Expertise is worth its salt and pepper

At the weekend, I visited an old pal from my football-playing days. He’d moved to a new house and was keen to show me around.

But it wasn’t the spacious hallway, plush carpets and five bathrooms that impressed me most. It was the contents of his fridge.

“Take a look at this,” he said, as the door of his giant American-style cool cabinet opened to a reveal a shelf packed with assorted, wild fungi. It’s mushroom season in the UK.

Now, I know what you may be thinking. Exotic mushrooms = magic mushrooms = hallucinates. Right?

Well, no. These were forest fruits of the culinary kind. And he had the recipes books as an alibi.

Back to the fridge …

I don’t know the Latin names. But we’re talking about a rack of chunky mushrooms the size of cricket balls. “Press in your finger and the flesh on these ones turns blue,” he invited.

Then there was a tray of what looked like mini, bright yellow cabbages. In between them were a smattering of toadstool-lookalikes with a fantasy quality. My mind wandered to those Yes album covers of the 1970s by Roger Dean.

“Aren’t you taking a risk?” I said, safe in the knowledge that we weren’t stopping for dinner. “Ah, you’re thinking of those people who died after mistaking these … for these …” he explained. He then led me on a detailed, David Bellamy-style forage through fields, forests and woods via a stack of expert handbooks, peppered with his own tales.

I made a very weak and predictable joke: “You’re a fun guy”.

“No, the correct term is mycologist”, he replied. And then the penny dropped.

Over many years, my friend had become a proven expert in something very specialist, where the risks were great, but the rewards were high.

The right restaurants would pay handsomely for his forest fare. I could visualise the ‘specials board’. But getting it wrong would effectively turn him into a mass killer – and destroy their business. It was his expertise that made the difference.

I could see an immediate parallel. Procurement solutions and electronic invoicing are too important to take a chance on a partner that lacks experience. The margin for error is tiny, perhaps non-existent.

If your organisation is making 100,000 online transactions per year and receiving a similar number of electronic invoices from a few thousands suppliers, then it has to go right … every time. And that’s where proven solutions, best-practice processes and leading expertise are well worth their salt.

Disclaimer: This article may inspire people to go mushroom-hunting – but it should not be taken as advice of any sort. Be aware that some fungi can KILL. The E-procurement Guru takes no responsibility in this matter. Always consult an expert before picking and eating what you find!