Author

Nell Walker

Published

14 November 2024

Estimated Read time

6Mins

There were many inspiring themes on peoples’ lips at DPW Amsterdam 2024, including collaboration. One of the major reasons procurement…

There were many inspiring themes on peoples’ lips at DPW Amsterdam 2024, including collaboration. One of the major reasons procurement professionals flock to DPW is the opportunity to learn from their peers, strategise with them, and make connections in order to partner up and grow. We sat down with Dr Matthias Dohrn and Sudhir Bhojwani, business collaborators of several years who prove the benefits of coming together for growth.

Dohrn is the CPO of BASF, a global chemical company, making him responsible for direct, indirect, and traded goods. Prior to this role he headed up a business unit – and things weren’t going well. It got to the point where the question of how to drive performance became a priority. The business needed to consistently drive value, not just be, in Dohrn’s words, a “one-hit wonder”. 

“I’ve been in a lot of meetings where people come together and say, ‘we should do something’ – but the next month, you have the same meeting and nothing has changed,” Dohrn explains. “Structuring an organisation in a manner that really drives and extracts value, that’s key.”

This eventually led to meeting with ORO Labs and asking how it could help BASF build a solution that enabled the growth it needed. Sudhir Bhojwani, CEO and Co-Founder of ORO Labs, knew Dohrn already from his SAP Ariba days He even credits him with explaining what ‘supplier management’ means. When he co-founded ORO Labs, his team wanted to focus on being a procurement orchestration platform and build smart workflows. 

“When Matthias was running his business unit, as he mentioned, he had this Excel-based process where he was running thousands of measures,” Bhojwani explains. “It was an interesting process. We let him know that our workflow could solve his problems way more efficiently. So we worked with this business unit at that time and saw some positive results. Roughly a year later, Matthias took over as CPO and wanted to bring in the same structure that we’d implemented at the business unit, but on a bigger scale.”

Kicking off the project

Getting this project off the ground meant having a business case, first and foremost. This required actually sitting down with the people who do the ordering, because procurement needed to understand the options it had. “So, with every plant in BASF – all approximately 150 of them – we had to talk to them, and look at the individual spend of each plant,” Dohrn explains. “This included direct procurement of raw materials, energy, logistics, indirect spend for services, and so on. Then we had brainstorming workshops, generating between 30 and 50 improvement measures per workshop.

“Then, because it’s bottom-up, you bring in the performance management tool to prioritise the measures. Then you go through the business case and confirm the value. As these measures go through the implementation levels, it’s very satisfying because you can see how you’re making progress in driving value every day. The people who own the measures set the timeline themselves, and there are incentive schemes behind the best ideas.”

Driving value to motivate people was a priority from the start, and something BASF discussed with ORO Labs early on. People are able to see the status of their measures thanks to ORO Labs, which means they’re able to see the results and also see other peoples’ great ideas. “You create a wave of people who are driving value, much faster,” Dohrn adds. 

Addressing the challenges

From Bhojwani’s perspective, there were multiple challenges when approaching BASF’s requirements. Fundamentally, ORO Labs was building a brand new workflow, as BASF required a very different take on what that means. ORO understanding how that translated to what BASF needed was the first challenge.

“We needed to understand the structure Matthias has, and what the work streams should look like,” Bhojwani explains. “We had to figure out how to model these work streams within our tool in a way that made sense. An indirect work stream is not the same as something in direct material; those things are very different. So here’s where our workflow tool worked quite well. We could customise how direct material work streams should behave, compared to indirect work streams, how country A should behave compared to country B, and so on.

“It was important that we could bring flexibility, and that we could solve workflow problems in innovative ways. Another challenge was the user experience part. We had to make sure that the system worked for everybody, otherwise nobody would participate in the system. We had to keep working on it, keep fixing it, and that took a good 18 months of tweaking. The biggest thing has been understanding how BASF actually generates value, and how a workflow can help. It’s been very interesting.”

Identifying the value

Collaborating with ORO Labs has unlocked an enormous amount of value for BASF. Dohrn has seen the business come together thanks to the work that was put into communicating and collaborating with every site across businesses and functions, and BASF is continuing to conduct workshops for further improvement. There’s also, of course, the EBIT being gained from the business cases, putting BASF on track to generate sustainable savings.

“There’s been a real mindset change,” Dohrn states. “We’re now really focused on value, and we’re using this ORO Labs tool to hold each other accountable. You can see the progress every day. We call it the iceberg because you can see below the implementation levels. Everything starts off below the water line – no value created yet, just potential. Then you see it moving beyond the zero line into the positives, and every day I can see the difference between now and yesterday with just a click. It’s so fulfilling to see what we have created.

“We’re able to see the interaction with the plants, the interaction between people, and interaction with the requisitioners, and we can create something positive together. I think that’s huge. It’s only going to bring more and more value over the next few years. People are used to the tool now, they find it easy. It has created value and everyone’s happy because the cost pressure on the plants has gone down.”

Author

Nell Walker

Published

Estimated Read time

6Mins

It’s impossible not to be inspired by the energy at a DPW event. DPW Amsterdam 2024 was buzzing with that…

It’s impossible not to be inspired by the energy at a DPW event. DPW Amsterdam 2024 was buzzing with that same energy, its attendees soaking in information and inspiration from speakers, peers, other experts. We caught up with Rujul Zaparde, Co-Founder and CEO of Zip, at the event to dive into the procurement landscape and chat about the specific qualities DPW brings to the sector.

Zaparde is the Co-Founder and CEO of Zip. At the beginning of Zip’s journey, Zaparde and his fellow founder, Lu Cheng, based the company around their own experiences as end-users of the procurement process. They took their lived confusion around having multiple intakes for a contract, for the purchase request, and all the different complicated components of the process, and created a solution.

“And so, we started Zip and created the category of intake and procurement orchestration. We’re very grateful to have been named the leader in the category,” says Zaparde, in reference to having just been named a category leader in IDC’s first ever Marketscape for Spend Orchestration.

So, as is often the case, procurement is something Zaparde fell into. In this case, he got involved with procurement specifically to solve pain points. Prior to Zip, he was a Product Manager and Cheng was an Engineering Leader, both at Airbnb; they knew very little about procurement. “We were just end-users,” he explains. The upside of this was that they were able to come into the industry fresh, without the baggage and legacy issues that can come with being in a sector for a long time.

UX first

“At Zip, we really try to take a user experience first approach,” Zaparde continues. “What we found is the highest leverage change you can make in any procurement organisation is to make it easier for your employees to actually adopt and follow whatever the right process is. If you do that, then all of finance, procurement, accounting, and even IT find that they’re suddenly swimming with the current, not against it. And you can’t do any of that unless you solve for user experience.”

Taking away problems, the way Zip does, also takes away a barrier to ambition. The theme of DPW Amsterdam 2024 was 10X, a term on the lips of many across all sectors. Once immediate issues and pain points are addressed, 10X is something businesses can aspire to, with many talks and workshops during DPW Amsterdam focusing on how to approach this.

Getting the mindset right

For Zaparde, 10X thinking is a necessity for growth. “You have to aim for 10X to even end up at something X,” he explains. “That requires ambition. I also think that when you think in terms of 10X, and your mindset is angled towards incremental change, you’re much more open to thinking of solutions that are perhaps a little more risky. It changes your perspective.” 

A mindset shift needs to happen before anything else. This involves considering the needs of procurement and the wider company, having a north star in mind, and then breaking changes down to an incremental level. 

“Then you can start to think about the steps you need to take to get there,” Zaparde explains. “A big component of this is bringing along your peers and stakeholders across every function that’s tangential and critical to the core procurement workflow and path.”

Innovating for good

The work Zip does is indicative of the shift towards continuous improvement and advanced technology that procurement has been going through in recent years. There are things that are possible now that weren’t possible even a year ago, thanks to the vast innovations being made. One of the hot topics right now is generative AI, something that’s opening up a world of possibilities.

“It’s the elephant in the room right now,” says Zaparde. “With the capabilities that gen AI unlocks, you can automate a lot more. That allows you to cut down a lot of the transactional and operational work that procurement and sourcing organisations are doing. Procurement is tired of the status quo. It’s been an underserved function for over 20 years, and I’m glad that’s finally changing. I feel privileged for myself and Zip to be part of the conversation, and that we’re seeing all these amazing changes happening.”

Zaparde believes we’re already seeing the benefits of the major changes that have occurred over the last couple of years in procurement. In fact, he knows this, because Zip has helped its customers save around $4.5bn of spend over the last two years, which is an astonishing statistic.

“One customer of ours, Snowflake, achieved over $300m in savings alone,” Zaparde continues. “We’ve seen tangible benefits already. The way procurement is evolving isn’t a hypothetical thing – it’s really happening.”

Fragmentation on fragmentation

The key, again, is overcoming base level issues for the sake of evolution. This is precisely what Zip provides, after all. But sometimes, the issue is at a data level. Unclean data is something that technology leaders are talking about a great deal right now, with some feeling that it holds them back from implementing new technology. Zaparde believes that businesses should be questioning why their data isn’t clean from the start, rather than worrying about trying to cleanse existing data.

“You don’t just clean your data – the real question is why is your data not clean in the first place?” he muses. “You have to have a clean entry point for it. I don’t think I’ve ever spoken to a Fortune 500 CPO that said they had clean data. I think it’s because of the upstream processes in intake and orchestration. If all the cross-functional teams – the IT review, the legal review, the finance – are being manually shepherded by the procurement operations organisation, then how can you possibly end up with clean data?

“People are keying the same information into multiple systems, which might mean they answer in similar – but different – ways. So you end up with fragmentation on fragmentation. But if you have one single door to that data, you’ll be able to drive only clean data, because it’s a funnel. If you let everyone have different swim lanes that never intersect, you won’t have clean data.”

As 2025 approaches, Zip has multiple product capabilities and features coming up that Zaparde and his team are very excited about. This includes leveraging gen AI, something we’re seeing incredible utilisation of across the sector.

For Zaparde, attending events like DPW Amsterdam to talk about what Zip does and interact with peers and clients alike is a joyous part of his job. “DPW is really accelerating the rate of change in the procurement industry. That’s very much needed, and it’s energising to see so many incredible people from the procurement world in one place. I love spending time with these forward-thinking procurement leaders at this event.”

Author

Nell Walker

Published

Estimated Read time

5Mins

Whether we’re talking about gen AI, 10X, or any other kind of advanced tech solution, data is at the core…

Whether we’re talking about gen AI, 10X, or any other kind of advanced tech solution, data is at the core of the discussion. And when data isn’t clean or ready for the implementation of something being built on top of it, businesses can end up significantly held back. Mithra-Ai is an organisation that helps its customers to build trust in their data, which is a core issue for many. 

“That sets us apart,” says Christophe Frère, Co-Founder of Mithra-AI. “We help procurement leaders and category managers create, execute, and realise their strategies. This is backed by reliable, comprehensive data, both internal and external, tailored specifically for their categories.

“Maintaining high-quality data is crucial as it influences the accuracy and reliability of AI-driven insights and recommendations. That’s where Mitha-AI comes in. Our cleansing, enrichment, and auto-classification engines ensure that procurement stakeholders, including data scientists, begin with a reliable data foundation.”

Cleaning and classifying data

Mithra-Ai is an AI-native SaaS solution, which starts off by proposing a meaningful spend hierarchy for every category. What’s key is that this is paired with an automated cleansing and classification engine. This is so important because the only way to achieve truly clean data is to make sure it enters the system clean in the first place. 

“Clear visibility into categorised spending eliminates uncategorised expenses and wrong assumptions,” says Frère. “When supplemented by relevant external data intelligence, category managers are empowered to negotiate with confidence, achieve greater savings, and monitor initiatives effectively.”

A world beyond cost savings

When launching Mithra-Ai in 2021, the company’s founders rightly foresaw that the role of procurement would evolve beyond focusing merely on cost savings, and become the central hub of every organisation. Because of that, they knew that accurate, reliable information was needed – hence the necessity for Mithra-Ai.

As procurement has shifted, the status quo is no longer good enough. It’s an exciting time for the sector, but also one of high demand in the race to adopt increasingly advanced technology. But it’s necessary for efficiency and growth.

“Tesla and Nvidia exemplify the power of embracing change over maintaining that status quo,” says Frère. “Procurement is facing intense pressure to evolve with organisational needs. Those organisations can opt for incremental changes, which will likely slow them down, or pursue a 10X leap to maintain competitive advantage. The latter requires bold and decisive leadership from heads of procurement.”

The road to 10X thinking

The way to drive 10X thinking, Frère believes, is through having a clear vision of your goals. Sometimes businesses, especially ones which are going through major change or those navigating outdated legacy systems, are at risk of losing sight of their goals. But having that vision is a foundational necessity, regardless of what stage you’re at.

“Set aspirations high, and question existing norms,” says Frère. “Procurement leaders can draw inspiration from startups by fostering a culture of innovation through small-scale initiatives that can rapidly expand. Reevaluate the skills and team structure necessary for future success.”

Another important aspect to bear in mind when considering these things is the level of risk you’re willing to undertake when setting goals and aspirations. “That’s often overlooked,” Frère continues. “Determining the acceptable level of risk is crucial. It significantly influences partner selection and the outcome of RFPs.”

Thinking big, starting small

While ambition is vital to 10X thinking and beyond, businesses must also make sure they don’t bite off more than they can chew. Launching into adopting huge volumes of advanced technology can lead to overwhelm and can make a business stall rather than evolving. A more careful approach is required.

“Think big, start small,” says Frère. “Prioritise high-impact, low-effort initiatives over those requiring significant effort. Many transformation projects fail to deliver the expected benefits and incur high costs during the program.” This is another reason to decide on the appropriate risk level early on, in order to guide prioritisation decisions and transformation pace. 

It’s an incredibly exciting time for procurement, and that includes Mithra-Ai. In a very short time, it’s developed several foundational modules for its data-driven category management solution. This includes the Collaborative Initiative Tracker that was launched during DPW Amsterdam 2024 – just one of Mithra-Ai’s inspiring undertakings as we approach 2025.

“The tracker means that procurement teams can now involve multiple stakeholders in collaboratively tracking and enhancing the impact of key initiatives, such as cost-saving measures,” says Frère. “Exciting times lie ahead.”

DPW Amsterdam is the perfect stage for launching a solution like this. It’s an event that inspires a culture of innovation, bringing procurement professionals together to teach, learn, and shout about their latest additions to the procurement landscape.

“DPW stands out as the premier procurement tech event of the year,” says Frère. “Practitioners can explore and engage with procuretech suppliers, showcasing valuable use cases and personal stories across multiple stages. DPW is a catalyst for ideation, creating trust and confidence in the benefits of applying cutting-edge technologies to improve business outcomes. This year’s event felt even more international than previous years. I look forward to seeing it continue to grow.”

Frère’s main takeaway from DPW Amsterdam this year is that a solid data foundation is essential – something he was well aware of as part of Mithra-Ai. “Without it, transformation projects and new technologies will struggle to succeed,” he concludes. “In the past two years, there has been increased focus on sustainability and risk intelligence, driven by numerous new solution providers. However, during the DPW Amsterdam 2024 conference, we observed new trends coming up and, again, more focus on data quality, which works to our advantage.”

Author

Nell Walker

Published

Estimated Read time

6Mins

When we’re talking about technology in procurement, the importance of partnership is a major component for success. No business is…

When we’re talking about technology in procurement, the importance of partnership is a major component for success. No business is an island, and joining forces with experts is, increasingly, the direction many move in for the sake of growth. 

At DPW Amsterdam 2024, we met many businesses who were looking around at the procurement sector in search of either what direction to move in next, or who they can help. The event is one that brings people together to learn, to teach, to discover the cutting edge of procurement, and be inspired by it. So when we sat down with the CEO of Fairmarkit, Kevin Frechette, it wasn’t surprising that he brought Nick Wright, who leads bp’s Procurement Digital Garage, into the conversation.

For Frechette, one of the best things about working in the advanced procurement technology sphere is joining forces with other businesses to help them keep improving, and vice versa. “Having the chance to work with people like Nick, who are pushing the envelope when it comes to autonomous sourcing, is amazing,” he explains. “We’re fired up to be at DPW, absorbing this atmosphere.”

While it’s something of a running joke in the procurement world that most professionals in the sector don’t deliberately choose it, Wright actually did. “I went to university and thought ‘wow, I fancy a career in procurement or vendor management’. I know a lot of people don’t have that story, but I’ve been doing something I’m passionate about from the beginning. I love making deals, whether I’m buying a car, a house, or something for BP.” The Procurement Digital Garage he leads exists to look at problems being faced across procurement, and figuring out possible solutions. 

For Frechette, the intention wasn’t to start a company in the procurement space, but his team quickly saw the opportunities within it. “We had this ‘aha’ moment,” he says. “It was a tough pivot. There was a lot of debate, a lot of late nights. I’m super glad we made it because we got to be in a space where people can be forgotten about, and we’re able to give them centre stage.”

The realistic approach to 10X

DPW itself exists to put procurement under the limelight. Each event is themed in a way that gets conversations flowing around the next big thing in procurement. For Amsterdam 2024, this theme was 10X – something Frechette believes isn’t achievable right off the bat.

“It’s something to strive towards,” he says. “It’s something where you work on getting a little better every single month, every quarter. You keep getting those small wins, and you build credibility. There’s no silver bullet. You just have to start the journey and learn as you go.”

For Wright, it’s about not getting caught up in the hype, but figuring out what’s realistic. “There’s a lot of hype out there, and the beauty of something like my team at the Procurement Digital Garage is to weed out that hype, because what’s right for us might not be right for someone else. Having a team that’s out there in the market, testing and figuring out what’s real, will put you in good stead.”

“There’s a leap of faith element that can be challenging to achieve, before you can really strive for 10X,” Frechette adds. “It’s like Amara’s Law: humans typically overestimate the value of technology in the short term, but underestimate it in the long term. So the hype is needed. We have to help people on that journey and sometimes, a leap of faith is needed. For the people that risk it, it’s exciting, and they’re then well positioned for the future.”

However, again, managing expectations is important. “People might be on the sidelines expecting a 10X solution,” says Wright. “But the reality is, you’re going to get 5% here, 10% – smaller pockets of improvement.”

The benefits of advanced technology are absolutely being seen at this stage, but being realistic about the future outcomes is important. “The benefits are there – not at the scale of 10X – but if you just make a start, you’ll achieve wins,” says Frechette. “You broadcast those wins across the organisation. That generates excitement, and then you can work on the next thing because you have ground swell.”

How ‘the future’ has changed

What’s interesting is that this 10X focus, this drive towards incremental wins, has reframed the way businesses plan for the road ahead. ‘The future’ used to mean having a three or five-year plan. Now, the future is only 12 months away.

“The thought process right now is ‘what can we do that’s super optimistic in just 12 months’?” says Frechette. “Then you can put in realistic time frames and set off on a sprint to get there. You have to be able to move fast. We have launches every two weeks now, and we have to be flexible with our roadmap along the way. But we always know where we’re going – we have a north star.”

“To me, that’s the only way to do it,” Wright adds. “I don’t have a crystal ball. Nobody knows what’s going to happen in two or three years. So what’s the point of creating a plan that’s going to get you to a certain point in those two or three years? You have to work on small iterations, make adjustments, change direction as necessary.”

It’s part of what makes Fairmarkit and BP an active partnership – the ability to be flexible and open up discussions at every point. It’s all about real-time feedback and trust-building, to the extent that both parties feel like they’re on the same team. 

The right people in the right places

Because ultimately, it’s the human element that makes transformation happen. Having the right people in place is one of the elements that’s key to making sure implementing advanced tech for the sake of business strategy works at all. “It’s about access to talent and making sure you’ve got a capable user group that can make the most of that technology,” says Wright. “You don’t need to be a data scientist, but you do need to have the right mindset to take advantage of the tools you’ve got.”

“I agree – you have to get the right people on the bus,” adds Frechette. “You all have to be committed to going on the journey together. Prioritise where you start and where you’re going to have the most value with the lowest risk, and have people on your side who can give suggestions and ideas.”

While the much-discussed talent shortage can create challenges there, DPW as an entity proves that not only does procurement keep becoming more appealing and exciting, but where there are gaps, there are digital tools. “I’ve noticed a lot of folks under 30 who are here at DPW Amsterdam, and they’re genuinely interested in procurement,” says Wright. “We’re at a tipping point that makes me really excited about the profession I’m in.”

Author

Nell Walker

Published

Estimated Read time

6Mins

‘Digitalisation is just the beginning’ according to Crowdfox, a business which aims to improve procurement by bettering the ordering process…

‘Digitalisation is just the beginning’ according to Crowdfox, a business which aims to improve procurement by bettering the ordering process while lowering costs. That tagline speaks to Crowdfox’s dedication to advancing procurement using the exciting tools the sector now has at its disposal, and this push to innovate is being driven, in part, by Martin Rademacher, Crowdfox’s CSO. We sat down with Rademacher at DPW Amsterdam 2024, the exciting vibe of the event spreading far and wide around us. 

Rademacher is responsible for everything to do with Crowdfox’s customers. From sales, to marketing, to customer onboarding and success, and everything in between – that’s Rademacher’s wheelhouse. His background is in management consulting, with a focus on procurement and supply chain. So, while he started out in sales, he soon decided that procurement was the direction to move in.

“During my time as a consultant, I found procurement very interesting because it’s so versatile,” explains Rademacher. “Of course, it’s about the transactional phase with suppliers – but also you’re so connected with R&D, production, logistics, and so on. You have so many fields of application.”

10X thinking

At DPW Amsterdam, the overall theme of the two-day event was 10X. The concept of the 10X rule is around taking a goal you’ve set for yourself and multiplying it by 10. It’s an aspirational tool, coaxing all of us to aim higher. In procurement, that means innovating.

“In the last two years we’ve seen tools like ChatGPT trigger some big adaptations in the procurement world,” says Rademacher. “I think there is the opportunity now to achieve 10X in terms of efficiency gains. Especially when it comes to making better decisions, more quickly, in order to analyse data. We’re now finding out what AI can really do, and focusing on how that can help with strategy.”

For Rademacher, he believes people have the right tools to achieve 10X – it’s now about implementing those tools properly, and having the right culture.

“In the last couple of years, implementing tools has become much easier than it was a decade ago,” Rademacher continues. “They’re so well designed that they fit into large procurement systems, and can connect with other best-of-breed tools. I’d say implementation should be the focus, but it’s not that complicated anymore. AI tools especially are really intuitive. As a result, you don’t need much in the way of change management. People just intuitively cooperate with AI.”

The question of security

The big challenge, Rademacher believes, is data protection. When it comes to barriers preventing a 10X approach, concerns around data privacy are among the biggest issues. As a result, organisations have to take the necessary precautions before plunging into making major technological changes, or risk falling at the first hurdle.

“In the EU, it’s all about data protection,” says Rademacher. These concerns led to the Artificial Intelligence Act (AI Act) coming into force in the EU in August 2024. It was created in response to the rise in generative AI systems, and ensures that there’s a common regulatory framework for AI within the European Union. “Companies are very concerned about their data, but I wouldn’t call this an obstacle – more like a challenge.

“The key is making sure you have a protected environment. Start with a pilot in a limited space, for instance, and then make sure you can find a solution you can control in a safe environment that suits your operations.”

Shooting for the stars

With these measures in mind, it’s never been easier to implement new technologies and aim for that ambitious 10X goal. Certainly, advanced tools have never been more accessible, or more straightforward for businesses to educate themselves about. Even as recently as two years ago, integrating multiple elements of advanced tech – like genAI – wasn’t really possible.

“It definitely wasn’t easy to combine sources the way we can now,” says Rademacher. “Now, you can provide a much better user experience experience not only for procurement professionals, but for anyone who takes advantage of what procurement introduces to the company. Finding the supply to fulfil your demand is so much easier now. You no longer have to have difficult conversations starting with an email to your procurement professional to identify whether you’re allowed to purchase from a certain vendor, and whether they’re vetted or not. Streamlining processes like that makes that information quick and easy to identify.”

Additionally, we’re at a point with advanced technology where the tools we have access to are capable of handling more and more volumes of data at an extremely fast pace. “In consulting, for example, every project started with an analysis of the status quo of a firm,” says Rademacher. “We’d figure out who the vendors are, the categories, and the spend. Depending on the workforce, this could take one or two weeks. Now, with the tools we have access to, you can gather this information in 24 hours.”

The evolution continues

While we’re seeing many of the benefits that come with genAI and other advanced technologies already, it’s only the beginning of what we can achieve using these tools. GenAI is at a peak right now, but according to Rademacher, it might take another five years to achieve its full productivity level. “There’s also this ambitious idea going around of fully autonomous procurement, and it’ll likely take a good 10 years to reach that level of productivity,” he adds. “On the other hand, nobody is talking about robotic process automation anymore because we’re almost there with that already.”

Another challenge is data quality. The cleanliness of an organisation’s data can make or break its use of advanced technology, which is where making the right connections with service providers comes in. “It’s a good example of when to find the right partner,” says Rademacher. “Find someone from the innovative tech space who you think you can rely on. Don’t try to do it all on your own – that’ll just hold you back more and more. Be bold; find the right partner to make the most of your data and that helps you constantly improve. There’s a lot of talent out there, a lot of solutions that are really helpful for organisations of all sizes. You’ll improve step by step.”

There’s no doubt that it’s an exciting time for procurement. The atmosphere at DPW Amsterdam 2024 was electric for that exact reason. The event, in Rademacher’s words, has “a really strong influence on the sector and enables attendees to learn about how the landscape is developing in real time”.

“The AI-driven future is already a reality for us,” he states. “We’re beyond the pilot phase with our AI tool, ChatCFX, and now we really want to drive market share. 2024 going into 2025 sees us in a good position with high user visibility, and now we’re adding ChatCFX to the game, pushing it into the European market. We’re at DPW Amsterdam to meet the players who are looking for a solution exactly like ours, making it an invaluable place to be.”

Author

Nell Walker

Published

Estimated Read time

6Mins

Certain procurement pain points can prove debilitating for a business, freezing it in its tracks when it’s trying to grow…

Certain procurement pain points can prove debilitating for a business, freezing it in its tracks when it’s trying to grow and improve. This is where companies like Candex are able to step in and turn a headache into something so simple, it requires no further thought. 

Danielle McQuiston is the Chief Customer Officer at Candex. She’s been with the fintech startup for five years, spending two decades prior to that working in procurement at Sanofi. Candex is a technology-based master vendor that allows customers to engage with and pay one-off or small suppliers without setting them up in their system. This means that the system doesn’t get clogged up with suppliers that are rarely or never going to be used again. 

“We’re primarily used for what companies consider tail spend, and we typically deliver it as a punchout catalogue for a really simple user experience,” McQuiston explains. That ability to support lots of customers was what drew her to the role. “Coming to Candex, I was very excited about what they were doing and wanted to help as many companies as possible.”

Addressing tail spend

That ability to address tail spend in a unique way is the main thing that differentiates Candex. It’s an enormous problem for procurement professionals. The way Candex delivers it is through a digital plug-and-play solution, removing the need to be dependent on human intervention. “It’s a horizontal solution for any good or service, and it’s available in over 45 countries now,” says McQuiston. “It becomes part of the customer’s ecosystems and leverages the P2P process. It’s super compliant, and allows a lot of control.”

With this tool in place, Candex’s customers are able to gain much better control over their smaller purchases, defining what is allowed to be purchased. For many, this tool allows them to put tighter restrictions on purchases than their e-procurement systems are able to do. Additionally, Candex runs suppliers through screenings every day, which generally doesn’t happen for small, rarely-used suppliers.

“We run really detailed compliance and sanction screening against all those vendors, taking away a really daunting task from customers,” McQuiston states. “Customers probably check those suppliers once when they’re being set up, but then they never look at them again. Every day, we’re checking them, and keeping an eye on them when our customers can’t.”

Candex’s reporting is extremely detailed, and provides customers with the kind of real-time visibility they wouldn’t normally get – even in their own systems. Reports are generated weekly or monthly, including the diversity status of suppliers. This is data that a lot of clients then feed directly into their Power BI tools and data lakes, meaning they’re able to integrate it seamlessly into their other data.

Cleaning up the data

The whole purpose and aim of Candex’s tool is to make life easier for its customers, streamline its processes, and improve efficiencies. To that end, standardisation is key when it comes to business improvements, and that includes preparing data prior to implementing new technologies and processes. When it comes to ensuring a business’s data is healthy –  before launching into major tech changes – accepting the necessity of making foundational change is key. 

“Data cleansing processes are ugly, cumbersome, and long – and everyone has to do them,” McQuiston comments. “But you have to accept that you’re going to have to do something, if you want to get a handle on your spend. First and foremost, you need to standardise the way you name things, the way you put data in the system, and you need a really strict discipline around that. All of those things will make backend processes a lot easier.”

It’s just one of many considerations CPOs need to bear in mind when seeking out technology solutions and implementation. Modern procurement departments have a seat at the wider business table now, and what they do impacts the entire business. So when it comes to utilising solutions for the sake of the business at large, there are many factors to think about.

“As with any data or technology, it’s all about garbage in and garbage out,” says McQuiston. “Any advanced technology should be used with caution and viewed with a critical eye. You have to start with knowing what you want out of it. 

“A lot of times, people put technology in place because it looks interesting, but you need to start with the problem and work backwards. If the issue is user experience, you need to make sure that whatever you’re implementing focuses on a positive UX. If the problem is unclean data, you need to make sure you’re putting in place all the foundational elements you need to make that better. Always start from the perspective of implementing a technology based on a problem, rather than the other way around.”

Improving UX in 2025

It’s a seriously dynamic time to be involved in procurement right now, as evidenced by the intense buzz around us at DPW Amsterdam as we sit with McQuiston. As we look ahead, she envisions that procurement will have an increasingly powerful impact on user experience. This is particularly important at a time when tasks are becoming increasingly automated, with less and less direct human interaction.

“We’re also seeing a pretty big leap forward in terms of best practice sharing amongst our clients,” says McQuiston, something that events like DPW also encourage. “For Candex, a big theme of 2024 has been getting our clients together to share best practices and information, helping them to develop further expertise in the field. 2025 will have more of the same, but there’s now a higher level of maturity out there in the way customers are considering tail spend. As people continue to onboard solutions, it will be interesting to see how that impacts the UX in relation to Candex. We’re always looking for ways to make our tool more user-friendly and add better functionality.”

All of this is why Candex’s customers love the company. On a base level, Candex takes a complex pain point and makes it simple. In a broader sense, the reason Candex is becoming so popular is the way it works with people. “The most common feedback we get from customers and suppliers is that we’re great to work with because we’re so flexible,” says McQuiston. “We hired a team of procurement experts, so our team is made up of people who really understand the pain of our clients, and can anticipate their fears, their needs, and cater to those.”

Author

Nell Walker

Published

Estimated Read time

6Mins

The buzz of DPW Amsterdam draws in the most innovative minds across the industry. They’re there to have riveting conversations…

The buzz of DPW Amsterdam draws in the most innovative minds across the industry. They’re there to have riveting conversations with their peers, to inspire, to teach and learn in kind. And they’re there to keep an eye on an industry that doesn’t stop changing for the better.

This is a big part of the appeal for Fraser Woodhouse. Woodhouse leads the digital procurement team within Deloitte in the UK. His team historically focused on large-scale transformations, providing a backbone for suite implementation. Increasingly, however, it’s turning its attention to helping clients navigate a plethora of technology solutions. The goal is to help them build and scale, and take advantage of some of the more niche functionalities available. These are things that can be highly daunting for many customers, which is why Deloitte is there for support.

“We’re helping clients ask the big questions,” Woodhouse explains as he sits down with us at DPW Amsterdam 2024. “How do you connect the technology in a way that allows data to flow from one system to another? How do you deal with processes that are connected to solutions which all have their own release cycles? How do you approach change management? That underpins so much of where the value is going to be achieved, and a lot of the providers will be focusing on it. They just might not have the same capability that Deloitte can provide.”

For Woodhouse, getting involved with procurement was a total accident. He even left the sector at one point, but his strong foundational knowledge – and the exciting landscape procurement is enjoying right now – lured him back in. “It changes faster than I can get bored with it, that’s for sure,” he explains. “Procurement is fascinating.”

Aspiring to greatness

Especially now, with constant conversations around genAI, 10X, and beyond. Procurement is only becoming more interesting, more enticing, drawing young professionals in to fill gaps in the talent pool. 10X was actually the theme of DPW Amsterdam this year, a notion that’s on everyone’s lips. And for Woodhouse, it’s absolutely something to aspire to.

“Aiming for 10X is sensible. You just have to consider your timescale. I’d caution against running before you can walk, but a culture of experimentation is important. Running small-scale pilots can help you hone in on where you really want to see value, or where value is likely to be generated. Starting with requirements is a fundamental thing at the moment, but you shouldn’t underestimate how long that will take. And it’s a continuous consideration, because requirements change. Just keep trying to refine your solution in order to take advantage of everything that’s out there right now.”

Fotograaf: MichielTon.com

Having the wrong mindset is one of the major barriers to adopting 10X thinking. It all starts with the company’s culture, and whether that’s one of growth or not. “I imagine most of the people here at DPW Amsterdam have already made that mental shift,” says Woodhouse. “Last year, people were still trying to understand how they, as big companies, could utilise startups. That’s changed now, and it’s amazing to see companies that were startups three years ago working with all these big enterprise customers. 

“They have scaled and grown in partnership with those customers. Mindset is so important, and having the wrong one will only create barriers and missed opportunities.”

Always improving, never slowing down

When it comes to the advantages that technology has brought to procurement in the last few years, the list is endless. Procurement has gone from an overlooked segment of any given organisation, to having a seat at the table and helping make major business decisions. 10X thinking – whether it goes by that name or not – has been spreading across the segment and fuelling businesses to aim higher.

“The layers of automation have really improved,” says Woodhouse. “A year or so back, there were a handful of use cases that you could truly automate, but now you can do it at a much larger scale. Another big change is around security concerns. There are more tried and tested case studies to draw upon now, and solutions are more readily available. You don’t necessarily have to be a pioneer, because someone else has already taken that first step.”

The question of data

Something else that holds businesses back, despite the innovation at their disposal, is an element that can be harder to change: poor quality data. When trying to implement advanced technology solutions, bad data can make or break their success.

“It’s always useful to focus on that and have a dedicated work stream,” Woodhouse advises. “You need someone who really understands data. I think there’s a tendency to try to boil the ocean before you even get going in your transformation, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing. Cleaning up your data before you start, and having a fresh foundation will help you make decisions on what to implement on top of that good data. 

“Doing all of that is obviously hugely beneficial, but it’s going to slow you down, in many cases. There are ways around that, like embedding the cleanup of data within the new processes. Data is important – we shouldn’t underestimate that – but there are different approaches to solving the issue of poor quality data, like buying it or using genAI to restructure your data into something more powerful. Either way, you need a strategy.”

Novel thinking 101

Some businesses fall into the trap of thinking that they can’t achieve specific things because their data isn’t in the right position, but novel thinking around data can allow them to still drive forward. “You’ve just got to focus on it. You can’t assume the data’s going to fix itself,” Woodhouse adds. 

Novel thinking is certainly something that can be seen at DPW events, and DPW Amsterdam 2024 was no exception. People congregated there to learn, to share stories, to inspire. For Woodhouse, the magic of the digital procurement sector right now is that everybody recognises that their journey has no end. While that may be daunting, it’s a positive thing and keeps procurement professionals striving for more.

“It’s a continuous improvement journey, and I think the best-performing organisations will recognise that, and invest in the business capability to continue that journey,” Woodhouse concludes. “That’s how you get proper value. I love hearing about how people frame problems differently, and how they approach the solutions.”

Author

Nell Walker

Published

Estimated Read time

6Mins

Making procurement slicker, more streamlined, is the name of the game right now – and this is precisely why Globality…

Making procurement slicker, more streamlined, is the name of the game right now – and this is precisely why Globality exists. It’s an organisation which leverages advanced, native-built AI to make sourcing more autonomous for Fortune 500 and Global 2000 companies, meaning it has a finger on a pulse of the technology tools procurement now has access to as the industry shifts and evolves.

Keith Hausmann is the Chief Customer Officer at Globality. He has been working in procurement since the early 90s, both in industry as a service provider, and now, at a technology company. He came to Globality from Accenture, where he ran the operations business. During his first real job after college, Hausmann was also part of a training program at a major Fortune 500 company, working closely with a COO. At some point they got into a conversation about salespeople seemingly having an advantage over procurement people due to their access to information, knowledge, and training. The COO suggested that they launch a company to help support procurement. For Hausmann, it was a serendipitous entry to the industry.

“I came to Globality because I saw the business was struggling with how to scale, automate, and deliver a differentiated user experience. Ultimately, I found it really compelling, and joined about five years ago.”

Achieving 10X thinking

Hausmann admits that the concept of what procurement is has only been defined relatively recently, and he’s been in the industry long enough to have seen the shift happen and suddenly accelerate over the last few years. Now, procurement professionals are in a position where they’re able to think big, and they have the tools to support that way of thinking. One of the most-discussed topics right now is 10X, whereby businesses are setting targets for themselves that are 10 times greater than what they can realistically achieve.

“There continues to be, and always has been, so many mind-numbing manual activities that go on in procurement spaces,” says Hausmann. “We’ve built small armies of teams to handle those things. I think 10X has prompted us to take a step back and ask if there’s now technology that can uplift the role of people in the function and take on some of those automatable tasks. Whether that’s writing RFPs, discovering suppliers, or analysing proposals – these are all things that can be automated in today’s technological world. With 10X thinking, you can imagine the many, many, many things that can be automated and just go after them. 

“There are barriers, of course. The biggest one is not being able to convey a compelling vision of what we want people to do in the new world. It’s not necessarily about making them go away – it’s about making their daily jobs, lives, and work more valuable. There are so many things around category thinking and strategy that don’t get done because people are spending so much time on tasks that could be automated. So I think the barrier is creating that vision and that plan to shift the operating models, roles, and the skill sets to something new and different.”

People power

Hausmann believes that if roles are reshaped and honed in response to automation, it’s less likely that there will be resistance to change because employees will know exactly what they’re doing, rather than being concerned about their future. “They have to know what they’re doing before they jump on board. It just requires a mindset change and good change management.”

Hausmann believes it’s down to the CPO to drive that change management by conveying the activities, impacts, roles, and operating model they envision. If they can paint a picture of how humans can impact things in a new way, alongside the new technology rather than against it, suddenly it’s an exciting prospect and people are keen to make a bigger impact. 

CFOs and CPOs joining forces

While CPOs now have a long-deserved seat at the table to help push change business-wide, CFOs’ roles are also expanding and having an increased impact on procurement. “I think they’ve always influenced what’s going on in procurement,” says Hausmann. “CFOs are the champions of many things, but certainly improving the bottom line of the company. They’re also champions of using technology to make the organisation more resilient, more scalable, and more efficient. There was a time when people thought that the CTO or CIO would be doing that, but more often than not, the CFO is the ultimate owner of improving business impacts. More and more, we’re seeing our customers leaning on the CFO to help them make decisions about investments that have a big impact through technology and AI. 

“These days, the relationship between the CFO and CPO is wildly different to what it once was, and CFOs are showing more interest in procurement as a function than ever, making a difference to the bottom line. It makes sense because, in theory, procurement controls one of the biggest cost line items in a company, besides raw headcount.”

Matching the pace of technology

The fact that we still need to focus on change management and relationships confirms that the way procurement is changing isn’t just about the technology. Far from it. However, technology is moving at an incredible pace and needs to be taken seriously. There are things that are possible now which couldn’t be done even one or two years ago.

“A few years ago, technology couldn’t write an RFX document for you,” Hausmann says. “Technology could not instantaneously bring to light the most relevant suppliers from within a customer’s supply base, or in the broader market. It couldn’t write a contract, or an SOW, or a work order. It can now. Those are things that are near and dear to my heart that were impossible 3-5 years ago.”

With these tools in mind, procurement professionals are able to think about the future in short-term stints. Five-year plans are no longer good enough when it comes to the way procurement is shifting – a year is now the maximum for putting plans in place. 

“I’ve always thought that procurement, from the perspective of technological advancement and investment perspective, should sit under a broader business umbrella,” says Hausmann. “I’d guess that probably 50% of companies in the world right now have some kind of program in place to save money or improve agility by investing in technology. And speed to market is more important than ever, so sourcing can’t be a bottleneck.”

Looking ahead, Hausmann expects to see many of the unique, differentiated technology providers becoming interoperable together, because big enterprises want services that operate and scale well in combination with others. 

“We’re seeing that a lot, and working with our customers on how we improve interoperability and integration,” he says. “Tools will become more seamless, more easy-to-use, more scalable. Another big thing is, and will continue to be, analytics. It’s a hot topic in procurement, and I think there are profound opportunities to be deployed. For Globality, we’ll continue to endlessly innovate on user experience, ease of use, and beyond.”

Author

Nell Walker

Published

Estimated Read time

7Mins

“I’m overwhelmed,” are Matthias Gutzmann’s first words when asked about DPW Amsterdam 2024. At the end of the bustling two-day…

“I’m overwhelmed,” are Matthias Gutzmann’s first words when asked about DPW Amsterdam 2024. At the end of the bustling two-day event, we sat down with Gutzmann, the company’s founder, and Herman Knevel, DPW’s CEO, for a debrief. Gutzmann also quite rightly pointed out that the final word on summarising those 48 hours is in the hands of the sponsors and attendees, but if the countless conversations we had with said sponsors and attendees are anything to go by, it was the best DPW event yet. And Gutzmann and Knevel agree.

“I really think that’s the case,” says Gutzmann. “We almost doubled the number of exhibiting startups, we had over 120 sponsors, more startup pitches than ever, and all the feedback I’ve heard so far has been amazing. There are always things you can do better, but I’m absolutely happy.”

Across the 9th and 10th of October, DPW Amsterdam welcomed over 1,300 attendees through its doors at Beurs van Berlage, Amsterdam. Those attendees arrived from 44 countries across 32 industries, and the event itself featured 72 sessions with 140 speakers across five stages. It’s abundantly clear that people are deeply passionate about DPW.

“On day one, it was already packed at 8:30 in the morning,” Knevel states. “The energy in the room was contagious, and the numbers speak for themselves. The startups, the innovators, the corporates, the mid-market – everybody who’s here has a genuine interest in what these guys are bringing to the procurement space.”

Reconnecting with the vision

Gutzmann describes that intangible energy as “bringing a little bit of joy back to procurement”. For many years, procurement was a very ill-defined concept – almost as ill-defined as the role of CPO. The shift has been a quick one, accelerated further by the COVID-19 pandemic, and events like DPW Amsterdam are part of the reason why. CPOs having somewhere to go, to meet, to learn about the procurement landscape is vital, hence that inspiring energy that permeates every DPW event.

“A lot of people are missing that vibe,” Gutzmann continues. “It’s why I founded DPW. I was inspired by Mark Perera [Chairman of DPW], who I worked with at Vizibl, and had great technology while also being so inspiring. I realised we needed to connect founders with CPOs. I think every CPO should talk to one startup founder per week, at least. It’s important that we listen to their vision.”

Striving for 10X

The core of those visions for the 2024 event revolves around the concept of 10X, the idea being that you set targets for your business that are 10 times greater than what you think you can realistically achieve. It keeps people ambitious, always striving for greatness, and it’s especially prevalent in startup culture – hence Gutzmann’s belief that CPOs should be connecting with them more.

“Deciding on 10X for this year’s theme was serendipity,” says Knevel. “The term came along and Matthias said, ‘this is it – this is what we need in procurement’. This is what the industry needs, and we’re exploring it, diving deeper.”

“Last year’s theme was ‘Make Tech Work’, which was all about getting the basics right in order to scale,” Gutzmann continues. “This year we said, ‘how can we take it further?’ We are entering the biggest wave of AI yet. That technology is giving us the opportunity and the possibility to scale outcomes. The world around us is changing so fast, so we need to be more agile, scalable, and faster in procurement. It’s a very ambitious, maybe lofty theme, but it’s a mindset more than anything else.”

“It’s the mindset that drives innovation and speed,” Knevel adds. “That’s really important in this age of procuretech and supply chain tech.”

When it comes to honing that 10X mindset, it’s all about having a purpose in mind. A lot of the procurement professionals we spoke to at DPW Amsterdam called this a ‘north star’, which is the phase Gutzmann uses too. “That’s where it starts. There’s so much procurement can do. There are so many problems in the world, and I believe procurement can be the solution to many of those. So I think it starts with the CPO and their leadership, their vision. You also have to embrace startup innovation, be more experimental in the way you work, instigate new ways of working, and be bold in your thinking. You also have to remember it’s okay to fail.”

Growing DPW

Something that’s particularly impressive about DPW Amsterdam 2024 is that it’s actually the second of the year. Back in June, DPW ventured into the North American market with an intimate summit held in New York City, which CPOstrategy was fortunate enough to be invited to. Planning one wildly popular event a year is one thing, but venturing into a whole new part of the world with an additional one is incredibly dedicated.

“I’m a bit more conservative when planning ahead, so there probably wouldn’t be a New York event without Herman encouraging me,” says Gutzmann. “I’m glad he said ‘let’s go for it’. It was a short-term plan, but it was ultimately very successful and the right decision.”

Knevel adds: “The feedback we got from sponsors and delegates was quite impressive. They were asking for more. And it’s not just Matthias and myself – we have a great team here. This is a massive production, but we made the jump and it’s paid off.”

Inspiration for 2025

When it comes to the lessons Gutzmann and Knevel have learned in response to this event, it’s more about narrowing down the influx of ideas DPW gives them. By the time we spoke with them at the end of the Amsterdam 2024 event, their heads were spinning with inspiration.

“I have so many ideas,” says Gutzmann. “Every year we reinvent the show, so we never rest. We’re always asking what we can do better. How can we improve? I think this year we maxed out the number of sponsor stands that are possible to have. We doubled the number of under-30 attendees. There’s the potential to go a little deeper on the talent side, connecting students with the corporates and building a proper program around that.”

There was also the Tech Safari this year. The idea was to make the expo hall easier to navigate, since it was more crowded than ever this year. Members of the DPW team acted as ‘super connectors’ to help attendees find the right solutions and help startups find new customers. The aim was to simply make it easier for everyone involved to find what they’re looking for in small groups,enabling them to find who they wanted, talk to them, and ask questions. It turned out to be an amazing interactive experience for people, making sure they felt thoroughly looked after and valued.

“Plus there’s an opportunity to cater more to the corporates coming in,” Gutzmann continues. “Perhaps we will build a custom program for them around the event. Some of them are already coming in with teams and doing annual leadership meetings outside of the venue, but I think there’s scope to show them solutions and do some workshops within the event. We can also do more with day zero, where we have site events. There’s much more we can do.”

Giving CPOs what they want

As for the broader future of the event, DPW’s heart lies in Amsterdam and will continue to do so. The organisation is building its team even further and putting strategies in place for future events, allowing it to move forward. “We follow the demand of what our customers want,” Knevel says. That’s what really drives DPW and how the event is themed and set up. The organisation listens to CPOs so it can give them exactly what they need, and what will help the industry level up further and further. 

“There are things we’re still developing,” says Gutzmann. “For example, the podcast studio [something introduced in its current form for 2024] is something Herman is very passionate about, so it was great to test it out here. There’s more we can do with that. We have so many ideas and it’s important to engage our amazing team on these ideas and see what they think along the way.”

“We’re ideating a lot,” Knevel adds. “And we’re asking our ecosystem what we should do more of.”

“Ultimately, we’re bringing in the voice of the customer to make sure we’re giving them what they want and need,” Gutzmann concludes. “That’s the whole purpose of DPW.”

Author

Nell Walker

Published

Estimated Read time

6Mins

Amsterdam became a hub of innovation once again this year at DPW’s huge annual conference in October. Procurement professionals flew…

Amsterdam became a hub of innovation once again this year at DPW’s huge annual conference in October. Procurement professionals flew in from all over the world to attend not only DPW’s two-day event, but an official side event led by ORO Labs: ORO Imagine.

ORO Labs brought its event to Amsterdam on the 8th of October as a fitting precursor to DPW 2024. The event was centred around the latest trends and best practices in procurement orchestration. The day featured keynote speeches from some of the most notable professionals in the sector, as well as company case studies, demonstrations, interactive sessions, and the opportunity for attendees to connect with their peers.

Solving procurement’s issues

The atmosphere was buzzing as attendees arrived to register and enjoy lunch, before the afternoon of fascinating sessions was kicked off by Sudhir Bhojwani, CEO and Co-Founder of ORO Labs. He opened with an introduction to ORO Labs and its modern procurement orchestration platform, aimed at solving user experience and compliance issues, among others. He reminded attendees that procurement is not linear nor consistent, which has resulted in years of business user frustration in trying to understand how to get things done.

But Bhojwani noted that the ORO Promise of a no-code platform, coupled with deep procurement semantics and Gen AI capabilities, is now humanising the procurement experience and guiding users and procurement teams to satisfactory outcomes.

Technology shouldn’t feel like pouring cement

The next session was led by Jason Busch of Spend Matters: ‘The intersection of world matters with Spend Matters – a navigation conversation’. Busch zoomed out from the procuretech conversation to look at the state of the world and current business and geopolitical trends, from human labour versus automation, to global trade dependence versus supply chain localisation, to the relatively sluggish economies in the US and EU.

Busch went on to predict that procurement may soon look like SimCity as a function. Technology investments will beget further technology investments, as tech becomes better and less expensive. We’ll see significant innovation from more providers, as well as procurement in three dimensions: physical, information, and capital.

He then gave a broad overview of what’s happening in procurement, including micro economies within industries, tech and data replacing bodies in top consultancies, and intake and orchestration starting to take over source-to-pay. Sourcing automation is starting to make major strides too, beyond just tail spend, and direct materials procurement is finally starting to move beyond Excel. Busch recognised that implementing older procurement platforms was like “pouring cement” for decades, whereas orchestration provides a lighter-weight, malleable and agile workflow-building approach. It was a hopeful talk, ending with a discussion about what orchestration really is and how it’s transforming procurement. 

Customer Spotlight

After Busch’s session came two Customer Spotlight talks from Bayer and Liberty Global respectively. Bayer’s was entitled ‘Make procurement work for our people’, and was led by Marc Ofiara and Ryan Whitemore from the company. They gave an overview of Bayer as an organisation, before delving into how they use ORO Labs’ solution. The pair discussed making procurement work for business users, making it work for suppliers, and making it work for its own procurement teams, as part of one AI-powered, simple interface with full visibility. 

Then came Liberty Global’s spotlight story, led by Stu Rogers and Valeriia Basko. They dove into challenges around visibility and user experience, integrated process and compliance, and efficiency and collaboration – all exacerbated by serving many diverse business units each with their own legacy systems. They then outlined the benefits of making changes, including a consolidated procurement and contract pipeline, tailored workflows, and collaboration – all things procurement needs in order to keep up and continue to evolve. The key learnings Liberty Global outlined were around being agile and focusing on digital, with the right data yielding the right results. They concluded by advising attendees to balance inspiration with realism, co-create with diverse users, and don’t wait to make change: release and then refine.

Future value delivery

During the break the excitement of the day continued as procurement professionals came together to network and discuss their learnings, before the second half of the afternoon kicked off with an interactive session and panel. ‘The future of procurement orchestration from the practitioners’ view’ saw Lance Younger of Procuretech, Sebastian Ebers from Roche, Rita Santos from Grunenthal, and Szilvia Regos of Diageo discussing future value delivery from orchestration, and how it can be delivered. 

The panel discussed where orchestration is likely to have the biggest impact across procurement, and dug deep into some of the most vital metrics, such as process compliance, touchless transactions, budget compliance, and spend management. Then they outlined some of the major procurement value drivers – including AI-based spend analysis and cost management, AI-powered supplier and risk management, and Gen AI for contract and document management – all of which are among the biggest procurement priorities over the next couple of years. 

The rise of labour 2.0

Then came a talk from Dr Elouise Epstein of Kearney. Her talk – ‘The procurement generation: boom(er) or bust?’ – delved into labour 2.0, and the way the workforce is set to change. There’s a big shift in the age of the workforce, with Gen Z about to overtake Baby Boomers in the workplace for the first time, so there needs to be a re-evaluation of what that means for businesses – and for procurement.

She also discussed broader ways in which technology has changed the demands of the modern consumer, from COVID-19 increasing our impatience for online purchases when we could no longer use physical shops, to relying on ChatGPT to write our social media posts and answer questions. Dr Epstein reiterated that yesterday’s skills are a thing of the past, and tomorrow’s skills focus more on elements like a love of data, creativity, intellectual curiosity, storytelling, and network thinking. 

She also added that – as was the theme of the entire event – orchestration is king, and process management is no longer as relevant. She added a quote of her own, which encapsulates the major barrier when it comes to change: “Within 18 months we will have all the technology we could ever need for the enterprise. The problem is apathy and Excel.”

After a deeply informative afternoon, Lalitha Rajagopalan, ORO Labs Co-Founder and Head of Strategy, summed up the day with a reminder that the procurement experience must be humanised, and that advanced technology actually serves to make that easier. Rather than technology distancing us from one another, she reminded us that with orchestration it can bring us closer together for the most informed and aligned decision-making. 

The event served as an ideal preface for DPW, shining a spotlight on today’s issues and the landscape of tomorrow. Congratulations to ORO Labs and everybody involved for an excellent and impactful day at ORO Imagine.

Author

Nell Walker

Published

28 August 2024

Estimated Read time

4Mins

We caught up with Shachi Rai Gupta from ORO Labs to discuss the importance of orchestration in procurement.

Simplifying procurement in smart ways is the ultimate goal for ORO Labs. Utilising the best of AI, ORO Labs aims to implement procurement orchestration across sectors, creating an experience that is simultaneously automated, augmented, and humanised.

Shachi Rai Gupta is VP Strategy at ORO Labs, with a wealth of transformation and technology experience behind her. Rai Gupta’s sharp eye on procurement has allowed her to witness the rise and fall of various trends, and understand what the sector needs as it – along with technology – evolves. 

We caught up with Rai Gupta at the DPW NYC Summit back in June, a special North American version of the event. Procurement trends, especially AI and orchestration, were very much the theme of the day, prompting lively conversations amongst some of the world’s most influential procurement leaders.

Procurement as a net positive experience generator

For Rai Gupta, the trends right now are guided by the fact that procurement has more of a  strategic and evolved role than ever, giving the function the opportunity to have a great impact on the enterprise bottom-line and the environment and community at large 

“Procurement is morphing into a function where one of its biggest responsibilities is to be a net positive experience generator,” she explains.

“Procurement really is a service function for the whole business stakeholders. We, as procurement professionals, need to see things through the lens of the business. This includes what issues the business is trying to solve, and meeting the business where it’s at for good collaboration.

“It’s also important to make this experience as easy as possible, rather than cumbersome and time intensive. That needs to be catered and customised to the individual business segments.”

Prioritising the planet

Another area Rai Gupta is seeing talked about a lot is sustainability. This topic has, for some, been sidelined a little in favour of advanced technology. But it’s just as important as it’s always been, and it’s vital to keep the discussion alive – especially in procurement.

“More and more, companies are realising the impact they’re having on the environment,” Rai Gupta explains. “It’s an increasing priority on all our agendas. The technology is still nascent in that space, in the sense that there aren’t good ways to do benchmarking or tracking. That’s going to be an interesting space to watch out for.”

The next generation

Another hot topic of the DPW NYC Summit was the talent shortage. We at CPOstrategy discuss this topic a lot with procurement professionals, and there’s no one answer for fixing the issue.

“There’s a dearth of good digital talent,” Rai Gupta states. “The skillset you need today in procurement is very different from what we’ve had before. To be able to leverage that, to really make use of the procurement teams you have and the operational model you want, it’s a different challenge. The structure of your team is more important than ever. 

“While that shortage is there, when you do have the right people in place in procurement, that’s where the department shines,” Rai Gupta adds. “That’s where procurement becomes a group of trusted advisors for the business, providing proactive opportunities. We wear a lot of hats in procurement, and we’re stepping up to a new level of evolution.”

Advanced tech for good

And, of course, AI and orchestration are terms on everyone’s lips right now – procurement included. AI is, in Rai Gupta’s words, “a solver”. Many of the blockages and challenges procurement is experiencing as it evolves can be solved, or at least aided, by AI and orchestration. “There’s so much tech out there,” Rai Gupta states. “AI is one such possibility. Every segment of procurement comes with its own risks and requires its own expertise and tool sets. 

“To manage that whole ecosystem is where that orchestration comes in. There’s a real beauty in this because it’s collaborative. It makes the whole bigger than its parts.”

Author

Nell Walker

Published

Estimated Read time

5Mins

CPOstrategy visited the first ever DPW NYC Summit and have compiled five of the most important lessons we learned during the event.

On the 12th of June this year, we at CPOstrategy had the pleasure of attending DPW’s first ever New York event. 130+ procurement professionals came together for this intimate gathering at NeueHouse, New York City, to learn, mingle, and be engaged by the incredible things happening in digital procurement right now.

The fascinating sessions throughout the day highlighted the current trends and challenges within the procurement segment. Here are five of the most important lessons we learned at the DPW NYC Summit.

AI doesn’t stifle creativity – it promotes it

There can sometimes be a little fear around AI, especially when it comes to art and creativity. However, it’s worth remembering that AI is a tool and it can’t replace human expression – but it can help to enhance it.

Mark Perera, Chairman of DPW, and Scott Belsky, Chief Strategy Officer & EVP Design & Emerging Products at Adobe, discussed this in their talk entitled ‘The radical impact of AI’. They pondered on what makes humans stand out; the answer, they decided, is ideas. As a result, human input will always be necessary. The deployment of AI-powered productivity pools will actually evolve people’s ability to change minds and influence, not stifle it.

In Belsky’s words: “Now we can express ourselves creatively and with confidence, thanks to the tools we have.”

A system should learn you, not the other way around

Orchestration was one of the themes of the day at the DPW NYC Summit. In their session, ‘AI-powered humanised experience: Procurement orchestration at play’, Shachi Gupta, VP Strategy at Oro Labs, and Digital Procurement Futurist Dr Elouise Epstein, delved into this.

They explored the ways in which AI enables us to innovate and improve what we do, and Dr. Epstein reflected on the early days of being a CPO – particularly noting that many fell into the role without knowing what it meant. Change accelerated in 2020 and the concept of a CPO has become solidified since then. However, with that, it has become clear that the way we use technology has changed, and needs to change further.

“The suite providers are over,” Dr Epstein boldly stated. “They’re the old paradigm. The system should learn you. Orchestration is the next generation of procurement.”

Procurement needs a deeper understanding of data

How we use data is constantly evolving, but we need to understand it far better in order to get the best out of it. This was touched on in another session – ‘Next-gen tech: Managing complexity and delivering user simplicity’ – hosted by Mathew Shulz, VP Procurement Strategy at Airbase, in conversation with Christina Howlett-Perez, AVP Head of Procurement at Definitive Healthcare, and Pierre Mitchell, Chief Research Officer & MD or Spend Matters.

The trio explored the concept of procurement now having a seat at the table, and what that means. For example, it means understanding where your company is at, what the policies are, and knowing how to update procurement in a tactical way. It requires focus on gen AI, intake, and orchestration.

The challenge is understanding data better. There needs to be total transparency for end-users as well as the CEO and CFO, requiring easy, adaptable tools. As a result, procurement desperately needs more people with a deep understanding of data, otherwise advanced technological upgrades are just sticking a plaster on a gaping wound.

Digital transformation is not about technology

For obvious reasons, transformation was also a major theme of the DPW NYC Summit. David Rogers, author of ‘The Digital Transformation Roadmap’, led a talk entitled ‘Fueling AI adoption with a transformation mindset’, and highlighted the fact that digital transformation isn’t about the technology you choose.

As with Mark Perera and Scott Belsky’s talk, Rogers’s centred around why humans are still so important when making technological change. What digital transformation is actually about is a change in strategy in mindset; the technology is merely the tool. It’s used in the service of the business to solve what needs to be solved, but people and change management are at the core.

There are four big debts to overcome in procurement

Tony Philippone, Chief Research Officer at HFS Research, closed the DPW NYC Summit with some final remarks and additional words of wisdom. At the end of an inspirational event filled with practical, applicable advice, and discussions marked by ideas and challenges, Philippone reminded attendees that there are still roadblocks ahead.

“A lot of the technology we use today is dead,” Philippone stated, echoing the sentiments of Dr Epstein earlier in the day. He highlighted the fact that procurement is as people-driven as it’s always been – again, a theme felt throughout the day – but that there are still four big debts to overcome. Those are people, process, data, and technical, and they require plenty of attention in order to move forward.

Author

Nell Walker

Published

27 August 2024

Estimated Read time

7Mins

CPOstrategy chats with Matthias Gutzmann, founder at DPW, to discuss the launch of his first North America procurement event in New York.

After the runaway success of DPW Amsterdam for the last five years, it’s no surprise that the organisation’s first ever North America event would be just as well-received. 

DPW launched its flagship event in 2019, and the subsequent annual conferences, based in Amsterdam, have gone from strength to strength. The 2023 event saw thousands of procurement professionals pouring in to learn, to share, to make connections. 

As a result, and based on popular demand from sponsors and attendees, DPW decided to host a small, intimate event in New York in June 2024. And it couldn’t have gone more perfectly. CPOstrategy was fortunate enough to attend this exclusive event, joining over 130 procurement pioneers for a day of learning, discussion groups, and sharing expertise with peers.

Matthias Gutzmann founded DPW based on a gap he saw in the industry. The entire reason he launched the organisation was because he identified a need for events focused on digital transformation in procurement, particularly recognising startups at the forefront of innovation. 

DPW focuses on getting the best speakers to tackle procurement’s most critical issues and priorities. The same held true for the DPW NYC Summit, where the main topics of conversation included the exponential impact of AI and the future of procurement, with notable speakers including Scott Belsky and David Rogers.

“A lot of what’s out there for procurement events, it’s the same old, same old,” explains Gutzmann. “It’s the same old speakers, the same old topics. We bring new topics into the community, focusing on technology first. It makes sense to prioritise innovation.”

Why NY?

The idea for DPW was actually formulated in New York. Gutzmann was living in Brooklyn  when the idea first struck him to introduce something new and unique to the procurement industry. He later moved back to Germany, and launched the first DPW event in Amsterdam.

“If you do well in Europe, the next big market is North America,” Gutzmann states. “You have to ask yourself, ‘where do we go?’ As a launch event, you want to get access to the CPOs, the top leaders in procurement. New York has the highest density of CPOs in the US. It’s really low-hanging fruit to launch DPW here.”

DPW across borders

As DPW has grown, so too has demand to expand beyond the flagship event in Amsterdam. While Amsterdam was the perfect place to launch the world’s most influential procurement technology event, there are many other hubs of innovation to be tapped. And DPW is aiming to fulfil that role.

“There’s definitely a widespread desire for something focused around technology and digital transformation,” says Gutzmann. “In North America, the B2B communities and events tend to be a bit broader. The need we’re fulfilling is in the tech space, and there’s a big need for that – specifically a focus on AI. 

“People are also looking for a new experience. We’ve built the brand in Amsterdam, the industry has heard about it, and they’re ready for more. We entered the market cold and so much of our popularity has been word of mouth. That just goes to show how needed DPW was and is.”

Defining procurement

What’s interesting is that, on the one hand, procurement increasingly has a seat at the table for many organisations. The segment is making decisions, driving innovation, utilising advanced technology. On the opposite end of the spectrum, procurement is sometimes a complete unknown. In its current form, it’s a new role with blurred borders that’s evolving all the time. 

The problem with this is that people don’t necessarily know what procurement entails, or they assume it’s not an interesting or attractive job. This has led to a talent shortage in the sector, which was an ongoing – and concerning – topic of conversation throughout the DPW NYC Summit.

“If you want to drive digital transformation success, you need to bring in new talent,” says Gutzmann. “It’s time for the next generation to come in. However, people don’t know what it is. They know sales, they know marketing, they know finance – but what about procurement?”

Driving change

And it’s people that drive real change. Not technology, but people transformation. The lack of tech talent, procurement talent, and of knowledge around what procurement truly is, is what led Gutzmann to launch the DPW Next 100. 

“It’s a young talent community focusing on the next generation of procurement tech professionals under 30,” he explains. “We’re doing our bit to nurture the next generation of talent. Once people are in procurement, they typically stay because it’s an amazing function. You get to touch so many areas, you’re dealing with suppliers in an external ecosystem – it’s great. Some people think procurement isn’t attractive, but I disagree, especially as procurement becomes increasingly digital.”

The educational element of bringing awareness to what procurement truly is is something of an ongoing mission for DPW. Gutzmann adds: “My belief is that procurement will be a game changing function within businesses. This is because it brings in outside innovation from suppliers. That’s the biggest value proposition, in my opinion. 

“It takes time to build a brand, so creating a positive name for procurement is a work in progress. But Luxembourg University launched its digital procurement masters a couple of years ago, and there are always news stories about supply chain issues on the television. These are the sorts of things that are putting procurement on the map. It might not be top of mind just yet, but we’re here to change that.”

The future of DPW

It’s impossible to discuss DPW at a DPW event and not consider what the future will bring for these cutting-edge procurement events. The Amsterdam event will be occurring this year as usual between the 8th and the 10th of October, bringing established and new procurement professionals together to discuss the sector’s biggest challenges. But what about after that?

“The pandemic really highlighted the fact that face-to-face events aren’t dying out,” Gutzmann confirms. “People are craving interaction on a personal level. What we’ve done is connect the right seniority levels with each other, making the best of the networking opportunities DPW offers. 

“We also need to maintain intimacy, on the top level,” he continues. “There’s room and opportunities for broader events where we bring teams of eight-to-10 people from specific companies, over one or two days, along with something for more junior attendees. What I learned from the DPW NYC Summit is that people do want that intimacy, and that we should maintain and nurture that, while also building something bigger to bring in larger teams.”

As DPW looks to create new types of events and tap into areas like FinTech, the question of whether there will be another US event after the grand success of the DPW NYC Summit can be answered with another question: why not? There’s a demand, a hungry audience, and so much still to explore and learn as the sector morphs into new and exciting shapes every day. We can’t wait to see what DPW has in store next.

To find out all about the highlights of the DPW NYC Summit, read the overview in issue 52 of CPOstrategy.

Author

Nell Walker

Published

23 August 2024

Estimated Read time

9Mins

DPW hosted its first NYC event which dug deep into AI and what it can do for procurement now and in the future.

It’s fair to say that DPW Amsterdam has taken the procurement world by storm over the last five years. Founder Matthias Gutzmann developed the concept for Digital Procurement World in 2019, after discovering that existing procurement conferences lacked originality and investor interest. The kernel of an idea for something inspiring and innovative to fill the void formed then, while Gutzmann was working in New York. 

Returning to his home country of Germany later that year, Gutzmann poured all his savings into launching DPW. The first conference, in September 2019, brought in over 400 industry leaders from across 33 countries – an incredible feat for a brand new concept. That response just goes to show that the industry was starved of a truly exceptional procurement conference. 

DPW NYC: The inception

Since then, DPW has gone from strength to strength. Last year’s Amsterdam event attracted over 5,000 attendees and the event has won multiple awards. It seems apt, then, that this incredible growth journey should see DPW coming to its spiritual home of New York for 2024. On the 12th of June, 2024 DPW hosted its first NYC event which dug deep into AI and what it can do for procurement – something that was a natural step for the organisation.

“New York has the highest density of CPOs in the US,” explains Gutzmann. “If you do well in Europe – which DPW has – the next big market is North America. New York is low-hanging fruit with so many pharma and financial services companies.”

As such, it made sense for Gutzmann to launch DPW in New York, where demand for conferences focused on digital transformation and technology is high. “CPOs in the US are looking for something new,” he continues. “They’ve heard about DPW Amsterdam and they’re ready for it here.”

Held in an ultra-cool penthouse in NeueHouse Madison Square, New York City, this intimate event brought together 128 procurement professionals for a day of talks hosted by experts in the field. The goal was to have 100 people, and several others had to be turned away at the door, such was the popularity of the event. The term of the day was ‘artificial intelligence’, the talks focused primarily on what advanced technology and AI can do for procurement – and how the human touch can be maintained.

Thoughts on DPW NYC

“The event has been exceptional from a networking perspective, and really understanding all the challenges that other leaders in similar positions are facing. It’s really heartening to know we’re not the only ones dealing with some of these situations.” – Ajay Khosla, Director, Procurement Digital Experience, Google

“It’s great to hear about what is available in the marketplace from new technology and procurement perspectives, as well as how generative AI is changing procurement as a function.” – Al Williams, Global Chief Procurement Officer and Corporate Services, Invesco

“The intimacy of this event has generated so many amazing conversations between companies. I think this is the perfect sized audience when you’re talking about innovation.” – Danielle McQuiston, Chief Customer Officer, Candex

“It feels like DPW is really starting to build a community and a network. The more of those we have in this space, the more we’re going to get done.” – Gabe Perez, Chief Strategy Officer, RiseNow

Inspiring sessions

Gutzmann opened the day alongside Herman Knevel, CEO of DPW, the attendees buzzing with anticipation. Gutzmann explained DPW’s backstory and how the point of the concept was to nourish the future of the latest thinking in procurement and AI. Where the question was once ‘what is AI?’, it’s now ‘what can AI do for me?’. Gutzmann urged attendees to lean into AI and embrace it and how it can support procurement.

The first in-depth talk of the event was ‘The radical impact of AI’, led by DPW’s Chairman, Mark Perera, in conversation with Scott Belsky, Chief Strategy Officer at Adobe. The two asked: what makes humans stand out? The answer is ideas. The key to positive change through AI lies within its ability to support humans, not replace them. 

Belsky stated that the deployment of productivity tools will evolve people’s ability to change minds and influence, and people themselves will always be necessary. AI tools give us the confidence to express ourselves creatively and unlock better personalisation. Belsky explained how he has watched the AI landscape evolve from low-end automation to decision-making, and as a result, procurement is low-hanging fruit from an AI perspective.

Belsky’s hope is that AI becomes a layer of understanding and more accessible within procurement, raising the bar further for humans. It’s time for 10x thinking, rather than 10% thinking, in his words.

Orchestration at play

The marrying of AI and people power continued with the next session, hosted by Shachi Gupta, VP Strategy, Oro Labs, in conversation with the Digital Procurement Futurist, Dr. Elouise Epstein. The session – ‘AI-powered humanized experience: Procurement orchestration at play’ – delved into the ways in which we can invest in and evolve procurement. 

The pair discussed how AI enables us to innovate and improve on what we already do. Dr. Epstein reflected on when procurement was nascent, with CPOs who didn’t know why they were in their roles or what they should focus on. Change only really accelerated during the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, and it solidified the CPO role at the same time. Which begs the question: how can procurement improve the topline as well as the bottom line? 

Dr. Epstein and Gupta talked about lessons learned from the pandemic – including that procurement needed to speed up and become more efficient, since squeezing of costs is an ongoing issue. They stated that UX and data are the focus, while AI is the umbrella, and that procurement orchestration is now absolutely vital. Dr. Epstein boldly stated that the suite providers are over; they’re the old paradigm, and it should be the case that systems learn users, not the other way around. Orchestration is something procurement is only now wrapping its head around, she concluded, but it’s firmly the next generation of procurement.

Five steps to apply AI in your business

David Rogers, author of ‘The Digital Transformation Roadmap’, stated in his talk that five vital steps to apply AI in your business are:

  1. Define a problem to solve
  2. Find your customer
  3. Validate a definition of success
  4. Experiment to see what works
  5. Share what you learn

Procurement has a seat at the table; so what’s next?

Then came ‘Next-gen tech: Managing complexity and delivering user simplicity’, hosted by Airbase’s VP Procurement Strategy, Mathew Schulz. The session focused on user experience, and saw Schulz deep in conversation with Christina Howlett-Perez, AVP Head of Procurement at Definitive Healthcare, and Pierre Mitchell, Chief Research Officer and MD at Spend Matters. 

They discussed the fact that, with procurement now having a seat at the table, you need to understand where your company’s at when it comes to updating the procurement side. The solution needs to be tactical and cost effective. The group’s solution was to focus on gen AI, intake, and – as Dr. Epstein and Gupta had mentioned already – orchestration. 

The thing to remember, Schulz et al added, is the need for transparency for both the end-users and top leadership. This requires adaptable tools, meaning that procurement needs people who have a deep understanding of data.

The ongoing theme of people – and how they’re still at the core of procurement – was continued by David Rogers, author of ‘The Digital Transformation Roadmap’. His session – ‘Fuelling AI adoption with a transformation mindset’ – focused on the fact that digital transformation is less about technology and more about strategy and mindset.

The afternoon brought with it breakout sessions in smaller groups, with each group involved in lively, innovative discussions surrounding the main topics of the day and presenting their conclusions for everybody to muse upon. This was followed by Rujul Zaparde, Co-Founder and CEO of Zip speaking to Katie Streu, Senior Director Strategic Sourcing at Coinbase, and Guru Mohan, VP Global Procurement at Toast.

The trio brought together the much-dissected topics of AI and orchestration and delved into the best strategies for making them work well together and achieve improvements across the board. They also talked more broadly about practical applications of AI within procurement processes, and the results thereof. 

Thoughts on DPW NYC

“The size of the event is good, and despite how small the group is, the DPW team has managed to keep the vibe of the Amsterdam event. It’s really engaging and forward-looking, and you also get the chance to talk to everybody. I think that’s really great.” – Johan-Peter Teppala, Chief Customer Officer, Sievo

“It’s been phenomenal. The content, the fact that it’s an intimate group, and the quality of the people here. DPW is setting the standard for events.” – Rujul Zaparde, Co-Founder & CEO, Zip

“It feels like home. I feel like everything we’re discussing about solving procurement problems in more innovative ways, and taking a digital lens to everything – these are things I’ve been a crusader for for the longest time. I’m so glad it’s gained momentum and power so that we have this great community now.” – Shachi Gupta, Vice President of Strategy, ORO Labs

AI: Close up

Excitingly, the final session of the day involved everybody wearing a VR headset and being taken on a tour of the metaverse by Clive Teal, CEO of LavinirAI. This involved showing the users around the metaverse, demonstrating its applications, and digging into the benefits from a procurement perspective via multiple fascinating use cases. 

Then, Tony Philippone, Chief Research Officer at HFS Research, closed out the day with some brilliant insights and sobering reminders for the rapt attendees. In his words, a lot of the technology we used today is dead. We’ve spent the last 5,000 years advancing what we’ve always done in procurement, and it demands people-driven as it has advanced. And yet, four big debts remain: people, process, data, and technical. 

Gen AI has changed the game and AI assistants will change things even further, Philippone explained. He also added that implementing gen AI is not a slam dunk. Success requires the right strategy, quality data, and prioritisation to help meet procurement goals.

With a rapt, engaged, and lively audience from start to finish, DPW NYC 2024 was a huge success. Many attendees went on to join the DPW team for the after party at the rooftop of Arlo NoMad where the stirring conversations continued and positive feedback flowed. The event felt like the start of something even bigger for DPW NYC, with Gutzmann, Knevel, Perera, and the whole team openly excited for what’s next. And we at CPOstrategy can’t wait to see how this event evolves, too.

Author

Nell Walker

Published

22 August 2024

Estimated Read time

5Mins

We caught up with Edmund Zagorin, Founder at Arkestro, at DPW NYC in June to discuss the state of procurement and how AI relates to it.

In our many conversations with procurement professionals and leaders across the sector, a consistent problem is the various ways in which procurement sometimes lags behind other parts of any given business. The upside to this is the innovative companies that spring up to solve these issues.

Arkestro was spawned due to the ongoing issue of how long it takes to collect and compare supplier quotes. As a predictive procurement orchestration solution, Arkestro sits in the quoting process between companies and their suppliers. It leverages behavioural science and game theory to create much faster procurement cycles and better cost outcomes at scale. It does this in a radically simple way, enabling procurement to use predictive AI to act first in the negotiation, or generate counter-offers based on data.

“By using predictive AI to be proactive, procurement is in the driver’s seat with the supplier from the get-go,” explains Edmund Zagorin, Arkestro’s Founder and Chief Strategy Officer. “It allows you to unlock areas of value that the more reactive procurement process can’t do.”

We caught up with Zagorin at DPW NYC in June to discuss the state of procurement and how AI relates to it, as well as the current roadblocks stopping procurement from being the best it can be. One of the main issues discussed across the event was the talent shortage.

Edmund Zagorin, Founder and Chief Strategy Officer, Arkestro

Addressing the talent shortage

According to Zagorin, that challenge shortage isn’t going anywhere – not without a serious overhaul to make procurement look much more appealing, at least.

“There’s a talent shortage in a lot of back office roles, not just procurement,” he explains. “The one in supply chain, though, is expected to get worse. It’s most acute in developed countries where jobs in warehouses, tracking, and admin jobs come with low pay. They’re very stressful and don’t have great options for career advancement. This creates challenges with hiring and retaining talent.”

One of the many great things AI is doing for procurement is to make roles more attractive. AI is becoming an increasingly integral part of the future workforce and is creating new job opportunities for people. AI also allows people to focus on being more strategic in their jobs rather than pushing papers all day and other admin tasks that can be automated.

“I think we’re going to see AI orchestration that runs across multiple embedded platforms,” says Zagorin. “That has the potential to dramatically improve the quality of day-to-day procurement work. In the short term, this will help address the talent shortage by making it more appealing.”

AI as a strategy

Adopting these kinds of AI solutions across procurement is the biggest trend in the sector right now, according to Zagorin. AI as a procurement partner was discussed extensively at DPW NYC, but one of the takeaways from several speakers was that AI is not just a tool – it’s part of the strategy.

“There was a survey done recently about the biggest problems businesses are using AI and procurement to solve,” says Zagorin. “Number one for many companies is something called ‘inflation clawback’. During the pandemic, most suppliers raised their prices across categories, and they haven’t subsequently decreased those prices. Companies that have cost reduction programs know they need to be asking for reductions systematically and competitively. They need to be benchmarking themselves against their peers, and assessing whether they’re leaving money and value on the table.”

“The second problem is the talent shortage. Some businesses are being motivated to leverage AI to make the job more attractive to new recruits. But there are some jobs which are particularly difficult to hire for. As technology matures, AI is increasingly becoming a core skill that humans must learn how to use successfully. Failure to learn how to utilise the likes of generative AI correctly could prove costly as AI models continue to develop and companies adopt new processes at speed.

Solving decarbonisation

“The third biggest issue AI is helping to solve is decarbonisation. This is a big deal in Europe especially, with some of the world’s largest logistics companies having decarbonisation programs in place, and/or an internal carbon tax. “This carbon tax is implemented through procurement,” says Zagorin. “If you spend money on something that increases emissions, you pay for the cost of those emissions out of your budget. That money goes into a slush fund and gets redistributed to people who reduce carbon. So, this is affecting headcount plans, budgeting processes, and it’s creating real behaviour change.

“As that becomes the norm more and more in Europe, it’ll begin to cross the Atlantic and you’ll see US corporations begin to adopt that as well,” Zagorin continues. In order to do that, businesses need to be able to measure the carbon cost of a gallon of fuel per mile travelled for the mode of transport in a lane of logistics. And here, AI is able to step in once more.

“This is a data-intensive taste. So that’s something else where we’re seeing AI playing a role. It’s helping compute, track, and forecast the carbon cost of various logistics, footprints, networks of freight, and procurement activities.”

Author

Nell Walker

Published

15 August 2024

Estimated Read time

4Mins

We chatted with Johan-Peter Teppala from Sievo about why procurement needs to use technology wisely.

When CPOstrategy attended the DPW NYC Summit back in June, one of the buzzwords of the day was trends. Trends in procurement, trends in technology, and how to combine the two. The event was filled with productive discussions around how procurement can benefit from data and advanced technology. This led to a hopeful vibe throughout the day, despite and because of acknowledgements of procurement’s shortfalls. 

We caught up with Johan-Peter Teppala, Chief Customer Officer of Sievo, at the NYC conference. For Teppala, that hopefulness is something he took away from the event. “It is great to see so many companies out there with keen interest in adopting new securities and technologies,” he says. “Procurement has increasing demand to do more with less, which explains also the need for technology to drive efficiency and to deliver more. I think it’s just inertia that’s slowing us down.”

However, advanced technology is helping shift the inertia that’s so prevalent across procurement. “Developments in GenAI have been exceptionally fast, especially recently,” Teppala adds. “With an increasing amount of practical Gen AI use cases, this has become a topic that touches each and everyone in procurement. At Sievo, we are dedicating R&D budgets to AI innovations. We have quickly been able to ramp up many practical use cases for our clients to deliver business value in this area.”

Using data and technology wisely

Teppala continues: “Sievo strives to withhold our position as the leading Procurement Analytics partner for large enterprises. We are driven by the goal to close the data-to-action gap. We believe analytics alone has zero value, it’s the actions that we take that drive the value.” This was a topic that was repeated several times during the DPW NYC Summit.

“As a result, SIevo’s goal is to ensure our customers can use their time most efficiently. We help them make business-impacting decisions and best use their expertise, whilst Sievo automatically surfaces insights that they can take action on. First and foremost, our work is about carving out insights. And once you have those insights, how do you automate those actions to create opportunities? That’s definitely one thing we’re keen to solve.”

Sievo is also focusing its attention on gen AI – how it can be adopted and what the use cases are. “AI for data cleansing has been around for a while,” says Teppala. “Right now, Gen AI is getting really good traction from a technology point of view. It’s not just insights, but adopting AI into chat interfaces, and reaping the benefits with implementable actions. It’s amazing.”

The changing talent landscape

The increased adoption of AI is going to also change the talent landscape within procurement. Another heavily-discussed topic during DPW NYC was the talent shortage and how it has the potential to slow procurement down. However, advanced technology may be the thing that accelerates it once again.

“The talent you need is changing,” says Teppala. “The procurement mandate has widened  beyond delivering cost savings. Now, it’s also about driving sustainability initiatives, emission reductions, increasing diverse spending, and preventing supply chain risks. Procurement has to be creative and resource-effective for reaching ideal outcomes. This is a big challenge but also a big opportunity and also impacts the talent needed in procurement. 

“You don’t necessarily need to hire superstars who know everything. It’s about teamwork. Building a procurement team out of people who possess all these modern talents, who can support each other. I can’t know whether this is going to solve the talent shortage, but at least we’re shifting towards a different kind of talent as capabilities change. 

Teppala concludes: “We need to be thinking more about what kind of team we actually want to build – not just what kind of really good, talented individual we can find.”

Author

Nell Walker

Published

13 August 2024

Estimated Read time

4Mins

For a company like TealBook, data is king. The organisation helps businesses to navigate the complex supplier landscape by offering…

For a company like TealBook, data is king. The organisation helps businesses to navigate the complex supplier landscape by offering a foundation of high-quality data. This is something that’s often sorely missing in procurement.

“We have a data problem,” Stephany Lapierre, CEO and Founder of TealBook, told us when we caught up with her at the DPW NYC Summit in June. “It’s always been my view that we don’t have a software or people problem – it’s data. If we could achieve better data – no matter the data stack, no matter the maturity, no matter the vertical – it would be truly transformative.”

Creating a data foundation

Lapierre has watched procurement’s attempt to tackle advanced technology without good data. Simply buying software is the easy part. Some have even tried to build their own architecture around that software. However, that’s often unsuccessful and highly manual. This is what led to the creation of TealBook.

“We’re in this pursuit of how we can deliver to the market,” Lapierre states. “We’ve been building a trusted data foundation for eight years.” More recently, the second version of TealBook’s service is significantly more powerful than the first. This allows it to ingest data at speed and set up new data sources within a couple of hours. “The more data sources, the more suppliers we’re covering, the more attributes per supplier. And, the more signals to improve the TrustScore and the confidence behind the quality of our data.”

Never ignore the fundamentals 

The fact that quality data is all too often overlooked in procurement in favour of advanced technology was something of a theme at the DPW NYC Summit. The opinion of Lapierre is that there’s little point in implementing advanced tech without first having usable data in place. Many others at the event felt the same.

“It’s like buying a house because you love the house, but paying no attention to its foundation, plumbing, or electrics,” she explains. “Procurement has been buying up technology solutions, wanting to see the workflow, the UI, what it can do. However, people aren’t asking where that data comes from. How is it being evaluated? What about the compliance side of having suppliers populating a portal?

“Procurement has more and more requirements to get more and more data, so filling the gaps becomes more difficult. There are also increasing demands for transparency, and for regulators to have better quality information. When you’re reporting something, you have to really trust that information. That’s how you give confidence to your board or leadership team.”

A shift in focus

The upside of this disconnect is that Lapierre fully expects the pursuit of better data to be a key trend in procurement over the next few years. “I’ve found that no-one talks about the data layer in procurement,” she states. “They brush it under the rug or underestimate how critical it is to use data to feed large language models for better insights. As data becomes more accessible, the need for a trusted data foundation becomes more important. You need good data posture.”

With this very topic being discussed openly at prestigious events like the ones DPW hosts, procurement professionals and leaders are actively working towards solving this blockage. “The problems have to be solved in order to leverage the exponential value of Gen AI, automate workflows, and bring intelligence in across all these functions,” Lapierre continues. 

“Consider: what would it mean to your business if you could actually solve that data problem, drive better outcomes, and truly digitise the procurement function?”

Author

Nell Walker

Published

8 August 2024

Estimated Read time

5Mins

We caught up with Danielle McQuiston from Candex to discuss why procurement is risk-averse, and how the business can help.

Candex, a B2B fintech company, has been going through some exciting changes recently. In the five years that Danielle McQuiston – its Chief Customer Officer – has been with the business, it’s gone from its venture round to A series in 2021 and into B series, which it closed out in 2023. Its goal is to make life easier for procurement professionals across sectors. This is because having trusted services at their disposal is one step towards changing procurement’s risk-averse reputation.

Candex’s value proposition is as a tech-based master vendor that helps enterprise buyers engage and pay small and irregular vendors through an easy, quick, streamlined process. The obvious ‘low-hanging fruit’ use case at most enterprise organisations is to use Candex to avoid setting up new vendors for small, infrequent purchases. 

While tackling this low-hanging fruit demonstrates an immediate benefit, Candex is now taking it a step further. It’s helping enterprise clients understand the additional benefits and value that they can get from the solution. We caught up with McQuiston at the DPW NYC Summit in June, an event which featured innovative solutions in procurement. In particular, AI.

Creating and avoiding risk

“The companies that only go for the easy wins still have tens of thousands of suppliers that they hold in their vendor master. They don’t closely manage them and really don’t know them,” McQuiston says. “At some point, these companies have onboarded a supplier to make a small purchase. When they do, they do minimal checks on the vendors since the purchase is small or one-time only. But now that ‘small’ vendor is in the company’s system for anyone to engage with – sometimes forever. These companies are left with little-known and unmanaged vendors taking up 80% of their vendor master. This, in turn, creates risk for the enterprise.” 

Candex can mitigate this risk and empower companies to focus more on strategic relationships. It does this by helping companies offboard their non-strategic vendors, and engage vendors only as needed. Businesses can do this with the confidence that Candex applies robust compliance screening and third-party diligence to all vendors as part of its standard processes. 

As a result, Candex has started helping clients realise how they can reach their initial objectives of deriving more value by lowering risk exposure. By helping them focus on strategic suppliers, they can increase their working capital, accelerate the speed of doing business, and support their supplier diversity programs.

“All those aspects are where my focus is currently,” McQuiston explains. “Along with that, over the next few years, we will continue to make the process even more user-friendly. We’ll also further develop our solutions to meet the ever-changing commercial, compliance, and security landscapes. We can make the system even more intuitive, and help our customers streamline internal processes so things are faster and more cost-effective.”

The roadblocks

Implementing technology solutions to improve procurement is the name of the game across the sector, after all. It was talked about extensively at DPW NYC in June, where we spoke to McQuiston about Candex and trends. Unfortunately, there’s a roadblock for the sector, which is that procurement is risk-averse.

McQuiston explains. “We work primarily with Fortune 2000 companies, and I can’t tell you how many I’ve met up with who have outright told me they’re risk-averse. They all think that’s unusual, but they all say it and most of them are the same. It doesn’t matter if you’re in pharmaceuticals or consumer goods or banking – everyone is in the same boat regarding risk.”

This is because, as a function, procurement was created to ensure security of supply, controlling both quality and cost. “Procurement was born out of the supply chain world with a focus on direct spend. Out of the need to make sure prices don’t go up – and, in fact, go down,” McQuiston continues. 

“Procurement has always been the enforcer of the financial rules. That’s the only way they were able to have an impact on the business initially. Now, procurement wants a seat at the table and is able to more broadly bring value to the business. In return, businesses are asking procurement to ease their role as the enforcer in order to have that seat. This is tough for procurement because, by nature, they’re nervous about losing control since that is how they have added value in the past.”

Hope is here

This may be a challenge, but the march of change isn’t stopping. There’s hope in the air. This is thanks to companies like Candex, as well as the arrival of new technologies. For example, artificial intelligence, which the business world is increasingly looking to leverage.

“AI is the whole theme of this conference,” McQuiston said of DPW NYC. The event spawned many fascinating conversations, not to mention encouraging ones. As the business world utilises technology better, procurement is only going to get better. And AI can help support procurement teams as they look to calibrate their solutions and right-size their approach to risk, efficiency, and value-add for the business. 

“I’m very interested to see how innovative solutions like Candex, as well as AI solutions, become disruptors – in a good way,” says McQuiston. “A lot of other solutions that have tried to enter the procurement space have struggled to really break in and push for significant change. 

“However I believe that if you solve a real problem and have good technology, you will be successful. AI may be able to really help further support technology solutions in their mission to simplify the procurement stack and positively address user experience challenges,” McQuiston concludes.

Author

Nell Walker

Published

29 July 2024

Estimated Read time

3Mins

We chatted to Gabe Perez from RiseNow about prioritising humans during technological transformation.

RiseNow, as a procurement and supply chain strategy and design firm, is firmly plugged into the needs of the sector’s functions as they evolve. Its growth has been organic thanks to customers demanding exactly what they want. They can’t simply implement tech with the goal of ‘go live’ anymore. They need expert help to define the real outcomes. 

RiseNow provides end-to-end guidance for customers. This ensures that when they implement new systems, they explore the whole picture from the beginning. It was a topic discussed in detail at DPW NYC in June, where we met up with Gabe Perez, Chief Strategy Officer.

“What we’re seeing in the market is that people are asking for guidance around operating models,” says Perez. “Our focus right now is trying to keep up with demand. There are a lot of different service providers out there.

“We’re showing RiseNow’s clients how to design, execute, and operate. So we’re really focused on helping customers end-to-end, whether they’re optimising what they currently have, or starting from a new platform.”

Humans first, then technology

As procurement continues to digitise, roadblocks that hinder technology’s effectiveness and promise of value become more apparent. One of these is implementing technology for technology’s sake. Or, simply using tech to digitise already-existing processes versus examining the why behind those processes. 

“As David Rogers from Columbia Business School said, the best technology is not the most important part of digital transformation,” says Perez. “People are at the core of it. Procurement has to start focusing more on outcomes and let that drive technology. People are running to technology for answers, but they don’t have the right operating model set up by the right people. Plus, there’s a huge talent shortage.”

Addressing the talent shortage

Outside of technology, the talent shortage across procurement was a repeated topic of conversation during DPW NYC. Just as it is during CPOstrategy’s general conversations with leaders. Procurement has been too vague a concept for too long, and overlooked in the grand scheme of many businesses for decades.

“One of the issues is making roles attractive,” Perez states. “I recommend proposing the problems you’re trying to solve and asking whoever you’re interviewing: ‘how would you solve this?’ Because with all the cool tech we now have at our fingertips, they’re going to come up fresh ideas. The talent exists – they’re just not being engaged and attracted. That’s where tech comes into play.”

And technology moulded by a people-centric focus was another major theme of the day at DPW NYC. “While AI in procurement is a huge topic right now, creativity is still going to come from humans – not artificial intelligence,” Perez points out. 

“You need human minds to see the value of things. This is to figure out how money can be driven out of the bottom line and into the top line. Humans are still needed for proving that procurement needs to take risks to be better. AI is a great tool, but it still needs us.”

You can read our full rundown of DPW NYC here.

Author

Nell Walker

Published

12 July 2024

Estimated Read time

4Mins

We spoke to Clive R. Heal at LavenirAI about the innovative ways in which AI can be applied to procurement.

When you think about VR, the first things that come to mind are likely immersive gaming or scientific applications. But there’s so much more to VR as the relentless pace of technology marches on. With it, we start turning to other areas that could benefit from it; procurement, for example.

LavenirAI is an organisation so dedicated to leveraging AI for the betterment of procurement that it has created a negotiation training solution powered by this advanced technology. Communicating with AI-powered sales avatars using this solution allows users to learn masterful negotiation tactics. With procurement at the core of every organisation, and increasingly taking on a seat at the table, the ability to better negotiate, understand customer needs, and improve the ability to make decisions is more valuable than ever. That’s exactly what LavenirAI provides.

Clive R. Heal is the CEO of LavenirAI. We caught up with him at DPW NYC to discuss what the company offers, and dive into the real-world applications of VR in procurement.

VR as a procurement training tool

Images courtesy of DPW

“With what we do, you meet a digital mentor – Harini. She’s an avatar, a coach,” Heal explains. “She teaches you in an interactive way, and you can ask her questions. Then there’s negotiation practice where users can negotiate with sales avatars that negotiate right back. Virtual reality gives you a sense of presence, grounding the experience in realism.”

The VR version of LavenirAI’s solution – which will be released later this year – means users can train in that completely interactive way with avatars that are right in front of them. Heal led a session at DPW NYC whereby all attendees wore VR headsets. He guided them through the metaverse, meeting avatars along the way.

“The avatars are photorealistic. The quality of avatars has grown enormously over the last year,” says Heal. “So the avatar you’re talking to while wearing your headset is as close to real as it’s possible to get at this point.”

The potential of the metaverse

And these avatars, this metaverse, this AI-VR landscape – there’s so much that can be done with them beyond training. “In procurement, you might want to do a supplier audit before dealing with a new business,” explains Heal. “You’ll want to visit their plant. In the future, this won’t require a lengthy business trip to fly over there – you’ll be able to walk around a digital twin of the plant and meet the avatars of the people from manufacturing. You’ll be able to have actual conversations with them.

“There’s also the concept of collaborative workshops; innovation workshops. AI and VR unlock the ability for people anywhere in the world to be able to put on a headset and be able to have conversations, look at potential products, and talk about them. Right now, you can go into metaverse stores in Monaco with your avatar, and try on clothes to see how they look and fit, and order those clothes. It’s as simple as that.”

In Heal’s view, a whole new economy is coming: the virtual reality economy. “A year ago, McKinsey published a report saying that, within five years – just four years from now – 15% of all corporate revenue will come through the metaverse. Think about that. Not 15% more, but 15% of existing revenue that companies have.” 

This marks a major shift in the way we consume, the way we live, and the way we work – as well as the way we procure. As evidenced by the work DPW does, AI is on the forefront of all procurement professionals’ minds, and it’s being applied in many exciting ways. But there’s always scope for more.

“AI is the thing of the moment; it’s everywhere,” Heal continues. “But I don’t think people realise the opportunities and impact. For me, the most important thing is embracing the technology. Vitally, AI can get you one step ahead of everyone else if you’re not afraid to branch out with what you’re doing with it. Using AI to improve procurement creates opportunities in the race to be the first to new insights, unlocking a competitive advantage.”

Author

Nell Walker

Published

4 April 2024

Estimated Read time

4Mins

Global cloud services point-of-sale provider, GK Software, was founded over 30 years ago in Germany. For most of its existence,…

Global cloud services point-of-sale provider, GK Software, was founded over 30 years ago in Germany. For most of its existence, its focus was on expanding across Europe. However, in 2015, GK broke into the US when its partnership with SAP helped it drive into that vital market. The business has been thriving stateside ever since. Its core business is a point-of-sale software platform – CLOUD4RETAIL – which features the OmniPOS solution. Today, GK is ranked highly in global POS installations and has been among the top three for the last five years.

GK is an organisation committed to continuous improvement and customer engagement. It is evolving, getting into newer technologies like AI in a big way. It’s leveraging its expertise to improve insights into what its retail customers and their shoppers need. This includes everything from price optimisation to loyalty to self-service technologies.

Its ability to provide these services, through its expertise, is what attracted Virginia ABC to GK Software. Virginia ABC was a previous user of SAP’s point-of-sale (POS) solution, but as the authority evolved, it required an updated POS. 

GK Software meets Virginia ABC

Enter: GK Software. “As a result of our relationship with SAP and with Paul Williams at Virginia ABC, we were shortlisted in their new point-of-sale solution selection,” explains Max Francescangeli, Regional Sales Director at GK Software.

“With Virginia ABC, we went through quite an extensive selection process. It’s a government agency, so the rules are very strict,” says Francescangeli. “But we were able to prove that we could use our expertise to address and solve all of their problems in spite of the unique environment they operate in. They needed a flexible solution that would interact well with their legacy platforms during implementation. We were certainly able to provide that. So, we were eventually awarded the business and the project has been extremely successful.”

The approach GK takes with its customers during these projects highlights just how much out-of-the-box capability its solution has. GK’s team spent a lot of time with Virginia ABC. The organisation examined its business requirements and using a consultative approach to show how its software could be configured. This was so it could meet the end-state business requirements and take advantage of best-of-breed capabilities that exist within GK’s platform. 

“Rather than going there and trying to do a lot of customisation, we wanted to help them take advantage of the software as it exists,” Francescangeli adds. There were also other areas where GK was able to provide a lot of value and expertise to Virginia ABC. These include payment processing and its partner ecosystem. Virginia ABC was previously using a payment provider with limited capabilities, but GK was able to step in and expand the technology set. “We gave them more hardware choices, expanding what they could do with their in-store devices.”

Virginia ABC also needed more advanced reporting and analytics within its environment. So, GK introduced a solution called Advanced Central Electronic Journal and Reporting. Francescangeli continues: “It saved them a tremendous amount of effort, and gave them a lot of flexibility. We implemented that very quickly and they gained business value from it immediately.”

An evolving partnership

GK Software and Virginia ABC worked on initial deployment for the first 12 months of the project, and GK has continued to supply its services ever since. Each year after the first, Virginia ABC has expressed interest in something else GK offers. As a result, the relationship has remained close and Virginia ABC continues to expand the partnership.

“Paul and his team have been champions of ours and we’re champions of theirs as well,” Francescangeli states. “Due to the relationship we have with Virginia ABC, we have been able to secure business from other retailers in the same space because they have confidence that we know how to handle the market.”

“GK checks a lot of boxes retailers are looking for,” Bill Miller, North American VP of Sales at GK adds. “We’re in this inflection point where we offer modern technology that also has a lot of functionality out of the box, and that’s what people want. That’s what Virginia ABC wanted, and that’s what we supplied.”

Read more about Virginia ABC’s story, and the part GK Software has played, in issue 49 of Interface Magazine.

Author

Nell Walker

Published

10 July 2023

Estimated Read time

5Mins

CPOstrategy is a proud partner of ProcureCon Asia Transformation is on the lips and minds of every procurement and supply…

CPOstrategy is a proud partner of ProcureCon Asia

Transformation is on the lips and minds of every procurement and supply chain professional right now. Procurement is increasingly being recognised for its vital role at the core of any business, thanks to the fact that CPOs and other supply chain professionals are executing enormous changes for the benefit of their organisations. 

Set to be a major theme at ProcureCon Asia this year, running between the 11th and 13th of July at the Equarius Hotel in Singapore is the topic of transformation. Procurement professionals from all over the globe will come together to share ideas, make connections, and learn more about the profession through interactive learning and keynote speeches from experts.

All hands on deck

Ter Long Tay, Group Director at JTC Corporation, is one of the event’s illustrious speakers. For him, procurement transformation is a necessity, and requires the full support of the entire business.

“Procurement needs to reimagine its purpose and the role it plays,” says Tay. “It must go beyond the traditional efficiency, productivity, and management of procurement lifecycle. Successful transformation entails understanding the business and partnering with stakeholders on the decision-making process and the strategy of the company. It means being able to create value and have a seat at the table.”

Tay himself has a long history of victories in the procurement sphere. Years of experience in the real estate industry and centralised procurement at JTC gave him and his team the opportunity to understand each element of the business and their considerations better, and procurement – hand-in-hand with digitalisation – has been able to offer added value through the knowledge and experience gained from this involvement. Alongside insights gleaned from data, the business has been able to evolve through informed decision-making.

“For example, in a review of our procurement policies for infrastructure development, we were able to achieve a good ratio of partner vendors supporting our business while maintaining a healthy share of new entrants,” says Tay. 

“This allows us to achieve a balanced outcome of value for money, business continuity, and industry development. We had intentionally used procurement as a lever to achieve other strategic outcomes, leveraging procurement to test or nudge the market in terms of specific sustainable solutions and investing in R&D for long-term benefit.”

CPOstrategy is a proud media partner of ProcureCon Asia 2023. Quote “CPOSTRATASIA15” for 15% off tickets here.

Woodlands North Coast, JTC

Meeting challenges head-on

Of course, there are often hurdles for procurement professionals to jump in order to successfully implement transformation. No big change is without its challenges, and Tay is experienced enough to understand where the pain points lie. For him, procurement has always been viewed through a certain lens, regardless of whether that lens still fits, and that can hold some businesses back. However, increasingly, the department is being looked to as a value-add creator of change.

“Traditionally, procurement has been viewed as transactional,” Tay explains. “Supporting operations while helping businesses reduce costs and increase profits. Now, companies are looking at procurement to achieve long-term business objectives. Arising from the pandemic,  businesses are actively reviewing their supply chains and changing from a ‘just-in-time’ mindset to ‘just-in-case’. 

“There is also significant traction regarding sustainability, and procurement is the department supporting new objectives more than ever.”

Seletar Aerospace Park, JTC

Business-procurement collaboration

Tay is bringing all of this expertise to ProcureCon Asia 2023, in order to share his knowledge with his peers and discuss solutions with other procurement professionals. The reason he wanted to speak at the event came from a ‘pay-it-forward’ mindset; he’s benefited enormously from speakers at previous summits sharing their own wisdom, and hopes to help others by sharing his own knowledge.

“I’ll be discussing the aspects of good business-procurement alignment,” Tay says. “Plus, the value procurement brings, how procurement can support the wider business through managing tensions – such as profits, governance, and risk management – as well as sustainability, and whether procurement is a leader or a follower.”

Tay hopes that focusing on business-procurement collaboration will achieve added value for those attending the summit. “Through collaboration within the procurement community, we can cross-pollinate ideas across different industries, encourage each other through success stories and learn from mistakes. We never walk alone in our procurement transformation journeys.”

For himself, Tay hopes to have the opportunity to network with his peers and continue gaining useful information and insights, as he has at previous events. “I want to learn from the best-in-class in the procurement community,” he concludes.

Read our other ProcureCon Asia preview here.

ProcureCon Asia is the leading procurement summit gathering and connecting CPOs and Heads of Procurement from the biggest companies in Asia. ProcureCon Asia 2023 will be happening from 11 – 13 July at the Equarius Hotel, Singapore. To learn more, click here.

Author

Nell Walker

Published

8 February 2022

Estimated Read time

6Mins

What is excellence in procurement – and how we can encourage it? We chat to Olivia Brown, a Managing Consultant…

Olivia Brown, a Managing Consultant with Rowe Advisory UK.

What is excellence in procurement – and how we can encourage it? We chat to Olivia Brown, a Managing Consultant with Rowe Advisory UK…

Tell us a bit about yourself.

I spent the first 16 years of my career as an employee with oil and gas operators, both here in the UK and internationally, so I have a solid foundation in working in contracts and procurements. Later in my career, I became focused more on general management roles. Those roles combined led me to understand what good business looks like, and the things to avoid – not just within the function, but more broadly within the wider business context. I started working as a consultant with Rowe Advisory in 2017, initially working in support of clients in overseas, in Australia.

Give us some background on Rowe Advisory.

Rowe Advisory was established in 2013 by a very inspirational lady called Jody Rowe. I started to get involved with some of the Australian clients in 2017, working remotely from here in the UK to support them in redefining, updating, reviewing their procedures and their processes.

Typically, what we find is that a client will have a particular requirement for an area of concern, so we will go in and start to address that and help support them. From there, we often get involved in other areas for improvement as a consequence. 

In 2020, Rowe Advisory set up a branch here in the UK. It was difficult timing because we were launching it during lockdown. We had the challenge of the pandemic which was also compounded by the oil price crash. However, it was a real opportunity for us to reestablish some individuals within our network and reconnect with previous colleagues to tell them who we are and what we do, and make them aware of how we can help as in when the need arises.

What does ‘procurement excellence’ mean to you?

For us, it’s about aligning the strategy and the delivery of third-party spend with the needs of the business. It’s really connecting the department’s activity with the business priorities. To best achieve that, we see a focus on the overall procurement operating model. As previously mentioned, often there are areas of concern already which CPOs recognise can improve.

Generally, when we get involved with a new client, we will review the whole operating model to be more holistic in the review and understand how joined-up the department can be in providing that functional excellence back to the business. It’s really about the department adding value back to the business and establishing credibility through delivery of value to the business. 

We’ll look at the people, the process, the systems, and the tools to really focus on how the department can manage risk, provide clear strategic planning, align with the business objectives, be innovative, be creative, and also collaborative internally and externally. 

We’re working to elevate the role of the procurement department. It has the potential to provide significant benefits to the business, and they extend far beyond the P&L impact. The events of the last 18 months have really proven the importance of procurement departments and non-financial performance incentives; those non-financial performance metrics have become more integral to the priorities for procurement. That being said, we recognise the need to get the basics right first so it’s about having clarity on rules and responsibilities, both within the department and the business. 

What have you seen by way of sector differences or trends?

The most interesting thing for me, having come from a strong background in oil and gas, is that a lot of the areas of focus that I’ve talked about – specifically identifying areas of improvement and what functional excellence can look like – are very much sector agnostic. The tactical interventions do vary depending on each client, so the areas of focus will always vary – but that’s true within any sector. We’ve seen that transcend into others. The fundamentals of what good looks like in procurement are, we’ve observed, sector agnostic. 

That’s been very interesting. It’s allowed us to provide diversity of thought into new sectors. If you think about demand planning and category management, we’ve seen with some clients where it works very well, and we’ve been able to translate that knowledge and experience in working with them in embedding that, sustaining it, and building on it. We’ve been able to translate that into other sectors that are less familiar with the concepts of category management and category planning, and the importance of that in the upfront strategic planning where real value can be set for procurement.

One thing we do find in some sectors more than others is that the procurement department is seen as a transactional function, and there is absolutely a strong requirement for there to be good transacting within any procurement team. But in the context of functional excellence, what we try to do is to explain the value that can be delivered through moving beyond that phase of the department into the strategic, and doing that in an appropriately segmented way so that it is differentiated based on value and risk – and other relevant factors – but ensures that both the department and the business are focused on those contracts that are key to the delivery of the business.

How do you support your clients by driving change within their procurement departments?

We work on ensuring that the focus is in the right place to deliver value, getting the transacting right and then also, of course, post-award. The contract is then executed, and it’s not about necessarily just putting it on the shelf and leaving the business to manage it. Certainly, for a number of contracts, it’s about managing those contracts for delivery and being clear on the role that the procurement department plays in that process. A further development on that is, again, how many of those need to be strategically managed? How do you strategically manage the relationship with key suppliers to, again, further leverage the value through innovation, being creative, and working together to further enhance the value that can be achieved?

The case for change is important because people’s response will be, “What’s in it for me? We’ve done it like this for years and it’s been fine, so help me understand.” And you need to kind of take people on that journey of change. Clarity on single-point decision making, understanding that when a decision is taken, that’s not the start of a conversation on the matter – it clarifies the need to move on. 

Tell us about your sister company, Promitheia Procurement.

Promitheia Procurement was established 2020. It is an online platform for procurement templates and also advisory services. It’s a web-based system so anyone can go on and buy, and download the whole series of procurement templates across the whole life cycle. It ranges from demand planning, strategy setting to people and competencies, and skills matrices, development planning, and performance management, through the procurement life cycle itself, through the transacting, into post-award, and supplier relationship management. So, they’re documents which can become available to companies at the click of a button, which is fantastic. It allows us to diversify further into new sectors who may otherwise not be able to come to us for the full suite of consultancy services. 

What do you enjoy most about your work? 

We have that real passion for procurement and want to really be ambassadors for what good can look like – and we want the clients to feel that as well. It can never really be implemented and sustained based on a consultant coming in and telling you how to do it. It’s very much about working alongside the client in their particular environment to understand how best to do that.

Author

Nell Walker

Published

11 October 2021

Estimated Read time

4Mins

Procurement Leaders’ CPO Compass report – the indispensable navigational document for today’s CPO – is published this week

Procurement Leaders’ CPO Compass report – the indispensable navigational document for today’s CPO – is published this week. One of its many insights focuses on the drive for new capabilities within the procurement ecosystem.

The past few years have been nothing short of transformational for procurement, while the road ahead looks just as challenging as it has ever been. Supply chain issues dominate the headlines, and with sustainability affecting every way in which an enterprise operates, procurement teams are at the centre of a massive global slipstream. Of course, within every challenge there is also opportunity for more growth and change, and the CPO Compass report is an indispensable device for today’s CPO navigating these massive operational and technological shifts.

The 2022 CPO Compass report has been split into three major trends within the procurement space to address the current concerns of procurement leaders, globally: volatility, sustainability and new capabilities. Ahead of its publication this month, CPOstrategy has gained a sneak preview of the report to reveal a little of the focus on new capabilities just to whet your appetite…

46% of CPOs are creating new roles and responsibilities in 2022.

“The next step for us is to focus on creating a procurement ambassador role. They will be able to better able to sit within business units and bring the right cast of characters from category management ranks to focus on the business units’ needs.” CPO, technology company

The CPO Compass report delves into the operational revolution that has redrawn the physical and virtual maps of every enterprise and how that has affected procurement in particular, as companies harness new technologies and remote working set against constant disruption. ‘The Call For New Capabilities’ looks at how procurement has emerged as a key partner in driving new ethical transformations, focusing on critical areas such as working practices, and how environmental impact and community engagement can only be meaningfully addressed if organisations have full visibility of their supply chains. The function has an opportunity to play a pivotal role in coordinating value-chain partners around these strategic priorities.

“This opportunity requires a transition in procurement’s role from a tactical, back-office function to a leading business partner. This transition is already driving a transformation in processes, skills and digital capabilities within mature procurement functions. It continues a longer-term trend towards CPOs seeking to deliver a more strategic value proposition which delivers value beyond cost-minimisation. This enhanced value proposition is built from enhanced supplier partnerships, with leading practitioners pushing a culture of collaborative relationships beyond simply delivering on cost savings.”

It’s obvious that with the massive operational changes hitting procurement and beyond, CPOs are going to need to recruit and upskill existing talent so that enterprises can “adapt at pace to create a more collaborative, connected and nimble function”. And these new roles will need to take advantage of digital solutions to automate and provide services and data to the rest of the business, as well as providing stakeholder-facing capability.

The report cites a new breed of specialists needed to meet these new responsibilities. “These new roles often involve coordinating activities around emerging priorities, with these individuals often representing specialist expertise; around risk, supplier-enabled innovation, sustainability and diversity. A second set of specialist roles are also evolving around enablement, building out capabilities which, whilst not directly associated with these areas, support the function on overall execution.”

The unprecedented times we live in, whether it’s the effects and risks of a global pandemic or the drive to a more sustainable way of living and working, have placed an incredible amount of pressure onto the procurement function and this has a direct influence on the types of supporting and innovative technology that CPOs require. “CPOs are looking for supporting technology and the demand is on technology providers to offer deeper, more flexible and more focused capability. The challenge for CPOs and digital procurement leads is optimizing their mix of digital solutions to support a growing breadth of organisational objectives. While for some that means focusing on best-of-breed providers, others see value in becoming more comfortable moving beyond the bounds of established providers and working with start-up technology, while others look to platforms and big-name providers to provide more versatility and leverage their scale to greater effect.”

The full report outlines many solutions to these challenges and much, much more… so register here to make sure you don’t miss out!

Author

Nell Walker

Published

28 September 2021

Estimated Read time

2Mins

IT heads say data leaks in the home will cause the biggest security headache over the next two years as…

IT heads say data leaks in the home will cause the biggest security headache over the next two years as hybrid working arrangements see employees buying and installing their own technology, according to new research by Brother UK.

More than a third (34%) of the respondents cited the issue as their top concern as more decentralised purchasing decisions for devices such as laptops, printers and scanners are creating more data vulnerabilities. 

The research, which surveyed 500 IT leads working for UK businesses, found that just 13% expect employees to be in the office full time over the next two years.

Work to minimise security risks was signalled by almost a quarter (23%) of respondents anticipating that office technology would be centrally procured with employees purchasing home tech from approved supplier lists over the next two years, up from 19% that currently have this procurement model.

However, 11% of IT leads said they expect all office and home technology to be procured by employees on their own over the same period, compared to 5% that currently operate in this way, which could signal some additional challenges for security in the future.

Other top concerns included data security in the office (27%), network security for remote workers (13%) and accountability (12%).

Mike Mulholland, head of services and solutions at Brother UK, said: “The immediate challenge for IT leads in managing people working from home is ensuring that the technology connected to business systems is secure.

“This is part of a wider opportunity for the channel, as they help customers respond to new challenges from the workforce becoming more dispersed, by providing new solutions and services.

“But it’s important that suppliers consult with clients on balancing the efficiencies gained from decentralised procurement against the security and integration that’s more assured from centralised decision making.

“Helping customers to build lists of approved technology for employees to procure from may pay dividends in productivity and security benefits.

“It will also be important for IT vendors and partners to advise when managed services can offer the best outcomes for businesses. Managed print services, for example, gives IT managers full oversight of print fleets wherever they may be, enabling them to manage security settings, firmware updates, and diagnostics from afar.”

Overall, the research found security to be the top priority for IT heads. Almost two-thirds (63%) saw the issue to be as being ‘very important’ over the next two years, compared to 52% that said the same for productivity, 50% for cost-efficiency and 48% for sustainability. Nearly half (49%) associate security with business resilience, while two-thirds (66%) said they are currently working towards improving their IT security in order to underpin resilience.

Author

Nell Walker

Published

10 September 2021

Estimated Read time

2Mins

Local surgical hubs, new technology to speed up diagnosis, and innovative ways of working, will help the NHS to tackle…

Local surgical hubs, new technology to speed up diagnosis, and innovative ways of working, will help the NHS to tackle growing waiting lists and treat around 30% more patients who need elective care by 2023 to 2024.

Backed by a new £36bn investment in health and social care over the next three years, ‘doing things differently’ and embracing innovation will be the driving force to get the NHS back on track.

The funding will see the NHS deliver an extra nine million checks, scans, and operations for patients across the country, but it’s not enough to simply plug the elective gaps. The NHS will push forward with faster and more streamlined methods of treatments.

Surgical hubs already being piloted in a number of locations are helping fast-track the number of planned operations, including cataract removal, hysterectomies and hip and knee replacements, and will be expanded across the country. Located on existing hospital sites, surgical hubs bring together the skills and resource under one roof while limiting infection risk and providing a COVID-secure environment, with more planned to open in the coming year.

Health and Social Care Secretary, Sajid Javid, said: “This global pandemic has presented enormous challenges for the NHS and led to a growing backlog – we cannot go on with business as usual.

“We are going to harness the latest technology and innovative new ways of working such as surgical hubs to deliver the millions more appointments, treatments and surgeries that are needed over the coming months and years to tackle waiting lists.”

GP surgeries are also using artificial intelligence to help prioritise patients most in need and identify the right level of care and support needed for patients on waiting lists.

Using the latest technology and locally led innovation will increase efficiencies, make every penny count and increase activity levels to tackle rising backlogs.

Author

Nell Walker

Published

9 September 2021

Estimated Read time

2Mins

The Mobile Ecosystem Forum’s SMS Protection Registry, which was developed and piloted in the UK, is now being launched in…

The Mobile Ecosystem Forum’s SMS Protection Registry, which was developed and piloted in the UK, is now being launched in Ireland and Singapore.

The Registry significantly reduces the impact of smishing (SMS phishing) and spoofing by SMS.

In the UK, many major banks and government brands are currently being protected with 352 trusted SenderIDs registered to date. Over 1,500 unauthorised variants are being blocked on an ever-growing list, including 300 senderIDs relating to the government’s coronavirus campaign.

Government agencies, including HMRC and DVLA, are participating in this ecosystem wide anti-fraud solution which is supported by BT/EE, O2, Three and Vodafone, along with the UK’s leading message providers.

The cross-stakeholder working group has seen a significant drop in fraudulent messages being sent to the UK consumers of the participating merchants. Following the success in the UK, The Ireland SMS SenderID Protection Registry is being launched.

The Registry is also launching in Singapore as The Singapore SMS SenderID Protection Registry. With strong interest from numerous other territories, MEF expects new Registries will soon follow.

“There are millions of faked SMS sent by fraudsters trying to steal passwords every day,” says Dario Betti, CEO of the Mobile Ecosystem Forum “We need to help consumers and organisations fight back. Thanks to the collective efforts of the British mobile industry MEF has managed to show a way: a Registry for SMS short-code names.

“The fight against fraudsters is a relentless one, it will never stop. But we are happy to celebrate one successful tool created in the UK.”.

Author

Nell Walker

Published

30 August 2021

Estimated Read time

3Mins

The summer of 2021 has shown a vast variety of extreme weather events around the world and thereby given an…

The summer of 2021 has shown a vast variety of extreme weather events around the world and thereby given an outlook on the consequences of the climate crisis. To limit global warming to safe levels, we need to do everything we can. The latest report by the UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change confirms that it is crucial to reduce our emissions drastically and, on top of that, remove unavoidable and historic carbon emissions from the air permanently. Climeworks’ carbon dioxide removal via direct air capture technology is the only solution that can reduce atmospheric concentration of CO2 in a scalable manner, by capturing CO2 from the air today and storing it permanently underground.

Swiss Re’s pioneering commitment

Swiss Re committed in 2019 to reach net-zero operational emissions by 2030 by reducing their carbon footprint and removing any residual emissions. The company is committing to a unique long-term partnership with Climeworks.

Swiss Re and Climeworks are launching a cutting-edge collaboration by signing the worlds’ first 10-year carbon removal purchase agreement. This first of its kind agreement is worth $10m.

Both the length and the total value of the partnership are, so far, unrivalled in the voluntary carbon market for this type of innovative high-quality carbon removal. The partnership with Swiss Re is of integral importance to Climeworks: the re/insurance industry is at the forefront of assessing complex risk structures including those of climate change. Re/insurers are capable of structuring those risks and allocating them in an efficient way. Swiss Re’s unique long-term commitment sends a strong signal emphasising that a pure climate solution like Climeworks’ technology is important to reach the Paris Agreement climate targets.

Supporting the rapid scale up

This commitment is by its nature providing a structure for interested buyers to enter into similar purchase agreements with Climeworks. Swiss Re is sending a key demand signal to carbon removal solution providers and investors. Pioneering customers like Swiss Re and their long-term commitment prove that a market for measurable and permanent carbon dioxide removal already exists today and will grow significantly in the future.  

Bringing climate solutions to scale not only requires the right demand signals, but also de-risking and financing. This is why the partnership between Swiss Re and Climeworks goes beyond the pioneering 10-year carbon removal purchase agreement with further joint activities being assessed together.

About Climeworks’ direct air capture and storage technology

Powered solely by renewable energy, Climeworks’ direct air capture plants capture CO2 from the air. In Iceland, Climeworks’ partner Carbfix mixes the CO2 with water and pumps it deep underground where it reacts with the basaltic rock formations and mineralizes: the CO2 literally turns into stone. Climeworks’ technology is scalable and does not compete with arable land. This September, Climeworks is going to launch its new large-scale direct air capture and storage plant ‘Orca’ in Iceland, bringing large-scale direct air capture technology to reality.

Author

Nell Walker

Published

27 August 2021

Estimated Read time

8Mins

By Robert Hewitt, MB BS, PhD, Biosample Hub The UK has over 150 hospital-associated biobanks, and the function of these…

By Robert Hewitt, MB BS, PhD, Biosample Hub

The UK has over 150 hospital-associated biobanks, and the function of these biobanks is to provide researchers with consented and carefully processed clinical samples. However, three years ago, the annual report of a UK agency called Medicines Discovery Catapult came up with a shocking finding. A survey conducted by the organisation found that 80% of SMEs (small-to-medium sized biotechs) found accessing samples from the NHS ‘unexpectedly difficult with the result that 75% imported samples from abroad’.

This is not a problem exclusive to the UK. Biotech companies everywhere in the world have great difficulty accessing high quality patient samples to support their research and development. And at the root of the problem is the simple fact that patient samples most often originate in a healthcare setting in the public sector. Biotechnology companies are in the private sector and therefore have reduced access.

Hospital biobanks

Hospital biobanks generally exist in teaching hospitals and academic centres. They are publicly-funded and are established for the purpose of supporting research in associated universities and institutes. They require dedicated staff and expensive equipment—such as liquid nitrogen freezers—so the start-up and maintenance costs are considerable. While the start-up phase may be funded by research grants, it is harder to obtain research funding for the on-going maintenance costs of these unglamorous-yet-essential core facilities. So, many biobanks survive on funding provided by their own institution. A typical hospital biobank may have 2-3 staff working extremely hard within a very tight budget to provide professionally-curated clinical samples for in-house researchers.

One way in which biobanks can develop an independent income stream is to charge a fee for the provision of patient samples. However, this must be approached with caution as it is illegal to make a profit from the sale of human tissue in many countries. So, biobanks are allowed to charge a carefully calculated cost-recovery fee.

Access to a biobank’s samples is decided by scientific and ethical committees that are populated by various institutional members (scientists, clinicians, administrators, ethicists), with the frequent addition of a patient representative. These committees judge the merits of each application for samples, and they operate according to institutional policies.

One issue that sometimes reduces the likelihood that samples will be provided to industry is the concern that some patients may not want their samples to be used by commercial organisations that make a profit from them. Whether patients react in this way is very much dependent on how matters are presented to them and whether or not the societal value of industry research is emphasised.

In many cases these biobanks are open to applications from industry, in theory at least. Biobanks of different specialities can be found in various national and regional biobank directories, but unfortunately their level of interest in working with industry is often obscure. So, we have the problem that useful biobanks are hard to find.

Biotechs and Big Pharma are very different

Sample access problems are bigger for smaller, younger biotech companies than for established pharma companies. For one thing, these pharma companies will have had many years to develop networks of hospitals supplying samples. Additionally, the fact that pharma companies conduct clinical trials gives them access to hospitals, doctors and patients. Many large pharma companies have teams of dedicated clinical sample procurement staff and their own in-house biobanks, which often dwarf those found in typical hospital biobanks.

In contrast, a small biotech company, particularly a start-up, has none of these advantages and certainly cannot afford to have staff dedicated to sample procurement.

Looking ‘abroad’

In general, the easiest way for biotech companies to obtain samples is to get them from a commercial broker. These companies have the sole focus of providing clinical samples for industry, and naturally they are driven by the need to make a profit.

Brokers generally find it difficult to obtain their samples from hospitals and biobanks in western Europe, where ethical concerns about the sale of human tissue are prevalent. Some countries in eastern Europe and parts of Asia provide a more reliable source. The USA is one industrialised country where brokers are much more accepted, with many US hospital biobanks being willing to supply brokers. The majority of brokers are based in the USA, and many of these have sample procurement operations that extend across global networks.

Scientifically-speaking, the main disadvantage of using a broker is that sample provenance may be lacking (brokers tend not to reveal their sources for business reasons) and along with this there may be uncertainty about the quality of the samples and hence the reliability of resulting research.

Encourage some practices, discourage others

It must surely be best practice for any researcher to obtain biosamples direct from source, that is, directly from the hospital biobank that collected the sample from the patient. In this way, they can have the most confidence that samples and data have been collected professionally. So biotechs should ideally obtain their samples direct from hospital biobanks.

To encourage this, we need to make it easier for biotechs and hospital biobanks to find each other. Biotechs can search a number of biobank directories to find suitable partners, but this is often a difficult approach. Many of the biobanks listed may not be open to working with industry, or may give companies a low priority. Use of biobank directories often results in a lot of disappointing false leads.

One initiative that offers a solution is the online platform, Biosample Hub. This international platform is dedicated to bringing biotechs and academic/hospital biobanks together, and its use is restricted to these two groups. It includes a directory of biobank and biotech members, a directory of sample requests and social networking features. The only reason for biobanks to be on the platform is to supply industry, so the problem of false leads is minimised. One other key aspect of the platform is that it is not-for-profit, so this overcomes the ethical concerns of many biobanks.

Another way to encourage this is to make it more attractive for hospital biobanks to work with industry. In other words, there need to be more and bigger incentives. The problem is that for many hospital biobanks, local academic researchers get top priority, other academic researchers get second priority, leaving industry at the end of the queue. This is natural, because these biobanks are established as institutional initiatives, with the purpose of serving their own institution. The focus of academic biobanks is very much on research productivity as measured by publication impact, and unfortunately industry, for reasons of intellectual property, faces restrictions about how much work it can publish and when.

The incentive of funding is certainly the most viable option for getting hospital biobanks to work with industry. Biobanks need funding and often operate on shoestring budgets. Much has been written on the subject of biobank sustainability, especially financial sustainability. One approach is for biobanks to charge industry a cost-recovery fee for its samples and also to charge a fee from additional sample processing services, such as cutting sections and extracting DNA. This approach seems to be especially well understood by French biobanks, who use the term valorisation for the process of adding and yielding value from their samples. Almost half of the biobanks that have joined Biosample Hub are French and most offer additional sample processing services. All French hospital biobanks are certified according to the French norm NF S96-900 which must also make them more attractive to industry.

Another approach is to make external grant funding of biobanks conditional on service to industry. This could be aided by making it mandatory for funded biobanks to make their sample access policies public, by requiring annual reports on sample distribution and perhaps even having industry representatives on sample access committees. Patient representatives are well accepted, so why not industry representatives?

Samples that lack provenance

New regulations are likely to have a major impact on how biotech companies source their clinical samples. An example is provided by the new European regulation governing manufacture of in vitro diagnostic devices, which comes into force on the 26th May 2022. To demonstrate conformity, makers of IVDs must show that the biospecimens used to validate their devices have undergone acceptable pre-analytic processing. This will require the sourcing of samples from biobanks that are certified to meet specific quality management standards. As a result, diagnostics companies will need to obtain samples from known sources that provide full provenance information.

This need for provenance information will put pressure on commercial brokers to change their business practices and reveal the source of their samples. One way in which brokers may mitigate this is by using binding contracts with both the provider and the requestor of samples, to prevent them from interacting independently of the broker. Of course, not all companies or biobanks will be comfortable with such restrictions.

There are technological solutions that can be used to ensure the reliability of provenance information of samples and use of these will be beneficial. The use of blockchain is one example. This digital technology allows tracking of the transfer of biospecimens from the patient donor to the researcher in a secure, transparent and ethical manner, with all transactions documented in an incorruptible shared digital ledger.

What do patients want?

In order to speed up development of new therapies, diagnostics and vaccines, do we want to allow biotech companies to have access to the best quality patient samples? Or do we want this access to be blocked for a variety of possibly short-sighted reasons? The time seems ripe for a major change in the way clinical samples are sourced by industry and by smaller biotech companies in particular. Now more than ever, as a result of the pandemic, the general public understands the importance of biotech and pharma companies.

Author

Nell Walker

Published

6 August 2021

Estimated Read time

2Mins

As reported by the BBC, the UK government spends £2.3bn every year on keeping old technology chugging along. While it…

As reported by the BBC, the UK government spends £2.3bn every year on keeping old technology chugging along.

While it spends £4.7bn altogether on IT across all departments, almost half of that goes to patching up systems – some of which date back three decades.

The Cabinet Office has stated that it’s taking action to reduce the reliance on outdated technology.

A report that the Office published warns that the spend on obsolete systems over the next five years could each £13bn to £22bn.

Some service, the report says, ‘fail to meet even the minimum cyber-security standards’.

The Home Office spends the most on IT, compared to other government departments, but still relies on 12 legacy systems. Attempts to retire them have repeatedly failed.

The report also reveals that the performance of government systems isn’t being monitored effectively.

A performance management system was implemented nine years ago, but is not only obsolete now, but it soon fell into disuse.

Commenting on the report, Labour’s Shadow Cabinet Office minister Fleur Anderson said Michael Gove had “created a culture of waste and inefficiency”.

“It is unacceptable that taxpayers’ money is being pumped into failing and outdated infrastructure.

“Keeping old and broken systems going is what this Conservative government does best. They desperately need an upgrade.”

A Cabinet Office spokesman said the government had accepted the report’s recommendations in full.

“We are reducing our reliance on legacy IT, moving away from costly, insecure and unreliable technology and laying the foundations for future digital transformation.”

Author

Nell Walker

Published

4 August 2021

Estimated Read time

1Min

Major car manufacturers are leveraging advanced technology to prioritise a different formulation for electric vehicle (EV) batteries, according to Environmental…

Major car manufacturers are leveraging advanced technology to prioritise a different formulation for electric vehicle (EV) batteries, according to Environmental Leader. Ford, VW, Tesla and others are looking to replace nickel or cobalt batteries with lithium-iron-phosphate (LFP), as the components are cheaper.

CEO of VW, Herbert Diess, has committed to using LFP in Volkswagen’s entry-level EVs in order to lower costs. Ford has also confirmed that it will be using these new types of batteries in commercial EVs.

Additionally, Tesla founder Elon Musk has announced the company will be making a ‘long-term shift’ towards LFP.

Importantly, making this change also helps to reduce human rights issues over cobalt mining.

LFP isn’t new technology, but it has helped boost EV adoption thanks to lowering battery costs.

In 2020, lithium-ion battery pack prices dropped 89% in real terms to $137/kWh (compared to 2010 prices), and average prices will be close to $100/kWh by 2023, according to BloombergNEF

At the $100/kWh price point, BNEF expects vehicle manufacturers will be able to produce and sell EVs at price parity with non-EV vehicles in some markets.

Author

Nell Walker

Published

Estimated Read time

1Min

Read in brochure format

As reported by Printweek, Critiqom – an omnichannel comms specialist – has secured a multi-million pound contract with Scottish Procurement,…

As reported by Printweek, Critiqom – an omnichannel comms specialist – has secured a multi-million pound contract with Scottish Procurement, for the provision of postal services. The agreement will last four years.

This partnership will make a big difference to organisations across Scotland, including central government, fire, health, local authorities, police, universities and colleges, and more. It will mean that Critiqom is able to bring more channel choice to businesses receiving transactional and business-critical documents.

This will also improve and modernise access to Scottish Procurement’s services.

“This is a transformational agreement. It is an opportunity to look at the bigger picture and to use our knowledge to accelerate change for public sector organisations in Scotland,” said Critiqom director Gerry Crawley.

“We know that we can deliver greater efficiencies and cost savings by encouraging the public sector in Scotland to adopt a new approach that embraces digital technologies. 

“As a Scottish-based operation, where possible we want to provide the shortest distance between manufacturing and recipient. We want to change the way that organisations think and showcase how hybrid mail and digital communications can deliver huge benefits and economies of scale.

“Our focus during this process was always on delivering the greatest value to the customer. With access to a portfolio of omnichannel services, we can improve the way that public sector organisations communicate, making the preferences of the recipient a priority.”

Author

Nell Walker

Published

2 August 2021

Estimated Read time

2Mins

The UK government has approved continuation of a key contract for engineering design and safety case services provided by a…

The UK government has approved continuation of a key contract for engineering design and safety case services provided by a joint venture at Sellafield site in West Cumbria.

The Design Services Alliance (DSA), a 15-year contract with a total sanction value of £1.5bn, will continue into its third five-year tranche from 2022 to 2027.

The DSA was originally set up in 2012 with Sellafield Ltd as a partner working as one team, alongside AXIOM (a four-entity joint venture comprising Assystem, Jacobs, Mott MacDonald and Progressive (Aecom and Cavendish Nuclear)).

Working with the broader supply chain, the alliance has since delivered cashable, non-cashable and future benefits totalling more than £220m.

The DSA has also helped to make Sellafield safer sooner by cutting 744 months from hazard reduction schedules.

Paul Adams, head of the DSA, said: “This announcement is just reward for a lot of hard work by the people involved in the alliance. It recognises how we value each other across the alliance and our shared commitment to perform with passion, pride and pace.

“We are committed to continuous improvement and our belief that we can deliver even better results between now and 2027.

“The DSA makes a real difference at Sellafield by challenging accepted ways of doing things, removing unnecessary scope, making procurement smarter, and reducing project costs with radical new technologies and lean techniques.”

Ian Belger, head of design engineering and safety case at Sellafield Ltd, added: “This is great news for the individuals and teams working in the DSA and a recognition of their contribution and effort.

“Our alliance with the DSA partners gives Sellafield Ltd access to a range of key capabilities and reach back into some of the world’s largest and most capable nuclear industry contractors.

“This has enabled Sellafield Ltd’s design engineering capability to deliver significant value over the past nine years.

“Our challenge now is to build on this by doing even better and delivering on our digital, sustainability and carbon targets.

“This latest sanction from government will allow the alliance to continue providing benefits as it concludes its 15-year mission.”

Author

Nell Walker

Published

26 July 2021

Estimated Read time

1Min

According to Spend Matters, CIPS (the Chartered Institute of Procurement and Supply Chain) and Hays Procurement and Supply Chain have…

According to Spend Matters, CIPS (the Chartered Institute of Procurement and Supply Chain) and Hays Procurement and Supply Chain have released their annual salary survey support, showing big increases in salaries for procurement professionals in 2020 – way above the national average of professions (3.3%).

For North America, the salary increase was 4.6%; in the UK, it was 5%; in Europe, 6%, in the Middle East, 7.9%; and in sub-Saharan Africa, a huge 9.7% increase.

CIPS and Hays compiled its research by surveying over 6,000 procurement professionals. Its aim is to provide a benchmark for salaries and bonuses across the industry.

“The CIPS/Hays report is about much more than salaries,” said Bill Michels, VP of CIPS Americas, in a press release. “It’s a valuable read for any executive who leads a team, as it offers an insightful profile of the environment in which procurement professionals work.”

The findings show that procurement is becoming increasingly vital to the way in which businesses operate – something that has been highlighted by the global pandemic.

One interesting statistic in the study is that 71% of respondents said the perception of procurement improved in the last year.

“It is very gratifying to see the strong recognition of the value procurement teams bring to an organization,” Michels said in the release. “For more than a year, supply managers have overcome tremendous challenges to keep organizations safe and producing the goods and services the world needs. We can expect that recognition to continue as procurement pivots from a need to ‘keep us going, whatever the cost’ to ‘keep us going, and manage our costs.’ “

Author

Nell Walker

Published

23 July 2021

Estimated Read time

2Mins

Ericsson organised a dedicated virtual event, Ericsson Digital Unboxed 2021, for Jazz Pakistan, to share its thoughts on industry leadership…

Ericsson organised a dedicated virtual event, Ericsson Digital Unboxed 2021, for Jazz Pakistan, to share its thoughts on industry leadership and discuss digital infrastructure.

Ericsson’s global and regional experts and thought leaders showcased the latest insights, use cases and technologies tailored to Jazz Pakistan.

During the virtual event, Ericsson shared its technology vision and updates, and also discussed the possibilities for consumer and enterprise segments. It delved into several topics revolving around creating a differentiated user experience for sports, spectrum strategies, and dedicated networks with a focus on B2B segments.

As part of the event, the latest Ericsson ConsumerLab reports were also presented and discussed. Several demos were also part of the event like Edge Compute Gaming, where low latency access can enable a better gaming experience, and Ericsson Industry Connect, a channel-ready cellular network for factories and warehouses, built to streamline ordering, installation, and management for Enterprise IT.

Abdul R. Usmani, VP of Network, Jazz said: “Digitalisation is everywhere and is now part of our daily lives. At Jazz, we aim to provide state-of-the-art end-to-end services to our customers, focused on data-driven networks as well as the need to accelerate technology advancements in the areas of AI, FinTech and digital content.

“The Ericsson Unboxed event showcased several valuable insights which will accelerate the next phase to meet the evolving demands of connectivity. We are looking forward to more insights and are confident in the next step of the digitalisation journey.”

Ekow Nelson, Vice President of Ericsson Middle East and Africa and Head of Ericsson Pakistan added: “Ericsson’s partnership with Jazz spans over many years with several recent wins and shared successes in the areas of network rollout and digital services. Our world is witnessing challenging times due to COVID-19 and connectivity has never been more critical than ever.

“At Ericsson, we endeavor to automate and accelerate our networks and technology to meet the demands of an ever-changing world. We are working closely with Jazz to provide the best possible connectivity, ensuring that Jazz networks run optimally as demand grows and the need for digitalization expedites.”

Author

Nell Walker

Published

22 July 2021

Estimated Read time

2Mins

Brother UK has partnered with Datalogic to provide technology resellers with the opportunity to buy Auto-ID products on subscription. The…

Brother UK has partnered with Datalogic to provide technology resellers with the opportunity to buy Auto-ID products on subscription.

The ranges of both vendors will be made available through Brother’s Managed Label Service (MLS) platform, which will give businesses the option of spreading the upfront cost of new labelling and scanning devices, software, services and supplies over a monthly payment plan.

The move will include Datalogic’s barcode scanning hardware and partners supplying the equipment will be able to simply integrate Brother labelling devices into customer deals via MLS, and vice versa.

The vendors say the partnership will make it easier for resellers to specify label printers and barcoding technology for bespoke Auto-ID systems, and provide them with access to a joint technical support team.

Ged Cairns, head of Auto-ID business unit at Brother UK, said: “Customers are increasingly looking to buy all hardware, software and solutions as a service, as they look to simplify purchasing decisions and turn capex into opex for affordability.

“Vendors working side-by-side can help partners responding to these changing customer needs faster, by providing considered guidance and expertise of how technology can work as part of a full system and by supporting one another through shared payment platforms.

“With Datalogic by our side, we’re well positioned to help partners as they handle the growing demand for Auto-ID systems.”

Jonathan Brown, UK&I Channel Country Manager, at Datalogic, added: “Brother’s MLS platform is providing another string to partners’ bows as they target growth in the Auto-ID market, so it’s an excellent platform to open up to the resellers we work closely with too.

“Our new partnership recognises the value that two vendors working together can provide resellers, which is especially helpful for those breaking into the Auto-ID market for the first time.”

The move follows Brother UK’s Auto-ID team striking a new deal with specialist distributor BlueStar, which will now carry the company’s thermal and mobile print range as part of a pan-European arrangement.

Author

Nell Walker

Published

21 July 2021

Estimated Read time

1Min

UtterBerry, a tech giant whose innovations have been used on some of the largest infrastructure projects in the world, is…

UtterBerry, a tech giant whose innovations have been used on some of the largest infrastructure projects in the world, is bringing some of its operations to Leeds, Yorkshire, creating 800 jobs – as reported by the Yorkshire Post.

The business’s primary objective is producing sensors which monitor the movements of infrastructure – for example, bridges and tunnels – in real time. It allows those working on the infrastructure to be warned in advance if anything’s wrong, preventing potential accidents.

The new Leeds hub will also design and manufacturer contactless COVID-19 symptom scanners. UtterBerry is aiming to roll these out across the globe.

Heba Bevan, founder and CEO of UtterBerry, is keen to help those who lost their jobs during the pandemic find meaningful work again, and to attract more women into a typically male-dominated industry.

“What attracted me to Leeds was I knew there was a huge amount of talent around Yorkshire because you have got amazing universities,” she said.

“There is a huge pool of undergraduate and graduate talent.

“Engineers want to do good and provide sustainable developments. The pandemic showed us just how much we are lacking in manufacturing.”

Chancellor of the Exchequer, Rishi Sunak, said that the investment was “fantastic news for Leeds”.

Author

Nell Walker

Published

20 July 2021

Estimated Read time

2Mins

As reported by DroneLife, Verizon has launched a Robotics Business Technology Division in a bid to involve itself further in…

As reported by DroneLife, Verizon has launched a Robotics Business Technology Division in a bid to involve itself further in the unmanned sector.

Verizon states that it “expands enterprise solutions for drones and ground robotics”.

It acquired Skyward, a drone management company, in 2017 and has since used drones for emergency response and the maintenance of its own network.

It has also worked closely with businesses like UPS or delivery projects, and to leverage the power of 5G.

The new division will continue to enable autonomous solutions for Verizon.

“Enterprises in many industries are adopting drones and ground robots to gather data, survey and monitor infrastructure, and automate logistics operations,” says Mariah Scott, Head of Robotics Business Technology.

“By integrating these fleets with one operational platform, and leveraging Verizon’s advanced connectivity solutions, businesses can speed up time to insight, increase automation of their operations and deliver greater value.”

“Robots are a critical aspect of the 5G future. The formation of this new business unit will accelerate the symbiotic relationship between humans and machines, paving the way for Verizon to transform the way businesses approach innovation and the future of work,” adds Elise Neel, VP of New Business Incubation.

“Our talented team of roboticists will leverage the power of Verizon’s network, paired with the sophistication of next-generation software, to orchestrate and unify robotic experiences. This work will help deliver on the promise of making the fourth industrial revolution a reality.”

Author

Nell Walker

Published

19 July 2021

Estimated Read time

2Mins

According to a new study, technology could create a way for indigenous communities in the Amazon to curb deforestation in…

According to a new study, technology could create a way for indigenous communities in the Amazon to curb deforestation in a major way, as reported by the BBC.

Conservationist groups have supplied indigenous citizens of the Peruvian Amazon with satellite data and smart phones to allow them to monitor the removal of trees. As a result, tree losses have been halved in the first year of the project.

The researchers wanted to see if putting information directly into the hands of those living in the forests themselves could make a difference to the rapid deforestation that has plagued these areas for decades – with great success.

The controlled study was randomised, using 76 remote villages in the Amazon, with 36 randomly-assigned people participating.

Thirty-seven other communities served as a control group, where normal forest management resumed.

When suspected deforestation was picked up by satellite information, coordinates and photos were loaded onto USB drives and delivered up the Amazon river. Then, the data was downloaded onto apps which would show the participants the locations.

It could then be confirmed whether or not the deforestation was unauthorised, and community members would decide on the best approach. If drug dealers were involved, they could decide whether to report to law enforcers. Otherwise, they would intervene directly.

“It’s quite a sizeable impact,” said Jacob Kopas, an independent researcher and an author on the paper. “We saw evidence of fewer instances of tree cover loss in the programme communities compared with control communities.

“On average, those communities managed to avert 8.8 hectares of deforestation within the first year. But the communities that were most threatened, the ones that had more deforestation in the past were the ones pulling more weight and were reducing deforestation more than in others.”

Indigenous groups welcomed the research. “The study provides evidence that supporting our communities with the latest technology and training can help reduce deforestation in our territories,” said Jorge Perez Rubio, the president of the Loreto regional indigenous organization (ORPIO), where the study was carried out.

Author

Nell Walker

Published

16 July 2021

Estimated Read time

1Min

According to The News, Pakistan’s largest oil refinery – Byco – has signed an agreement to implement SAP Ariba DSN…

According to The News, Pakistan’s largest oil refinery – Byco – has signed an agreement to implement SAP Ariba DSN (Digital Supplier Network) and Sourcing Suite – the first in its nation.

Byco stated: “The initiative will automate the procurement process enabling a paperless process, significantly eliminating errors and unnecessary delays, as encountered in traditional procurement to the payment process.”

Fayaz Ahmad Khan, Vice President Commercial Byco Petroleum, added: “Byco has always been at the forefront of innovation and implementation of processes that are in line with global best practices.

“The deployment of SAP ARIBA DSN and Sourcing Suite will be another first by Byco as an industry leader in Pakistan.”

Fayaz Ahmad Khan, Vice President Commercial Byco Petroleum

He stated that, not only will this move improve efficiency in procurement, but also create better transparency and visibility across the business for all stakeholders.

Author

Nell Walker

Published

22 April 2021

Estimated Read time

8Mins

Gayle Carpenter, Founder and Creative Director at Sparkloop, discusses her incredible journey and the way she has smashed– and continues to smash – gender-based barriers in business…

It seems incredible, in 2021, that female founders remain a rarity – especially when it’s been proven, time and again, that the influence of women entrepreneurs is an incredible force for good. The Treasury recently commissions Alison Rose, CEO of Natwest Group, to lead her own independent review of female entrepreneurship in the UK [LINK: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/the-alison-rose-review-of-female-entrepreneurship] digging deep into just how influential women can be and exposing the barriers they face.

The goal of the review was to tap into the economic potential of female entrepreneurs; one of its key findings was that up to £250bn of new value would be added to this country’s economy if women started and scaled new businesses at the same rate as men. In response to Rose’s report, the government now has plans in place to increase the number of female entrepreneurs by 50% by 2030 – this is around 600,000 women.

The business case for why this is so important is crystal clear – it’s the much slower march of the way society views women that still needs an overhaul. You’ll hear people claim that sexism no longer exists in the UK because there are no specific laws that bar women from doing anything men do in business, but that’s a deeply short-sighted claim that completely discounts the pervasive nature of negative gender-based stereotypes. 

Even the highly successful Gayle Carpenter, Founder and Creative Director at Sparkloop, faced that one-dimensional mindset from her father when she was choosing what to study. While her passion lay in the arts, she initially chose a business degree, because he’d told her, “girls can do art, but if you want to get a proper job, you’ll need to do business”. Carpenter soon realised she’d made a mistake, and switched to art and design – something that didn’t stop her launching her own business 15 years ago, flying in the face of what Carpenter Senior expected.

Challenging perceptions

“The two things – arts and business – are completely united now,” she says. “My father’s viewpoint spurred me on to prove him wrong in the fact that you could be artistic and commercially creative, and make a career out of it.” Carpenter describes Sparkloop as “an ideas business”, a creative agency which specialises in branding, and all the associated channels of delivery. While the fundamentals of what Sparkloop does, as a business, haven’t changed much in a decade and a half, the way it delivers what it creates certainly has.

“The channels in which we deliver our strategy are beyond the imagination, now,” she explains. “You can’t recognise the output from 15 years ago. So, whilst staying true to our core skills and beliefs, we do make sure that we’re just one step ahead in terms of technology.” This has enabled Sparkloop to remain at the top of its game, and, unsurprisingly, the words and attitude of her father have stayed with Carpenter every step of the way, challenging her to continuously prove his perceptions wrong.

“Part of the reason there’s such a gap in female entrepreneurship is the perception of women in leading roles,” she says. “My dad, bless his soul, had a really old-school attitude towards girls in business – but have we actually moved on that much? There’s still that perception that if you were to start a family, you will be at home, potentially, or at least have to take a step back in order to do that. And that’s a real challenge for many women. Sadly, I do genuinely see that kind of ‘old boys network’ idea at play, but I think you can find or start your on network, and what I’m seeing now is a much more diverse network of people who are like-minded, rather than it being a ‘who you know, not what you know’ situation. It’s really, really nice.”

Everyday barriers

Times are indeed a-changing, but Carpenter has still been up against her fair share of barriers – the kind that remain common today. “I’ve been in a lot of male-dominated teams, and even at creative head level, there would be stereotypical response to my opinions; I was seen as ‘feisty’ as opposed to ‘assertive’, yet the ego-driven, crazy creative director who would throw hissy fits constantly was just ‘eccentric’! It’s interesting how we’re labeled, and how that’s so set within the psyche. But I am seeing it change.”

When we talk about those deep-rooted prejudices, language choice is often how they emerge. People are so used to describing powerful women as ‘difficult’ for standing their ground, and praising men for the same behaviour, that they don’t always realise how damaging that can be and how it influences their own viewpoints and actions surrounding women leaders. For Carpenter, personally, the best way around that has been to take what she’s learned and make sure others know they can come to her for guidance and advice.

Creating the change

“I would say I take much more of a mentoring role,” she says. “I like nothing more than when I started to work with, or collaborate with, clients or other people in my sector and they then almost outpace me. It’s a sign of success in terms of how they’ve grown. I never set out to do it in a structured way, but I’ve worked with a lot of clients who have just naturally asked me for advice, or 360 feedback, and that’s turned into more of a conversation and a bit of mentorship, where they’ve then gone onto do really great things with the confidence and the voice to make a difference. That’s really heart-warming for me.”

Carpenter’s team, just by chance, happens to be very diverse, including her ‘right-hand woman’ whom she brought on board as a junior and who is now a great senior creative. And Carpenter herself has been the recipient of a mentor’s sage advice, which – consciously or unconsciously – shapes the way she has worked with juniors now. 

“When I was at university, I did some experience at a small agency, headed up by a male and female team, and I later went back to work for them – it was one of the happiest places I’ve worked,” she says. “Looking back on it now, in this particular creative head, who was female and had children, I can identify the qualities I’ve noticed in woman leaders and that I would like to draw on myself – kind, but firm, and with a real tenacity. I actually didn’t realise, until now, how much of an impact that particular personal situation had on me, perhaps because it was the only time within my career where I had been working for a female head. So it enabled me to start as I meant to go on, very early.”

The future’s bright

For Carpenter, it’s important to reiterate the fact that giving women equal opportunities shouldn’t be seen as a threat to men, and opening doors for one doesn’t close any for another. It’s also vital to highlight that diversity isn’t just about men and woman – it’s a far broader conversation including gender, sexuality, race, health, and beyond. But regarding female leadership, the issue still lies within perceptions creating barriers that needn’t, and shouldn’t, be there.

“I’ve got a son, and I want to be a role model for him as much as I do for other women, to know that it’s right and fair to have this diverse attitude going forward,” Carpenter explains. “I certainly see that playing out in him, which is wonderful. He doesn’t see male and female roles in the same way that we ever would have, as kids, so that’s fantastic. Additionally, my other half works in finance, which isn’t the most diverse industry, but some of his favourite roles have been when he’s had female bosses, because he says they often have more divers teams which have been more successful.”

Things are moving in the right direction, from Carpenter’s perspective. The fact that gender is an everyday topic of conversation, now, is a step forward, and she’s seeing a general increase in the numbers of women in business. “It’s a lot more split, now, in terms of who I’m seeing as decision-makers,” she says. “There’s a real blend, and that’s really reassuring. I think you just have to have a certain mindset or ambition, regardless of gender, and if you have that sort of natural instinct it’s hard to let go of it. I’m constantly trying to stay one step ahead of myself, always challenging myself. I talk to other female – and male – leaders and use their mentorship to spur me on. 

“Just stay true to yourself, don’t be something you’re not. As a woman, you don’t have to try to be a man to be successful – be who you are and have confidence in that. Never take your eye off the ball, look after your clients, value your team, and that will pay you back in dividends. Most importantly, don’t be afraid of failure. Test, learn, challenge yourself, keep moving forward, and be prepared to make measured risks – it’s the only way you’ll grow.”

Author

Nell Walker

Published

15 April 2021

Estimated Read time

3Mins

Technology has played a vital role in changing the way people eat and view their health. The strategy& report, “An appetite for opportunity: How changing dietary goals can drive growth in retail and consumer goods”, explores how…

The internet as a teacher: COVID-19 has shone a spotlight on health

From the endless memes about inevitable weight gain – glossing over the fact that this has often been caused by illness, depression and anxiety – to the laser-focus on mental health, how we function and what we put into our bodies has become more of an open talking point since the pandemic began. This inevitably means that people have spent more time researching the best options for their personal needs online.’Our research shows the pandemic, and resulting lockdowns, have seen some consumers altering their diets to better support their mental wellbeing’, the strategy& report states. ‘We see indicators of this shift to overall wellbeing when we look at Google Search data. It’s clear there has been sustained interest in ‘vitamins’ over the past five years, with a significant spike in January 2021′. The first lockdown also saw a huge spike in Google Searches for ‘sugar substitute’.

Increased reliance on technology has changed how we acquire food

This shift isn’t new, but COVID-19 has accelerated it. In the UK, many supermarkets had to quickly adjust their online services when the first lockdown caused an enormous surge in the demand for delivery and click-and-collect slots. Additionally, the popularity of takeaway websites and apps has exploded.According to strategy& data, 21% of consumers found they’d increased the amount they spent online during 2020, and 13% expected that to continue for the next 12 months. The data also found that consumers are more interested in spending their money with independent, local food businesses.

People are learning new skills via the internet

While consumption of takeaways has indeed risen, many have also used this time as an opportunity to either learn to cook, or to expand their cooking skills, with the internet to guide them.’Across all consumer segments, the web is the top destination for food information and inspiration, including search engines, recipe websites and videos’, the strategy& report states. Additionally, subscription box services have become increasingly popular. ‘Consumer intent to purchase these has doubled since the pandemic, with a particularly strong take-up among Generation Z’. 

Gen Z is leading the way in online health education

The strategy& research found that, by far, Gen Z was the most likely age bracket to change its diet. ‘While they my lack the spending power of older generations… the younger demographic is more likely to change their diet for environmental reasons and they are also looking to become better-informed, turning to digital formats for information about wellbeing and diets. They’re using social media, health tracking apps and podcasts to guide their nutritional choices and meet their health goals’.

Health-based goal-setting has gone digital

Food-tracking websites and apps have also been around for several years already, but an increased focus on health and wellbeing has made them far more commonplace. Additionally, pre-packaged meal plans that focus specifically on health or meeting a certain are on the rise, with online services hurrying to provide. ‘The significant rise in healthy-eating packaged meal plans, delivered to the door, is capturing the attention of consumers whose goals may include a healthier lifestyle or the greater convenience of more hassle-free preparation and cooking’, the strategy& report says. ‘The proliferation of online services and marketplaces means consumers can easily and quickly better understand their choices against their goals, and then satisfy their dietary needs, whatever they are, at the touch of a button’.

Author

Nell Walker

Published

19 March 2021

Estimated Read time

5Mins

We take a look at 5 apps that have underscored the new necessities of remote work: collaboration, security, employee engagement… and a well-equipped home office, as identified in Okta 2021 Business at Work report.

Many of us have adapted seamlessly to working from home over the last 12 months. Technology, and the way software organisations have stepped up to the plate to supply the tools we needed most, has been key to this. We take a look at 5 apps that have underscored the new necessities of remote work: collaboration, security, employee engagement… and a well-equipped home office, as identified in Okta 2021 Business at Work report.

While it now feels utterly normal to join a professional video chat and see the inside of people’s home offices, kitchens, or sheds, the fact is that it’s only been normal for less than a year. Many people thrive on home working, although some did struggle with the shift, and numerous reports have explored the clear benefits of a more flexible working situation than most of us had pre-pandemic. 

One of the main reasons why many of us have adapted so seamlessly is the role technology has played, and the way software organisations stepped up to the plate to supply the tools we needed most. ‘A shakeup in our top apps underscores the new necessities of remote work: collaboration, security, employee engagement… and a well-equipped home office’, states the Okta 2021 Business at Work report. 

As well as a rise in the use – and choice – of tools that enable us to better work with our colleagues, clients, and peers, remote workers have required additional protection that their employers would normally take responsibility for, hence the rise in security-related apps. Additionally, HR teams are busy investing in whatever will give them the best employee engagement, in order to ensure staff feel happy and supported at a time when they’re separated from their co-workers.

Interestingly, the Okta report shows that 90% of the fastest-growing apps are brand new to the top 10 – the first time in the report’s history. ‘Companies needed to enable remote work, which means supporting at-home workspaces and virtual collaboration, and these apps helped them do it. Also, for the first time, security tools claim four top spots in the fastest growing category, and an HR-centric tool appears for the first time since 2016’.

Microsoft 365

The real heavyweight app of 2020/21 was Microsoft 365, which is no surprise considering most office workers need to use at least one element of the app every day, and many of them haven’t invested in it for their personal computers. In the words of the Okta report, ‘Since our first report in 2015, Microsoft 265, Salesforce, and Google Workspace have held three of our top four spots. They may have rebranded once or twice, but they are embedded in our desktops and our work lives’.

AWS

Amazon Web Services is a cloud computing service that works on a pay-what-you-use basis – it’s not surprising, then, that it’s such a popular choice, particularly at a time when the way we work has changed so drastically. ‘We’ve seen some exciting changes in out top rank’, the report states. ‘Cloud platform AWS has risen steadily from sixth place five years ago to become this year’s second most popular app by number of customers’. 

‘The new second-place global rank for AWS is driven by its strong growth in EMEA and APAC, where it has seen over 25% growth since April 2020, compared to 16% growth in North America during the same time period’. 

Salesforce

A CRM platform and cloud computing service, Salesforce’s popularity has remained steadfastly near the top of the list. This is thanks, in part, to its usage in the US: ‘Salesforce and Zoom’s global ranks are underpinned by their popularity in North America’, the report states. In APAC and EMEA, Salesforce is several spots lower, but this hasn’t affected its appreciation elsewhere.

Google Workspace

Formerly known as G Suite, Google Workspace combines collaboration and productivity tools, and cloud computing. Its broad appeal has brought it to the top four spot, regardless of how it overlaps with other apps. ‘While companies may splurge on a few best-of-breed apps, we might expect they would tighten their belts where they see clear redundancy. However, 36% of Okta’s Microsoft 365 customers now also deploy Google Workspace, the largest jump in the past three years. Top collaboration tools have never been more important for productivity’.

Zoom

Zoom is no longer simply a name – it’s a verb. “Shall we Zoom later?” is the latest “Google it”, thanks to the video call app’s usability, stability, and business-friendly features like the ability to record meetings and set a photo of the Taj Mahal as your background. ‘Tools enabling collaboration, including Zoom, have jumped in the ranks’, the report states.

‘[It] had only joined the top apps by unique users for the first time in 2019, ended this current data period in sixth place. In our Businesses at Work (from Home) report in April, when we highlighted apps that had seen significant growth in numbers of corporate and personal users in March, Zoom was our fastest growing app by number of unique users. While unique users dipped a bit over summer, by the end of September they were reaching new highs, likely related to Zoom’s extensive efforts to support distance learning’.

Author

Nell Walker

Published

11 February 2021

Estimated Read time

7Mins

Interface Magazine talks to James Shanahan, CEO Revolut Singapore, regarding an exciting new dawn of digital banking…

The banking sector has experienced so much disruption in recent years, hasn’t it?

My background is in banking and insurance for many years. One of my observations ever since has been the emergence of internet banking where the operating models of banks are very much outdated and customer experience is lagging behind what customers expect and experience in other industries. One of the opportunities that Revolut brings to the table or has built, in fact, is that we continue to expand on a new perspective on customer experience and a new perspective on the underlying operating model of banks. We’ve built, and continue to expand on, a global operating model. It’s a contemporary approach with a single underlying infrastructure; one that makes the business highly scalable. And I think in order of magnitude, less costly and more efficient than your run-of-the-mill bank.

Why is this so important?

This is important because when you take a zero off the cost of pretty much anything, you can change the world. And we’ve seen that in many industries in the past and as we move down that path with Revolut, we can see that as we bring ourselves into more and more markets. The difference that makes to our customers and the difference that makes to our ability to scale the business very rapidly is immense. The fundamental business model of banking is the balance sheet, leveraging the balance sheet, taking in deposits, lending those deposits out, and essentially, making a margin on that business. That business is not being disintermediated. The balance sheet business of a bank is intact and sound and will continue on for hundreds of years into the future, is my expectation. However, the surrounding systems, the surrounding protective systems, whether they’re credit systems, whether they’re profit and loss generating platforms or new product platforms, you will want to cut the G and L platform: the credit scoring, the risk engines, all of these are designed to protect those balance sheets. And then, of course, we get to the distribution where the high cost of branches, the high cost of ATM networks, are the millstone around the neck of banks that no longer performs the way it has done in the past. I mean, with the advent of technology, we can disintermediate at that level.

How does a restructuring of a platform help?

Looking at it from a more holistic perspective, the business model of a bank is intact, but the way it is carried out is dramatically or vastly inefficient to what’s possible using the kind of technology we have available today. And so, when you reimagine that from the perspective of an organisation like Revolut, you can conceive of a global bank that operates on a single common platform. You can conceive of a global bank that shares the same operating model universally. And when you start to do that, you are able to scale the business far more rapidly than any bank. Most banks, if you look in their scaled markets, are going to be individual stacks. The stack we have in one country is different from the stack that we have in another country. And that leads, obviously, to very high cost and the inability to move rapidly and to act in a very agile manner. So, by re-conceiving the infrastructure of a bank, if you like, the way that a bank delivers its services, you can take an order of magnitude off the cost, number one, and you can bring a level of experience to the customer that’s not hamstrung by old tech, by old thinking, by siloed approaches, and even a silo at a country level. Because frankly, that school of thinking, that style of thinking is really what’s held banks back and continues to do so, today.

I guess changing is coming to many banking enterprises?

There are some banks starting to move out of that mindset, but it’s like turning the ocean liner. And we’re coming along in perhaps not a speed boat anymore, but in a fast-moving, rapidly expanding boat that can move quickly, can turn quickly and can speed past, some of the incumbents in the market. In any market, we always overestimate what can be achieved in one year, but we dramatically underestimate what can be achieved in 10 years. So, Revolut is five years into its existence. I mean, ask me that question in five years or 15 years, and I hope to show you that Revolut is a global bank with tens, if not hundreds, of millions of customers on board able to operate at margins which put banks in their current form to shame.

Security issues obviously increase with these transformations…

Well, look, security is a war, and a war that will continuously wage. I think there’ll be no end to that. The good guys versus the bad guys will go on forever. What I see is this is increasingly… What we all see is a tech battle as we move to technology as a way to distribute financial services. I think a company that has a stronger tech underpinning and is digitally native, if you like, in its understanding of that technology, will always fight a better battle than those who have to learn the tools of war and have to bring their approaches to a new battlefield, if you like. I think there’s a second part of it as well. So, not only the ability to leverage technology more completely and with more modern and up-to-date tools, if you like, but also the usability factor here. So, a lot of security issues are not driven by weaknesses in the underlying security, but rather weaknesses in customers’ behaviour or lack of understanding on the part of protagonist in the transaction as to what might represent a less secure way of doing things. By having a lot of agility and flexibility on the front end with this customer experience, we can make it easier for customers to stay secure. We can educate them through the way that the application is laid out, through the way the customer journey moves. And we can avoid situations by running, if you like, a rule set or machine learning, or some artificial intelligence tools around the transactions, in addition to the usual transaction monitoring tools and protection tools to guide customers and to help them in a way that many, I think, less contemporary organisations don’t have the flexibility to do. That allows us to do, build in a level of customer awareness of security right from the beginning, and to adjust that on the fly. We can adjust our front ends very, very quickly and lead customers to a better position.

Does this inevitably lead to lower fraud rates?

We find our fraud rates, for example, to be significantly lower than industry standards right across the board. And I think this does reflect the fact that we have a more agile and more technologically-sound understanding of what’s going on, and we can apply it more completely. There’s also something to be said for the ability to manage customers’ expectations in this regard. So, it’s quite clear coming onto a digital-only platform from a financial services perspective, that customers need to be educated, need to be made secure, need to be reminded, if you like, or nudged in the right directions. And that’s easy to achieve with a digital front end much more so than, in a branch or an ATM machine or other offline kinds of environments. So, I think the opportunity to be vastly more secure is built into the operating nature of what we’re doing here with Revolut and other technology platforms.

I guess Covid has driven some of these changes…

You could argue that, absolutely. I think a lot of our customers are driven by convenience, less so than an age demographic. And I think convenience also raises a question in people’s mind, “Whilst this is easier to achieve, am I being safe? Is my bank, A, being responsible, and B, do I inherently understand the change in risk profile that I’m taking on with moving to this platform?” I think in the end… I don’t know. Maybe let’s leave it at that now. Obviously, there’s been some changes in customer behaviours. I mean, despite all the best intentions, travel has evaporated around the world, as we’ve come to see. So, spending has been affected, but I would say that it’s more muted than we expected. We saw a change in our customers’ behaviour and a dip in spending, but we’ve also seen a rapid recovery from that, in particular as people moved online. So, an acceleration in the tendency of people to move online occurred. Perhaps we saw three to five years’ worth of growth in several months in some markets. And then, secondly, I think it creates almost like a pendulum effect. When people are unable to spend, particularly in their disposable income, a demand builds up. And as we saw in various markets now, as lockdowns were eased or removed, we’ve seen spending bounce back, and again, with the pendulum effect, in some cases higher than it was before we went into the COVID period.

Author

Nell Walker

Published

14 October 2020

Estimated Read time

3Mins

While the virus has presented many challenges, it has also opened up opportunities for increased industry security and customer relationships. Agnė Selemonaitė, Deputy CEO at ConnectPay, explains.

1. Increased industry security

Banks and other financial institutions have been a major target for scammers since the beginning of the pandemic; in fact, cyberattacks between February and April alone spiked an astonishing 238%. The increased volume of threats has encouraged companies to face the situation head-on and implement new safeguards.

“Putting more safeguards in place will benefit market players long after the crisis has blown over, as market players will be better equipped to deal with the constantly evolving digital threats,” says Selemonaitė.

2. Growth of digital payments market

Alongside the World Health Organization encouraging us to go cashless, the crisis has stimulated the growing amount of e-payments. Selemonaitė notes Sweden’s example: amidst the uncertainty, Sweden’s central bank signed an agreement to gain access to EU TIPS platform, which will act as the basis for the country’s own platform for instant payments.

“Sweden’s approach shows that in order to be in a better spot to satisfy increasing demand for faster, more convenient services – you need to be proactive,” Selemonaitė explains. “We follow this approach too; having realised our clients’ needs for greater options amidst quarantine, we integrated more payment methods into our Merchant API.”

3. Accelerating digital banking development

As banks had to severely limit their working hours during the lockdown, digital banking picked up the slack to accommodate the financial needs of people working from home. “As the new wave of customers sieged the system, faster development of banking services took precedence,” says  Selemonaitė. In the US alone, over 45% of people have changed the way they bank amidst the crisis, and according to a European customer survey by McKinsey, there has been a 20% increase in digital engagement.

4. Enhanced customer experience

The aforementioned McKinsey survey showed that people who are highly satisfied with their digital banking experience are two-and-a-half times more likely to open new accounts with their existing bank than those who are just just satisfied. The aftermath of COVID-19 is expected to continue down the path of developing simplified UX to attract and retain clientele.

“Although requiring meticulous work, constant UX evaluation can greatly benefit product credibility and client retention, for instance, our first UX update led to doubling our monthly conversions,” says Selemonaitė. “It is likely that we will see a more customer-focused approach in the post-crisis industry too.”

5. A catalyst for fintech companies

The ’08 financial crisis gave a boost for the fintech industry, as, at the time, people were losing trust in the system, and in legacy financial institutions. In the aftermath, some entrepreneurs parted ways with the concept of traditional banking, aiming to present the market with a more technologically sophisticated solution.

“This time, the crisis could have an even greater impact for fintechs, as well as regtechs, as they rely on solutions fintechs can develop,” adds Selemonaitė. “Unfavourable circumstances drive the need to innovate across interconnected sectors.”

Author

Nell Walker

Published

13 October 2020

Estimated Read time

5Mins

Marius Galdikas, CEO of ConnectPay, explains the role of digital finance during a pandemic, and how it has changed society forever…

Could you tell us a little about your background?

I originally come from the field of technology. I’m a physicist,  and I’ve always marveled at engineering and technology – digital technology, specifically. Through the years, I shifted into products and then into fintech, which was very exciting to me, because fintech is about people and technology. It’s about good people that understand regulation, understand business and understand technology. I am now the CEO of ConnectPay.

Data shows that cyberattacks on financial institutions spiked enormously between February and April this year – why is that?

I think the main reason it happened is actually at the core of the pandemic; the pandemic means people are locked up at home, so you end up with many more users of digital financial services than there usually are. Cash is unusable at this time, when you’re locked up, so you have a lot of new customers in digital finance – some of them are tech savvy and others are not. There’s a lot of people that never used digital financial services, and now they must. So you have this influx of customers into the market, that’s number one. Number two, governments reacted and we had these stimulus programs released, which means there’s a lot of funds being distributed through different programs. And many of those funds are meant for relieving the consequences of joblessness.

So you have a lot of new funds moving around and, because all of it is happening in the digital finance area, I think that stirred up the whole fraudster community. Fraudsters are working hard, now, to try and use the situation to steal funds from people, which results in  information security threats and cyber attacks. Cyber attacks are means of achieving the goals for fraudsters.

How has cyber security adapted to combat this issue?

It’s a very big challenge to tackle. Number one is, all of the financial services providers that already operate online, they have their assets online, they have the required technology and so on. Could that have been changed so fast? No. Information security requires a lot of work and insight, and it’s a lengthy process to deploy specific tools to combat that. So I don’t think much has changed, but I think a realisation came that fraud prevention is now a very important area.

As well as increased security, what have been some of the digital baking trends since the emergence of COVID-19? How have people changed the way they handle money?

The stride towards a cashless society has obviously been accelerated, forcefully. Some countries and some companies will do better than others, but I think majority of the change is yet to come, because the pandemic will result in economic hardship and economic hardship will result in changes, in innovation, just like we had in the 2008 crisis. That gave birth to Bitcoin crowdfunding, sharing economies – all of that was an outcome of financial crisis, and I think we will see something come up that we cannot even imagine right now. What is the driver for those changes? Previously in 2008, there was a huge loss in trust towards financial institutions. The financial sector was the reason behind the crash, and so trust was lost, and all of these instruments – crowdfunding, sharing economy, blockchain technology – were targeted specifically at, “Hey, we don’t trust financial institutions anymore; what can we do to exclude them from the economy altogether?”

So what will happen now, I think, will be the same, depending on the size of the downturn. I’ve been hearing that in the Western and European developed markets, countries have been hit very hard, financially, by the pandemic. This will continue; there will be financial problems. It’s different because, previously, everybody lost jobs and salaries went down. Now, there’s a different aspect to what the hardship will be like, and it will result in something new.

What are your thoughts on a cashless society? Do you think it’s inevitable or are there barriers? And if it does happen, how far away do you think it is?

I do think it’s inevitable. I think the entire world is going towards a cashless society at different speeds; for example, the Nordic countries are the biggest cashless societies in the world, whereas the UK is probably five years behind them. In the US, cash is still very important –people love cash in the States – so they’re about 10 years probably behind the Nordics. However, the direction is the same. It’s all going towards cashless. The reasons for it is obviously internet penetration and mobile phone penetration – those are the key factors towards how fast will we get to cashless society, country-by-country. But also, what we need to understand is that cashless society also sort of puts a strain on the society as a general, because elderly people might be excluded from this market or might have trouble or problems adapting to the cashless environment. However, sometime, we will all be there.

The push towards the cashless society is driven by two things: one is the new consumer. These are new people, the new generation, and exchanging funds should be as simple as messaging or using social media. So one driver is this new generation that drives the digital economy and the cashlessness, because they live in the digital world. The other part is the actual financial institutions that drive the cashless society, but their reasoning is different – it’s efficiency. They want to cut costs. They don’t want to have physical retail locations. Nobody wants to transport or count cash. There’s fraud issues related to cash, so the financial institutions are driving it from another perspective.

Do you think it’s safe to say that digital banking is no longer a luxury, but a necessity?

Absolutely. We see that the world is much more fragile than we thought. We are all forced to go online, work from home, access our financial instruments from home, shop online, get government funding and stimulus online without going anywhere, and so on. It is a necessity, it is definitely not a luxury and everybody will have to adapt to that. I just hope it becomes less painful for everybody to transition, and that people don’t lose out on their money through fraud.

Author

Nell Walker

Published

12 October 2020

Estimated Read time

5Mins

We spoke to Carlene Jackson, CEO of Cloud9 Insight, about the transformative power of both technology and company culture…

What led to you launching your business, Cloud9 Insight?

I started Cloud9 about 10 years ago, and it was an opportunity to support small businesses to deploy CRM in the cloud for the first time, because I saw a trend of more and more clients moving to the cloud. There’s an opportunity to help clients with making the most of their data in the SME space, plus they’re able to use Microsoft technology to get more insights – hence the name Cloud9 Insight. At the time, most of my competitors were still looking to sell on premises-software, but I saw a gap in the market.

Historically, what I’d seen with enterprise clients I had worked with, is that CRM projects had been at least a year long, and often you’d question whether the business had moved on since the definition stage of the project, and if it was still fit for purpose. I think projects these days need to be a lot more agile to support clients with business transformation; for me, working with cloud technology allows that agility.

There’s a quote on your website where you say you have a love of change and disruption – what does that mean to you, as a tech leader and expert?

I think it comes naturally to me. I’m moderately dyslexic, and some say that dyslexics are quite creative people. I find it hard to read anything without having a pen and paper in my hand, because I always got lots of ideas, and I think part of the reason that entrepreneurs have often been so successful as dyslexics is that we often think differently. If you look at tackling problems the same way they’ve always been tackled before, then you’ll probably come up with the same answers – but if you can address things differently, then maybe you might come up with a better opportunity.

When I started my business, I moved almost immediately to the Alps; I hadn’t worked in the Microsoft channel, and I had no preconceptions about what did a Microsoft partner selling CRM did. That meant my business model turned out very different to a lot of others. I also recruit a lot of young people into my business – which is why I’ve set up an apprenticeship programme, called Vantage Academy – and having them involved in the business has helped maintain that creative, disruptive model.

So is company culture very important to you?

Definitely. I used to work at IBM, and it was quite normal to travel around different offices around the country, visit your clients and just pop in and hot desk. Depending on which office you went to, some people were a bit more chatty and you got to hear a little bit more about what they’re doing. But what I noticed about my business, as it was growing, was it was becoming departmentalized and siloed in the same way that many of my clients complain about. I didn’t want that; I don’t want the salespeople not working with the support people, or projects people, and so on. There’s so much opportunity to learn when you have conversations with colleagues across different parts of the organisation, and I really wanted to make sure that we worked as a team.

I know you’re a big advocate for diversity in the workplace, and in the general realm of technology – what are some of the benefits diversity can bring?

First of all, organisations need to make sure that the demographics of who they employ reflects the demographics of who you’re selling to, because it’s difficult to understand them otherwise. Certainly in a B2C market, having representation across age groups in your workforce is really important. What I’ve found is that what really motivates the older generation is the ability to be a mentor and a leader to those that don’t yet have the experience. They want to give back.

As for younger people, they have energy, ambition and hunger to pass on to across the workplace, allowing great things to happen, and I think it increases the performance of my overall team. Diversity could also be gender; certainly in many sectors like tech and oil and gas, it is heavily biased towards males, and a lot of my staff do tell me that it’s nice to have a more balanced workplace.

I’m a lot more people centric than maybe a lot of my peers might be; I like to embrace the people and the value of people in businesses, both within my clients and within my own team. That’s really important to me.

You wrote a piece about how working from home is changing attitudes to work, specifically citing children gatecrashing video calls and how that represents how the life part of work-life balance can no longer just be hidden away – with technology supporting people really successfully to work from home, will things ever go back to ‘normal’?

I think there’s no going back to ‘normal’, for sure. The old way is not going to exist at all. There’s two types of businesses: those who are probably kidding themselves and just about surviving, and those who are probably a lot more agile and forward-thinking, who are going to look at the trends that have been happening, jump onto those trends and allow a lot more flexibility around people working from home.

The other great thing about this mobility of the workforce, is that maybe your team don’t even have to be in the vicinity of your office – maybe not even the vicinity of the UK. Maybe we can tap into where the best talent is.

How do you think female entrepreneurship can be encouraged in tech, and other STEM industries?

I love that question. One of the exciting things about me being able to set up an apprenticeship business is I’m definitely going to use my voice and position to be a great advocate for younger females to come into the tech sector. I think there might be a perception that you need to have technical skills, but having great leadership skills, having creative skills are also very important and greatly valued in the sector. It’s just trying to open the younger generation’s mind, especially for young females, as to the skills that they have inherently, in great abundance, how are they valued, and how can they use those skills to make a difference.

And for me, technology is a great enabler of change and making a difference. I’d like to see schools working more with younger people to help them feel confident about working with technology. When I hire people that are fresh out of school, I’m absolutely dismayed by how few skills they have in using technology. That crosses all genders, but it’s really sad to see the percentage of females attending degree courses that are highly attended by males. However, when you look overseas at places like Poland, they have a much greater balance, so I think we have a lot to learn about what is it that overseas countries are doing that we’re not. I suspect that starts at a young age in school, and if we could create more entrepreneurs, then our economy will be much more successful.

So it’s about encouraging STEM topics in schools, full stop, not just for girls but all genders, in order to fill that skills gap.

Yes, absolutely. I think that if there’s more integration between businesses and their involvement in schools, and that opportunities to learn entrepreneurship and problem-solving using technology exist, that might open their eyes.

Full article:

Author

Nell Walker

Published

25 September 2020

Estimated Read time

5Mins

Nell Walker talks to James Shanahan, CEO Revolut Singapore, regarding a new dawn of digital banking

“By re-conceiving the infrastructure of a bank, the way that a bank delivers its services, you can take an order of magnitude off the cost and you can bring a level of experience to the customer that’s not hamstrung by old tech, by old thinking, by siloed approaches…” James Shanahan, CEO of Revolut Singapore

Author

Nell Walker

Published

22 September 2020

Estimated Read time

3Mins

As the world slowly establishes a new normal, we reflect on some of the technologies which will contribute to a successful economic recovery

Technology thrives during times of need

Necessity is, indeed, the mother of invention. According to Digital Information World, solutions created during desperate times endure, and drive economic growth long into the future. For example, The Great Depression birthed the electric razor and car radios, among other technological advances, while Microsoft and Apple got their start during the oil crisis recession in the 1970s. The current pandemic has presented us with the opportunity to change the way we live and operate, exposing weaknesses in systems we previously relied on and allowing us to make them better. People are searching for ways to adapt, and technology will always lead this march.

Increased investment in cyber security

According to the 2nd Global Business Barometer, teleconferencing platforms have, arguably, received the most attention as a tool for businesses to adapt to the changes brought on by COVID-19; however, for many businesses, the current focus is on security and risk. Forty-four per cent of respondents said cyber security would become ‘much more important’, followed by the related areas of data privacy at 42.5%, and risk management and cloud computing at 39.9% each.

Remote working

Businesses forced to either shut down or send their staff home to work during lockdown have been able to enjoy the silver lining of decreased costs of running their workplaces, giving them a little grace to ensure they survive and, hopefully, thrive as the economy reboots. Technologies such as video conferencing and project management software have meant that a lot of companies working from home have still managed to make a success of this time, and it’s highly unlikely that they won’t emerge from this with revised remote working policies in place. A Nowsourcing infographic states that as remote work, technology, and internet access continue to develop, workers will have the option to leave big cities, escaping the high cost of living and bolstering small town economies in the process.

Adoption of home technology

Whether it’s due to working from home, home schooling, a need to create alternative revenue streams or simply for the sake of socialising with friends and family, there has been a massive uptake in home technology – both hardware and software. The aforementioned infographic shows that sales and use of these technologies keeps growing: sales of Chromebooks have risen by 400%, webcams 179%, monitors 138%, headsets 134%, and keyboards 64%. Additionally, Zoom gained an extra 190 million new users in three months, and G Suite gained a million new paying businesses in February alone.

5G infrastructure

Despite bizarre conspiracy theories linking 5G to COVID-19, it is still fully expected by experts to help boost post-pandemic recovery by introducing new possibilities for tech products. 5G isn’t an upgrade of 4G, as many people believe, but a brand new mobile system. For businesses, it will create increased speed and bandwidth, improved battery life for remote IoT devices, enhanced security, better WAN connections, 100 times the traffic capacity, and 100 times the network efficiency – among many, many other advantages. Rolling out across 2020 and 2021, 5G will be a huge boon in our post-COVID recovery.

Author

Nell Walker

Published

19 September 2020

Estimated Read time

6Mins

How openness and authenticity can contribute to successful procurement career…

Procurement isn’t necessarily an area that’s thought of as particularly human-centric, yet it does go hand-in-hand with the concepts of co-operation and organisation. As such, a touch of humanity can go a long way – and Lizan Molmans, CPO of Eneco, has it in spades.

Driven and enthusiastic, Molmans is the type of person who, in her own words, assumes that “the fastest way to the other side of the lake is straight through it, even if going around it is safer,” when she’s excited about a solution. And creating and carrying out solutions requires openness, communication and self-belief – things which Molmans learned to hone the hard way, through her career. 

Like many procurement professionals, Molmans fell into her current role as a mid-career option. Previously, she was in sales – a role in which she was perfectly happy, because she knew the products inside-out and was a real asset to her business. However, the factory supplying those products hit difficulties, one year, and couldn’t deliver them; Molmans found herself in a position where she had to repeatedly tell clients the unpleasant news, meaning they lost faith in the business. “I could not be truly authentic,” she says. “That’s not the way I like to do my job. At that time, I was still very young and naive, but I realised I was not the perfect person for that job. I became unhappy, and complained to a former manager of mine, who was head of procurement. She said, ‘Why don’t you do the same job you’re doing in sales but on the other side of the table?’ That’s when I discovered that procurement was a perfect fit for me.”

After years of varied roles, this one finally clicked. As part of a centralised procurement team, Molmans and her peers looked after procurement for the entire IT business she worked for, and it suited her because it allowed her to buy at a higher level. “Eventually, though, I got a bit stuck on the idea that having a boss who makes choices about how I do my job or how a department is arranged didn’t suit me, because my opinions were different. It was time to take the next step.”

The next step

By her own admission, Molmans didn’t necessarily have the ambition to shoot for top positions, she expected that next step to be a horizontal one. So she moved on, but found that in her next role, nobody cared whether she worked hard or simply did nothing. She moved on again, but this time, she wanted to be in a position where she had influence. “I realised I wanted to improve everything I could see,” Molmans explains. “My circle of concern is very large and my circle of influence is a bit smaller, so I’m always trying to push the latter and show that, when I believe I know better, I will stand my ground if someone disagrees.”

Molmans needed to be part of a business which, in turn, needed her. “I was with this executive search bureau and they asked me what kind of job I was looking for. I said that I needed to be in a management position because I’d had too many bosses where I could have done better. I needed a company on the move, that had a sense of urgency to change. They suggested I approach one of the three Dutch energy companies, and I said, okay, I want to be a manager; I want to split up the company from a procurement perspective and I want to partner from a procurement perspective. I thought that would be a nice challenge, and they agreed.”

Facing the challenge

Molmans spent over 10 years with this business, eventually becoming interested in mediation. She even studied to become a mediator, but then Eneco head-hunted her to lead its procurement function; it was a dilemma, for Molmans, who had been thinking of starting her own company and being a full-time mediator, but she reasoned that she could do that later in life – this was an opportunity that couldn’t be refused.

“Eneco is a very smart, intelligent, strategic company,” she says. “The culture is one that celebrates great planning and innovation.” Eneco, as a decentralised organisation, wasn’t particularly mature, but Molmans saw this as a challenge she could fix for the betterment of the company. “Operational excellence is very important, but it took Eneco some time to really embrace that.” 

Now, Molmans has found her place and embraced how who she is affects her role, and vice versa. She has discovered that while she wants to influence and to make big changes, she isn’t driven by the limelight; if she was, she’d have stayed in sales. She is more than content to be making waves in the background, driving innovation from within.

The value of authenticity

“The older I get, the more okay I am with who I am – and that’s very valuable,” she explains. “I’ve become integrated with myself. People feel very liberated when they have honest conversations with me, and they allow themselves to be vulnerable and courageous. This is what, I think, is key for companies to be successful – if a company isn’t vulnerable, if people are holding their cards too close to their chests, how can you fix or change that business? The main purpose of an organisation is to let people co-operate as an organic entity, to create value, to work efficiently. The key to that is vulnerability and openness. You can’t work together if you’re not open.”

It’s easier said than done, of course, and some people struggle with vulnerability to the extent that they become argumentative and defensive, but Molmans does her best to communicate the importance of it to her team and her superiors to make company-wide change. In her experience, with procurement being a fairly male-dominated arena, keeping one’s cards close to the chest is sometimes seen as being strategic and intelligent, where openness may be considered naive – but this is where a little diversity of thought can go a long way. “A company has a lot to gain by putting different people in place who might question the status quo,” Molmans says. “We shouldn’t be trying to compete; we’re meant to co-operate, and competition doesn’t bring profit.”

Molmans firmly believes that it takes courage to be vulnerable, because vulnerability can mean risk. To her, if you’re not being yourself and not being vulnerable, you’re not doing the best job you can do; you’re not contributing to the organisation as much as you could by not being your authentic self. 

So, if Molmans had with this extensive knowledge in how to promote a successful, open, efficient organisation through honesty, innovation and openness, early in her career, would the journey have been different? “Yes,” she says, “because I would have felt able to stand up and admit when I wasn’t the right person for something. Our experiences are a combination of environment, society, upbringing and the time period, and I didn’t know anything about what I’ve learned now, back then. But, if I wasn’t a good CPO – if I couldn’t understand procurement and how to move this organisation forward – I wouldn’t be where I am now.”

Author

Nell Walker

Published

17 September 2020

Estimated Read time

5Mins

We spoke to Carlene Jackson, CEO of Cloud9 Insight, about the transformative power of both technology and company culture

Interface Magazine hooks up with Carlene Jackson, CEO of Cloud9 Insight, who reveals the transformative power of both technology and company culture…

What led to you launching your business, Cloud9 Insight?

I started Cloud9 about 10 years ago, and it was an opportunity to support small businesses to deploy CRM in the cloud for the first time, because I saw a trend of more and more clients moving to the cloud. There’s an opportunity to help clients with making the most of their data in the SME space, plus they’re able to use Microsoft technology to get more insights – hence the name Cloud9 Insight. At the time, most of my competitors were still looking to sell on premises-software, but I saw a gap in the market.

Historically, what I’d seen with enterprise clients I had worked with, is that CRM projects had been at least a year long, and often you’d question whether the business had moved on since the definition stage of the project, and if it was still fit for purpose. I think projects these days need to be a lot more agile to support clients with business transformation; for me, working with cloud technology allows that agility.

There’s a quote on your website where you say you have a love of change and disruption – what does that mean to you, as a tech leader and expert?

I think it comes naturally to me. I’m moderately dyslexic, and some say that dyslexics are quite creative people. I find it hard to read anything without having a pen and paper in my hand, because I always got lots of ideas, and I think part of the reason that entrepreneurs have often been so successful as dyslexics is that we often think differently. If you look at tackling problems the same way they’ve always been tackled before, then you’ll probably come up with the same answers – but if you can address things differently, then maybe you might come up with a better opportunity.

When I started my business, I moved almost immediately to the Alps; I hadn’t worked in the Microsoft channel, and I had no preconceptions about what did a Microsoft partner selling CRM did. That meant my business model turned out very different to a lot of others. I also recruit a lot of young people into my business – which is why I’ve set up an apprenticeship programme, called Vantage Academy – and having them involved in the business has helped maintain that creative, disruptive model.

So, is company culture very important to you?

Definitely. I used to work at IBM, and it was quite normal to travel around different offices around the country, visit your clients and just pop in and hot desk. Depending on which office you went to, some people were a bit more chatty and you got to hear a little bit more about what they’re doing. But what I noticed about my business, as it was growing, was it was becoming departmentalized and siloed in the same way that many of my clients complain about. I didn’t want that; I don’t want the salespeople not working with the support people, or projects people, and so on. There’s so much opportunity to learn when you have conversations with colleagues across different parts of the organisation, and I really wanted to make sure that we worked as a team.

I know you’re a big advocate for diversity in the workplace, and in the general realm of technology – what are some of the benefits diversity can bring?

First of all, organisations need to make sure that the demographics of who they employ reflects the demographics of who you’re selling to, because it’s difficult to understand them otherwise. Certainly in a B2C market, having representation across age groups in your workforce is really important. What I’ve found is that what really motivates the older generation is the ability to be a mentor and a leader to those that don’t yet have the experience. They want to give back.

As for younger people, they have energy, ambition and hunger to pass on to across the workplace, allowing great things to happen, and I think it increases the performance of my overall team. Diversity could also be gender; certainly in many sectors like tech and oil and gas, it is heavily biased towards males, and a lot of my staff do tell me that it’s nice to have a more balanced workplace.

I’m a lot more people centric than maybe a lot of my peers might be; I like to embrace the people and the value of people in businesses, both within my clients and within my own team. That’s really important to me.

You wrote a piece about how working from home is changing attitudes to work, specifically citing children gatecrashing video calls and how that represents how the life part of work-life balance can no longer just be hidden away – with technology supporting people really successfully to work from home, will things ever go back to ‘normal’?

I think there’s no going back to ‘normal’, for sure. The old way is not going to exist at all. There’s two types of businesses: those who are probably kidding themselves and just about surviving, and those who are probably a lot more agile and forward-thinking, who are going to look at the trends that have been happening, jump onto those trends and allow a lot more flexibility around people working from home.

The other great thing about this mobility of the workforce, is that maybe your team don’t even have to be in the vicinity of your office – maybe not even the vicinity of the UK. Maybe we can tap into where the best talent is.

How do you think female entrepreneurship can be encouraged in tech, and other STEM industries?

I love that question. One of the exciting things about me being able to set up an apprenticeship business is I’m definitely going to use my voice and position to be a great advocate for younger females to come into the tech sector. I think there might be a perception that you need to have technical skills, but having great leadership skills, having creative skills are also very important and greatly valued in the sector. It’s just trying to open the younger generation’s mind, especially for young females, as to the skills that they have inherently, in great abundance, how are they valued, and how can they use those skills to make a difference.

And for me, technology is a great enabler of change and making a difference. I’d like to see schools working more with younger people to help them feel confident about working with technology. When I hire people that are fresh out of school, I’m absolutely dismayed by how few skills they have in using technology. That crosses all genders, but it’s really sad to see the percentage of females attending degree courses that are highly attended by males. However, when you look overseas at places like Poland, they have a much greater balance, so I think we have a lot to learn about what is it that overseas countries are doing that we’re not. I suspect that starts at a young age in school, and if we could create more entrepreneurs, then our economy will be much more successful.

So it’s about encouraging STEM topics in schools, full stop, not just for girls but all genders, in order to fill that skills gap.

Yes, absolutely. I think that if there’s more integration between businesses and their involvement in schools, and that opportunities to learn entrepreneurship and problem-solving using technology exist, that might open their eyes.

Author

Nell Walker

Published

18 August 2020

Estimated Read time

6Mins

Digital strategy is the cornerstone of any business – but how is it driven? Dr. Paul J. Bailo, Global Head of Strategy and Innovation at Infosys Digital, explores digital leadership.

When it comes to digital leadership, people often become fixated on the software part of that – but you are somebody who believes that the human element is just as important.

Absolutely. I don’t see how any organisation in this current world could survive without a true digital leadership model, when digital is at the forefront of every business. With COVID-19 coming into play and people working from home, you really have to develop your digital talents in relation to digital leadership. How do you become part of an employee’s moral values? How do they hear your voice for leadership and guidance? And how do you do this without physically being next to that person? How do you actually lead in this world of digital without a physical person being there? In my experience, and my own research, one of the critical elements to being a real digital leader is to have vision.

How do I take these pieces of technology, people, and process and look towards the future, allowing us to get from point A to point B, while keeping us moving forward? Six months ago, some people were sort of thinking about digital, some organisations had digital in a box, some people had digital in the corner, and some people didn’t even have a Chief Digital Officer. Fast forward today, if you didn’t have a digital model when COVID-19 hit, you’re dead in the water. That kick in the butt is allowing businesses to see cracks and fractures in their leadership model, that they don’t have a digital leadership framework where they have a vision for digital, and that digital is everything.

What are the most important tools in a digital leader’s arsenal?

Creativity, and a great network. You have to have a big Rolodex; you have to have a big contact list in your phone. You have to have a great network of different people from different areas that you could call upon. You may need people in the artistic world, the academic world, the philosophical world. You may need high-end programmers. You need all these people at your beck and call and you need them to build these solid relationships in order to share the wealth of knowledge.

In my opinion, it doesn’t help a digital leader to network in the same area that they’re familiar with. They have to break out of their own shell and network and build deep relationships, working relationships, outside of their norm. A lot of people say, you’re in digital, so you’re going to go to the digital conference. That’s great; I love to go to the digital conferences, and I love to speak at them.

However, I also go to other conferences, which have nothing to do with digital or data. I’m interested in aerospace, so I go to aerospace conferences to see about what’s happening in the aviation space. I go to museums to see the world differently, where there might be something in that artwork that intrigues me, that gets my brain to be working and thinking about problems differently.

When we start talking about networking, digital leaders need to know that they have to expand their proficiency in networking. They need to look outside what they’re comfortable with.

The way a digital leader thinks is that the day something is successful is the day it’s antiquated, so you have to rewire your mind that it can always be better. And this is not new – this is how nature works, it’s called evolution. Everything is constantly changing for the better, depending on the environment, or depending on the conditions that we’re living in. So when you start thinking about the digital leadership, I don’t think it just comes naturally – it’s an art form. It’s something you have to work on, it’s something you have to rewire your brain for; you have to read about it, you have to be thinking about it, you have to be talking about it, and you have to collaborate with others.

What do you think are some of the pitfalls, or common mistakes people make, when it comes to successful digital leadership?

Great question. Number one is thinking you have the people’s support when you don’t; thinking you actually have the leadership and the inspiration of the people, when you don’t. Thinking that what you suggested works without testing it out and trying it first. Talking without substance or an understanding of the data, and having the ability to talk to people but not really having empathy for them. People are smart, and they want to know that you’re going to walk through fire with them.

The idea of leaders considering themselves to be in a position of power – those days are over. People don’t want that; they want a leader who’s at the front, who’s going to be with them day and night to make sure things work. They want someone to are for and love them, who has the vision, experience and knowledge to assess risks very quickly.

These qualities are not easily found; there’s a limited amount of people who can do this, but if you can communicate digital change and transformation in a way that really touches their hearts – in a way that people understand – they’re happier to take risks. I look for the pebbles in people’s shoes; a lot of people focus on the big pain points and miss the smaller ones, but as a digital leader, you need to understand. Then you can instil in them self-leadership, and show them that you’ll be there to pick them up if they take a risk and fail.

We’re hearing more and more about the advantages of failing, and that it should be seen as testing and progression.

I think we’ve all failed, right? Historically, everyone has failed, but many swept it under the rug because people weren’t rewarded for failing, and looked down upon it, but life is made for us to fail. If you have a newborn baby, as it develops, it starts to crawl. And then, eventually, it tries to stand up and immediately falls down. Then it says, wow, okay, I learned something: let me try this again. They keep trying.

This is who we are as humans. Failure is just part of how we learn; we’ve put a societal black cloud over it, but it’s how we were made. You don’t learn as much in your successes as your failures. So, in looking for a great digital leader, you want to make sure this person’s failed a lot and has been through everything, because that’s the person who sees around the corners.

What are the three most important attributes of a digital leader?

Number one, be human. Number two, have a vision that people can understand and believe in. Number three, be curious about data, technology, the world – be curious about many different things. It could shape your thinking in formulating the best digital transformation solution around.

This isn’t something you become overnight – for the best digital leaders, it’s who they are. They’re naturally curious, they already have vision, they gravitate towards technology and they love people. People have to really want to work with you, believe in you, trust you, and love you to do really great things.

Author

Nell Walker

Published

7 August 2020

Estimated Read time

5Mins

Marius Galdikas, CEO of ConnectPay, talks digital banking’s place in the modern world

The latest episode of The Digital Insight welcomes Marius Galdikas, CEO of ConnectPay, a digital banking alternative for online-focused businesses.

In this episode, Nell Walker talks to Galdikas about how COVID-19 pandemic has caused a spike in digital banking fraud, the upsides of this difficult time from a fintech perspective, and the future of cash in an increasingly online society.

Author

Nell Walker

Published

4 August 2020

Estimated Read time

3Mins

G20 leaders have an opportunity to develop policy responses to the pandemic that immediately address women’s roles in healthcare, unpaid care and the workforce.

Amidst a COVID-19 pandemic that is expected to cause an unprecedented global economic downturn, UN Women, the UN entity dedicated to gender equality and the empowerment of women, and Women 20 (W20), the official G20 engagement group on women, have called on G20 Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors to put women at the heart of recovery efforts. In a joint statement, both groups called on addressing women’s distinct economic roles, contributions and constraints, and seizing the opportunity to put women at the centre of investment design to realise sustainable recovery.

Women contribute 37% of the global GDP. Moreover, all types of women’s care work, including unpaid work, generate $11 trillion globally (nine per cent of global GDP). Enabling women’s potential fully and equally with men promotes sustainable, balanced, inclusive growth, improves the representation of women within institutions and inter-generational development outcomes, and is also crisis-cushioning.

Already encumbered by gendered labour-market disadvantages, women workers have been disproportionately affected by job loss, reduced working hours and bankruptcy due to the current pandemic. Also, health risks to health workers, paid and unpaid care work and violence against women have escalated with COVID-19 and lockdowns.

G20 economies have introduced a firepower support package of $8 trillion to cushion households and businesses and facilitate recovery. Despite evidence that the socio-economic impacts of COVID-19 are worse for women, it is unclear how much the sizeable G20 (or non-G20) economic packages have invested in women.

Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka, Executive Director of UN Women said: “Women are drivers of economic recovery and resilience. G20’s sizeable investments in response to COVID-19 and beyond must be intentional about this and be designed with women at their centre in order to realise sustainable rebuilding.”

Dr. Thoraya Obaid, Women 20 Chair added: “While we work to recover from the damage caused by this global crisis, we have an opportunity to correct a historical fault regarding women and their role in the society. G20 leaders must grasp this opportunity to enable women’s potential fully and equally with men – this is critical to economic recovery now and for future crisis-cushioning.”

In their joint statement, UN Women and W20 called on G20 Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors to implement gender-responsive impact reviews of the crisis, recovery packages and plans worldwide, especially for the worst-affected women and girls, in order to guide investment priorities. They also appealed for greater fiscal space for countries of the Global South, including through debt relief or cancellation, and expansionary monetary policies that enhance credit availability for women-specific sectors via loan guarantees and other loan instruments as well as greater investment in gender-responsive budgeting.

The organisations also urge G20 Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors to promote inclusive governance and decision-making, sustainable employment and entrepreneurship, expanded, accessible social safety nets and inclusive, quality, sustainable health care systems and gender-based violence services.

UN Women and W20 concluded, G20 leaders have an opportunity to develop policy responses to the pandemic that immediately address women’s roles in healthcare, unpaid care and the workforce.

Author

Nell Walker

Published

31 July 2020

Estimated Read time

5Mins

Carlene Jackson, CEO of Cloud9 Insight, explores innovation in the software field

The latest episode of The Digital Insight welcomes Carlene Jackson, CEO of Cloud9 Insight, a business which helps SMEs become more efficient and flexible through cloud technology.

In this episode, Nell Walker explores Jackson’s background as the founder of her business, the two discuss the importance of being agile and innovative as a growing technology business, and our guest explains why she’s so passionate about promoting diversity in the workplace.

Author

Nell Walker

Published

29 July 2020

Estimated Read time

5Mins

Resellers will have a central role to play in helping IT leads manage ‘hybrid’ workforces as employee demand is split between working in the office and at home, according to Brother UK.

A study of almost 300 office-based employees reveals a divide in appetite for returning to work, with 53% of respondents saying they feel safer working from home in the current climate.

The office commute is the top concern for two thirds of respondents (66%), followed by sharing toilets and bathrooms (65%) and using communal kitchen areas (61%). Almost half (49%) are also worried about the cleanliness of other colleagues, according to the findings.

On the contrary, 37% say they are looking forward to getting back to the office. Many miss seeing colleagues (77%), collaborating face-to-face (62%) and having a ‘proper’ workspace (45%). A quarter (25%) are also missing the office gossip.

The business says this split in demand for office and home working will create a productivity and safety challenge for many organisations – and resellers will have an opportunity to provide a range of solutions, including labelling devices, higher-end print devices for home offices, and compact scanners, to tackle it.

Andy Johnson, Head of Product and Solutions management at Brother UK said: “Understandably, many people in the UK are still concerned about returning to the office. But businesses also recognise that some employees are struggling to work from home and want to offer them the opportunity to resume some sense of normality.

“Companies must cater for both and this hands IT leads the challenge of not only managing a mix of office and home working technology on a longer-term basis, but also making sure they can operate productively while keeping employees safe.

“To do this, businesses will need their reseller partners on hand to help them with a range of challenges, from ensuring they have the right printing and scanning devices so people can work in the office safely, to providing remote working tools so those at home can operate securely at distance.

“We’ll be at the side of partners with our full print range, with devices suited to home and office use, as they help customers to meet the needs of the hybrid workforce.”

Author

Nell Walker

Published

20 July 2020

Estimated Read time

5Mins

A new study found that a wide range of streaming services fail to connect with consumers on an emotional and psychological level.

TV subscription brands consistently show ‘narcissistic’ tendencies, which can erode subscriber trust and ultimately make them disloyal, according to a report launched by Singula Decisions.

The new study – ‘The Psychology of a Subscriber’ – found that a wide range of streaming services, in both entertainment and sports, fail to connect with consumers on a deeper emotional and psychological level, by:

  • Not understanding the fundamental drivers motivating a subscriber’s behaviours and interactions
  • Invading their boundaries when asking for financial commitment too soon
  • Insufficiently tailoring the service to meet the moods and mindset of each customer
  • Creating ‘avoidant’ or ‘ambivalent’ attachments to subscribers that do not build loyal relationships
  • Ineffectively providing subscribers with the ability to share more about themselves and to listen to their feedback

Psychology of a Subscriber

The qualitative study, conducted and authored by Qualitative Researcher, Accredited Psychotherapist and Director of QualiProjects, Jennifer Whittaker, and Business Psychologist and Researcher, Katharina Wittgens, explores subscriber attitudes towards TV brands in the UK and US, gaining a deep understanding of how consumers think, feel and behave throughout the customer journey. 

Whittaker, says: “Many brands do not listen to subscribers, nor do they create a safe enough space for subscribers to come forward and give more. In fact, brands often have unconscious narcissistic tendencies and are blinded by the belief that customers are only there to serve, by giving ‘strokes’ to the ego – aka money to the account – and helping to build a good reputation. Unfortunately, brands cannot know subscribers until subscribers give more. But subscribers will only give more if they trust, and they’ll only trust if they don’t feel forgotten.” 

Part 1: Acquisition

This first report in a three-part series covers the acquisition phase of the customer journey. The research found that dissatisfaction and suspicion can begin from the moment a subscriber ‘joins’ a service, if asked to hand over financial information or commit to the brand too soon. While subscribers are at their most enthusiastic in the first months of engagement, brands rarely take advantage of their potential to become advocates. 

Commenting on the findings, Bhavesh Vaghela, CEO of Singula Decisions, adds: “We recognise how tough it can be to build a strong brand and grow a TV subscription business as consumers continue to dip in and out of services every month. We have seen strong consumer brands being created in other sectors such as retail, ecommerce and banking; consumers are loyal to these brands and TV subscription businesses are behind this curve.  Brands must think differently about how they build a service and experience that best suits the needs of their customers – and do a better job to emotionally connect with their customers to build trust and loyalty.”

Death of the demographic?

Bucking the trend of demographic differences, the study found that at the acquisition stage there weren’t huge variations in needs and experiences between age groups. From Gen Z to Baby Boomers, subscribers of all ages said they felt a sense of being ‘pushed by TV brands to commit to the platform financially or share private information. Both UK and US consumers also emphasised the need for a variety of content; American respondents search for unique content that is frequently updated, while British viewers seek value for money based on choice and options for the whole family. After joining the platform, subscribers felt brands were nowhere to be seen, without guidance on how to use the service or how to connect accounts with friends. 

Best practice opportunities

The findings do indicate, however, that brands willing to listen and take time to truly understand their customers, can build trust and loyalty. The report sets out nearly 40 best practice recommendations that can help brands to offer a simultaneous sense of both freedom and connection that subscribers crave in order to feel comfortable to share more of themselves.

Building a relationship that goes beyond a transactional one will have a huge impact on consumers who are faced with more choice than ever. brands that take a lead from other industries, such as retail, ecommerce, and banking, and seek to connect with their customers on a more emotional level, can emerge much stronger.

For more information and to download the full report, visit https://psychologyofasubscriber.com.

Author

Nell Walker

Published

15 July 2020

Estimated Read time

5Mins

Wazoku is preparing for future growth through an additional injection of £1.25M, on top of its latest acquisition.

Wazoku has announced a new funding round of £1.25M, led by Calculus Capital, supported by other shareholders and members of the Wazoku management team.

Wazoku is also continuing its expansion with the acquisition of US open innovation firm, InnoCentive’s, assets, creating the world’s most comprehensive and powerful innovation platform and community. Following a partnership earlier in 2020, it quickly became clear that the combination of platform and network had huge value to innovation-focused businesses and was a unique proposition in the market.

“Adding such a remarkable and proven external crowd to our existing platform means that no other organisation in the world has our reach and experience when it comes to open innovation, crowdsourcing and idea management,” said Simon Hill, CEO, Wazoku.

“This is a significant step for Wazoku – further funding and a strategic acquisition mean we are better positioned than ever and have a strong and established US presence. Workplaces are becoming inherently open and collaborative and we can offer the tools, services and collective expertise to help global businesses of all sizes solve problems and create opportunities.”

InnoCentive has grown a global network of almost 500,000 expert problem-solvers, comprising CEOs, PhD students, engineers, scientists, entrepreneurs, retired technologists and business leaders. This combined brainpower has helped address thousands of the world’s most complex innovation and bid data challenges, for organisations such as AstraZeneca, NASA and Enel. InnoCentive has a 75% success rate in solving challenges and Wazoku customers – which include John Lewis & Partners, Barclays and the Ministry of Defence – now have full access to this service.

Wazoku now provides the world’s biggest innovation community and broadest innovation offering. It allows the crowdsourcing of solutions to any pressing business challenge, all supported by the features and functionality already found in the Wazoku platform, Idea Spotlight.

“Our customers have long demanded a platform that integrates internal idea management with external crowdsourcing,” said Alpheus Bingham, CEO and co-founder of InnoCentive. “This enables multiple modes of innovation within the same workflow and on the same digital backbone and the combination of Wazoku and InnoCentive capability offers precisely that. No other firm has the experience and capability of crowdsourcing, idea management and open innovation that this combined proposition brings. The possibilities and potential are hugely exciting.”

Wazoku’s latest investment round brings the total amount raised to £7.35M and recognises the increasing demand for innovation in business. COVID-19 saw both an increase in business and a change in the way in which organisations were using Wazoku, with the quarter during lockdown (April-Jun 2020) Wazoku’s best ever from a new business perspective and overall platform activity level.

“The rapid shift to remote working and the need for engaging dispersed networks as well as the on-going need to innovate and solve problems, has seen a significant increase in demand for both our idea management and open innovation services,” said Simon Hill, CEO, Wazoku.

“We will continue to invest in new talent in both Europe and the US, and in product development, but our main focus is on continuing to build awareness of the power of open business models for driving cost-effective and highly impactful business change.”