In 15 years leading procurement teams and departments at organizations like Facebook, Splunk, and Canva, I’ve fallen in love with procurement both as a discipline and as a field. I’ve also learned a lot about what procurement’s most salient problems are, and where its greatest sources of untapped potential lie.
Recently, I made a career change, joining Tonkean as a Procurement Business Strategist. Lots of people have been asking me why I made this decision. The answer is pretty simple. I joined Tonkean because it is maybe the most innovative and compelling procurement tool I have ever seen. I believe it is changing the practice of procurement for the better.
I learned about Tonkean from a connection of mine in the procurement space. They described how Tonkean uses AI to strategically automate procurement intake processes, which got my attention. I just had to learn more.
What I found was awesome. The Tonkean procurement platform funnels all forms of procurement intake—across any kind of intake channel—into a portal that is simple and intuitive.
It does this in part through its AI Front Door, which employees can access from the tools they already use. It's effectively a one-stop shop for purchase needs and makes following procurement processes and policies a breeze.
As SaaS has become a major spend and risk category for most companies, the tangential work required to purchase, review and implement new tools has dramatically increased. Coordinating the varying cross functional teams and reviews required in the procurement process has become challenging and inefficient. The number of tools that employees must use and toggle between on a daily basis has grown burdensome.
Tonkean offers a way out of this. At its core a process orchestration platform, Tonkean integrates with almost any tool or system your company might already use. Then it helps you get more out of those tools. It helps you use your existing tools better.
I entered procurement very intentionally 15 years ago. I knew I loved contracts, negotiation, and working with people, and as soon as I found out it was possible to have a procurement career, I set about building one.
I’ve been purposeful, and I’m lucky to have helped lead and grow incredible procurement teams at some of the world’s most innovative companies. Joining Tonkean is an exciting next step. The problems that Tonkean is poised to solve are problems I know well, and that I have faith will soon be eliminated forever.
