Meet Tyson Fowler – Our Social Procurement Insights Expert!

What project has been the most fun / the meatiest to work on at ArcBlue?

There have been many but the GROW (Growing Regional Opportunities for Work) program in Victoria, Australia has probably been the “meatiest”. It has involved data capture, surveys, collaborative tools, data analytics, dashboards, and improvement programs. Hundreds of community organisations have been involved with a common goal to improve local procurement spend and thereby bringing more jobs to the five Victorian regions GROW is embedded in.

How do you spend most of your days?

I spend most of my time building and configuring new digital solutions to embed and present data and insights through the ArcBlue portal, MyBuy Procurement Hub. I also consult on best approach to social procurement spend analytics, including modern slavery through supply chain analysis.

What are you working on at the moment?

I’m working on benchmarking and forecasting category spend for local councils. I’m also working on the Savings Tracker which is a digital tool that ArcBlue have designed to track savings from an initial idea or initiative to the money saved in the bank.

What trends do you see in your work?

Embedded analytics. Complex metrics and KPI’s presented in easily consumable visuals through portals, webpages, apps, or mobile devices. Data literacy is also becoming a major focus. We look at how to best educate the end user about using data and analytics to solve problems and make organisational decisions. The best (or most clever) dashboard in the world can be lost on the data illiterate.

What do you love best about procurement?

I have come to really appreciate the potential to change behaviour by choosing suppliers that have a goal to support those less fortunate. An example is social and local procurement. When cost is not the only factor, choosing to spend locally and with socially conscious suppliers can make a big impact in the local community both economically and by being more sustainable.

What’s the one thing you wish everyone would understand about procurement?

There is a lot of economic power in procurement as a buyer. There is always room to negotiate strategically and not just accept the initial terms being presented.

What are you currently trying to upskill in?

 Aside from becoming a better procurement professional, I’m trying to upskill in AWS (Amazon Web Services). Cloud solutions are the future and the more you can offer in that space, the more valuable you are to an analytics program in an organisation.

What’s the reason you love to work at ArcBlue?

 The people. We hire and nurture good, talented people.

What is something not many people know about you?

I used to work in the film industry back in my homeland (Canada). I have a creative side that I hope comes through in some of my dashboards and visual data solutions.