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“ Personally , my career background begins with an engineering degree , which led me into a technical consulting role , and after completing an MBA , I joined Kearney and moved to their London office and gained my first real experience in procurement and supply chain . My wife and I then decided to return home to the US , and I went on to work for a procurement services startup for a few years before starting my own consulting firm .
“ Efficio had grown over the years and in 2016 , the business received external venture funding to help fuel geographic expansion focused on North America and the Middle East . As I ’ d worked closely with the founders in a partnership context , it was a logical step for me to come onboard with the vision of heading up the North American division to secure Efficio ’ s presence in the region .
“ My day-to-day North American responsibilities typically fall into one of three categories : developing business through sales , ensuring we consistently deliver highquality work , and growing our team . At a broader level , I sit on the Board , so I also help the executive team to make decisions and oversee operations . My average day could be talking directly with customers , reviewing our teams ’ work , or coaching employees .”
Global operation
Today , Efficio boasts more than 1400 professionals globally , and is organized around three regions : North America , Europe , and the Middle East . “ In North America specifically , we started with an office in New York and opened a second office in Chicago around two weeks before the Covid-19 pandemic saw everything temporarily close ,” Patrick explains . “ We ’ ve experienced tremendous growth across the region and have recently announced the opening of an office in Mexico City .
“ Many consultancies pride themselves on their culture , and Efficio is no exception . Our culture is built on high-quality , empowered people , and although we ’ re a global organization in terms of how we organize our business units , we ’ re a collaborative team often working with colleagues across the globe to solve clients ’ problems .
“ However , as an expert firm that works in collaboration with our customers , our objectives of improving performance in procurement and supply chain operations remain the same since our inception . We identify strategic improvement opportunities and then work side-by-side at all levels of the organization to drive the change required to make the improvements .”
Having faced several issues and disruptions over the last few years , companies are striving to create more robust supply chains . “ It feels like disruptions have occurred globally , one after another in recent years , and it ’ s reasonable to assume that while no one can predict the next challenge , there will certainly be one around the corner ,” Patrick proffers . “ To navigate these issues , businesses must build resilience across the supply chain , but what exactly does that look like ?
“ We ’ re seeing clients focus on finding alternative sources , for instance , whether through sourcing additional partnerships , dual sourcing , or even nearshoring . In years past , there was an industry push to move manufacturing to low-cost regions like China . There has been a progressive shift towards companies reverting to having multiple options within their supply network , which has been accelerated by recent disruptions . For those that have moved manufacturing offshore , there ’ s a trend towards nearshoring , reshoring , and insourcing .
“ Companies must embrace a diversification strategy within their supply chain to ensure that they are not dependent on one location or region in the event of future disruption . We ’ re also seeing clients deepen their collaboration with suppliers to improve their positioning as a key customer . There ’ s not a single answer , and perhaps the most robust supply chains will be those that adopt
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