By Kate Jeter, Head of Global Field Marketing
Bristol Myers Squib (BMS) has invested heavily in procurement technology, with best-in-class tools and a highly skilled workforce, but a critical gap remained between investment and the ultimate user experience.
When a senior executive publicly stated that they had bypassed procurement processes due to the length of time required for contract completion, it signaled a deeper problem. For Paula Glickenhaus, Chief Procurement Officer at BMS, that moment crystalized the need for transformation, not in tools, but in how procurement operates.
Glickenhaus's goals in procurement go far beyond modernizing systems or driving savings. At its core, her purpose is to ensure that BMS’s science can truly thrive. For her, procurement exists to serve the people doing the most critical work—scientists and researchers—by removing friction, simplifying processes, and giving them back the time they need to focus on proteins, cells, and experiments rather than paperwork. In her words, success means “making it easier to work at BMS,” so innovation can move faster and reach patients sooner.
For Glickenhaus, this mission is also personal. She often says she works for the patients, and especially for her mother, who passed away from triple-negative breast cancer more than 15 years ago. Knowing that BMS is working on treatments for this disease gives her daily motivation and reinforces why enabling faster, more effective science matters so deeply to her.
Glickenhaus joined us recently in a webinar hosted by Procurement Leaders facilitated by Joel Collin-Demers from Pure Procurement. What unfolded was was an enlightening look into BMS's disciplined procurement transformation that prioritized orchestration over complexity, user experience over process proliferation, and strategic alignment over technology for its own sake.
Before implementing any new system, Glickenhaus established explicit clarity on procurement’s purpose at BMS. In an organization where procurement decisions directly impact innovation velocity, cost structure, and M&A capability, the function had to be tightly connected to enterprise outcomes.
She established these three core priorities:
Servicing users and enabling operational ease. Procurement’s role was to remove friction, not create barriers. Making it simple to work with and within the procurement function became a strategic objective.
Acting as a margin enabler. Rather than pursuing cost reduction in isolation, procurement needed to drive profitability by understanding where the business required support and where it could optimize spend.
Generating cash to fuel acquisition. In an acquisition-driven growth model, procurement’s ability to free up capital directly supported the overarching corporate strategy.
“Those are my three priorities, and this also determines what we don’t do. I find that we’re very good at saying what we do, and we’re not so good at saying what we don’t do,” Glickenhaus emphasized.
This strategic framework became the foundation for every subsequent decision.
BMS had already conducted extensive tool evaluation, with more than 24 systems under review and 14 in deeper assessment. Rather than pursue a traditional rip-and-replace approach, the team asked a more fundamental question: What if we unified the experience across existing systems, rather than replacing them?
They selected ORO as an orchestration solution, a layer that sits atop existing source-to-pay, ERP, and best-of-breed solutions to create a single, consistent user interface and workflow. This approach allowed BMS to leverage existing technology investments while solving the core problem: fragmentation.
“This is where ORO comes into place as an umbrella. You’re not going to replace what you have; you’re going to orchestrate on top, so the user goes to one place and has a good experience,” Glickenhaus explains, “independent of the system.”
The implementation began with a cohort of procurement professionals that became internal advocates for the system, internally branded as "Procure at BMS."
The results were swift, quantifiable, and substantial. In less than 90 days from go-live, through the holiday season, BMS removed 85,000 hours of manual effort from procurement processes through reduced clicks, streamlined approvals, and AI-assisted problem resolution via chatbot.
More significantly, the nature of work shifted. Where approval cycles once stretched across days, they now operate in hours. Where users previously navigated multiple disconnected systems, they now work through a single interface. As intelligent agents assume responsibility for routine tasks including supplier onboarding, invoice matching, contract lifecycle management, the productivity gains continue to compound.
“We brought in three months of supplier updates which were equivalent to a year’s work, through using this tool,” Glickenhaus shares, “Taking 85,000 man-hours a year out of our processes by reducing clicks, approvals, and helping users resolve their own problems with a chatbot.”
Glickenhaus and the team understood that technology implementation succeeds or fails based on adoption, and adoption depends on people, and thus took a deliberately human-centered approach.
She engaged procurement professionals and IT staff in demos and pilot testing, not as validators of a predetermined choice, but as genuine stakeholders shaping the selection. This involvement created informed advocates across the organization; when rolled out, users were met with a system their peers had helped design and refine.
The operating model employed a structured sponsorship approach, a “Godmother and Godfather” model for each major workstream, providing sustained advocacy and guidance. Project management for each workstream was assigned to high-potential employees with system implementation experience, ensuring both technical credibility and organizational influence.
Glickenhaus’s philosophy was explicit, and builds on a concept shared in Richard Branson’s biography: “I’ll take care of my people, and they will take care of the technology. I’ll take care of my people, they will take care of finding the savings.”
Glickenhaus also offered a candid assessment of organizational readiness for AI-driven capabilities. Within BMS’s workforce, she approximates that 25% actively embrace AI in their daily work, while another 40% are in a “watch and learn” posture.
Her recommendation departed from conventional change management wisdom: rather than prioritize moving slower adopters, the team invested in building programs around the 25% of staff that were already leaning in. This group became an organic catalyst for broader adoption.
BMS also pursued creative self-funding of transformation; not backfilling attrition in certain areas and shifting routine operational tasks to business stakeholders. Rather than creating constraints, this approach accelerated modernization by forcing prioritization.
A notable cultural shift Glickenhaus instituted was reframing meeting participation norms. Rather than defaulting to attendance driven by fear of missing out (FOMO), she gave explicit permission for selective participation based on genuine need, introducing what she termed “Joy of Missing Out” (JOMO).
Meeting summaries were provided for those unable or unrequired to attend, ensuring information flow without requiring universal presence. This result was measurable: increased focus, reduced context-switching, and greater capacity for substantive work.
BMS’s transformation shows that orchestration isn’t a final destination; it’s the foundation for procurement’s next evolution as intelligent agents take over routine work. Already, the 85,000 hours recovered are being redirected toward supplier strategy, relationship management, and innovation enablement—work that drives real competitive advantage.
As Paula Glickenhouse puts it: “I want people to embrace it—to go away from the fear into the knowledge.” For procurement leaders, the lesson is clear: start with purpose, prioritize user experience, and let orchestration connect systems so teams can focus on outcomes that matter.
Watch the full discussion here to learn how BMS made it happen!