to like all the things you said about getting the
best price and being compliant. How is that a technology function
that works there?
Yeah, the the the longer we we work in procurement, the more we
figure out we're actually using and leveraging technology in really
powerful ways to enable us to scale. If if you were to look at a
procurement department in Australia or New Zealand that managed the
similar level of spend that goes through our Australian New Zealand
businesses, we'd probably have 20 people there late to be frank
managing procurement. end to end. Um, lucky for me, we have one.
Um, or or is that unlucky? I'm not entirely sure. Um, uh, but we
can only do that through the appropriate use of technology. Um, and
we continue, uh, to talk about digital transformation. I actually
like to flip that around, Lee, to be digital evolution because I
transformation kind of tells us that there's an end date. Um, uh,
and I don't think the, uh, transformation and evolution of
procurement and the technology we use will stop. We've got some
really innovative projects that we're working on, some really uh
strong guided buying experiences for our employees, uh leveraging
um uh artificial intelligence, uh leveraging uh chat bots to help
people with a guided buying experience. How can we help you buy a
good or a service on behalf of our company without having to engage
procurement uh in the best possible way? Um uh how can we identify
uh risks in our supply chain. How can we ensure that we're uh
creating an inclusive economy? And there's so many different ways
that we can adopt our own technology uh and leverage some existing
technology to ensure we're doing that efficiently.
And Dave, you were talking there about inclusive procurement and in
inclusive economies. I know that you do some really amazing work to
uh create um economic opportunities for indigenous businesses um as
part of that Microsoft ecosystem. Can you tell us a little bit more
about that?
Sure, Beth. And and when I talk about inclusive economy, I always
like to talk about it um as uh supporting all underrepresented
groups in our economy and and in Australia, New Zealand's case,
that would be indigenous businesses, womenowned businesses, and
social enterprises. Um so what we do as a as a company is we're
really focused on trying to identify suppliers that can help us
solve business problems that are representative of those
underrepresented groups. We've got some really great partnerships
with intermediaries in our um in these countries that help us
identify these businesses. Uh and what it's uh what it really uh
takes from there is for us to understand capability and capacity of
those businesses and really it takes me trying to introduce those
businesses to stakeholders in our business where I think they can
help solve their business problem. Um, and I think uh that to me is
something that I'm super passionate about. I think we uh quite
often underestimate the power of these businesses. Uh these
businesses are actually the nursery for future talent of indigenous
employees, whether that be at Microsoft or another business.
They're they're still the nursery for womenowned talent uh sorry
women um uh talent in our workforce as well. We've got some
outstanding womenowned business. and social enterprises are
creating opportunities for people people that are
disproportionately disadvantaged in our economy. People with a
disability, people that may not have an opportunity to be employed.
We've had some really great outcomes in using social enterprises um
to employ people um uh that have autism uh and they've driven some
great business outcomes in in Microsoft and I hope that continues
moving forward.
So, If I can ask and this is probably a difficult question to ask
but like obviously by doing that and being a company that kind of
distributes its procurement across a broader range of dis as you
say dis disadvantaged or disrepres under underrepresented
communities. Obviously there's good in that that we are injecting
wealth or the distribution of money into sectors of society that
aren't always necessarily as well represented. So it's kind of good
for everybody in that way. But I assume there's more to it than
that. I mean there we're actually getting the as you sort of
touched on then there really unique value and experiences from
these groups because they are so underrepresented but they
represent something really unique to Microsoft. Is that how we kind
of see procurement as a as a mechanism?
I think the the there's a lot of uh conscious and unconscious bias
associated with empowering or creating an inclusive economy. Um and
a lot of people have a perception that this is a handout. Um and
what I'm going to tell you is uh these businesses are amazing.
businesses that are extremely capable and can do the job. What
they've struggled with Lee is opportunity. Um big c big companies
like Microsoft uh or our peers, we quite often like to play with
other big companies. We think that reduces our risk. We think they
will have all of the standards and policies required to do business
with a company like us. Um and we believe based on their scale,
it's going to enable us to um drive outcomes whether we have higher
demand or lower demand in a more efficient way to be honest. Um I I
think that simplification of a really complex landscape of
suppliers um and in my experience the thing that we need to focus
on above everything else is creating equity and opportunity. Um
these businesses are capable. They're super competitive. They're
just not given a chance to bid on work. Um so when I talk about
creating a more inclusive economy, what I'm really trying to create
is an opportunity bias for these business owners to bid on work for
companies like us. They're not going to win everything, but what
they do win, they're going to win on merit. Uh and they're going to
excel. They're going to be supported, and that's going to help them
grow. Uh the power of winning one job for us uh uh can be amplified
throughout a a supplier's history and and future. I I think um the
the impact of working for Microsoft has been extremely significant
for a lot of the underrepresented business owners that we've
engaged today.
And Dave, just in terms of I I think that point is so important
that we're we're awarding this work on the basis of merit and the
fact that the companies can actually do it as well. Do you think
that um you know that said there's a a role for a company like
Microsoft to play in helping to build the capacity of some of these
smaller suppliers. Um even as you look um and and your role is
quite interesting. Because not only are you looking at the
procurement piece, but as we're talking about partners and the
procurement supply chain, we're also talking about how these
partners might straddle into our partner ecosystem and work with
our customers. Um and and that's where I see that there is some
opportunity for us to support those businesses to build their
skills to, you know, improve their tech technical skills and
understand how some of these technologies are growing and shaping
so that they can become more competitive. Do do you think that
there's a role for Microsoft to play in in helping those
organizations flourish?
Absolutely, Beth. Um I I think if not us, who? Right. If if we're
not here to empower businesses to achieve more,
who is ultimately that's our company's mission? And I think the the
challenge that we have in such a dynamic business like Microsoft is
people see this as a risk.
They see providing a business a new business an opportunity to uh
win and execute work is a risk to them. Um and I kind of challenge
that because we we provide businesses opportunities to win work or
execute work for us all the time. The perception of uh these
diverse businesses or underrepresented group uh owned businesses is
it's a risk. It's no different to providing a new company a job at
Microsoft. And I think the the thing that we need to do is really
remove that conscious or unconscious bias really look at the the
the objective look at the ability of this business to achieve that
objective and then provide them an opportunity and help them be
successful. Um I I think the the role of large organizations uh in
procurement particularly we we saw our role to aggregate spend
which we basically said oh well if we aggregate we get better value
for money simple economics um and what we're finding is local
businesses um as well as diverse businesses really have a
competitive advantage in our market. Our market is a high-cost
labor market. Um, and when you're applying those labor costs from
international businesses as well as their corporate overhead and
their profit expectations, a lot of Australian businesses and a lot
of small and medium businesses um in Australia and New Zealand have
a competitive advantage. They can do the job cheaper. They're here.
They understand the market. So, I think our role is creating the
opportunity um uh and building their capacity through building more
and more opportunity off the back of that. The one of the the
biggest issue we have, Beth, is typically if a business is
successful at Microsoft, we make them drink from the fire hose. Um
they have one job and then they have 50. Um and my job is to manage
the expectations of our stakeholders and limit our exposure um uh
exposing that business to too much work too soon.
David, it's you were talking there a bit about kind of local
businesses and I know you corrected us ear on this. You know, this
isn't just an indigenous business challenge. This is about all
sorts of underrepresented groups. But it kind of got me thinking
because last week when we had the podcast, we talked about
sustainability and we talked about the issues of supply chain
sustainability and the fact that, you know, there's so much stuff
that goes into the creation of any one product, service or offering
that may well be out of your hands. So, how do you like I I can see
how you've got this purview of perhaps the Australian market. You
know, you can you can engage with that. You can see local suppliers
and work with them, but how do you find all of these potential
suppliers? And then how do you really understand the entire supply
chain? How how does someone in your role think about, you know, the
very raw materials that go into some of our products? I that must
be a real issue. I'd love to learn how you've how you've thought
about that problem.
U absolutely it is an issue. Lee, I was talking to to one of our
great partners, customers and suppliers um Telstra last week about
this very issue. How do we know uh where uh we have supply chain
risk? It's it's extremely complex problem. And when I talk about
supply chain risk, I talk about things like conflict minerals. I
talk about things like modern slavery. I talk about things uh like
uh supporting underrepresented groups through economic empowerment.
There's so many different things that we need to have an impact on.
And that's not even talking about sustainability in its in the word
sense of environmental impact. What are we doing to reduce our
carbon footprint, reduce our use of water, um and uh also reduce
waste. I mean as a as a function procurement is essentially driving
these initiatives for global organizations whether that be
Microsoft, Amazon, Google, uh Telra, uh BHP, Bilitin, Riotinto um
and why is procurement driving it is probably the next question
because most of these risks sit in our supply chain. Most of these
businesses do not execute all of the work required to produce the
products that they're generating revenue from. So procurement is
tasked uh with uh driving transparency in that supply chain. Um and
we're look really looking to technologies and and a lot of great
startups in our ecosystem to support um uh our ability to drive
that transparency report on our current state and then uh develop
action plans for progress moving forward.
It's So interesting, Dave. How do you how do you look at creating a
a forward perspective when a lot of these a lot of the things that
we've seen just in the last 3 years, you know, we we've had a
global pandemic, um the issue in Ukraine with um with the Russia um
invasion, we've had microchip shortages, like you there is a lot
happening in the world, some of which would be quite hard to have
predicted. um at least maybe it's possible to predict at some point
we're going to have a p pandemic but it would have been impossible
to determine exactly when. How do you how do we think about when
these things are likely to happen? Is there a way for us to
mitigate against these types of risks?
Look, I think I think you're probably asking a question uh and this
is something that um agitates me a little bit about procurement
professionals approaches to developing strategy and I think we need
to consider that uh historical spend does not equal future demand.
Uh and how are we bridging that gap? How are we uh looking at our
business and the way the way it's moving and trying to predict
their needs moving forward? And there's a lot of heads of
procurement and chief procurement officers that are trying to
tackle this problem at the moment. And there's a lot of really
great technology solutions that are in the market that are trying
to use AI and ML to predict future demand and in particular one of
our partners Robo Buy is doing a great job in in analyzing
historical spend and looking at future opportunities and future
demand opportunities. I I think we as procurement professionals put
a lot of faith in uh spend analytics. Uh we we spend a lot of time
looking at what we've done over the last two or three years uh in
the hope that it's going to help us drive better strategies moving
forward and predict predictable uh it better enables us to have
predictable supply solutions um for our stakeholders. The the one
thing that we want to move away from is being that roadblock. Uh
and why are we that roadblock in some businesses? Um we're that
roadblock because demand has changed. We need a new solution.
Therefore, we need to go through a process and sometimes in in our
company that process can take six months. In other companies, it
can take 12 to 18 months um to actually put the right supplier
agreement in place to meet that new demand. So, how are we actually
trying to predict the future? How are we adopting technology to
help us do that? Um I I think that's a million dollar billion
dollar question for for most CPOS and it'll be interesting to see
and listen to um a person like Lee's perspective on on how we could
possibly do that. Maybe we need to start developing our own
solution there. Lee,
oh, can I come in on this deal?
I don't I've got the answer to that. But what you just said
triggered a thought because, you know, sitting in the responsible
AI world, what we there's some similarities in so much as we
there's a lot of ambiguity with AI. We don't know what's happening.
You know, we're working with data to create an outcome and there's
no correlation necessarily between what happened before and what's
going to happen in the future. That's kind of the sort of beauty of
AI systems. So, in order to embibe that sense of of trust in the
system, and I think about that, you know, trust in the sense of a
uh your supply chain mechanisms or the process by which people
procure through. In in responsible AI worlds, we create a
consistency of process. So, you never know what the outcome's going
to be, but you always know what process you're going to have to
follow to get through that process. And you mentioned people like
Robo that are obviously using technology and AI or intelligence at
least to automate some of that process. Is that how you like do we
do some of that here in Microsoft or do you see that as being a an
a mechanism to create a simplified or consistent experience? So,
I'm just putting it in context like someone like like me who says
to you, I okay, I need to get some equip I need to buy something
for a particular event we're doing or for a piece of work we're
doing. I wouldn't know where to go and find an indigenous partner
or or or an unrepresented partner. I wouldn't know the process
because I do it so infrequently in Microsoft. I could be put off
really quickly because of those challenges. Do you use technology
to help me as an internal procurement person do be better by giving
me consistency?
Yeah, absolutely. Lee, we attempt to is probably the answer.
Whether we do it well enough right now and uh whether we need to
evolve how we're doing it. I think the answer to that question is
yes. Um when when we um uh if we look historically at where
procurement thought technology was going to help them, we thought
cataloges was going to be the answer for everything. Lee, we we
thought if we've got a catalog, we can create a marketplace. Lee
can go knock himself out and purchase whatever he wants through a
marketplace. But what we're finding is the nuance and the slight
differences in the services environment as opposed to the goods
means cataloges are really hard um for us to use. Um we we're now
adopting um uh different uses of technology. Uh we we're actually
using a free freelancer services platform for professional
services. That tool is called Upwork. Um and that really helps us
uh shape a guided buying experience for people with professional
services. Right now that guided buying experience is supported by
people lee but in the future we'd love it to be supported by
artificial intelligence. Um I I think when we look at goods there's
some really great uses of technology right now. We talked about
procuring devices before. Uh if someone wants to go and p purchase
a surface we're currently triing the use of chat bots. Uh they
might go through um uh a a process to uh identify the the device
they need that's completely guided by a chatbot. Uh it'll be based
on your previous purchase. Uh it'll be uh then amended to meet the
current spec of the devices that are on the market in a similar way
to to the way you might look at it, Lee. Um and then it would
provide you some options to say here's three devices we think meet
the spec that you need to do your job. Um which one would you like
to purchase? Um and by clicking a button, all the other procurement
activity that sits off the back of that raising requisition,
purchase order approval, um all the delivery information sits uh
and is done in an automated way uh through the appropriate uses of
our technologies
and that makes a lot of sense. You're automating that process stuff
that is you know that that can be automated because once the
decisions the com the bit that's not automatable somewhat is the
kind of the making the right decision but once the decision is made
the process is pretty automatable but you talk you know that that
when you talk about that idea of the catalog and I remember trying
to buy stuff from Microsoft online tools back in maybe five or 10
years ago. It was painful as all but but but the catalog almost
denies that issue you brought up up front which is around how
that's about de-risking things by putting things in boxes and
saying okay well this all looks like buying you know t-shirts and
swag and this all looks like buying event gear and it's hard to
find the individual one. So I love the idea of a chatbot or some
mechanism that guides me asks me the right question but guides me
towards things that I wouldn't have seen otherwise. And I think
that's a really that's a great outcome of that. But look I I think
that um you know there's probably a lot of technology use and ways
that technology can automate that be used in that process because I
think that's that's one of the great things I see about AI is that
it creates I think you said the personalized experience my
procurement experience is going to be entirely different to to
Beth's you know and and even though we're integrating with the same
system I don't know Beth you any thoughts or comments there.
Yeah it's it's really interesting I think that technology can
certainly play a role in trying to get us all to think differently
about how we go through this process. But I also think perhaps some
of the magic of what you do, Dave, especially around the internal
evangelism is about um you getting people to stop and think about
how they can use their their money that they're already intending
to invest in buying a good or service in a different way. So it's
more mindful and you know getting people to actually actively think
about their procurement choices is is part of the benefit. of what
we're doing. So whilst you want technology to help um guide the
process, I think the important thing is that you're asking people
to engage in some decision making which asks people to you know
actively think about how how they can achieve more with the same
amount of money. And I guess that was the question I was going to
ask you Dave. It's um every time we have a conversation I I feel
more excited about procurement than I ever thought was possible. um
certainly based on um working with with this um kind of area and
previous companies. The way you approach it is really really
exciting. Do you feel like this is a way of actually really getting
people to and companies to drive more um environmental and social
outcomes at scale? And is what you're doing also sort of cascading
into people's personal lives in in what they do and how they spend
their money as well. Do you think?
Um, so I'd probably answer the last question first. I hope so,
Beth. I hope every single person I talk to at Microsoft thinks
about the way they purchase and how that money is impacting their
community, uh, how that money is impacting the environment, uh, and
what they can do every single day to make better decisions to
support both. I think the challenge that we have when we talk
about
um, making better decisions to create a more inclusive economy or
making better purchasing decisions to support our sustainability
objectives. To be frank, no large or organization that has a
climate target can meet it without procurement.
Right?
No, no, no business that has a target create a more inclusive
economy can do it without procurement.
Um, and I'm not saying procurement as the function. I'm saying
procuring goods and services are going to be critical to them
meeting the targets that they've set in their organization and what
what is the procurement functions role in that. Um I would say it's
to empower people to do this in the simplest way possible.
So making sure when you're making a guided buying experience the
recommendations are sustainable options, the recommendations are
inclusive businesses. Um it doesn't uh one of the things I found in
my journey
is people are more likely to purchase from an underrepresent group
if they don't know they're an underrepresented group.
They're just looking at the facts of what the business is capable
of and how commercially competitive they are rather than
questioning whether this business that's a small and medium
business could do the job because they're womenowned. I find that
ridiculous.
Um for me, we as procurement need to help our business make better
purchasing decisions to help us meet these targets that we've set
which are extremely critical for our communities and our countries
and and and the world to be frank. Um and to do that we need to um
make sure these guided buying experiences are putting every
possible uh solution in place to simplify the selection of the
right business for the right outcome. And that outcome isn't just
money anymore. Um procurement needs to have a whole view of this
and I like to turn that the total business requirement. Your budget
is one indicator of success. Your commit to reducing um carbon is
another. Your commitment to creating a more inclusive economy is
another. Your commitment to eradicating modern slavery in a supply
chain is another. Um so there's so many layers to this and the
complexity of the risk profile uh and the potential impacts of
those risks if they're not dealt with in the appropriate way um is
is what makes procurement beautiful at times. We need to simplify
that for our buyers. So they can make decisions independent of us.
So our organization as a whole can meet all those targets.
Yeah. To to kind of question. Yeah. Yeah.
Absolutely. Uh the the the the way that we make purchasing
decisions needs to empower every person in our organization to make
the best decision and that's not just price.
Um and I think the more that we all understand and have visibility
to how impactful our decisions are and uh in terms of who we
purchase from, the better we're all going to be at that. And and I
see that as a core part of my job and probably the part of my job
I'm most passionate about is helping people understand the impact
of the money that they spend in our community
to drive these outcomes that that we're all so invested in.
Dave Dave, your passion just shines through and I know every time
we talk about this, I can just sense how much this is not just a
job for you, but it is a labor of love in the way that do this.
But, you know, we've talked you you talked a lot there about kind
of how you do the job to help people inside Microsoft be better and
and do better and make these better decisions. I'm kind of keen.
Last question from me. If we were looking at to our audience and
maybe there's some people out there who are underrepresented or
have our own business or are seeking that way into not just
Microsoft but into the industry as a whole. What you do you have
any words of advice or guidance to people in that position? How do
they break down that door of the Microsoft procurement engine or
any others and become part of that? system.
This is this is always I get this question a lot, Lee, and I I
always become a little bit
You got a perfect answer then, I'm sure.
Yeah. I I think um the the best thing to say is persistence and
determination are omnipotent, right? They're all powerful. It's the
one thing that is going to help you as an underrepresented business
find other work. The challenge that uh these business owners have
have typically uh is they they can't find the door. The front door
is non-existent. They might be bashing on a on a door in a company
which will never open. So um the the best way to uh drive uh these
opportunities is becoming members of intermediaries. Intermediaries
like supply nation for indigenous businesses. So or or or Amotai in
New Zealand. Uh social traders or Akina Um so Australia and New
Zealand uh we connect international um these intermediaries will
allow you to connect with people in these organizations that are
focused on this work from a sustainability point of view. There's a
there's a great business called Givable that's starting to certify
and register not only um uh diverse business ownership but they're
also starting to measure and track impact against sustainability
certifications across the globe. Um you should be looking at uh
trying to enroll your business on their platform. There's lots of
other platforms that are really looking to to drive the same. And I
think as we as large businesses start to focus on this, I I
actually see more progress in the medium and small business sector
uh than I do at Microsoft. Um I'd challenge any business owner
that's listening to this podcast to identify any business in their
local community that's uh um uh owned by an indigenous person or or
woman or or is a a social enterprise and go and support them. Um go
and buy from them. Use the power of your dollars to help them
because the more that we get support in the small and medium
business sector, the more that we get support in the the large
corporate business sector and the public sector, the more these
businesses are going to thrive. And uh I think the last thing that
I typically say here is uh procurement isn't your buyer, right? We
don't have budget. Uh so make sure you're always talking to the
person who's your buyer, making sure that you're always pushed to
talk to the ultimate decision maker. Um because sometimes
procurement can be a roadblock. Um but they should be there to
empower you and their organization to do more. Um uh and where
you're feeling a little bit of strain or or resistance, just be
persistent. Um your opportunity will come eventually.
That's so brilliant, Dave. I always feel inspired um when you talk.
Um, that said, I was thinking with sympathy about your family and
friends um because you must have um a hell of a a dinner party
conversation or especially if you're going to a restaurant and
you're procuring dinner and drinks must be um just a super quick
question. Do you ever allow yourself an impulse buy? Even if it's
um you know a in your personal life, do you do that? And what was
the last impulse buy that you had?
Well, I'm going to give away one of my passions here. I love golf.
I I play golf all the time. My last impulse buy was a a a nice new
driver for myself. And thankfully, or unthankfully, it hasn't
helped me at all. So, maybe I need to think about those impulse
decisions, Beth. Um but I I definitely think um we we all have room
uh to to impulse buy. Um but fundamentally, when I'm making a large
purchase decision, Beth. Uh, the facts are the things that rule my
decision-making process and, um, I think my family and friends know
one thing about me. They know that I'm not driven by emotion. Um,
so when I see people that do, that's when they get the tough
questions. Uh, so um, I would encourage everyone just to take the
emotion out of their purchasing decisions. They'll get much better
outcomes.
Yeah, I love that. I'm going to say that exact thing when I take my
daughter to Kmart next time and we're going past the Barbie
section. Good luck with that. Yeah,
it's awfully emotional um in Kmartat sometimes. Dave, thank you so
much for your time. It's um yeah, it's great to be able to share
these insights with people. I think uh you know, if we could clone
you and um make you available to to our customers and partners, the
world would be a better place. But I'm sure you're one of many
people who are on this crusade for more um impact through
procurement. So, thank you again for sharing those insights.
Thanks, Beth. And and I'm definitely one of many people that are
focused on this. And uh to all those people that are listening,
just keep going. Um the the if we're better tomorrow than we were
today, we're all going to achieve what we want to achieve. And I I
think the ultimate thing for us is if we can meet these targets for
sustainability, if we can create a more inclusive economy, we're
really going to stop the division we see in the world. I think um a
lot of division is caused through through investment. And um we can
we can change that in in every single part of our life, even with
our impulse buys.
Love it. Well, I'm going to have to wrap up there. I can see that
I've made um a sacrifice of a Javiana thong. The puppy has chewed
through my single plugger. So,
I might need to go and procure myself some new footwear. But thanks
again. Good to catch up with you, Lee.
And you too. Thanks, Beth. And thanks Dave again. Wonderful time.
Wonderful session.
Thank you.
Bye, everyone. Oh, heat.