Procurement Managers: Not Just About Price And Availability

To discuss and debate all that the hospitality industry must grapple with, sort and set a road map to get back and exceed through thought-provoking keynote sessions and panel discussions, BW HOTELIER IHA 2020, the Indian Hospitality Summit and Awards is back again with its fifth edition. This time in the virtual space as forced by the pandemic. It’s a 5-day long event that started from Monday Aug-31 2020 and will last till Friday Sep-4 2020. The central theme is ‘Reimagining Indian Hospitality’. The Summit is witnessing Indian Hospitality’s very best minds coming together and sharing their thoughts.

The tenth session on the third day consisted of eminent panelists: Dr Nitin Nagrale, Founder HPMF, CEO, QualityNZ India and Emerging Markets; N V Hariharan, Associate Vice President - Central Materials Group, IHCL; Sudhir Gupta, Head - Procurement, ITC Hotels; Dr Sanjay Goyal, Vice President Supply Chain Management, Lite Bite Foods Pvt Ltd; Sai Shankar, Vice President Procurement, Leela Palaces, Hotels & Resorts; Bharanidharan Ramaswamy, Director of Procurement, Marriott Hotels India Pvt Ltd; Arvind Mathur, Regional Director, Strategic Sourcing, South Asia, Radisson Hotel Group; Senthil Thangam, Senior General Manager - Commercial Air Conditioning Products & Solutions, Blue Star Limited.

Dr Nitin Nagrale, Founder HPMF, CEO, QualityNZ India and Emerging Markets in his opening statement said, “In last few years, procurement function has started getting momentum and recognition. This pandemic is extraordinary and has had an extraordinary impact on business across all sectors & locations. And procurement managers are among the most resilient and resourceful managers in a time like this.”

“It is important to have many more close interactions with all stakeholders. It is important to bridge the gap between the suppliers and the demand. Collaborative efforts are required. Procurement is managing time, management and expectations,” asserted Bharanidharan Ramaswamy, Director of Procurement, Marriott Hotels India Pvt Ltd

Sudhir Gupta, Head - Procurement, ITC Hotels underlined the need to have continuous data analytics. He said, “Frequency for products and quantity is changing and there is requirement of new products. There’s lot of expectations from the procurement department.”

N V Hariharan, Associate Vice President - Central Materials Group, IHCL stressed on the quality of products. As per him, quality, cost and delivery are the three pillars of procurement and there can be no compromise on quality.

“Negotiation is an art and at the end of it both the buyer and the seller should be satisfied. The negotiator should be knowledgeable about the product. Listening skills and patience are very important for negotiation, collaboration is another key aspect of a good negotiator and finally, decision making is the most important quality of a good negotiator. All in all, decisiveness is the sign is of a good procurement manager,” said Arvind Mathur, Regional Director, Strategic Sourcing, South Asia, Radisson Hotel Group, focusing on the qualities of a procurement manager.

Commenting on the business scenario, Sai Shankar, Vice President Procurement, Leela Palaces, Hotels & Resorts said, “Budgets have been rewritten due to a drop in occupancies and staff but we are positive about future businesses.”

Senthil Thangam, Senior General Manager - Commercial Air Conditioning Products & Solutions, Blue Star Limited laid emphasis on the need to look at supporting Indian manufacturers. He said that there has to be a collaboration with the solution providers at a very early stage.

“We as a nation don't take pride in the talent we have. This disruption is the greatest opportunity for India to come out of the self-inflicted thought of not being good enough. Procurement fraternity has a big role to play in this. Also, there are technocrats in India who can create equally good technology. COVID-19 has provided us the opportunity to believe in ourselves and our partners,” remarked Dr Sanjay Goyal, Vice President Supply Chain Management, Lite Bite Foods Pvt Ltd.