Jo McCourt on the SmarterSourcing Podcast
Our CEO Jo McCourt was invited to speak on the SmarterSourcing podcast, filming an episode with topics ranging from how EBIT implements our core services to our switch from gainshare to fixed fee models, as well as Jo’s leadership and career journey.
Smarter Sourcing is dedicated to helping sourcing, Procurement, and finance leaders elevate their influence. The podcast is well known for finding and featuring innovative leaders who share best practices, lessons learned, and actionable insights listeners can apply immediately. The audience benefits from a range of topics, spanning Procurement strategies and supply chain optimisation to aligning financial goals with operational excellence, extracting actionable insights and advice.
SmarterSourcing’s Executive Producer and host, John Pavia, began the interview with an overview of EBIT, the audience learning not to be deceived by our quiet country town base, clarifying
We work with global clients that predominantly have a heavy presence within the UK and across Europe in all categories across indirects.
The podcast continues with a discussion of our core services, Managed Service and Virtual Procurement, and EBIT’s growth timeline, founded in 2012 and joining the FourCentric Group in 2020. Later, Pavia explores EBIT’s unique approach to Procurement.
So, from a targeting point of view, we are generally speaking to the C-Suite. So, it’s not always directly with Procurement teams, though eventually, we do work with them
Interestingly, Jo explains that this is often due to the absence of a Procurement team altogether. Thus, McCourt claims EBIT’s pitch is about levelling with the client, emphasising:
We’ve sat where they’ve sat. EBIT was set up because we’ve been on the receiving end of the good, the bad, and the ugly of Procurement consultancy, to be honest. So, we can kind of go in and empathise […] From my perspective, we can relate to the CEO, the CFO, and strategic board level with what their challenges may be and what they want to achieve. But then actually, operationally, our teams can also communicate and talk to the stakeholders because we also recruit from industry
EBIT’s pitch to clients boils down to a simple question:
Why are you [clients] trying to be great at Indirect Procurement? Focus on your purpose, focus on your product, focus on your customers, and let us come and take care of all of this
This discussion revealed EBIT’s unique value proposition: understanding client frustrations and shortcomings within indirect spend, paired with the industry expertise and capacity to deliver cost savings and efficiency across Procurement operations.
Pivoting from Procurement and EBIT, the interview delves into the details of Jo’s fascinating career journey to date.
I left school at 16 and got into a finance role, working around lots of great people and lots of women who were accountants. I thought, I fancy that!
Listeners learn how, after qualifying as an accountant, Jo’s career developed and eventually working for EBIT as its Head of Finance, later as the CFO, and as of 2020, becoming EBIT’s CEO.
Curious about Jo’s rise through EBIT, the interview asks to Jo’s development in EBIT from a strictly financial role to her current position
Initially it was fingers in multiple pies, to be honest. It is with young companies, small companies. You’re wearing multiple hats. So, you find yourself sitting in marketing meetings or looking at pitches, thinking ‘What am I doing here’?
A message sure to resonate with other young businesses, the discussion at large underscores the nonlinear nature of the professional world. From conversations regarding mentoring, to discussing service offerings and client experience, this episode highlights how no two projects, clients, roles, teams, nor career paths look the same.
EBIT understands this well, our bespoke services and solutions catered to our client’s unique Procurement needs and business goals. We are proud to have been represented by our CEO, who embodied EBIT’s people centric, straight-talking values throughout the podcast.
EBIT is thrilled to be featured among the SmarterSourcing podcast’s array of international Procurement and Supply Chain professionals. We are grateful that we got the chance to speak on SmarterSourcing, and are hopeful for another opportunity to join them in the future.
To can see the full interview here
Work with us?
Are you looking to drive value to your business? It may be to offset increasing costs elsewhere or to free up time and budget to focus on your strategic goals. If you recognise that improved procurement practices and performance can be a driver to this, we would love to talk with you, understand the challenges you face and the opportunities these bring.
We’re proud of the clients we work with and the projects we have completed. The savings and service improvements we have delivered have helped many companies add value to their bottom line. Our average ROI remains 5:1 across our client engagements. If you want to find out how we can make a difference to your business start the conversation.