Michael Burt

Michael Burt, CPO, Equiniti started his career as a systems engineer designing missile systems at BAE Systems in 2002. “I was seconded into procurement to help on a major cost reduction programme at BAE Systems.” In 2007, Burt joined Capgemini as a Senior Consultant, specialising in procurement transformation.

Since then, he has held a number of senior procurement positions including Head of Supply Chain Management for The Metropolitan Police Service and Chief Procurement Officer for Colt Technology Services, a global network and voice services company. In his current role at Equiniti, Burt is responsible for the global procurement and supply chain management for the group as well as all properties and facilities. 

Providing the overall business with valuable operations

While the definition of value means different things to different stakeholders in business, Burt highlights that “it’s important that our metrics incorporate this.” As a result, “Equiniti has a broad set of non-financial KPI’s which are linked to our business goals. I’m not going to lie, it’s not always easy to quantify some of them, but we now measure things like reduction in carbon emissions from our supply chain, which is linked to our ESG objectives, supplier risk reduction and compliance to customer audits. We have also broadened our definition of benefits, to include those that are intangible such as access to supplier innovation,” adds Burt.

Achieving leadership buy-in to drive positive change

When it comes to achieving leadership buy-in for a transformation project, there are a few fundamentals to ‘get right’ in order to be successful. “The first step is to listen carefully. I met with every exec and key business user, whether they had worked directly or indirectly with procurement & property whilst I formulated the transformation plan. It was critical to understand what they wanted from the department. Not everyone wants or needs the same support and it’s important to recognise this and also understand what is and is not a priority for them. I also took time to understand their business, their strategy and their objectives. This helped shape the operating model and identify the key areas the department needed to develop in capability and where it could add the most value for them,” says Burt. 

“To lead any successful transformation you need to gain the confidence and trust of the leadership team and you don’t get long. I found the best way to do this was to deliver some quick wins early. If people can see you are delivering value for them then they will be far more inclined to buy into your long term vision and agree to your investment requests. I also ensured we did the basics very well before maturing to some of the more strategic and complex procurement activities,” he concluded.

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