Once again I shall be attending and chairing the next NOA Special Interest Group on Innovation. This time the event is being held on 6th March 2014 in London. The objective of the SIG is to bring together people from all three groups of NOA members – users of sourcing services, suppliers (or strategic partners as I like to think of us!) and third parties like advisers and legal firms – with a special interest in making innovation work in a collaborative sourcing environment.

In preparing for the session I have been reviewing the discussions we had last time. The focus from all three groups seemed to be on challenges positioning procurement functions to encourage and foster joint innovation rather than stifling it. So I hope we have some procurement professionals attend this time to defend themselves.

One of the things I have been personally thinking about recently are the three letter N’s in “innovation”. I think they stand for Nature, Nurture and Nourishment – specifically…

NATURE – The supplier needs to imbed an innovation culture into its client facing teams - including use of an entrepreneurial spirit at times – to understand that in addition to absolute focus on delivering the core service, they need to continually seek out ways to deliver service improvement for the client and pro-actively look for opportunities beyond the core service to drive wider value through innovation with the client. This is equally true for the client's team of course. And I see a growing number of forward thinking clients seek to develop an innovation culture in their own teams - and by extension into their suppliers.

NURTURE – Once an innovation opportunity is identified, the supplier needs to be able to call upon a range of mechanisms, capabilities and resources to develop and deliver the innovation for and/or with the client. One size does not fit all. There needs to be a level of agility to do things quickly and a level of empowerment to move forward or equally to be able agree with the client to stop before too much energy and resource is expended.

NOURISHMENT - Both supplier and client teams need to know that if they spot an innovation opportunity and develop a real business case with sponsorship, they will be supported in the delivery of it by their wider organizations. Joint innovation needs investment and funding models – and successful joint innovation needs joint rewards in terms of real business outcomes for the client. And – let’s be honest and not forget it - real incentives for the supplier

Thinking back to the procurement point above, I believe that procurement functions need to support and foster innovation. Perhaps this will again be the focus of the discussion in the coming SIG. It would be great if you can attend and let us know what you think.

Tony Morgan

NOA Advisory Council and Special Interest Group for Innovation

Chief Innovation Officer, IBM Strategic Outsourcing UK and Ireland