Build your own Procurement Academy
Your Academy with optional internal certification program, mapped to your roles and taught by former CPOs. For large procurement teams that have outgrown off-the-shelf training.
Who the Academy Is For, and Who It Isn't
The Academy is a significant investment and commitment, so it isn't the right fit for everyone. Here is a transparent review.
This Is for You If
- You have used training or e-learning before and seen knowledge rise while little changed on the job. You want learning applied to your team's real, live work and coached until it becomes how they operate.
- You want it built and customized around your categories, industry and your team's actual decisions, not generic theory.
- You want procurement recognized as strategic and measured on more than savings.
- You have a large team (around 100 or more) and want one consistent standard across it.
This Is Not the Right Fit If
- You are choosing mainly on price. Our Academy is not the lowest-cost option but the best value, as real behavior change takes commitment, and that is what we build for.
- You need a single one-off course on one topic. A Dedicated Workshop will serve you faster.
- Your goal is one specific short-term result rather than a lasting change in the function's capability and standing. A focused Team Training will get you there sooner.
- You are an individual or a smaller team. Our Certifications or Dedicated Workshops are a better fit.
Off-the-Shelf Training & E-Learning vs PPC Academy
These are the three things others show when you ask about developing your team or building an Academy. Each one teaches but only PPC Academy changes behavior.
| What They Show You | What It Delivers | What's Missing | PPC Academy |
|---|---|---|---|
| One-off Procurement training | A single event, then back to the workload | No coaching in the weeks after, so skills fade before they're used | Execution clinics and coaching sessions spread across the weeks after, so your people use what they learn |
| Standard Procurement e-learning | Generic modules, measured by who finished | No customization to your categories, industry or current challenges your people face | Content, case studies and exercises built around your roles, categories, and industry |
| A structured procurement "academy" | Full curriculum, tiers, cases, scenarios, a certificate | Reviewing scenarios is still content; no one coaches a live decision | Former CPOs and practitioners not only teach the full curriculum, with customized cases and exercises, but coach your team through their own live decisions to drive behavior change |
| Teaching is where the others stop. Our Academy builds real behavior change: decisions made differently on the job, not just a course completed. | |||
The Hard Part Was Never the Teaching
Since 2010 we have built PPC on one principle: procurement capability is best taught by people who have actually run the function, not studied it. The hard part was never the teaching. It is application. Everyone in this industry now promises implementation and behavior change, and for most, nothing happens. People finish, return to the workload, and the learning fades before it is used. We built the Academy so that cannot happen.
- Practitioner-led. Every program is built and taught by former CPOs and global procurement directors, so the coaching lands on the real stuck point, not a textbook version of it.
- Real-world, not academic. We teach how procurement actually works, using real cases customized to your industry and categories, not textbook theory.
- Built so application is unavoidable. Every session after the initial teaching opens with the real problems your team hit applying what they learned. If they did not apply it, there is nothing to work on. So they apply it, and progress becomes the starting point of the next session, not something we hope for at the end.
"Even those with decades of experience will learn new things and get value from the program."
Your Academy, end to end
Six steps, from mapping the skills your roles need to tracking the impact.
Competence Mapping by Role
Target the exact skills each role needs (buyer, category manager, lead).
Course Creation & Design
Built from the map, tailored to your industry, challenges and categories.
Delivery by CPOs & Practitioners
Onsite or Live Virtual (focused 2-hour or 4-hour sessions x 6 or 12 sessions per year, minimum).
Post-Training Execution / Coaching Clinics
Apply the frameworks to live challenges and see results immediately after each session.
Internal Certification and Accreditation (optional)
A formal credential via exams accredited by a 3rd party non-commercial entity.
Progress and Evaluation Reporting
Engagement, results achieved and impact tracking.
Customized around your team, industry and categories not a template
- The Customized Route (core approach). Built entirely from your function outward, around your exact categories, industry, and challenges. The choice for most large teams seeking absolute relevance.
- The Proven Framework (starting blueprint). Adopt or adapt our established 3-tier global certification framework, refined across hundreds of programs worldwide, then customize to fit.
- Turnkey, we do the work. We research your sector, roles, challenges, and shape content, examples and terminology to fit. Zero time required from your team.
- Co-created, we build it with your input. Your team provides topic feedback, and we build customized case studies from your live challenges. A modest time investment for deeper relevance.
Example case studies & exercises built for one shipping & logistics client: three linked workstreams.
- Transport Capacity: trucking lanes, port to warehouse. Challenge: securing capacity, improving reliability, managing subcontractor visibility.
- Warehousing Ops: depot operations services. Challenge: performance governance, labor risk, productivity.
- Electrified Equipment: forklift electrification. Challenge: CAPEX vs OPEX, infrastructure risk, decarbonization pathways.
Turning Learning into ROI: Execution / Coaching Clinics
Training that stays in the classroom doesn't change much. Execution Clinics and Coaching give your people the answers and trade-offs they should make in their situations, for when they applied what they learned but got stuck.
- What: 90 to 120-minute facilitated virtual group sessions after training.
- The rule: teams bring real problems and messy initiatives, no hypotheticals.
- The process: practitioners diagnose stuck points and define concrete next steps.
- The value: priceless, as your people do not have to figure out on their own what to do when they're stuck.
Ready to Explore Your Academy?
Start a conversation, or get the full details and competence framework.
Taught by former CPOs, not career trainers
An experienced team knows instantly whether the instructor has actually done the job. Our faculty have made the same high-stakes decisions under pressure. Delivery is flexible: Live Virtual or onsite.
- Don Klock, former CPO, Colgate-Palmolive. Top Coursera instructor, 65,000+ learners.
- Richard Beaumont, former EVP of Procurement, Rolls-Royce.
- Angus McIntosh, former CPO, Beiersdorf.
- Mark Trowbridge, former Strategic Sourcing Director, Bank of America.
- Martin John, former Global Procurement Senior Manager, BAT. Top LinkedIn instructor, 100,000+ learners.
"As a procurement professional with over 25 years of experience, I came in skeptical, but I was proven wrong. It reminded me that no matter how experienced you are, there's always something new to learn. The expert-led faculty challenged my assumptions and gave me new perspectives I can apply cross-functionally."
Case Study: Enterprise Transformation at a Global Shipping & Logistics Leader
Architecting a strategic procurement function for a 1,000+ global procurement team.
The build: a bespoke 9-pillar Academy
All customized and built on the client's own industry case studies, challenges and categories. Delivered through blended onsite and Live Virtual sessions.
Outcomes
- Procurement moved to a higher level as a strategic business enabler (they were already strategic).
- Refocused on presenting trade-offs rather than fixed recommendations.
- Implemented Risk & Sustainability as part of Total Cost of Ownership.
- Achieved independent accreditation against international standards (International Federation of Purchasing & Supply Management, IFPSM), resulting in their own internal Certified Procurement Leader Certification Program.
Not novices
These are Managers, Directors and VPs with 15+ years of experience.
"At the beginning I was thinking, did I make the right decision? However, I'm very happy. I didn't make any mistake with this, because I learned new things, new techniques, how other people manage procurement."
"Excellent investment with immediate and real return. All content is practical and applied to real life. Extremely updated content."
"We paid for it, but the value of the information... we can't put a price tag on it. The type of information shared with us is priceless."
Let's Build Your Academy
Start a conversation, get the full details, or book a working session. Whatever fits.
Contact Us
Have a question, or want to talk through what your team needs? Reach our team directly. We'll point you to the right next step, with no pressure and no pitch.
Request Academy Details
Get the full Academy details and topic-by-topic breakdown, with the whole competence framework. See exactly what your bespoke Academy could cover.
Book a Strategy Call
A focused working session to assess fit, priorities, and current challenges, and whether there is a practical path worth pursuing. A working conversation, not a sales pitch.