Next Level Purchasing

10/08/2026

Negotiation is in nearly every Procurement job description. It's almost never taught.

So most of us learn it on the job, bad habits and all.

Powerful Negotiation for Successful Buying is one of NLPA's full-length individual courses. It's a complete module from the CPOS pathway, and you can take it on its own if negotiation is the skill you want to sharpen right now.

You'll work through:

✔️ Building your position before the conversation starts
✔️ Reading the other side's constraints and priorities
✔️ Trading variables instead of only pushing on price
✔️ Holding your ground without damaging the relationship

Self-paced, 8 CE credits, and it counts toward CPOS.

Browse full-length courses: https://zurl.co/7Ym73

10/07/2026

Put year-end budget where it compounds - your team's certifications.

Here's the conversation NLPA has with Procurement leaders:

✅ A built-in assessment that shows where your team's capability actually sits, not where it's assumed to sit
✅ Certifications and courses (CPOS, CPOP, CPOM, CPOE) that train your team to the specific gaps holding the metrics back
✅ Practical, self-paced learning your team can put to work on live sourcing and supplier work right away
✅ Progress you can report to your CFO in margin, working capital, and risk terms

Most teams close the gap with the right certifications and courses. If your situation calls for more, we can help.

Worth a chat with Adam Merritt before the budget window closes. Reach him directly at [email protected].

Or start here: https://zurl.co/gIpgi

10/05/2026

Microsoft now runs more than 25 AI agents across its own Supply Chain, and it's aiming for over 100 by the end of this year.

SupplyChainBrain covered the rollout in late August. Three of the agents give a sense of the range:
✔ A demand planning agent runs simulations for non-IT rack components and cuts manual reconciliation
✔ A multi-agent tool forecasts spare part storage needs and flags stockout risk before it lands
✔ A cargo agent weighs route, cost, carbon impact and cycle time, then recommends the shipment

Microsoft says its logistics teams are getting hundreds of hours back every month.

Every one of those agents still produces a recommendation someone has to accept, question, or overrule. That judgment call is the job now.

Source: https://zurl.co/6wd5d

The systems simulate demand, anticipate shortages and recommend shipping routes after weighing cost, speed and carbon impact.

10/02/2026

Happy Gandhi Jayanti!

Today, we honor the legacy of Mahatma Gandhi, a global symbol of peace, perseverance, and principled leadership.

His teachings remind us that true strength lies in discipline, integrity, and the courage to lead with purpose. These values resonate strongly in the world of procurement and professional growth.

Let us strive to lead with honesty, uplift our communities, and make ethical choices in every step of our journey.

🕊️ "Be the change you wish to see in the world." – Mahatma Gandhi

09/30/2026

Gartner's view on early-career hiring is one Procurement leaders should factor into 2027 planning now.

Speaking with SupplyChainBrain, Cristina Carvallo, Senior Director at Gartner, made the case that pausing entry-level hiring on the assumption AI covers the gap creates a problem later. Her point: organizations that stop hiring early talent today are predicted to pay a premium in a few years, because they'll still need that talent.

The reasoning is straightforward. Senior capability comes from somewhere. Cut the pipeline and you're buying it back on the open market at whatever the rate is then.

What she recommends instead is experiential and relationship-based learning: give junior people real problems, pair them with coaches and mentors, and build in reflection time to consolidate what they learned.

Structured development and hands-on learning aren't competing approaches. They work best together.

Read the full interview: https://zurl.co/E3y5d

Our Next Generation Procurement Talent Management express course covers the practical side of building that bench: https://zurl.co/9WzeY

09/29/2026

A contract with 90 days left on it isn't really a negotiation. It's a renewal that's already been decided.

Speaking as a guest on Cobblestone Software's webinar "The Connected Enterprise, Part 2," Jeff Dean, SPSM, SPSM2, CPOM, CPOE, CAIC, Vice President of Education at NLPA., frames it this way: expiration dates aren't deadlines. They're strategy points.

The math is straightforward. If you're on a five year software agreement and it would realistically take 18 months to migrate off that platform, your negotiating window opens about 20 months before renewal. Not three months out.

Leave it late and the position is already set:
✔️ The supplier knows switching isn't realistic for you
✔️ Your alternatives have quietly disappeared
✔️ You're negotiating terms rather than choosing between options

Start early and time works in your favour instead of against you. A contract signed and sitting ready for 60 days beats a rushed negotiation at the eleventh hour every time.

Worth asking: which renewals in the next 24 months should already be on your calendar?

Negotiation and contract writing are core to the CPOx curriculum: https://zurl.co/Par50

09/28/2026

"My certification doesn't just represent knowledge."

Arianna McEntire earned her CPOS with NLPA, and that's how she sums up what it means to her. Growth and perseverance sit behind it.

The lesson she keeps coming back to is about suppliers. A good procurement professional doesn't assume what the other side wants. You do the work to understand their goals first, then shape your negotiation around what you find.

It sounds small, but it changes the tone of every conversation that follows.

See the CPOx pathway: https://zurl.co/kKZjS

09/28/2026

Only 29% of organizations report significant ROI from generative AI. For AI agents, it drops to 23%.

SupplyChainBrain covered a new survey from AI platform Writer, based on responses from 2,400 executives and employees. A few findings worth sitting with:

✔️ Three quarters of executives say their own AI strategy is more for show than tied to business strategy
✔️ Nearly 40% have no formal plan for using AI tools to drive revenue
✔️ 67% report a data leak or breach traced to unapproved AI tools

What's missing is structural transformation - not more tool deployment.

For Procurement specifically, that means defining what good looks like before automating it, building the governance that keeps autonomous decisions accountable, and developing people who can act on what the tools surface.

Read the full report: https://zurl.co/LNcI1

09/24/2026

💡 A supplier tells you their costs went up. Here's how to find out whether that's true.

Four questions worth asking:

✔️ Which input actually moved, and what share of total cost does it represent? A 20% jump in a component that's 5% of the build doesn't justify a 20% price increase.
✔️ Is the movement visible in a published index you can check independently?
✔️ Has their volume with you changed in a way that affects their unit economics?
✔️ What did they do to absorb it before bringing it to you?

Asking these questions keeps the conversation factual instead of positional. It also tells your supplier you're paying attention, which changes how the next request gets framed.

This kind of cost analysis sits at the core of the CPOS and CPOP curriculum. Learn more: https://zurl.co/gDthC

09/23/2026

Some Procurement problems only need senior expertise for six months, not a permanent seat on the org chart.

A category strategy that's overdue for a rebuild. A transformation that stalled. A leadership gap you don't want to fill in a hurry.

NLPA's Fractional Procurement Support gives you senior capability structured around the work in front of you:

✔️ Interim Procurement leadership
✔️ Strategic sourcing ex*****on
✔️ Spend analysis and category strategy
✔️ AI and digital roadmap ex*****on
✔️ Executive-level advisory and ROI framing

You keep control internally. You get the expertise where you need it, for as long as you need it.

Schedule a consultation: https://zurl.co/KfItH