ORO Labs gives SAP customers a purpose-built orchestration layer that connects procurement experiences, workflows and systems across complex enterprise environments.
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ORO Labs, the leading agentic orchestration platform for enterprise procurement, today announced it has entered into an agreement with SAP for its procurement orchestration solution to be sold as a solution extension under the name SAP Ariba Procurement Orchestration by ORO Labs. The offering will give SAP customers a purpose-built orchestration layer that connects procurement experiences, workflows and systems across complex enterprise environments.
SAP Ariba Procurement Orchestration by ORO Labs will enable organisations to span multi-application, heterogeneous landscapes, encompassing both SAP and third-party systems, including orchestration across current-generation and next-generation SAP Ariba solutions environments. The solution will also work in coordination with Joule Work to orchestrate procurement processes across an organisation’s broader technology landscape, including deployments where Joule Work serves as the primary user engagement layer.
“Enterprises want to realize value from agentic AI immediately, while building on the technology investments they already trust,” said Sudhir Bhojwani, CEO and Co-founder, ORO Labs. “This partnership brings agentic orchestration to SAP customers by combining SAP Ariba solutions with ORO’s procurement orchestration capabilities. Together, we can make procurement work for every employee and help global enterprises modernise without disrupting the continuity and control their operations require.”
“Procurement transformation doesn’t happen in a single system; it happens across the entire technology landscape,” said Manoj Swaminathan, President and Chief Product Officer, SAP Autonomous Suite. “ORO Labs’ solution extension reflects how our ecosystem is bringing that reality to life, giving customers the flexibility to modernise at their own pace while putting AI to work within the governed processes that enterprise operations depend on. This is the kind of partner innovation that helps our customers move faster without starting over.”
The solution will enable customers to:
Create a unified procurement experience across systems. Give employees a simpler way to initiate and navigate procurement work while orchestrating processes across SAP and third-party applications.
Adapt processes faster. Use low-code/no-code workflows to respond to changing business requirements, policies and operating models without disrupting underlying systems.
Orchestrate across heterogeneous environments. Connect procurement processes across SAP and third-party systems using pre-built connectors and APIs, with SAP Integration Suite supporting integration orchestration.
Put AI to work within governed processes. Incorporate agentic capabilities into procurement workflows while maintaining enterprise controls, approvals and human oversight.
“Enterprises are navigating two transformations at once: the emergence of AI-driven ways of working and the continued evolution of complex ERP and procurement landscapes,” said Patrick Reymann, IDC. “Orchestration provides a way to connect those worlds, allowing the experience and process layer to evolve without being constrained by the pace of change in underlying systems.”
“SAP and ORO Labs represent two of the most powerful forces in modern procurement. Together, they address the full spectrum of what our clients need to extract the most value across their spend while simplifying procurement experience for all users,” said Frank Scirica, Senior Partner, Business Operations Practice Leader, IBM. “At IBM, we see this partnership as a force multiplier — allowing us to architect and manage procurement ecosystems that are not only best-in-class technically, but genuinely transformative for how our clients manage spend, supplier relationships and operational efficiency at scale.”
ORO Labs is an SAP Solution Extension partner, specifically chosen to extend SAP Ariba solutions with procurement orchestration capabilities. Before they are made generally available, SAP Solution Extensions have to undergo and pass SAP’s qualification process and are SAP-branded, sold and supported, giving customers access to complementary capabilities through their existing SAP relationship.
SAP Procurement Orchestration by ORO Labs is planned to be generally available by November 2026.
Manifest Vegas 2027 will take place at The Venetian in February, bringing together supply chain professionals from all over the world
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On the 8th-10th February 2027, Manifest Vegas will bring together thousands of supply chain experts and leaders for its yearly event.
Held at The Venetian in Las Vegas, Manifest – an event which shines a spotlight on the future of supply chain and logistics – will bring together the leaders shaping global supply chains, the companies building new solutions, and the investors backing what’s next for three days of unmatched networking, industry insights and relationship building.
And, as part of the event, we are proud to announce our partnership with Manifest! Together, we’re bringing new ideas to life and redefining the future of supply chain and logistics. This partnership creates unmatched opportunities to collaborate, learn, and bring cutting-edge solutions to every corner of the industry.
CPOstrategy readers can get $200 off registration by clicking here.
The event is designed with industry executives, entrepreneurs, and investors in mind. Connect, network, and develop partnerships with peers and vendors alike. The goal is to give you clarity on your business’s next steps.
The largest gathering of supply chain experts and innovators is here. Join us at Manifest Vegas 2027 and take part in shaping the industry’s next big steps by learning, collaborating, and innovating together.
SE Advisory Services helps clients overcome infrastructure constraints, reduce execution risk, and unlock business growth
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David Kramer, North America Program Manager at SE Advisory Services, discusses how his organisation helps clients overcome infrastructure constraints, reduce execution risk, and unlock business growth, including through its partnership with Givaudan
In today’s complex and increasingly constrained landscape, one of the biggest challenges is not simply the ability to grow but the execution of growth in a constrained environment.
Success depends on organisations getting infrastructure financed, built and operated as a coordinated system, instead of relying on a series of disconnected handoffs.
The organisation helps clients close that gap between strategy and execution by embedding energy, infrastructure and financing decisions earlier in the process – transforming potential constraints into enablers of growth.
The impact is seismic. When infrastructure is financed, designed, delivered and operated as an integrated system, it can drive long-term efficiency gains, more predictable cost structures and improved sustainability and resilience.
Givaudan is one example of how SE Advisory Services helps organisations reduce execution risk and move complex projects forward with confidence. By bringing together infrastructure planning, financing, procurement, delivery, and long-term operational accountability under a single model, they helped streamline execution, secure critical equipment, and create greater cost and schedule certainty.
Givaudan had been developing a state-of-the-art $250 million greenfield manufacturing facility in the United States driving them to their net-zero ambitions, with complex, multi-utility infrastructure across electrical, mechanical, process, plumbing, and automation systems. SE Advisory Services provided Givaudan flexibility in managing budget commitments by shifting scope between capital-funded investments and an Energy-as-a-Service (EaaS) model. SE Advisory Services’ in-house experts offered design-assist capabilities throughout the project lifecycle to proactively manage risk and avoid delays.
David Kramer, North America Program Manager at SE Advisory Services, believes a service-based model was critical because it significantly reduced operational risk for the client. “Givaudan recognised that managing complex utility infrastructure would require specialised expertise and long-term operational oversight,” he says. “They needed a partner that could take ongoing responsibility for system performance and reliability, allowing their team to stay focused on core operations.”
As both a technology provider and infrastructure partner, SE Advisory Services can streamline procurement and reduce layers of markup often introduced through traditional sourcing channels, helping clients lower overall project costs while improving price transparency through the EaaS model. For Givaudan, these benefits were further enhanced through direct access to Schneider Electric-manufactured electrical and automation equipment and services.
Traditionally, infrastructure decisions have been late-stage, capital-heavy, and spread across multiple vendors, creating complexity and risk the business must absorb. The traditional model would have required over $50 million in upfront capital for utilities, with fragmented delivery across multiple vendors. But a shift is underway towards a more integrated model, where energy, infrastructure, and financing are considered together from the start, with accountability extending from design through ongoing performance.
Kramer emphasises that without the EaaS model, Givaudan’s project could have been limited by capital availability and forced to compromise on the plant’s long-term vision. “Instead, it enabled Givaudan to build the facility they needed for future growth while improving operational efficiency from day one,” explains Kramer. “This was made possible through smarter design decisions, optimised equipment selection, and a focus on long-term performance.”
A catalyst was the early involvement of SE Advisory Services’ in-house experts, whose engagement helped fundamentally change the trajectory of the project by identifying critical scope gaps before they became costly issues. It reduced exposure to change orders, ensured the utility systems were designed with the right balance of efficiency and reliability, and allowed SE Advisory Services to secure long lead equipment early. “As a result, the project moved forward with greater certainty, lower risk, and an accelerated schedule,” Kramer affirms. “It’s a great example of why early involvement is so important to project success.”
Further, Kramer asserts that SE Advisory Services’ EaaS model accelerated delivery by reducing the burden on both the architect of record and Givaudan teams. “SE Advisory Services supported utility coordination, equipment selections, and key design decisions, allowing other stakeholders to stay focused on their core competencies and responsibilities,” he explains. “Combined with early procurement of long lead equipment, that saved valuable time during design and helped shorten the overall construction schedule.”
For organisations facing increasingly complex energy and infrastructure challenges, Givaudan demonstrates how a coordinated approach can turn potential constraints into enablers for growth.
Connect with an SE Advisory Services EaaS Expert here
Over the last five years the role of CPO has changed significantly, moving from a focus on price, to adding organisational value. For Jürg Hodel, SC&O Expert and Project Lead WCM (World Class Manufacturing), Principal Director, Accenture Switzerland, two issues have driven this change
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Manuel Meister, Managing Director, and Jürg Hodel, Principal Director at Accenture Switzerland, explain how the organisation’s 3600partnership with SBB has helped enhance its procurement transformation journey…
Over the last five years the role of CPO has changed significantly, moving from a focus on price, to adding organisational value. For Jürg Hodel, SC&O Expert and Project Lead WCM (World Class Manufacturing), Principal Director, Accenture Switzerland, two issues have driven this change. “Sustainable, long-term collaborations with suppliers build resilience in terms of supply and quality, as well as stable pricing. Alongside this, procurement needs to act as an internal business consultant to become a value-added service within the company.”
Manuel Meister, Client Account Lead SBB, Managing Director, Accenture Switzerland adds, “For a long time procurement focused on bringing prices down, but now people come to us at an earlier point asking what Accenture can do for them in addition to IT. So, it’s more strategic and long-term, which has been an important element of our relationship with SBB.”
Hodel sees more focus on the total cost of ownership today as well. This is especially important at SBB with the long life cycle of its assets, requiring a careful balance between price and a resilient, stable supply chain.
Meister says, “Resilience is important. Things change quickly, so what might look like a great deal, isn’t two weeks later. Having the flexibility, foresight and capability to adjust and be resilient is, for me, one of the key pressure points for a CPO today.”
SBB has strong internal expertise across the board, so Accenture’s role wasn’t to replace it, but to enhance it through collaboration. SBB brings knowledge of its business and Accenture brings its experience from other industries.
“Bringing in cross-industry expertise really gets things moving,” says Meister. “We’ve been working with SBB across technology, operations and transformation, which has created trust on both sides, providing context for the industry, for the challenges they face and the ambition they have. So, we bring value through extra capacity and knowledge, but SBB trusts us to challenge them as well. We have proven methods and assets to connect businesses and technology, which I think is the core.”
The development and evolution of AI has been dramatic and Accenture has deployed AI in a number of ways with SBB. “The first key project we did with SBB was the transformation of their commodity key,” Hodel notes. “In the past they had five different commodity keys in five different systems, ERP systems and surrounding applications. We carried out AI-based data mining, data compilation and structural mapping to the new key, ready for migration in one HANA platform. This helped map roughly 750,000 data sets and 350 contracts with several positions, which helped reduce the time it took by around 90% over a manual process.”
“We’re also looking at working capital management using agentic AI to do data analytics and combining it with their processes. Process agents are supporting the SBB people and us to find out where the biggest potential for cost-savings are, and to see if we can leverage suppliers to get a better service in terms of supply and reduce working capital and stock levels.”
Accenture was an early investor in AI, even when some questioned its impact. As well as introducing new technology, its collaborative model allows them to support organisational transformation, enabling them to take the fear out of new technology, allowing people to use AI to perform its daily work better, with a clear career path in this new environment.
“Transformations often fall somewhere in the handover between strategy and execution,” according to Meister. “I think our strength at Accenture is that we can connect these layers. We can build the required technology and the data foundation. We can support the execution to any scale needed onshore, nearshore, offshore and utilise feedback to optimise it over time. Having an end-to-end view really matters for supply chain, so Accenture’s power becomes visible, because we connect these different layers and bring everything together.”
In the past the application landscape for procurement was relatively small, but nowadays, procurement is integrated as part of the end-to-end supply chain. Accenture provides a holistic approach from strategy and management consulting, to having the capability and expertise to build the solution and providing support with implementation, execution and operation. Accenture has also widened its remit through the acquisition of companies like Staufen AG, complementing its existing strengths with areas like supply chain operations.
With many companies looking to introduce agentic AI into their ecosystem, SBB have already made steps in that direction. Accenture carefully monitors procurement organisations to see who the early adopters are. “The fast movers gain dramatically in terms of efficiency, quality and reducing internal lead time for their customers,” observes Hodel. “The key is considering how to use agentic AI in collaboration with people. This is the thing many procurement organisations are still struggling with.”
Meister believes agentic AI is at a tipping point, moving from a position where organisations have enough faith in AI to assist them, to trusting it enough to take action. The next step will be scaling, which will require governance that goes beyond most company’s current capacity. Systems have to be auditable, with escalation logic if something goes wrong and this is what Meister sees as being the next major challenge.
While some consultancies focus on strategy, others concentrate on integrating systems. Accenture’s 3600 value creation approach delivers both though, meaning they can provide a full suite of solutions from strategy, through to implementation, governance and more.
This year’s Agentic AI in Procurement conference built on organiser KonnectHouse’s inaugural event in London last year. It attracted a broad range of attendees including innovative procurement thinkers
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We recently had the pleasure of attending the Agentic AI in Procurement conference in London, where we experienced a day of interaction, brainstorming, live demos and strategic planning with some of the professions most innovative thinkers.
This year’s Agentic AI in Procurement conference built on organiser KonnectHouse’s inaugural event in London last year. It attracted a broad range of attendees including innovative procurement thinkers, plus leading minds from startups and tech firms, alongside digital specialists at the forefront of AI. It went beyond theory to explore how real organisations are deploying agentic AI solutions to deliver measurable outcomes, including faster cycle times, stronger supplier performance, improved resilience and greater strategic capacity for procurement teams.
KonnectHouse are a boutique events company that curate intimate events, guided by a strong sense of purpose. It’s no surprise then that they’d recruited a focused roster of speakers, meaning attendees found it easy to connect with likeminded professionals, which helped inspire some great ideas and foster new relationships.
Held at Convene 22 Bishopsgate, centrally located within one of London’s most famous skyscrapers, the location was a fitting setting. As the second-tallest building in the city it’s already an iconic part of the evolving skyline, with design influence from London Liveries as well as the surrounding historic architecture, juxtaposing the old and the new.
Hosted by Madeleine Joubert, CEO and Founder of AI Augmented Consulting, this year’s event featured a new format designed to maximise interaction, allowing guests to investigate how this fundamental shift in the world of procurement will impact their work, with presentations, discussion panels, workshops and live demos.
Sessions covered an array of topics, such as outcome‑driven agentic AI use cases currently deployed across sourcing, contracting, supplier management and analytics; the rise of AI employees, including how digital agents are taking on repeatable and decision‑intensive work and what this means for roles, governance and capability; and next‑generation procurement operating models, with agentic workflows operating across functions and enterprise boundaries. Each session featured clear examples of how value is defined and measured, moving beyond activity metrics to real business impact.
In his keynote address, Procurement at an Inflection Point, Patrick Foelck, Head of Strategy & Solutions Procurement at Roche, argued that unless we step outside the traditional realms of procurement, we won’t generate sufficient impact as “if we just continue and use technology to get marginally better, we won’t be sitting here soon”.
He also warned about the risks of externalising procurement and how we can resist calls to do so by “focusing on what the business really wants and needs. Focus on better decisions and extend what we do. Savings are nice, but the business actually needs profit and loss, reduced costs, security of supply, risk management, sustainability and ultimately, better procurement”.
Foelck believes the procurement team of the future will need to be flexible and agile, utilising technology to make the best use of the available resources, working in tandem with agentic AI. This will involve upskilling teams and engaging with them carefully to “explain why we’re doing this, how to use it, and where we’re going, whilst connecting it to an overall strategy”. Get this right and you can help minimise worry and fear among staff.
Ultimately, he urges us to “Get started. That’s my main message. Think about this strategically. Don’t think about this in silos. Have a plan and sell it. Otherwise, it’ll be a downward spiral. Having a growth strategy is key.”
The main stage discussion, Operating Models, Headcount and Change Management, featured an A‑list panel with Milind Tailor, former Global Head of Resale Products and Services Procurement at Diebold Nixdorf; Jaime Paiva, Procurement Excellence, formerly Zurich; Bola Naomi Soko, former Commercial Manager at the Bank of England; and Jason Powell, Managing Director of the Enterprise Transformation Office at Zip.
A lively discussion unpacked what is and isn’t working today, focusing on technical gaps, skills gaps and trust gaps. While it was acknowledged that many organisations already have a significant level of technical knowledge “the major challenge is the rate at which the whole technology is changing is too fast for organisations to absorb…
…And I think that’s what is creating a big gap in terms of what organisations can absorb, integrate and deploy, versus the rate at which the technology itself is changing”, according to Tailor.
From the perspective of skills, AI brings unique challenges, according to Soko, including a concern that “if we automate all the basic administrative tasks with AI, it’s going to leave all the hard strategic work for us to do. So, an entry level role will probably not involve basic work, but actually start doing some strategic work, be it supervised. And people that currently do administrative work are going to be tasked with doing strategic work as well. Organisation charts are likely going to be flatter because we’re all going to be doing strategic work. And it’s not sustainable to have that level of concentration for a very long time”.
On the issue of trust, the panel considered what a reasonable aim for AI looks like. Do we expect perfection, or do we accept a degree of error? And if so, how much? Powell thinks, “There’s no one right answer and every company is going to view it a little bit differently. I think it also depends on your industry and how regulated you are or where you’re using it.”
Later in the day Janet Lung Standing, Board Advisor and former CPO, led a discussion with Seb Butt, Vice President, Specright and Rob Turner, Global Director, Procurement & Supply Chain, DoorDash on the subject of Board Expectations. The panel explored the topic in detail, with Lung Standing noting that “boards want AI adoption to make their business more profitable and create long-term value. Procurement hasn’t enjoyed such a high profile before and there’s an opportunity for AI adoption in procurement to deliver real outcomes that matters to the enterprise.”
In terms of how that looks in more practical terms, Rob Turner says, “We’ve got to think about how we’re going to deploy it, but we’ve also got to think about planning way ahead so that we’re almost leapfrogging capability, with our mind on our roadmap so we’re really clear on the problems we’re trying to solve.”
Additionally, Seb Butt believes, “The easiest path to get budget is always going to be aligning yourself to a strategic initiative that the organisation is already invested in. And if you don’t, you’re probably looking at a functional rather than a strategic initiative, which isn’t going to move the business needle.”
Alongside the wide array of other opportunities on offer at the event, these sessions provided a unique insight into the future of procurement. Agentic AI is sure to be a hot topic for some time though, with new opportunities arising and adoption rates increasing, so next year’s follow up event is sure to be an essential date on many procurement professionals’ calendars.
Iron Mountain: Procurement as a positive disruptor Our cover story this month features Iron Mountain (IRM), Chief Procurement Officer Reagan…
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Iron Mountain: Procurement as a positive disruptor
Our cover story this month features Iron Mountain (IRM), Chief Procurement Officer Reagan Smith, who is transforming a fragmented procurement operation into a strategic business enabler. His approach combines cultural change, commercial discipline and a measured adoption of AI, with the ambition of making procurement a function that actively shapes how the business operates…
Procurement is having something of a moment. For years, the function has fought against a familiar perception: that its primary purpose is to negotiate prices, manage suppliers, enforce processes and deliver savings. Whilst that role remains important, particularly at a time when businesses continue to face intense pressure on costs, the expectations placed on procurement leaders in 2026 are considerably broader.
CPOs are increasingly being asked to balance cost optimisation with growth, resilience, risk, supplier relationships, sustainability and technology adoption. At the same time, AI is promising to automate an expanding share of procurement’s traditional workload and potentially reshape the operating model altogether.
This reality has certainly hit home for Iron Mountain’s Reagan Smith who views procurement transformation, not as a programme with a beginning, middle and end, but a daily commitment to challenging the status quo, building trust and proving that procurement is far more than a simply transactional function.
Smith is 18 months into his role as CPO at Iron Mountain, the global business spanning records management, digitisation, asset lifecycle management and data centre development. Within that complex environment, Iron Mountain’s Global Procurement manages billions of dollars of third-party expenditure, mitigates risk and supports go-to-market and sales activity. It is a broad, and for Smith a tempting, remit… Read the full story inside!
AI with Soul: Why the future of procurement will be decided by leadership – not technology
AI can see the pattern, but leaders must still see the person, argues Ilona Piekoszewska, Global Head of Indirect Procurement (Materials and Services)…
After 30 minutes in the warehouse, I was exhausted. The people around me still had an entire shift ahead of them. It was the middle of July at a manufacturing site in the United States. The heat was intense and the humidity almost overwhelming. When I stepped outside, the air still felt heavy. Even standing still required effort.
My first thought was not about inventory, warehouse efficiency or logistics. It was about the forklift drivers and warehouse operators who spent eight or ten hours in that environment. “If I feel this after only thirty minutes,” I remember thinking, “what does it feel like after an entire shift?”
Months later, when we began redesigning our global forklift strategy, the expected criteria were all there: safety, reliability, performance, energy efficiency, maintenance and total cost of ownership. All important. All necessary.
But I asked a question that did not appear in the technical specification: What about the wellbeing of the people who spend their working lives inside these forklifts? Had anyone consulted the forklift operators as to where they saw areas of inefficiencies, or matters of health and safety and furthermore, opportunities and value that could be seized?
Should air-conditioned cabins become standard in hotter climates? Should heated cabins be considered where winters were severe? Should ergonomics carry the same weight as purchase price? After all, comfort is not a luxury. It influences concentration, reduces fatigue, improves safety and protects health. Most importantly, it communicates respect. That moment crystallised a conviction that has guided my leadership ever since: AI can see the pattern. But, leaders must still see the person. Read the full story here!
SBB: How procurement is helping to build the railway of the future
Swiss Federal Railways’ (SBB) goal is to connect Switzerland, moving people from A to B, by providing a punctual, clean and safe rail service. As Head of Procurement, Simon Roth has a wide-ranging brief…
In a volatile world, that constantly presents us with new challenges, the procurement landscape never stands still. Innovation, organisation and motivational leadership are essential if we want to stay ahead of the curve and nowhere is this truer than at Swiss Federal Railways (SBB). SBB will celebrate its 125th anniversary next year and prides itself on getting people to where they want to go, safely and on time.
Simon Roth joined SBB as Head of Accounts Payable, having previously worked in procurement for many years. A couple of years later SBB needed a new Head of Procurement, so Simon jumped at the chance. “We buy consumables and corporate services.
The Procurement Services business unit is where we focus on support, enablement and data quality, and the Procurement Functional Leadership unit, is where we design, develop, operate, and govern processes, systems, methods and provide governance for the whole procurement group. I also have oversight of the divisional procurement heads and procurement organisations. Together we form the Procurement Board, which I chair.”
Simon first became aware of procurement during his industrial engineering studies, which led to his first job at a company with less than 40 staff. As a result, he quickly moved into a senior role in procurement where he, “learned what procurement means in a small company and afterwards in a large company at BKW AG, an energy company, where I worked in different procurement functions. For me, procurement is incredible because you manage projects across the company. You have contact with a lot of people internally, but also suppliers. You’re integrated in high risk and important decisions, so procurement is fantastic”. Read the full story inside!
APP: Driving procurement transformation through change
Eddie Lim, Chief Procurement Officer at APP Group, discusses why getting the data foundation right is key to unlocking procurement’s potential in the midst of an ever-changing landscape…
Change is a burden for some.
Fear of the unknown, a preference for routine and the concern of loss of control are all reasons why many people can choose to avoid it both in their personal and professional environments.
However, Eddie Lim, Chief Procurement Officer at APP Group, likes to embrace the chaos, and he’s not doing it alone.
The organisation serves as the holding company for a number of Indonesian pulp and paper manufacturing and forestry businesses. It caters to the increasing global need for high-quality tissue, packaging and paper, with its products reaching over 150 countries across six continents. As part of Lim’s role, he manages approximately $4 billion in annual spend across both direct and indirect materials and services, and is armed with a team of around 300 employees. Upon joining the organisation in August 2024, Lim was given a clear mission, backed from the outset by strong sponsorship from APP’s leadership.
The journey within APP
“Our first 90 days were focused on assessing the readiness of the procurement function,” explains Lim. “There’s broad awareness of AI today, and most people have had some exposure through tools like ChatGPT or Microsoft Copilot but adoption for core procurement work is still maturing. Looking at this from an organisational perspective, digitisation is an area the company continues to invest in and strengthen, and that commitment from leadership has been critical to how far we’ve been able to take it. Read the full story here!
Plus, we have a report from KonnectHouse’s latest conference and our unique guide to the best procurement events from around the globe.
Frederic Khalil, Chief Procurement Officer and Real Estate Officer at Broadridge, discussing how human intelligence, artificial intelligence and purpose-driven leadership are reshaping enterprise value and ushering in the next era of procurement…
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This month’s cover story sees Frederic Khalil, Chief Procurement Officer and Real Estate Officer at Broadridge, discussing how human intelligence, artificial intelligence and purpose-driven leadership are reshaping enterprise value and ushering in the next era of procurement.
Broadridge: The Intelligence Advantage
Artificial intelligence is rapidly reshaping procurement, but Frederic Khalil believes the defining question for leaders is not how quickly they can deploy new technology. It is how effectively they can combine technology, human judgement and organisational purpose to create enterprise value.
As Chief Procurement & Real Estate Officer at Broadridge, Frederic has helped lead a broader reimagining of procurement – one built around a clear business purpose, a connected digital ecosystem, strategic partnerships and disciplined execution from transformation strategy through enterprise adoption.
His experience points to a larger lesson for procurement leaders: technology can improve speed, visibility and intelligence, but the advantage comes from creating the conditions in which people can use those capabilities to make better decisions, strengthen the business and serve the customer…
Cineplex: Procurement as a strategic lever for guest experience and growth
We caught up with Jeff Sharifzadeh, Vice President of Purchasing and Supply Management at Cineplex Inc, to get his view on how procurement shapes business outcomes and why data only has value when it informs decisions.
Jeff Sharifzadeh is Vice President of Purchasing and Supply Management at Cineplex Inc, Canada’s leading media and entertainment company. To strategise procurement at this scale presents both challenges and opportunities…
In an era defined by volatility, disrupted supply chains, and shifting business models, Sharifzadeh’s role has undergone a fundamental transformation involving navigating complexity at scale, balancing cost discipline, operational resilience and revenue impact, in the dynamic cinema and entertainment sector.
Sharifzadeh’s career actually started in technology, which helped provide him with an understanding of how systems, data and different business units interact during a transformation. And after moving into procurement, he noticed that procurement decisions weren’t just about cost, but were influencing how the business operated and, in many cases, how it grew. He quickly realised that procurement isn’t merely a support function, but a lever that shapes business outcomes, including efficiency, resilience, and customer experience. “It sits at the intersection of margin, revenue, risk, and strategy. The expectation is that you don’t just react to pressure, you shape outcomes,” he explains…
We sit down with Gustav Schindler, Head of Procurement at Alsea, to discuss what the procurement landscape looked like when he took on the role, and the success stories that his team has since enjoyed.
Alsea is the leading restaurant operator in Latin America and Europe, with a strong, globally recognised multi-brand portfolio in the Fast Food, Coffee Shop, and Full-Service Restaurant segments. Even if you don’t know it, you’ll know the brands it represents: Starbucks, Domino’s Pizza, Burger King, The Cheesecake Factory, Chili’s, Chipotle, and P.F. Chang’s to name a few. It’s a household name in LATAM and very relevant in Europe, especially in the Iberian market. The procurement function was very supply-focused when Gustav Schindler joined as Head of Procurement for Mexico in September 2023, and he stepped in to help contribute to strengthening the function as a strategic competitiveness driver for Alsea.
Schindler’s background is in Foods Engineering. It’s a complex career with a lot of study across chemistry, microbiology, physics, math and technologies, and Schindler was determined to put that training into practice. Early on, he decided he wanted to work for a company where he could be really hands-on and drive process improvements in Manufacturing.
He looked for a growing company that could provide a lot of opportunities for that and applied at Arisco. “It was a food company located in Goias, at the center of Brazil. It had a fast rate of growth, challenging multinationals by launching products in categories dominated by few players,” Schindler explains. “I started working in quality assurance and quickly pivoted to production. It was a family-owned business with a very fast-paced entrepreneurial environment that valued pro-activity and autonomy.”
Plus, at DPW New York, Gautam Pasari, founder and CEO of True ValueHub, and Alif Patel, Category Manager at Messer, discuss direct material procurement, supplier cost transparency, the role of AI in procurement transformation, and what savings really look like from both sides of the table… Read the full story here!
Oh, and we have all the latest expert analysis and in-depth investigations surrounding the function, as well as an essential guide to the must-attend global events for 2026 and beyond with a special preview of the upcoming DPW Amsterdam.
Niklas Adamsson, Regional President, EMEA at Envirotainer, explores the challenges posed by cold chain breakage and how to build a more resilient system
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Often overlooked, the global pharmaceutical cold chain plays a vital role in delivering some of the most critical healthcare breakthroughs of our time. From life-saving vaccines to advanced cell and gene therapies, many of the medicines patients depend on are only effective if kept within strict temperature ranges from the moment they leave the manufacturing site to the moment they reach the patient.
When this chain breaks, the consequences can be serious. Temperature fluctuations can lead to spoilage, reduced efficacy or even the complete loss of a shipment. Beyond wasted product, the ripple effects can disrupt treatment schedules, undermine patient trust and create significant financial and environmental costs. As therapies become more sensitive and supply chains more complex, the margin for error is shrinking – and the need for controlled, secure cold chains is only growing.
The scale of the challenge
Today, an estimated 40–60% of all pharmaceuticals require temperature-controlled logistics to maintain their safety and efficacy during transport and storage. As the world’s population ages and chronic diseases become more prevalent, the demand for advanced, temperature-sensitive therapies is accelerating. By the end of this decade, biologics, gene, and cell therapies are projected to make up a significant portion of the pharmaceutical pipeline, with nearly all requiring strict temperature control (2).
Yet, despite these advances, 12% of pharmaceutical shipments still experience temperature excursions – incidents where products are exposed to conditions outside their safe range. For vaccines, the challenge is even more acute: according to the World Health Organisation, up to 50% of vaccines are compromised each year due to failures in temperature control and logistics. These statistics underscore the urgent need for robust cold chain solutions to protect both patient safety and business outcomes.
Why cold chain failures matter
Cold chain failures can happen anywhere along the journey – on the tarmac, in transit or during last-mile delivery. The most common causes are temperature fluctuations, delayed transport, handling errors and exposure to extreme environmental conditions. Even short deviations can render sensitive products unusable. Despite these risks, knowledge about cold chain vulnerabilities and the frequency of temperature excursions remains limited across the industry. Many ground handlers, airports, and even some logistics providers lack adequate training and awareness, leading to preventable errors and product losses.
The consequences are significant. Each year, an estimated $35 billion is lost due to cold chain breakdowns. When the chain breaks, the consequences are profound: patient safety is compromised, public trust is eroded, and the financial and environmental costs can be staggering.
A more fragile landscape
The pharmaceutical supply chain has always been complex, but new therapies are making it even more so. Cell and gene treatments, for example, often need to be kept anywhere between -60°C and -150°C, and their delivery timelines are measured in hours, not days. Each shipment is unique, and the path from laboratory to patient must be seamless. Any deviation can mean the loss of an irreplaceable dose.
Climate change, geopolitical instability, and disrupted trade routes add further uncertainty. Even minor temperature deviations of just 1–2°C can significantly degrade sensitive products like biologics, vaccines, and insulin, affecting their safety, stability, and effectiveness. Each link in the chain faces new challenges in maintaining the precise conditions that medicines demand.
In addition to this, the regulatory landscape continues to evolve. Authorities are tightening standards around data integrity, traceability and temperature monitoring. The expectation today is full, end-to-end control, not just of shipments, but of the data that underpins them. Pharmaceutical companies are under growing pressure to prove not only that products are safe, but that every stage of the journey can be validated and verified.
These trends are driving a shift from passive logistics to active, risk-aware management. It’s no longer enough to react when something goes wrong. The most forward-thinking organisations are focusing on prevention and designing their supply chains to anticipate risk before it occurs.
Building resilience through prevention and collaboration
Resilience has become the defining measure of a modern cold chain. While passive packaging solutions can be cost-effective for short distances, they offer limited temperature control and are highly susceptible to delays, extreme weather, and handling errors. In contrast, active solutions, equipped with real-time monitoring, deliver precise temperature control and greater reliability. These systems are the preferred choice for high-value, long-distance, or ultra-sensitive pharmaceutical shipments where product integrity is paramount.
Modern cold chains are increasingly proactive rather than reactive. Organisations are leveraging real-time monitoring, predictive analytics, and early-warning systems to anticipate potential failures before they can occur. These tools allow logistics teams to track shipments minute by minute, identify potential changes, and intervene before product quality or patient safety is compromised.
But technology alone is not enough, it must be used in conjunction with collaboration. The pharmaceutical cold chain is a shared ecosystem, involving manufacturers, logistics providers, carriers, packaging specialists and regulators. Each plays a critical role in ensuring that therapies arrive safely and on time.
The real cost of getting it wrong
When the cold chain fails, the consequences extend far beyond the warehouse. A single temperature fluctuation can undo months of research, thousands in investment, and most importantly, a patient’s chance at treatment.
As the pharmaceutical landscape evolves, resilience will increasingly define success. The companies that prioritise prevention, invest in innovation and collaborate across the ecosystem will be best placed to make sure that the next generation of therapies reaches patients safely, wherever they are in the world.
Because when the cold chain breaks, it’s not just products that are lost, it’s trust, opportunity and sometimes lives. Keeping that chain intact has never been more vital.
How employees make purchasing decisions haven’t fundamentally changed, even with the very latest technology at their fingertips
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Somewhere out past the P2P rollout and the third dashboard nobody opens lies procurement’s real final frontier: how people actually decide what to buy.
Organisations have thrown money at digital procurement technology for the last couple of decades. Many of them still struggle to realise the benefits the technology has promised, however. They’ve implemented dedicated eProcurement platforms, invoice automation technologies and kicked off transformation programmes, but savings remain elusive. The problem is, there’s a human-shaped elephant in the room that no amount of technology will resolve – how employees make purchasing decisions doesn’t fundamentally change, even with the very latest technology at their fingertips.
Nobody questions what the technology delivers: automated requisitions, electronic approvals and touchless invoicing. It enables Purchase to Pay (P2P) systems, automated workflows and approvals, accounts payable (AP) automation and comprehensive spend analytics and reporting capabilities. All of which should improve efficiencies and deliver savings. In reality, maverick spend and invoice exceptions persist and these inefficiencies continue to consume valuable resources because employees still decide what to buy, who they buy from and what price they pay.
Maverick spend and the free-text problem – the hidden cost of unchanged behaviour
Maverick spend refers to employees purchasing outside of approved channels, meaning negotiated supplier agreements get bypassed and volume leverage and contract savings disappear into the ether, according to a WBR Insights study. Free-text requisitions are often the starting point for inaccurate pricing, coding errors and invoice matching exceptions, all of which increase manual interventions. In effect, despite implementing digital systems and platforms, organisations have merely digitised inefficiencies rather than eliminating them altogether.
Behavioural change – procurement’s next frontier
Technology is very good at telling organisations what’s happened, but without effective employee guidance in place, it can’t influence what happens next. Procurement teams are good at analysing spend after the fact, but what they really need to work on is influencing purchasing decisions beforehand. Good behaviours drive good performance. Every purchasing decision impacts price, contract and regulatory compliance, processing costs and risk exposure. Organisations need to recognise that alongside the technology implementations, it’s only when guided buying becomes the norm that real benefits emerge.
A roadmap to improved purchasing decision
Guided buying has been likened to GPS navigation for procurement functions – and it’s exactly what Proactis Marketplace is built to deliver. When employees receive clear direction, rather than starting from scratch for every purchase, efficiency naturally follows. This involves surfacing approved suppliers first, as in ensuring critical supply chain data is presented to a buyer on screen when a buying decision is made is essential. Embedding agreed pricing structures into operational spend, presenting compliant options by default and standardising descriptions and categories also empowers good employee purchasing decisions without them even thinking about it.
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Ease of use leads to more effective compliance
Deloitte’s 2025 Global CPO Survey found that organisations where technology is combined with human capabilities and behavioural change achieve the strongest procurement performance. But that technology needs to be user friendly. If systems aren’t intuitive and are cumbersome to use, employees look for workarounds.
Without properly structured foundations, encouraging employee adoption is difficult. Hackett Group research reveals that poor fundamentals, like badly structured catalogues and clunky user experiences, become barriers to effective eProcurement adoption. It’s worth noting that occasional buyers often make up a procurement function’s largest user group. If the systems are structured and intuitive, compliance is embedded in the purchasing decision. If they aren’t, maverick spend is the inevitable outcome.
Where AI takes guided buying next
This is where AI starts to earn its keep – not by replacing procurement judgement, but by catching a bad purchasing decision before it happens rather than analysing it afterwards. AI-assisted guided buying can flag a free-text requisition in real time and point the buyer to a compliant, catalogued alternative before it ever becomes an invoice-matching exception. We’ve already seen what AI does at the invoice end of the process: Betfred cut accounts payable processing time by 47% in a two-week trial of Proactis’s AI Accelerator on top of Invoice Capture. Apply that same logic upstream, at the point of purchase, and the case for guided buying gets a lot harder to ignore.
Practical solutions that change behaviours
Measuring free-text requisitions enables organisations to track purchases sitting outside of structured buying channels. If high levels are detected, it’s time to step in and educate users about how to buy properly and work within the established system. Making approved purchasing simple and straightforward encourages adoption and deters users from bypassing control measures. Clearly delineating approved suppliers ensures they’re the buyer’s first port of call and they’ll benefit from highly visible contract pricing when making their decision.
Reducing the supplier base increases organisational leverage and reduces the administrative burden. Managing multiple low-value suppliers individually just encourages inefficiencies, it’s much better to work with a smaller base that’s more easily structured and controlled to tackle tail spend effectively. It’s also critical to understand that technology is just an enabler. Transformational eProcurement functions must be seen as a change programme. Lasting results will only be achieved if executive sponsorship is evident and reinforced with effective communication, training and a concerted effort to change employee behaviours.
In search of tangible value
Tangible procurement value won’t come from processing invoices faster or approving acquisitions more efficiently – it will come from reshaping employee behaviour. Making compliant, value-focused purchasing decisions easy, intuitive and automatic in a properly structured purchasing function is where the real value lies. It will enable employees to capture more of the savings negotiated by the organisation, reduce waste and resource-heavy manual interventions and improve supplier performance. Procurement’s final frontier needs to go beyond technology and embrace behavioural change to buy well and prosper.
Charlotte Carter, VP of Product, Proactis
Proactis has worked closely with mid-to-large businesses and public sector organisations for more than 25 years. It provides solutions to more than 1,000 organisations with two million users. Its high performing, spend management technology helps clients drive value and deliver process improvements through enabling more effective eSourcing, supply chain, contract and supplier relationship management.
VP Global Procurement Solutions at Pacific Life, Michael McKenna is delivering procurement transformation on a massive scale…
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Pacific Life: Procurement transformation on a global scale
Our cover story this month features VP Global Procurement Solutions at Pacific Life, Michael McKenna, who has a truly a global role, delivering procurement transformation in a more holistic, and unified manner…
When Michael McKenna joined the team at Pacific Life, procurement capabilities existed across multiple business divisions, geographies, and operating models. While talented teams were delivering locally, the organisation lacked a single global framework for supplier management, spend visibility, third-party risk, and strategic sourcing.
As a result, in 2025, the procurement function at Pacific Life decided to develop a new identity as Global Procurement Solutions (GPS). As an integral part of the wider journey that Pacific Life is on, GPS aims to operate in a more holistic, unified way across the globe and over the last 16 months has worked hard to create a foundation for that goal…
The organisation started its transformation by aligning category management and sourcing, supplier management, procure-to-pay, and third-party risk management under a common operating model while expanding support across Pacific Life’s insurance and global reinsurance businesses. At the same time, GPS introduced new governance structures, clarified roles and responsibilities, and established more consistent ways of working across functions and geographies. “Transformation starts with transparency,” says McKenna. “You need visibility into spend, suppliers, contracts and risk before you can make better decisions.” Read the full story inside. Read the full story here!
Linde + Wiemann: Transforming procurement into a strategic growth engine
We also speak exclusively to Milind Phulse, Chief Procurement Officer at Linde + Wiemann, who digs deep into the procurement function’s transformation and how he successfully implemented a totally new mindset for the organisation…
Milind Phulse is the Chief Procurement Officer at Linde + Wiemann and is also responsible for Supply Chain Management and IT and Integration Management. A passionate leader and team-builder, he has spent the last three decades leading procurement, supply chain, operations, IT, and business transformation initiatives across Europe, the Middle East, Asia, and Africa. He’s worked with some of the world’s biggest brands to manage complex international teams and procurement portfolios, with annual spend responsibilities exceeding €2bn.
For Phulse, the excitement that comes with leading a procurement transformation never wanes, because of the position the procurement function holds. This is something he brought with him to Linde + Wiemann in early 2025. “What has always fascinated me is the ability of procurement to influence far more than cost,” he explains. “Procurement sits at the intersection of competitiveness, innovation, sustainability, risk management, and business growth. When positioned correctly, it becomes a strategic enabler of enterprise value rather than simply a transactional function.” Read the full story here!
Plus, we report from the Exiger Executive Forum, which takes a closer look at human rights in the supply chain, and the issues procurement leaders need to be considering. And we attended CIPS | ProcureCon Asia – exploring the latest procurement insights and opportunities from the ProcureCon Asia community.
Not only that, but we also have all the expert insights, industry trends and global events tied up inside, too. Enjoy!
CPOstrategy spoke with some of the key speakers and leaders in attendance at DPW in New York… From AI and operating models to talent and strategic influence, procurement leaders gathered with a shared message: the profession isn’t simply adopting new technology, it is redefining what procurement itself should become
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The theme of DPW New York 2026 – Recode – could hardly have been more appropriate. Across conversations with procurement leaders representing industries as diverse as financial services, media, pharmaceuticals, luxury retail, technology, industrial manufacturing and commercial real estate, one message emerged repeatedly: procurement is entering the most significant period of transformation in its history.
Artificial intelligence may dominate the headlines, but for practitioners leading transformation programmes inside global organisations, the conversation has already moved beyond the technology itself. Instead, attention is turning towards operating models, organisational design, talent, governance and the role procurement will play as businesses navigate increasingly complex commercial environments.
Rather than viewing AI as the destination, many see it as the catalyst for fundamentally redesigning procurement.
For several of the speakers CPOstrategy spoke to, ‘Recode’ wasn’t simply about software, it was about rethinking the function from the ground up.
Rina Patel, SVP – Chief Procurement Officer at Versant Media, described the company’s recent spin-off from Comcast NBCUniversal as an opportunity to reshape procurement into a trusted advisory function involved in deciding whether initiatives should happen in the first place, rather than simply executing purchasing decisions.
Others echoed that sentiment. Danielle Salyers, VP for Strategic Sourcing & Enterprise Contracting, at Allied Solutions, who has built procurement organisations from scratch on multiple occasions, viewed the theme through the lens of establishing entirely new operating models. At Semrush, VP for Global Procurement Alejandro Fernandez is living through a different kind of recode as the company’s procurement organisation becomes integrated into Adobe, forcing a rethink of how teams, processes and technologies come together.
Despite the different business contexts, the conclusion was remarkably consistent: procurement’s traditional operating model no longer reflects the realities of modern business.
Beyond Cost Savings
If there was one topic that united almost everyone we spoke to, it was the growing belief that procurement has outgrown its historical identity as a cost-cutting function.
Savings remain important, but few leaders now see them as sufficient for measuring success.
Patel argued that procurement should instead be judged on whether supplier decisions generate genuine business value, improve return on investment, enable revenue and support broader organisational objectives. Salyers similarly described cost savings as an output of procurement rather than its defining purpose, pointing instead to resilience, supplier strategy, risk management and business enablement as the measures that matter most.
Mercury’s Head of Procurement Bobbi Bachynski perhaps captured the changing mindset most directly. Working in a fast-growing fintech business, she sees procurement less as a savings function and more as business development tool, measuring success through the speed at which the organisation can launch products, enable teams and support growth.
That broader definition of value reflects the changing pressures organisations face today.
From geopolitical instability and tariffs to ongoing supply chain disruption, procurement has increasingly become central to helping organisations manage uncertainty. Angela Zou, Chief Procurement Officer at Cushman & Wakefield, noted that global disruption has elevated procurement’s importance within executive discussions, while Marc Behring, Director – Procurement Excellence at Messer Americas, explained that procurement’s ability to respond quickly to changing market conditions has become just as valuable as negotiating favourable contracts.
The profession is steadily moving away from being measured purely on how much money it saves towards how effectively it enables organisations to operate.
AI Starts with Better Processes
Despite the excitement surrounding artificial intelligence throughout DPW, one point generated almost universal agreement. AI cannot repair broken procurement.
Again and again, the executives we spoke to stressed that organisations must first simplify processes, improve governance and clean their data before expecting technology to deliver meaningful transformation.
Fernandez described AI as a magnifying glass that simply exposes existing weaknesses. Deploying sophisticated technology on top of poor-quality processes only embeds those problems more deeply into the organisation.
Others used even stronger language. Salyers warned that “if you automate chaos, you just get chaos faster,” while Zou argued organisations must “clean house before you automate or optimise”. Bachynski cautioned against allowing excitement around AI to distract organisations from building strong procurement foundations, preferring what she described as a measured and intentional approach rather than chasing hype.
Several leaders also highlighted the importance of data quality.
Behring believes that process and data remain the essential foundations for successful AI adoption because intelligent systems can only generate meaningful outcomes when they are built on structured, consistent information. Without that foundation, organisations risk investing significant time and money only to conclude that AI itself has failed, when the real issue lies in poor underlying processes.
The message from DPW was clear: successful transformation begins long before organisations deploy their first AI agent.
Humans Remain at the Centre
Although AI dominated almost every conversation, none of the procurement leaders we spoke to suggested technology would replace human expertise. Instead, the future appears to be one of partnership.
Routine, rules-based and transactional work is increasingly expected to migrate towards automation, freeing procurement professionals to focus on judgement, creativity, negotiation, supplier relationships and strategic decision-making.
Fernandez believes relationship management and stakeholder trust remain fundamentally human activities. Salyers described the ideal future as automating repeatable work while preserving human involvement wherever judgement, ethics and commercial trade-offs matter.
Sandeep Dhar, Senior Director – Center Global Category Management Leader at Johnson & Johnson, sees the operating model evolving into one where AI agents perform tactical activities while procurement professionals concentrate on strategy. Sean ParkVP – Procurement, AP & Transformation atArm similarly views AI less as a replacement than as a decision-support capability, enabling procurement teams to analyse suppliers, identify strategic partners and generate insights more rapidly than traditional reporting tools allow.
A Different Kind of Procurement Professional
As technology changes, so too does the profile of the procurement professional.
Several of the leaders we spoke to suggested that tomorrow’s procurement teams will require fundamentally different capabilities from those traditionally associated with category management and sourcing.
Fernandez believes the rise of large language models will reduce dependence on narrow category specialisation, instead rewarding analytical thinkers, creative problem-solvers and builders who are comfortable experimenting with new technologies.
Behring agreed that procurement professionals will increasingly need to understand how AI works, develop stronger technology skills and continuously adapt as new capabilities emerge. For him, the challenge extends beyond technology itself to identifying what the future procurement skillset should actually look like.
That evolution also requires organisations to rethink how they develop talent. Zou spoke about freeing procurement professionals from routine work so they can build stronger judgement and advisory capabilities, while Dhar argued that curiosity, continuous learning and asking better questions will become defining characteristics of successful procurement leaders.
Several executives also highlighted the importance of confidence. Patel encouraged procurement professionals at every level to become bolder, understand the businesses they support more deeply and build the commercial credibility needed to influence decision-making. Rather than waiting to be invited into strategic discussions, procurement leaders should demonstrate why they belong there by speaking the language of growth, revenue and business outcomes.
Technology is Changing, but Leadership Matters More
Despite AI dominating conference agendas, many leaders suggested that technology alone will not transform procurement.
Leadership remains the decisive factor. Gary Levitan, VP – Head of Procurement at Louis Vuitton, argued procurement earns influence through a compelling vision rather than software. Digital tools may strengthen procurement’s ability to execute, but they do not secure executive credibility on their own.
Others made similar observations. Several leaders stressed every organisation faces different priorities, making it dangerous simply to copy another company’s technology roadmap. Bachynski warned against benchmarking blindly, arguing that procurement functions should be designed around the unique commercial realities of their own businesses rather than following industry trends.
For Park, transformation succeeds when stakeholders understand the entire journey rather than experiencing disconnected process changes over time. Bringing employees into the transformation early, explaining the bigger picture and managing change carefully are just as important as selecting the right technology.
That emphasis on governance, communication and organisational change repeatedly surfaced throughout our conversations. AI may accelerate procurement, but successful implementation still depends upon people understanding, trusting and adopting new ways of working.
Why DPW Matters
While technology formed the backdrop to almost every conversation, many attendees described the greatest value of DPW as something far more human. Connection.
Time and again, these leaders spoke about the opportunity to compare experiences with peers facing similar challenges, distinguish genuine innovation from marketing hype and learn from successes as well as failures.
Fernandez described the event as an opportunity to separate “signal from noise” by hearing directly from practitioners rather than relying solely on vendor demonstrations. Zou highlighted the value of seeing collaborative customer and supplier transformation stories while building relationships with peers on similar journeys.
For Bachynski, DPW represents procurement’s “Super Bowl”. Not because of the product demonstrations, but because it creates opportunities for honest conversations about what is really happening inside organisations. Those candid exchanges help procurement leaders avoid repeating mistakes while accelerating successful transformation.
Others shared similar experiences. Behring pointed to the importance of understanding how peers are deploying AI and evaluating emerging technologies, while Park noted discussions with fellow procurement leaders often proved just as valuable as conversations with software providers. Dhar reflected on DPW’s rapid growth over recent years as evidence that procurement itself has become a far more influential discipline than it once was.
Perhaps the strongest message came from Salyers, who described DPW as a place where people challenge conventional thinking, inspire one another and return to their organisations better equipped to lead change.
Procurement’s Defining Moment
Although each executive represented a different organisation, industry and stage of transformation, they revealed an unusually consistent picture of procurement’s future.
The function is no longer content with measuring success purely through cost reduction. Instead, procurement leaders are redefining their role around business enablement, resilience, commercial insight, supplier innovation and enterprise growth.
Artificial intelligence will undoubtedly accelerate that evolution, but only where organisations first establish strong processes, clean data and effective governance. Automation will increasingly handle transactional work, allowing procurement professionals to concentrate on the uniquely human capabilities that technology cannot replicate: judgement, relationships, creativity and strategic thinking.
The challenge now is not simply adopting AI. It is recoding procurement itself.
That was the unmistakable message running through DPW New York 2026. The organisations that succeed will not necessarily be those deploying the greatest number of AI tools. They will be those prepared to rethink operating models, develop new skills, redefine success and position procurement as an indispensable strategic partner to the business.
For a profession long associated with purchasing and cost control, that represents a profound shift. If the conversations at DPW are any indication, procurement’s next chapter has already begun. And this time it is writing the code rather than simply following it.
Rafael Ramos Mejia from Adium Pharma, discusses how procurement is helping the business scale across Latin America…
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This month’s cover story centres around Rafael Ramos Mejia, Head of Corporate Procurement at Adium Pharma, who discusses how procurement is helping the business scale across Latin America…
Most organisations talk about growth as an aspiration. However, at Adium Pharma, a Latin American pharmaceutical company with operations across 18 markets, growth arrived faster than the structures designed to support it. The question was never whether to grow, but whether procurement could evolve fast enough to turn that growth into lasting strength.
As its manufacturing footprint, commercial operations and therapeutic portfolio have expanded, Adium has to manage multiple regulatory frameworks, currencies and commercial priorities. That expansion has changed the role of procurement inside the business.
For Rafael Ramos Mejia, Head of Corporate Procurement at Adium, that growth has changed what the function needs to deliver for the business. “The key driver behind this transformation was not cost pressure, but growth itself,” he says. “As the organisation expanded, we began to see that growth was creating duplication, inefficiency, and hidden risk.”
To solve this, Adium designed its One Procurement model. Its purpose is to help the company turn scale into a source of strength, rather than allowing complexity to build across countries, categories, and supplier relationships.
It was clear that incremental improvements wouldn’t be enough to overcome the challenges of scaling. While the team didn’t need restructuring, the company needed to change how procurement operated. “We didn’t wait for operational complexity to become a limitation. We recognised early that sustained growth required a more integrated procurement model.”
Plus, we have all the inside information from DPW/NY and the World Procurement Congress as well all the usual insightful editorial from leading procurement practitioners and technological innovators shaping the function…
CPOstrategy were honoured to attend the 4th ASEAN Procurement Innovation Summit & Awards 2026 (APIS 2026
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Both the Summit & Awards 2026 (APIS 2026), were held at the stylish Sheraton Imperial Hotel in Kuala Lumpur recently, where we got to explore how the development of agentic capabilities can help propel organisations into the future…
Attended by senior leaders in procurement, finance, supply chain, and technology, the 4th ASEAN Procurement Innovation Summit & Awards 2026 (APIS 2026) focused on the key themes of how to empower people whilst strengthening systems, and redefining procurement’s strategic contribution across an economic landscape that’s evolving at pace.
Utilising intelligent agentic systems that can reason, make predictions, and take action whilst collaborating with their human counterparts is a key component of this transformation. Organisations that are ahead of the curve with agentic adoption can look forward to gaining a competitive advantage, including enhanced resilience and transparency. Looking further ahead, a fully agentic procurement ecosystem built around a network of connected agents will enhance organisational decision-making. In tandem, coordinating complex operational activity will help procurement teams to be seen as key value drivers in the business. This year’s event in Kuala Lumpur brought the message home with an incredible line-up from the procurement space.
Speaking to CPOstrategy at the event, Dr. Christina SS Ooi, Board Member of the CMI Regional Board of Malaysia, and advisory board member of the Summit organiser, CT Event Asia, amongst other roles, shared her take on what skills she thinks could give procurement further prominence in organisational hierarches. “The mindset and intention of the chief procurement officer or any other leaders in procurement is key. We need to show how to drive it, be passionate about it, and understand and demonstrate the value we bring to the business. And to do that, I really feel that procurement leaders today need to be fantastic storytellers.” She went on to say, “How do we influence board decisions? We must be good narrators, good storytellers, not just of the things we’ve done, but how we shape and mould the future of procurement.”
Delegates were treated to a dazzling array of inspiring and informative keynotes, panels, fireside dialogues, roundtables, and breakouts, covering a diverse range of subjects, including the shift from automation to agency, procurement as an enterprise value engine, and operational excellence and market intelligence, as well as ESG operationalisation and sustainable value.
There was also an exclusive Future-Ready Procurement Masterclass, led by Jonathan Cheung, General Manager (Asia), Chartered Institute of Procurement & Supply (CIPS), in collaboration with Dr. Christina SS Ooi, procurement expert and former CPO APAC, along with Kobu Kotaraju, Global Procurement Lead, CBRE. Together they facilitated a range of hands on, fully immersive workshops, covering a variety of topics from how to use storytelling to influence people, to stakeholder leadership, and risk-based sourcing, to AI for procurement.
The Summit also hosted the ASEAN Procurement Innovation Awards to celebrate the organisations and people who are leading the way in advancing procurement and supply chain transformation across the ASEAN region.
A massive congratulations to all of this year’s ASEAN Procurement Innovation AwardWinners from the whole team at CPOstrategy:
The highest honour of the night was awarded to Olam Agri, who was named the 𝐀𝐰𝐚𝐫𝐝𝐬 𝐎𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐖𝐢𝐧𝐧𝐞𝐫.
PT Pupuk Indonesia (Persero) was honoured with the 𝐕𝐢𝐬𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐚𝐫𝐲 𝐢𝐧 𝐒𝐮𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐢𝐧𝐚𝐛𝐥𝐞 𝐒𝐮𝐩𝐩𝐥𝐲 𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐢𝐧 𝐄𝐱𝐜𝐞𝐥𝐥𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐞 𝐀𝐰𝐚𝐫𝐝.
Radicare (M) Sdn Bhd took home the 𝐄𝐟𝐟𝐢𝐜𝐢𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐂𝐨𝐬𝐭 𝐌𝐚𝐧𝐚𝐠𝐞𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐀𝐰𝐚𝐫𝐝 and was also Highly Recommended in the 𝐏𝐫𝐨𝐜𝐮𝐫𝐞𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐈𝐧𝐧𝐨𝐯𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐀𝐰𝐚𝐫𝐝 𝐜𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐠𝐨𝐫𝐲.
Shell Business Operations won the 𝐒𝐮𝐩𝐩𝐥𝐲 𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐢𝐧 𝐈𝐧𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐀𝐰𝐚𝐫𝐝.
BSI Group were named 𝐋𝐄𝐀𝐃𝐄𝐑𝐒 𝐈𝐍 𝐏𝐑𝐎𝐂𝐔𝐑𝐄𝐌𝐄𝐍𝐓 𝐓𝐑𝐀𝐍𝐒𝐅𝐎𝐑𝐌𝐀𝐓𝐈𝐎𝐍 𝐅𝐎𝐑 𝐑𝐄𝐒𝐈𝐋𝐈𝐄𝐍𝐓 𝐒𝐔𝐏𝐏𝐋𝐘 𝐂𝐇𝐀𝐈𝐍𝐒.
Kimberly-Clark received the 𝐏𝐑𝐎𝐂𝐔𝐑𝐄𝐌𝐄𝐍𝐓 𝐈𝐍𝐍𝐎𝐕𝐀𝐓𝐈𝐎𝐍 𝐀𝐖𝐀𝐑𝐃 (𝐋𝐀𝐑𝐆𝐄 𝐂𝐎𝐌𝐏𝐀𝐍𝐘).
Yirigaa – Supply Nation Certified, ISO 27001:2022 received the 𝐏𝐑𝐎𝐂𝐔𝐑𝐄𝐌𝐄𝐍𝐓 𝐈𝐍𝐍𝐎𝐕𝐀𝐓𝐈𝐎𝐍 𝐀𝐖𝐀𝐑𝐃 (𝐒𝐌𝐄).
Olam Agri was awarded the 𝐏𝐑𝐎𝐂𝐔𝐑𝐄𝐌𝐄𝐍𝐓 𝐈𝐍𝐍𝐎𝐕𝐀𝐓𝐈𝐎𝐍 𝐀𝐖𝐀𝐑𝐃 (𝐋𝐀𝐑𝐆𝐄 𝐂𝐎𝐌𝐏𝐀𝐍𝐘).
Kobu Kotaraju MBA, FCIPS (Chartered), PMP® CPSM, CPSD (CBRE) won the 𝐂𝐏𝐎 𝐎𝐅 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐘𝐄𝐀𝐑 𝐀𝐖𝐀𝐑𝐃.
Julia Thyagarajan was the winner of the 𝐖𝐎𝐌𝐄𝐍 𝐈𝐍 𝐏𝐑𝐎𝐂𝐔𝐑𝐄𝐌𝐄𝐍𝐓 𝐀𝐖𝐀𝐑𝐃.
In addition to the winners, the judges singled out the following people and organisations for recognition as Highly Commended:
Amir Mahmod Abdullah (Tenaga Nasional Berhad), Vivek Agarwal MCIPS (Chartered), and Mano Manikkam MBA, MCIPS (Chartered) from Visa, each received 𝐇𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐥𝐲 𝐂𝐨𝐦𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐝 – 𝐂𝐏𝐎 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐘𝐞𝐚𝐫.
RHB Banking Group was 𝐇𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐥𝐲 𝐂𝐨𝐦𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐝 𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐕𝐢𝐬𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐚𝐫𝐲 𝐢𝐧 𝐒𝐮𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐢𝐧𝐚𝐛𝐥𝐞 𝐒𝐮𝐩𝐩𝐥𝐲 𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐢𝐧 𝐄𝐱𝐜𝐞𝐥𝐥𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐞 𝐀𝐰𝐚𝐫𝐝 𝐜𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐠𝐨𝐫𝐲.
Johor Plantations Group Berhad was 𝐇𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐥𝐲 𝐂𝐨𝐦𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐝 𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐄𝐟𝐟𝐢𝐜𝐢𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐂𝐨𝐬𝐭 𝐌𝐚𝐧𝐚𝐠𝐞𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐀𝐰𝐚𝐫𝐝 𝐜𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐠𝐨𝐫𝐲.
Siti Morni Jalil was 𝐇𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐥𝐲 𝐂𝐨𝐦𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐝 – 𝐖𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐧 𝐢𝐧 𝐏𝐫𝐨𝐜𝐮𝐫𝐞𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭.
Over the course of the Summit, we had the pleasure of catching up with several key industry insiders to get their take on some of the fundamental issues of the day.
Kobu Kotaraju
Company: CBRE Award: CPO of the Year
Winner’s Statement:
“Being named CPO of the Year at the ASEAN Procurement Innovation Awards 2026 is a deeply humbling milestone, but more importantly, it is a testament to the incredible ecosystem supporting me; from my family to the exceptional team, colleagues and my mentors. For my organization, this accolade validates our strategic vision and the vital senior leadership backing that empowers us to transform complex global supply networks into resilient engines of value. Furthermore, in my capacity as the CIPS Memcomm – Asia Representative, this recognition belongs to our entire procurement fraternity. It underscores our collective capacity to innovate, elevate professional standards, and share best practices across the globe. This award shines a much-needed spotlight on the massive value procurement delivers, proving that when organizations face unprecedented challenges, our community stands ready to drive business resilience and future growth.”
Yudha Andika Pratama
Company: PT Pupuk Indonesia Award: Visionary in Sustainable Supply Chain Excellence Award
Winner’s Statement:
“Winning the Visionary in Sustainable Supply Chain Excellence Award at the Procurement ASEAN Summit 2026 is a meaningful recognition not just for our team but for PT Pupuk Indonesia Persero as an institution. This award reflects the dedication of everyone who has supported and contributed to our sustainable procurement journey including our leadership especially our President Director and Director of Operation and all colleagues across the organization. We hope this recognition will inspire broader adoption of sustainable procurement practices not only within our company but across the ASEAN procurement community and beyond. It is a reminder that sustainability in supply chain is not a constraint it is a competitive advantage.”
Efong Choong
Company: BSI Group Award: Leaders in Procurement Transformation for Resilient Supply Chains
Winner’s Statement:
“BSI wins regional procurement award
BSI Group has won the ‘Leaders in Procurement Transformation for Resilient Supply Chains’ award at the ASEAN Procurement Innovation Awards, part of APIS 2026 in Kuala Lumpur.
This is a strong result in a highly competitive category. We were shortlisted alongside Shell Business Operations KL, Maybank and Olam Agri, with entries judged on how organisations are building more agile, resilient and value-driven procurement models.
Our winning submission, the Supplier Risk & Resilience Management Programme, shows how we are strengthening supplier risk management, sustainability and resilience across our global supply chain. Using tools like BSI Connect, we are improving visibility, enabling better decision-making and supporting long-term business continuity.
This recognition reflects the progress we are making, from transactional procurement to a more strategic, value-creating function. It also highlights the impact of strong collaboration across Procurement and the wider business.
Thank you and congratulations to everyone involved. This is a great example of the difference we can make together
Attendee insight: What key piece of advice would you give to organisations looking to future-proof their procurement strategies?
Dalia Ali Amir Alkatiri, Senior Business Development Manager, Billennium
The technology is mature and it’s not how it used to be in the past, where you have to have a great transformation or technological implementation in an organisation. You can start small because the technology now is modular, so it can fit in at whichever stage you’re at. Don’t worry about the data, because there are ways to manage how your data is being governed and it will still be very much customised and specific to your organisation’s needs.
Carl Kimball, Regional Vice President (Asia Pacific, Japan & Middle East), ZYCUS
There are different levels of maturity across the companies we deal with. Some are moving from spreadsheets to very sophisticated agentic AI. Some are already far along that journey. But I think in terms of future proofing, you really need to ensure that you have a good foundational source-to-pay core. You have technology that supports and really drives the agentic AI capability. And then you want what we call the front door view into it, or what from a user experience view you’d call intake management. So, there’s three components to it and that’s your future proofing right there.
Tong EE Lim, Director, Visa Commercial & Money Movement Solutions, Malaysia
Having a global payment network combined with reach transaction data. By embedding payments directly into existing systems, businesses don’t just make payments faster. They gain actionable insights from every transaction, helping procurement and finance teams make smarter and more informed decisions. This trigger data is a strategic asset. Organisations that connect procurement, payment, finance, and risk management are better positioned to make faster decisions, whether it’s managing cash flow, mitigating risks, or strengthening supplier relationships.
Think about what you’re not doing. What is your organisation looking for? We’ve had so many disruptions in the market in the last 10 years. How have we evolved? What has been our journey? What did we not learn from it? And how can we improve it in the future? I think that self-assessment really needs to be done today, so that future-proofing can be done right.
What do you see as key procurement challenges currently and how can your organisation help people solve them?
Jonathan Cheung, General Manager (Asia), Chartered Institute of Procurement & Supply (CIPS)
I think the biggest challenge is accepting technology. Using generative AI to do the job faster, with a focus on the administrative part of the work, because that’s where AI can take over. What you need to think of is how to make clever use of technology to help you get rid of all those administration tasks that you’re doing. You can then spend time with your stakeholders, your budget owners, and your suppliers to plan ahead and be predictive.
Luke Kenny, Chief Executive Officer, Local Government Procurement
We differentiate ourselves by being a capability enabler and we help people who don’t necessarily have the skills or experience to help themselves. We also risk mitigate sourcing. Our job is to make sure when they buy, they buy well, they buy safely and they’re ensuring they’re extracting every piece of value from the money that they’re spending. And they see tangible outcomes, that in our case, local communities can see, touch and recognise.
Jaroslaw Zarychta, Head of Commercial, Billennium
I think the big procurement challenges nowadays aren’t related to technology. The big procurement challenges are related to trusting AI, especially at the beginning of the AI era. At Billennium, we provide solutions based on data and AI, as well as cloud and on-premises platforms, to secure procurement teams to go into the era of AI, because this is crucial to transformation regarding our challenges. We also build our solutions based on worldwide class technologies, for both cloud vendors and on-premises vendors. Also, we adopt a Zero Trust strategy for all our solutions.
Richard Brown, Head of Marketing & Sales, Anvil Analytical
I would say it’s two things. The first is around visibility. Getting visibility into spend insights, or their carbon, or risks across the organisation, maybe contracts or projects, and really getting their fingers on the data. The next piece is very much around deep insights. Whether that’s AI-driven market insights, or really deep insights into their spend and savings opportunities. It’s very algorithmically driven. Millions of points of external data that come in and enrich to really drive those key insights that can be actioned.
Tong EE Lim, Director, Visa Commercial & Money Movement Solutions, Malaysia
Many organisations still deal with fragmented procurement and payment processes, which leads to limited visibility and slow payment cycles. We help address that gap by connecting procurement and payment, so businesses have better control automations and real-time insights into where their money is going.
First of all, how do you build a business case? How do you personally brand yourself? How do you ensure that the values which sit within your procurement team are elevated and shared with the board? It actually makes a difference to the organisation and can justify the ROI that they can get out of it.
Members of the CPOstrategy team were privileged to attend the Supply Chain and Procurement Conference 2026, held under the patronage of His Excellency the Minister of Industry and Mineral Resources, Mr. Bandar bin Ibrahim Al-Khorayef.
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The magnificent Sheraton Hotel, in the city of Dammam, hosted the Supply Chain and Procurement Conference 2026 which focused on how enhancing the global position of Saudi Arabia in the field of supply chain and procurement management can support delivery of the Kingdom’s Vision 2030.
TheSupply Chain and Procurement Conference 2026looked to build on the success of last year’s inaugural event. This year, a wide array of expert speakers were complemented by interactive sessions and panel discussions with leading decision-makers on the latest trends and challenges affecting the industry, both now and in the future.
The conference also provided an opportunity to enhance cooperation between companies and their suppliers, providing a forum to exchange knowledge and explore how existing processes could be improved.
Organised and run by the Supply Chain and Procurement Society (SCPS), a national non-profit that aims to develop the Kingdom’s procurement and supply chain sector, this year’s event in Dammam brought the message home with an incredible line-up from the procurement space, focusing on six themes:
Accelerating Saudi’s manufacturing capability by developing integrated industrial supply chain frameworks that support the growth of manufacturing in line with national priorities. This incorporates more efficient sourcing, logistics and warehousing strategies, as well as enhancing supplier readiness and operational capability to meet relevant standards and performance requirements. Additionally, it will be important to improve coordination and alignment across industrial value chains and with key stakeholders, as well as advancing operational efficiency and competitiveness across industrial and manufacturing ecosystems.
Building a well-rounded supply chain through excellence in local content and sustainability, including sustainable procurement practices that support environmental and social responsibility initiatives, and that align with supply chain operation ESG standards. This activity will be best delivered through long-term partnerships across the full range of supply chain activities.
Building effective partnerships to power Saudi’s supply chain for the long-term, including enhanced cooperation between the government, industry leaders, and supply chain stakeholders. Strengthening supplier and stakeholder relationships will also help integrate value chains, create value and enable knowledge sharing.
Automating supply chains and procurement through Agentic AI to advance digital transformation initiatives, while applying AI solutions in procurement, planning, forecasting, and decision support. Automating supply chain processes will also enhance efficiency, accuracy, and operational consistency, while data analytics will support strategic decision making.
Future-proofing supply chains and procurement through resilience, risk management, and adaptability, to ensure stability during disruptions and market volatility. This should include proactively identifying, assessing and mitigating supply chain risks to ensure business continuity and operational stability, while enhancing visibility across business networks to support timely decision-making,
Building skills for the future including AI fluency and concept mastery of supply chain and procurement, including technical and strategic expertise, whilst promoting a culture of professional growth and development.
The conference made these themes come alive with an array of inspiring speakers who were complimented by a series of panel discussions and interactive sessions on a wide range of topics.
The conference opened with a welcome from the Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Supply Chain and Procurement Society (SCPS), Saleh Al-Shabnan, who noted that “Supply chains have become an integral part of national economic security, and Saudi Arabia has built an integrated ecosystem that has strengthened its ability to meet global challenges and maintain business continuity and the flow of goods, services and energy, based on an ambitious vision and long-term strategic investments.”
This set the tone for the event, with guests including the Undersecretary of the Ministry of Industry and Mineral Resources, Khalid AlHajri VP Procurement at Saudi Aramco, and senior figures from across the kingdom’s procurement and supply chain ecosystem. It was very clear from the start that this event was built by practitioners, for practitioners.
His Excellency the Undersecretary of the Ministry of Industry and Mineral Resources for Industrial Development, Eng. Abdulaziz Al-Ahmadi, then gave an opening speech which highlighted that, “Modern industry is not measured by the number of factories, but by its ability to build an interconnected system that creates local added value. We are working with partners at Expo 2030 and the 2034 World Cup to translate upcoming opportunities into industrial projects and localize them, to build national suppliers that compete globally.”
This was followed by an engaging presentation from the CEO of the Supply Chain and Procurement Society (SCPS), Mr. Saleh H. AL Suwaiti, who provided an overview of the Society’s journey since its establishment. “We started in October 2018 with an idea in small meetings that turned into a licensed professional entity and national responsibility, and we did not just build an association, we built an idea and turned it into initiatives, we created knowledge, spread awareness, and gathered specialists around it to create a leading professional community that today leads the empowerment and future of supply in the Kingdom.”
Three live partnership were also announced on the opening morning, including AI procurement platform, Penny, signing agreements with Lendo on supply chain financing, with SAP Ariba on local content integration, and with Roland Berger on procurement and local content technology.
The Kingdom’s Vision 2030 was heavily referenced throughout the day, including the infrastructure being built to deliver it. As the conference progressed, Nico Shutz, CEO of ASMO, laid out a practical operating model spanning procurement, inventory management, warehousing, logistics, and an eMarketplace. Kenan Nouwailati from Roland Berger delivered a session on Agentic AI, noting that a procurement organisation that wants to be high-performing in tomorrow’s world cannot avoid very substantial adaptation of Agentic AI.
The local content panel produced one of the sharpest moments of the day. A story about a supplier who was ready, qualified, and repeatedly invited to tenders, but never won them. This wasn’t because of their capability, but because the contract architecture was written in a way that made it structurally impossible for them to compete. It feels like the conference has a firm focus on building local supply networks over the next 20 years, so this kind of insight is essential, as it can help change how organisations go about sourcing suppliers.
Last, but certainly not least, Wael Safwat, FCIPS ExDip from Accenture closed the day with a presentation on talent and AI. He stated that roles are being fragmented by AI, rather than replaced. Tasks will be redistributed and the professionals who thrive will be the ones who can communicate, stay curious, handle complexity, and speak the language of AI. Therefore, this will become the new baseline for teams in the years ahead.
The second day featured several insightful sessions which looked at the question of how procurement and supply chain leaders actually build for what comes next, through some very different lenses. Hugh Lawson, IPA, AccBD and Principal, Lawson Leadership Advisory Ltd, delivered a notable first session and even managed to work in some Star Wars references.
Day two focused on digital transformation, making the point that there’s a big difference between digitising a process and transforming it. Mapping your old manual workflow into a new platform isn’t transformation. It is just a more expensive version of the same problem. Real transformation only starts when you design around outcomes, not the steps you currently take to get there.
AI maturity also featured prominently. Where are organisations actually getting value today? Some live examples included spend classification, RFX creation, supplier communications, contract drafting, and bias reduction in sourcing decisions. However, the harder truth is that most AI pilots still live and die inside a centre of excellence, without ever finding a business owner.
Mehdi Zrihni, Senior Presales Manager, MEAPAC, JAGGAER, delivered a session that brought things down to Earth. Tail spend consolidation that used to take two to three months now runs in seconds. Contract summaries, approval recommendations, and invoice anomaly detection are all embedded in the platform. Therefore, AI is no longer a nice-to-have, it’s mandatory infrastructure.
This was followed later in the day by a panel discussion about whether AI can be trusted with strategic procurement decisions. The consensus from the panel was that it could, but with conditions. AI earns trust when it is fed clean data, configured with the right context, and kept honest by humans who know what good looks like. The strongest use cases shared were not about replacing judgment. They were about removing bias, closing value leakage, and getting procurement into business planning conversations early enough to actually matter. Saudi Arabia designated 2026 as the Year of Artificial Intelligence and the discussions here in Dammam feel like it’s already well underway.
The keynote speech from Pascal Evertz, Managing Director, GoBeyondProcurement, on leadership reframed everything, though. Two thirds of Gulf Cooperation Council workers report some form of burnout or mental wellbeing challenge. Companies are building intelligent supply chains, but their people are running on empty. The message here was clear. Before strategy, technology, or content, there has to be connection, so this concept should feature in every leadership conversation happening in the region right now.
In the 2026 conference’s closing speech, Mr. Saleh H. AL Suwaiti, CEO of the Supply Chain and Procurement Society (SCPS), announced that the conference had surpassed the popularity of last year’s event, with over 21 participating entities, 55+ expert speakers, over 4,000 registrants, and more than 1,000 visitors. He also stressed the need for companies and suppliers to continue to work collaboratively to build a professional community that achieves “resilient supply chains… for a sustainable future” to achieve the goals of the Kindom’s Vision 2030.
Following another highly successful event this year, we can’t wait for the next instalment in 2027, as the Supply Chain and Procurement Conference firmly establishes itself as a key event in the annual calendar.
NiSource is one of the largest fully regulated utility companies in the United States and the challenge and scale of leading a transformation designed to reposition procurement and supply chain as strategic partners is considerable.
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Our cover story this month,saw us traveling to Columbus, Ohio to meet Johnny Howze III,Senior Vice President and Chief Procurement Officer at NiSource. For Howze, procurement and supply chain are no longer functions that sit quietly in the background of the enterprise. Rather, they have been transformed into strategic enablers of massive growth…
NiSource: Elevating Procurement and Supply Chain as a Strategic Growth Driver
As utilities navigate rising energy demand, ageing infrastructure and growing customer expectations, procurement is emerging as a critical strategic function capable of shaping enterprise growth and resilience. At NiSource, supply chain transformation is no longer centred solely on cost reduction. Instead, the organisation is repositioning procurement as a driver of operational discipline, infrastructure expansion, supplier collaboration and intelligent decision-making, underpinned by technology, data and a renewed focus on enterprise-wide value creation.
NiSource is one of the largest fully regulated utility companies in the United States and the challenge and scale of leading a transformation designed to reposition procurement and supply chain as strategic partners is considerable.
Professional Headshot by Robb McCormick Photography https://robbmccormick.com
NiSource manages around $4 billion in capital and operational spend while supporting extensive gas infrastructure projects and a growing electric business through NIPSCO in Northwest Indiana. “We replace a lot of natural gas pipelines to serve our customers and the Columbia Gas companies,” explains Johnny Howze III, Senior Vice President and Chief Procurement Officer at NiSource from his office in Columbus, Ohio. “We also have a small electric business, NIPSCO, where we serve 500,000 electric customers as well as natural gas service customers. I view that as the growth part of our business because in Northwest Indiana, growing our electric system and modernising our infrastructure is one of the key things we’re doing now to create value for our customers.”
We also enjoyed a fascinating discussion with Dirk Dohmen, Group Purchasing / Services at Pfalzwerke. As the energy sector undergoes profound change, German energy provider, Pfalzwerke is reshaping procurement into a strategic engine for growth, resilience and digital innovation. Dohmen discusses building a modern procurement function, accelerating AI adoption through a partnership with Lio and preparing the business for the future of energy infrastructure.
Elsewhere… we have exclusive reports from The Supply Chain and Procurement Conference 2026, whichlooked to build on the success of last year’s inaugural event. And we also spent some time at ASEAN… This year, a wide array of expert speakers were complemented by interactive sessions and panel discussions with leading decision-makers on the latest trends and challenges affecting the industry, both now and in the future.
Our cover story this month is an illuminating insight from Marnie Harte, Chief Procurement Officer at Hertz, who exclusively reveals how her team is accelerating the company’s journey to return to profitability…
“Change is hard, but with a concrete vision for the future, a strategy for how to get there, and the right people around you, the skies are the limit for what is possible,” she tells us. Marnie Harte has been the Chief Procurement Officer at Hertz since May 2025 after leaving an established career in financial services. As part of its multi-year transformation, Hertz has been focused on reducing its operational expense and the procurement function has played an influential role in bringing that to fruition. Harte and her Global Supplier Management organisation are driving impactful results to Hertz’s bottom line while simultaneously undergoing a major transformation of the procurement function within the global mobility company.
It is fair to say talent management is a subject close to her heart. Earlier in her leadership journey, Harte read Radical Candor by Kim Scott, which really resonated with her. Harte believes in people and values upskilling and lifting her employees to reach their full potential, which sometimes comes with making sure they understand the hard messages on things that are holding them back. “I am where I am today because leaders believed in me, gave me a chance and held me accountable,” she tells us.”
Elsewhere, we also feature discussions with Executives at Merck Groupwho discuss the power of sustainability and how digital transformation is changing the game in procurement and beyond. Plus, a fascinating discussion with Alix Detilleux, Global Categories Procurement Director for Taste, Nutrition & Health at Symrise, who is building the procurement capability at Symrise to help navigate evolving market conditions…
Executives atMerck GroupAlix Detilleux, Global Categories Procurement Director, Symrise
Of course, there’s lots, lots more including our review of SAP Connect Day for Finance and Spend Management where we gained a first-hand insight into how AI is unlocking greater efficiency and is allowing teams to set a new standard.
Tulsi Narayan, Executive Vice President of Commercial and New Payment Flows, Europe at Mastercard, on how outdated, legacy procurement systems can cause inefficiencies, high costs, and payment delays, and how organisations can successfully modernise operations with embedded payment and digital procurement tools.
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Inefficiency, high costs and payment delays are some of the areas most feared by procurement leaders.
But today, many businesses continue to rely on manual invoice and payment workflows because legacy systems are deeply embedded in core finance operations. As a result, modernisation of back-end infrastructure is often delayed in favour of upgrading customer-facing technology, and many organisations perceive upgrading as risky, complex, or costly.
Speaking exclusively to CPOstrategy, Tulsi Narayan, Executive Vice President of Commercial and New Payment Flows, Europe at Mastercard, explains why this uncertainty about the value a more digital approach could deliver, combined with ongoing pressures to reduce costs and maximise efficiency, often increases organisational risk aversion, reinforcing reliance on familiar manual processes rather than investment in digital transformation.
As a way of introducing yourself, can you please provide a brief intro as to you and your role please?
Tulsi Narayan: “In my role as Executive Vice President of Commercial and New Payment Flows, Europe at Mastercard, I lead our efforts to modernise supply chain payments and enable seamless, digital business transactions across the region.
“My team and I focus on pushing innovation forward, delivering solutions across commercial cards, B2B payables and receivables, bill payments, and domestic and cross‑border money movement. At the heart our work is helping businesses digitise, scale, and thrive in an ever‑changing landscape.”
Can you explain how outdated legacy systems cause inefficiencies and problems for companies? What is the true cost to organisations?
Tulsi Narayan: “Outdated legacy systems were not built to support modern digital tools and are therefore often time-intensive and labour-heavy, requiring significant human effort to complete routine tasks or correct errors from manual processing. This can lead to payment delays, operational disruptions, strained supplier relationships, and reduced competitiveness.
“Additionally, as regulatory and reporting requirements continue to evolve, manual and fragmented legacy processes can make meeting these obligations more resource-intensive and costly.
“Digitising financial processes addresses these challenges by enhancing automation, providing data-driven insights, improving security, and freeing up time for more strategic work, ultimately boosting efficiency and reducing errors.
“Take embedded finance, which is reshaping B2B payments by integrating financial services, like virtual card technology, directly into the tools businesses already use; ERP systems, procurement platforms, and industry-specific applications.
“In fact, 73% of those already using embedded finance in their procurement and payable processes say it has had a significant impact on enabling less manual work, and 84% agree that virtual cards specifically have strengthened their business’ relationship with suppliers. “
Where do Chief Procurement Officers and procurement leaders need to start if they want to modernise operations with embedded payment and digital procurement tools?
Tulsi Narayan: “As technology capabilities have advanced, business appetite for adoption has grown in parallel. Research shows that 93% of suppliers view procurement digitisation as a priority. So, while many organisations still rely on manual and paper-based workflows, there is clear momentum to embrace digital tools that improve efficiency, strengthen supplier relationships, and drive growth.
“For CPOs and procurement leaders, modernisation begins with a thorough assessment of procurement and payment processes to uncover inefficiencies, manual touchpoints, and bottlenecks that slow operations. While addressing these immediate priorities, it’s also important to consider solutions and capabilities that support strategic growth and long-term value, whether that be through automation, improved cash flow management, or enhanced data insights for example.
“Even with the right technology, progress can stall due to internal resistance, unclear ownership between procurement and finance, or a lack of executive sponsorship. Aligning stakeholders around shared objectives and new ways of working is often one of the biggest challenges, particularly in large, complex organisations.
“Collaboration with payment partners can accelerate transformation, empowering procurement leaders to select the right technologies and capture measurable value from digitising procure-to-pay processes.
“Mastercard supports businesses at every stage of this journey, delivering secure, scalable, and automated procure-to-pay solutions. By embedding payments into procurement workflows, organisations reduce friction, increase control and visibility, and enable procurement teams to focus on strategic priorities rather than transaction management.”
What are some of the biggest success stories that you are seeing as a result of modernised procurement systems?
Tulsi Narayan: “One organisation that comes to mind is GEP, a leading provider of procurement and supply chain software. We recently partnered with GEP to integrate our virtual card capabilities into its platform, helping businesses manage B2B payments more efficiently.
“Digital wallets are growing increasingly popular, with 81% of virtual card users agreeing that use of digital cards has strengthened their company’s relationships with suppliers. For GEP, using virtual cards allowed them to simplify their payment process, with buyers able to issue secure virtual cards automatically once a purchase is approved, removing the need for manual invoicing, while speeding up reconciliation and strengthening both security and compliance.
“For GEP, working with Mastercard to introduce virtual card capabilities has resulted in faster and easier payments across all suppliers and buyers, and improved the day-to-day efficiencies, ensuring that their customers have more time to focus on the strategy side of their business.”
What are the biggest challenges in the way of procurement leaders on this journey today?
Tulsi Narayan: “Whilst procurement leaders are often held back by the perceived effort and cost of upgrading legacy systems, concerns about security and fraud in modern digital solutions can also add to this hesitation.
“Of those who do not currently use embedded finance tools, 63% cite trust and risk concerns as a barrier to using embedded finance, with many anxious that new innovations will make them more vulnerable to attacks.
“Reality paints a different picture. The majority (74%) of business leaders that use embedded finance say it has had a significant impact on reducing fraud risks for their business, while users with virtual card programmes are more than twice as likely to say stronger compliance and fraud controls are a benefit of using embedded finance.
“The concern that digitisation will make companies less secure is holding many businesses back from the benefits of digital, automated tools. Modern, digital finance solutions can enhance visibility and control, improve risk management, and increase security, giving businesses greater confidence in their financial operations.”
In your view, what might the future of procurement look like?
Tulsi Narayan: “As with most sectors, procurement will become increasingly data-driven and intelligent.
“With automation and advanced analytics, organisations will be able to anticipate demand, manage supply chain risk earlier, and optimise working capital more effectively. Automation is designed to enhance, not replace, supporting routine transactional work, freeing procurement teams to focus on strategy and value creation.
“At Mastercard, we support businesses in strengthening supply chain sustainability and resilience by embedding automation, intelligence, and flexibility into the procurement process. Solutions such as virtual cards play a pivotal role in working capital management, helping to keep supply chains moving efficiently by enabling buyers to pay, and suppliers to receive payment, faster.
“Ultimately, the future of procurement will see it serve as a strategic driver, powered by secure, scalable and automated digital tools that empower organisations to make smarter decisions, control costs, and build more resilient supply chains.”
Dr David Feavearyear, Managing Director of Procurement Solutions at Liberty Blume, explores the role procurement plays in business transformation, particularly how organisations can create impact through capability, culture, and digital innovation.
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At the risk of stating the obvious, the pace of change has never been faster – and it’s still accelerating. Over the past two years, most organisations have barely absorbed the implications of generative AI before being hit with the next wave of digitisation: agentic AI, autonomous decisioning, and increasingly sophisticated back-office automation. The challenge is no longer identifying new technology. It’s separating genuine value from noise, and turning blind optimism or fear into business outcomes. The truth is straightforward: technology is evolving far quicker than most organisations’ ability to adapt.
Despite the hype, the underlying principles of transformation remain constant. Liberty Blume’s Transform to Outperform study with FT Longitude reinforces what many of us in procurement have long known: sustainable transformation is rooted in people, process, data and technology – possibly in that order. You cannot automate dysfunction, nor can you hire your way out of broken processes. Real value comes from aligning behind measurable outcomes first, and then enabling the organisation to deliver at scale.
What is changing, however, is the urgency. As the report highlights, nearly 80% of business leaders expect transformation to be the primary driver of growth within the next two years. Organisations that have embraced agile, tech-enabled operating models are already outperforming their peers across revenue, productivity, cost efficiency and compliance. Those that haven’t are struggling to keep pace. It is becoming an existential challenge.
And this is where procurement has a once-in-a-generation opportunity.
Procurement’s moment of reckoning
Historically, procurement has battled outdated perceptions: a function focused on process policing, supplier administration and risk containment. But the market is shifting decisively.
The best procurement teams are no longer cost guardians – they unlock value. They are leveraging data, market intelligence and automation to accelerate business decisions, unlock savings, strengthen supply resilience and support the enterprise’s strategic ambitions.
Platforms such as Sirion, for example, have fundamentally changed what’s possible in contracting. AI-generated redlines, automated clause libraries, obligations tracking and intelligent contract repositories reduce cycle times dramatically. Processes that previously took weeks can be reduced to hours. However, adopting tools like this requires something deeper than simply implementing software. It demands new ways of thinking, new skills, and a willingness to challenge long-standing habits. Why do many organisations still manually negotiate NDAs? Because “that’s how we’ve always done it”.
Similarly, sourcing is being reimagined. Technologies like Fairmarkit enable teams to generate RFPs, score responses, and even run autonomous negotiations in a fraction of the time traditional approaches require. The question isn’t whether the technology works – it clearly does. The question is whether organisations are prepared to evolve their operating models to take advantage of it.
Fear of the unknown remains the biggest barrier to progress.
A shift from enterprise suites to best-of-breed
For years, organisations defaulted to large ERP suites, and labour arbitrage as the answer to back-office complexity. But the Transform to Outperform study shows a decisive shift: agility now trumps monolithic design. “Best-of-breed” is becoming the architecture of choice, driven by speed of deployment, richer functionality, and the ability to innovate quickly without heavy enterprise-wide change programmes.
This shift is uncomfortable for traditional consulting partners, who grew accustomed to multi-year transformation programmes. But it’s a win for organisations ready to embrace targeted, outcome-driven interventions supported by modern integration layers and AI-enabled orchestration.
At Liberty Blume, we’ve embraced this shift fully, and are helping our customers on this journey. Across finance operations, procurement, payments, and specialty finance, we have built proprietary technologies that automate high-volume manual processes – from accounts payable to journal production – and free expert talent to focus on higher-value activities. Our work in process-capturing technology directly addresses Polanyi’s Paradox: i.e. that people know more than they can articulate. By recording and analysing real-world behaviour, our tools translate tacit knowledge into codified, repeatable workflows that can be automated at scale. The result is thousands of hours returned to the business and an uplift in quality, consistency and auditability.
Dr David Feavearyear
Transformation is now continuous
One of the strongest findings in the Transform to Outperform report is that organisations are “well past the ‘transform and done’ mindset.” Transformation is no longer a one-off programme – it’s a continuous capability. As Natalie Douglas, Liberty Blume’s CFO, notes, systems and processes must be designed for adaptability, because rapid change is now the norm, not the exception.
This message resonates across functions, but procurement is certainly not exempt from pressure to modernise. The report reveals that while HR and procurement play critical roles in accelerating enterprise transformation, both functions lag in demonstrating their full strategic potential. Nearly one-third of organisations believe procurement could deliver more value than it currently does – a finding that should sharpen the focus for all CPOs.
The human factor: Talent, mindset and change leadership
Technology does not deliver transformation – people do. And as the study highlights, the organisations outperforming their peers tend to invest equally across four pillars:
Data infrastructure
A skilled and agile workforce
Technology integration
Effective change management
Procurement leaders must curate talent that blends commercial acumen, digital literacy, and business partnering capability. Just as importantly, they must foster a culture where curiosity is rewarded, experimentation is safe, and adopting new tools is embraced rather than feared. Balancing technology and talent is the secret sauce to unlocking value.
Change management is too often treated as a communications exercise. It is not. It is a behavioural shift. If procurement wants credibility as a transformation partner, it must demonstrate change leadership, not just technical competence.
Why CPOs are uniquely positioned to lead
The most successful organisations understand that procurement sits at the intersection of spend, risk, sustainability, innovation, and supplier performance. No other function has visibility across so many commercial levers and external market forces. This makes procurement an extraordinary catalyst for enterprise-wide value creation.
But leadership requires courage:
Courage to challenge outdated processes.
Courage to adopt new operating models.
Courage to change the skills and expectations of the function.
Courage to embed technology that disrupts the familiar.
Procurement is no longer a back-office function. It is a strategic engine for growth, resilience, innovation and efficiency.
Conclusion: The window of opportunity
The next two years will define which organisations thrive and become increasingly obsolescent. Procurement has a narrow but powerful window to lead the charge. By combining modern technology with human expertise, by embracing continuous transformation, and by anchoring everything in business outcomes, procurement can, and must, become a central catalyst for change.
The tools are ready. The insights are clear. The opportunity is now.
It’s time for procurement and the back, and middle office, to transform and outperform.
In this article, CPOstrategy explores five of the best ways to power a procurement transformation.
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Clearly define goals
Every procurement transformation must start with a clear framework of how to achieve success. Leaders should define the objectives of a procurement transformation programme with measurable goals along the way that are aligned with the overall organisation’s strategy. These goals should go beyond simply cost savings and include the likes of value creation, risk mitigation, resilience and support for the wider business strategy. Transformations can fail when goals are vague or lack purpose which is why providing a clear direction can help position a procurement function in the right direction. Procurement isn’t transactional, it is a strategic value generator.
Create a detailed procurement roadmap
Once goals are clearly defined, the next part of a procurement transformation project should be about creating a roadmap on how to get there. Procurement transformations are filled with complexity so without a structured way forward, the path could get muddy. A roadmap should include analysis of current processes, areas for improvement and a playbook to meet objectives and achieve success. Key stakeholders should be able to see progress to ensure all parties are in alignment and on the same page with the pace.
growth in business and finance, growing graphs and charts with statistics and digits
Secure leadership buy-in
All procurement transformations need leadership support. Without buy-in, adoption won’t take off and resistance to change management will take place. Procurement leaders should seek to identify champions from senior management within the organisation to communicate its importance throughout the workforce and to allocate the necessary resources to achieving it. It is a key reason why clear goals and a roadmap should be defined prior to securing leadership buy-in as it will allow the vision to be trusted and should mean greater investment in the journey.
Leverage data analytics
Data is an important tool for any modern day Chief Procurement Officer. Data can be used for a plethora of different purposes including obtaining deeper insights into market trends or supplier performance and as a result powering better decision-making. Leveraging data analytics throughout the procurement process will help keep leaders on track and provide metrics and KPIs to measure against. Against a challenging and ever-changing geopolitical backdrop, procurement must transition from reactive to predictive. Analytics transforms procurement from a reporting function to a strategic advisor to the business.
Get suppliers on board
Success is difficult to achieve alone – procurement needs suppliers. Working in close collaboration with key, strategic partners will unlock significant value for procurement leaders and their teams. Building mutually beneficial and trusted relationships can act as a competitive advantage for organisations and help achieve transformation goals quicker. Engaging suppliers is important because it improves adoption of new tools and processes while also unlocking innovation and joint value creation. Engaging suppliers also ensures the external ecosystem evolves alongside internal changes.
Alistair Cane and Steve Ueckermann, Co-Founders of Axiom, discuss why tail spend is such a prominent issue for procurement teams and explain how their organisation is providing the solution.
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Tail spend stands today as one of procurement’s most stubborn problems.
It is unmanaged spend typically for low-value or infrequent purchases such as the likes of office supplies and other one-off purchases – accounting for around a fifth of a company’s overall procurement expenditure.
Tail spend can be a significant source of inefficiency for organisations and result in hidden costs, fragmented supplier relationships as well as missed saving opportunities.
Despite significant transformations, tail spend always seems to linger – not because teams aren’t trying to close the loop, but because existing solutions have never quite managed it.
Managing tail spend
Recognising this problem is Axiom Co-Founders Alistair Cane and Steve Ueckermann. During lengthy careers in procurement, they have felt this frustration first-hand and in Ueckermann’s mind, he believes the fundamental issue of tail spend is the fact it is structurally inconvenient for all involved.
“It’s really too fragmented for procurement to manage manually, too low value per transaction for finance to scrutinise it and really invisible enough that nobody actually owns it,” he explains. “So both teams know that the problem exists, but the big issue here is the efforts managed. It’s always been outweighed by the perceived return that you get from it. I think this is where AI used properly can reduce the effort involved.”
Cane agrees with Ueckermann and adds that the key element is that users often need to purchase the products and services they need quickly. As a result, when it comes to tail spend, users will take the path that presents the least resistance possible in order to get where they need to go. “Often it’s not an issue of the system failing them, it’s just not serving them correctly,” explains Cane. “Users need things fast so they can get back to their day job. Think of the toolset that’s available to most organisations and their Source-to-Pay systems, they are geared to managing big strategic purchases. You’re talking weeks when it comes to the timescale it takes to onboard a new supplier in a Source-to-Pay environment in an enterprise organisation. That’s far too long for users who need to buy something in the next day or so.”
One of the biggest challenges with managing tail spend is that sometimes the cost of overseeing it is greater than the value of the purchase itself. “When you think about how people categorise and define tail spend, people do it very differently,” explains Cane. “Most people would use a 80/20 rule, or they might use a spend threshold level. But ultimately what happens when you look at procurement organisations is they may only have 20% of their spend sitting in the tail, but they’ve actually got 80% of their resources trying to control this activity in an incredibly manual way.”
“The other area is the payment,” adds Ueckermann. “The payment layer is almost always completely disconnected from procurement. Even when the buying side is handled well, the moment the transaction hits accounts payable (AP), the data and compliance trail is broken. There’s a gap there that never gets closed and it’s where unmanaged spend lives.”
Alistair Cane
Data challenge
Buying and paying have historically been treated as separate actions and Ueckermann explains the reasoning lies within the data. “When you unify them, something fundamental changes and the guardrails on the buying side, approved suppliers, category controls, budget thresholds – these apply at the moment of payment,” he says. “You can’t circumvent procurement by going around AP because they’re in the same system. Today, they are definitely two different areas because you have a buyer going out and making a decision outside of procurement’s remit, and you’ve got the payment happening blindly through AP or Viacard with no backing data. When you get to look at the data, there’s normally not enough information there to actually understand what was bought.”
Indeed, as far as Cane is concerned, the importance of getting the data right cannot be underestimated. In his view, when that part is operating as it should be, the resulting transformation from a controller management perspective is significant. “When we look at the enterprise organisations that we’re dealing with, often we’ll ask them for a breakdown of their data,” discusses Cane. “It’s not unusual for the largest category of spend to be classified as ‘Other’, simply because they can’t understand what’s being bought by who, and they can clearly see when, but they just don’t have the level of detail to really be able to even start to think about how to control this area.
“When you make that transformation, what you can see is extraordinary – both from a management perspective and big picture thinking of how to evolve the management and proper category strategies. But at the moment, I think it’s fair to say most organisations are flying in the dark and tail spend is considered as an annoying element of spend that people would just prefer to turn their back on and look elsewhere.”
Axiom MarketPay
Traditionally, purchasing cards (P-Cards) were used to streamline, low-value transactions and help enable faster purchasing. These allowed for controlled spending, more efficiency and improved supplier relationships. However, one of the major drawbacks of P-Cards from a compliance perspective is that authorisation only happens retrospectively after the event has taken place.
This is where Axiom’s MarketPay solution comes in. MarketPay is built to handle the full tail spend flow instead of fragments of it. It operates on a disclosed procurement agency model – which means Axiom acts on the customer’s behalf instead of as an intermediary. Powered by its procurement agent, it automates the steps that typically slows everything down from validating request data to enforcing thresholds and compliance. Every payment also runs through a global payment account held in the customer’s name which allows the team to stay in control at all approval stages.
“With MarketPay, the way the platform works is that all of that compliance, the approval of suppliers and the budget sign-off, happens at the gate before the transaction or activity even happens,” explains Cane. “What that is also doing at that stage is capturing incredible levels of data, which then allow people to make really strategic decisions moving forward. The control moves from being a retrospective control to a pre-purchase control. You are putting the power of compliance in the hands of the platform, not the onus on the purchaser or the effort on the procurement person. You’re letting the platform do a lot of the heavy lifting and it’s a massive game-changer.”
Steve Ueckermann
Agentic AI boom
Procurement is in the midst of a new era – one defined through the likes of agentic AI and digital innovation. In recent years, agentic AI’s popularity has boomed and today most companies are leveraging agents in one way or another. The major benefit of agentic AI is that it doesn’t just respond to instructions or prompts in ways that generative AI tools like ChatGPT does, agentic AI is more like an engaged colleague – able to take on tasks such as analysing data to predict outcomes, identify goals and execute workflows. Ultimately, agentic AI is designed to free up procurement teams to focus on more strategic tasks such as managing supplier relationships while the AI handles the repetitive, mundane work.
“One of the challenges that people have with procurement systems generally if you are not in procurement is they’re not particularly intuitive,” explains Cane. “You almost have to know where to go on a procurement system to actually enact a transaction. What the agentic capability does is allow people to talk to the system in natural language and the system will then prompt them in terms of what they need to do. That’s a real game-changer in terms of the user experience.
“One of the things that we get from both procurement and the business is we just don’t want to be spending a huge amount of time on these transactions. When you can literally talk to the system and it is self-populating and making decisions on your behalf in terms of what suppliers you can go to and approve, it then becomes a tool that both practitioners and users across the business actually want to use.”
Ueckermann adds that Axiom’s solution is helping procurement teams move the needle from a reactive approach to one capable of engaging problems head-on. “This platform is continually monitoring spend patterns, flagging non-compliant behaviors, indicating consolidation opportunities, servicing and actioning insights,” he explains. “It’s not just a dashboard, it’s actively involved in the process.
“Across tail specifically, we don’t really have dedicated category management – it’s a piece that gets ignored entirely. What we’ve created is a system that backfills that gap in human intervention and makes it easy. That’s where agentic AI can fill the gap and the platform becomes the category manager of the long tail.”
Gone are the days of procurement sitting siloed and out of the way of the action. Today, the function stands as a driving force within an organisation with evolutionary technology tools in their possession to power transformation journeys. Cane reveals that “procurement has done procurement for the sake of it for too long” and what they want to do now is put the tools and platforms in front of the users who actually want to use them.
“I think procurement’s great desire has always been to get spend under management,” stresses Cane. “In the traditional world, that means under people. What we’re looking at now is terminology that talks about spend under control and the control is being delivered through the technology. With control comes better data and with better data comes better insights and opportunities. What we’re seeing is a change in procurement mindset from a police or admin centre to managing these transactions to a really valuable part of the organisation that can make strategic decisions because they can see exactly what’s happening when and why.
“The ability to talk to the technology and ask it to run and generate reports while highlighting opportunities for insights and improvement is a complete game-changer because that was what was missing in procurement previously. Prior to this, people were sitting there throwing data at analyst teams hoping that they could put some shape around the data, let alone drive insights. It’s making a massive difference.”
Procurement’s evolution
Back in 2020, Axiom was founded with a mantra of doing something different. For Ueckermann and Cane, they have both witnessed first-hand the damage inaccurate data can do to the function and made it their mission to solve that procurement pain.
“It was always down to, ‘Oh, this is what I think, this is my gut feel, or what is the consensus amongst a number of procurement people.’ That’s just how decisions were made but I think we can move that on now to agnostic decision-making where you’re making objective decisions because the machine is being totally objective about that. When you’re talking about strategic procurement,you need the experience, the gut feel and the consensus but with tail spend it sits very comfortably with AI and the whole agentic piece.”
Cane adds that upon starting Axiom, the organisation had a mission to deliver insight and outcomes. He explains that their frustration from a collective 50 years of experience in procurement was that procurement professionals have been looking in the wrong place. “At the start of a transaction anywhere in the tail, if the technology is enabling you to capture the right data and make decisions on that data, then from day one you’ve got clean data into the platform,” explains Cane. “From there, every single transaction and activity that goes through the platform is recorded, it can be analysed and assessed, and it can be part of the data set that then the agents can go to work on to understand what’s happening.
“There is going to be a fundamental shift between people leaving that old world of worrying about terrible data sitting in the ERP systems. With the technology now we are capturing clean data, and we’re using that technology to really understand what that data is telling us. We’re going beyond that to actually understand what decisions can then be made using that data and scenario planning. Then it is about putting that information in front of the buyer to make the right decision which is the fundamental shift. To my mind, procurement then stops being this procurement for procurement sake entity that sits in a hole somewhere in a business and starts to become a real value add to the buyers across the organisation.”
Future
Looking forward, few could argue procurement is in its most exciting period ever with an array of digital solutions at its fingertips to make life easier for leaders and their teams. It is clear the advantage lies within leveraging digital solutions to manage tail spend or risk inefficiencies and hidden costs creeping into the bottom line. Ueckermann believes that the next frontier of spend management is not far away from being realised. “I think the future is a world where spend is spend, not tail spend and strategic spend, it is all spend,” he explains. “And you can get there with proper data, fix the data in your tail, and do it properly with a platform like Axiom. Then the problem will go away.
“We’re not there yet, but as soon as the data improves and the models are trained, we will see that shift happen at a huge pace. There is a world where Axiom won’t even have a UI, it will just be a box that does things automatically. And that’s really where we think it will ultimately get to.”
“Spend is spend and it goes from spend that is either managed or unmanaged to all spend being under control,” adds Cane. “And that makes all the difference.”
The Trump administration has extended its “Liberation Day” and country-specific reciprocal tariffs, originally paused in April, to now kick in…
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The Trump administration has extended its “Liberation Day” and country-specific reciprocal tariffs, originally paused in April, to now kick in on August 1 via executive order. These tariffs will affect 14 countries unless trade deals can be agreed and they will ripple through global supply chains, complicating cost control, contract compliance, and delivery timelines. So, what do the experts assess as the best chance, from a procurement perspective, of navigating what may be a turbulent period ahead?
Tariffs come into effect on August 1st
Melanie Hilton, SVP of Customer Success at GS1 US, notes that with tariffs “a branding advantage is emerging.” More specifically, “Made in the USA” is more than a marketing slogan—it’s a trust signal. Consumers increasingly prioritize local production, sustainability, and transparency. Small businesses that emphasize U.S.-based sourcing can turn supply chain shifts into a competitive edge, attracting shoppers looking for reliability and ethical sourcing.”
Pierre Lapree, CPO at SpendHQ, notes “in many companies, tariff exposure is still buried: country of origin isn’t linked to suppliers, HTS codes aren’t standardized, and finance teams are working from assumptions, not facts.” As far as solutions go, even high-cost AI investments won’t help unless these blind spots are filled in.
Richie Daigle, a supply chain evangelist at Tive, says “This isn’t normal volatility; it’s a structural shift. When every player rushes at once, just in time becomes just in chaos. Companies are front-loading orders to beat the new deadline, but when everyone rushes at once, ports clog, equipment disappears, and reliability collapses. The real cost won’t be the duties: it’ll be the $20,000 perishable container stuck at a congested port. We’re already seeing manufacturers dual-sourcing high-tariff items and smart players are rerouting through secondary ports and stockpiling inventory. But this creates new vulnerabilities. Thieves target less-secure alternate routes, and overstretched carriers could cut corners on security. Security is something more people should be talking about, because tariff chaos is creating a golden era for cargo thieves.”
Keith McCabe, Managing Director at AVAM Solutions, breaks down the nearshoring trend reshaping the source-to-pay process in 2025.
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When I started in procurement 25 years ago, global sourcing was the talk of the town. Or should that be the talk of several continents?
In any case, it wasn’t just a trend—it was a genuine transformation. Companies were seduced by the promise of cost savings, driven by cheap labour and abundant raw materials in countries like China and India. Logistics had become so advanced that moving goods across the globe felt seamless, making this model irresistible. Lower production costs meant higher margins, and businesses scaled at unprecedented rates.
Fast forward to today, and the narrative is shifting. What was once considered the epitome of supply chain efficiency is now viewed with scepticism. Rising costs, global disruptions, ethical concerns, and evolving consumer expectations have exposed the cracks in this model. As we approach 2025, the business world is witnessing a remarkable shift back to local sourcing. As much as I dislike the phrases themselves, “re-shoring” and “nearshoring” are taking centre stage, with local sourcing making a remarkable comeback.
The Golden Age of Low-Cost Country Sourcing
In the early 2000s, globalisation was in full swing, and low-cost country sourcing (LCCS) became the standard for competitive supply chains. China, often called “the world’s factory,” was at the heart of it all. With supply chains stretching across continents, businesses enjoyed efficiencies that felt almost too good to be true. However, recent studies have highlighted the vulnerabilities in such extensive supply chains, especially in the face of global disruptions.
Yet, even at the time, there were some concerns. The narrative around LCCS always carried uncomfortable echoes of colonialism, with wealthier nations reaping benefits at the expense of developing ones. While many procurement teams worked to ensure their practices were ethical, these imbalances often lingered in the background.
But as procurement began to address ethical practices, the model gained even broader acceptance. For many, it was a golden age of procurement. Products became more affordable, margins were protected, and companies thrived on the economies of scale.
This strategy worked brilliantly—until it didn’t.
The Catalyst of COVID
For years, supply continuity was almost a given. The sophistication of global logistics ensured products arrived on time and in full, regardless of their origin. This reliability allowed procurement teams to focus almost exclusively on cost savings, with price reductions being the ultimate win.
Then COVID-19 arrived and punched everyone square in the jaw.
In a matter of weeks, global supply chains were paralysed. Delays, shortages, and uncertainty became the new reality. Companies that had relied on single regions for critical supplies were suddenly exposed to severe vulnerabilities. The pandemic underscored the fragility of global supply networks and the need for more resilient, localised sourcing strategies.
The impact of the pandemic forced procurement professionals to reassess their priorities. Cost took a backseat to availability and risk management. Businesses scrambled to secure inventory, often holding far more than they were used to, which added further costs. The realisation hit hard: over-dependence on specific regions was a serious liability.
Resilience became the new goal.
The Perfect Storm
And it wasn’t just COVID-19. When sorrows come, they come not single spies. But in battalions.
Rising geopolitical tensions—think the US-China trade war, Brexit, and conflicts in Eastern Europe—added complexity to global trade. Extended supply chains reliant on politically unstable regions became untenable. Recent studies have shown that geopolitical disruptions significantly impact global supply chains, necessitating a re-evaluation of sourcing strategies .
Climate change compounded these challenges. Extreme weather events, from floods to wildfires, disrupted supply chains globally. With natural disasters becoming more frequent, long-haul transportation became riskier and less reliable.
To top it off, the financial benefits of global sourcing began to erode. Wages in traditionally low-cost countries have risen, as have raw material costs, transportation expenses, and tariffs. Suddenly, the cost savings that justified offshoring were no longer as compelling.
Consumer Expectations
The reasons for the shift in approach cannot purely be limited to supply-side factors. Consumer demand and behaviour have also played a very important role.
Over the past decade, people have become far more concerned about the ethical and environmental impacts of the products they buy. Customers now expect brands to align with their values, focusing on sustainability and fair treatment of workers. The carbon footprint of shipping goods across the globe doesn’t sit well with today’s environmentally conscious consumers.
There’s also the question of transparency. Global supply chains can make it difficult to verify that labour conditions meet ethical standards. When a company gets it wrong, the backlash can be brutal, potentially ruining years of carefully built brand loyalty. Local sourcing, by contrast, offers a more sustainable and transparent approach that resonates with modern consumers.
The benefits of local sourcing are becoming increasingly clear. Shorter supply chains reduce dependency on intermediaries and allow businesses to respond more quickly to unexpected events. This flexibility makes local supply chains more resilient, particularly in times of crisis. On the environmental front, sourcing locally slashes carbon emissions tied to transportation. It also creates opportunities for businesses to work more closely with suppliers to ensure compliance with ethical and sustainability standards, which helps build trust with consumers.
The Role of Technology
Another significant factor is the role of technology. Advances in automation, robotics, and additive manufacturing have made local production more economically viable. Smart factories equipped with cutting-edge technologies are allowing companies to achieve high productivity, even in regions where labour costs remain higher. The combination of efficiency and sustainability is proving irresistible for many businesses.
Challenges of Local Sourcing
Despite the clear advantages, the shift to local sourcing will not be without its challenges.
Many regional suppliers lack the scale or expertise needed for large-scale production, requiring businesses to invest heavily in developing local supply networks. Transitioning operations closer to home also demands significant spending on infrastructure, training, and fostering supplier relationships. It’s a process that will take time, careful planning, and resources.
And for certain categories of spend, there is no realistic alternative to sourcing from a global market. The debate here is for those occasions when alternatives are credible.
Even so, the long-term benefits outweigh the initial hurdles. Local sourcing not only aligns with evolving consumer expectations but also supports circular economy principles like recycling, reuse, and waste reduction. Regional supply chains are better suited to these practices, further minimising environmental impact and promoting resource efficiency.
Conclusion
The dominance of low-cost country sourcing may have lasted decades, but its limitations have become impossible to ignore. In its place, local sourcing is emerging as a more resilient, sustainable, and efficient alternative. While the transition will require effort and investment, businesses that embrace this shift will be better equipped to navigate the complexities of a rapidly changing world.
Local sourcing isn’t just a passing trend. It’s a necessity for companies looking to build a sustainable future and meet the demands of modern consumers.
The 2024 ProcureTech100 highlights the most innovative and customer-centric procurement technologies that are reshaping the industry. And in conjunction with this year’s PT100 launch we are sharing exclusive PT100 content to help you prepare for the year ahead.
Our 8 digital procurement trends for 2024 identifies those key technological gamechangers shaping the future of digital procurement at large – and their influence is particularly evident in this year’s winning solutions of the PT100.
We have also gleaned some incredible insights from those at the cutting edge of the procuretech transformation to see how they are predicting the future of the function, and its transformation. You won’t be disappointed.
We meet Damon Ascolani, SVP, Head of Global Procurement, Facilities, Real Estate, and Travel at the global credit reporting agency TransUnion to see how procurement there is evolving into a trusted business enabler…
TransUnion LLC delivers a highly prized product. Trust. Whether you’re a financial institution looking to loan money, or a consumer looking for credit education tools, TransUnion is able to provide the necessary assurances needed for both parties to move forward, with confidence. As TransUnion puts it: “We’re committed to ensuring every individual is reliably represented in global commerce so consumers and organizations can transact with confidence and achieve great things. We call this Information for Good.”Read the full story here!
The past 20 years have seen some radical changes to the ways organisations structure and operate their value chains. Financial crises, geopolitical conflict, digital transformation, worsening climate change, and the jarring impact of the COVID-19 pandemic — have all profoundly altered the way companies navigate the procurement process. For those working in the procurement sector, the world looks very different compared with the one at the turn of the millennium. So too does the procurement process.
ORO Labs: Solving procurement operations challenges
ORO Labs is the procurement orchestration platform for modern companies. It is on a mission to make processes better, faster and more agile in procurement and supply chain. ORO offers self-driving workflows which enable more efficient, collaborative, compliant purchasing with a personalised user experience and smarter decision-making.
Dharani Jeyaprakasam is a Solution Design Architect at ORO Labs. Having previously served 17 years at IBM in a variety of roles, Jeyaprakasam joined ORO Labs after feeling dejected about whether orchestration mattered to the world. After speaking with CEO and founder Sudhir Bhojwani, she realised she wanted to join the journey. “I was just blown away by the passion that Sudhir showed. This is especially when it comes to the problems we were trying to solve,” explains Jeyaprakasam. “There was this honest person trying to give me the same information that I felt myself. He was honest and accepting that there is a flaw in the product and that is what we’re trying to fix. And that honesty was the real attracting factor for me.”
Findings of a DPW survey point to AI adoption set to grow 187% in the next year, but just 20% of teams currently use AI at scale.
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DPW Amsterdam, one of the procurement and supply chain sector’s leading events, has released the findings of its new 10X Procurement study. The study is a collaboration between DPW and Professor Remko van Hoek from the University of Arkansas. Its research draws insights from over 200 global procurement leaders, and claims to have found a “staggering disconnect” between the appetite for digital transformation among procurement teams and their ability to actually execute those transformations.
As businesses grapple with rapid changes in the market, the findings underscore the urgent need for procurement to evolve and drive meaningful change.
“Technology is advancing at the speed of light – but procurement leaders are struggling to drive change at the same rate,” said Matthias Gutzmann, Founder of DPW. “There’s a disconnect between the ambition to transform and the readiness to make it happen.” Gutzmann adds that the 10X Procurement study demonstrates that “while procurement is on the brink of something groundbreaking, teams are ill-equipped to harness that potential.”
DPW: preparing procurement to capitalise on technological advancement
DPW aims to provide procurement teams with the insights, technology, and partnerships needed to “think and act ten times bigger than their current capacity.”
Key findings from the DPW 10X Procurement Study include:
1. Skills Gap Widens the Divide Between Vision and Execution
Procurement technology providers are sounding the alarm on a widening skills gap, citing a 30-35% shortfall in critical capabilities such as change management, openness to AI, and digital acumen, threatening the success of procurement’s digital transformation efforts.
2. Tech Adoption is Rising, But Underutilization Hampers Progress
Despite AI making waves across industries, just 20% of respondents are adopting or scaling AI within their procurement functions, and procurement processes remain only 50% automated on average. This lack of adoption represents a significant missed opportunity to streamline operations and drive innovation, putting procurement at risk of falling behind on the digital transformation movement.
3. 2025 Set to Drive a Digital Revolution in Procurement
Looking ahead, respondents predict a dramatic 187% increase in AI adoption and scaling in 2025 across procurement processes and tech stacks. This points to a shift from operational technologies to more strategic, relationship-driven solutions.
4. Culture Lag Holding Back Digital Transformation Despite Clear Roadmaps
While many procurement teams boast clear roadmaps for digital transformation, DPW’s report finds that the culture required to embrace and sustain this change remains underdeveloped. Respondents rated their organisations’ readiness to drive the kind of sweeping transformations required to stay competitive as low.
5. New Playbook Requires Agility and Innovation Over Cost Savings
A large number of respondents were found to put cost savings before other objectives. In contrast, organisations that emphasise agility and resilience consistently see better results than their peers. This underscores the urgent need for procurement to redefine success metrics and shift away from rigid cost-saving goals toward more innovative, relationship-driven strategies that drive more resilience.
The findings of the study will be highlighted at the DPW Amsterdam 2024 conference currently underway in the Netherlands, featuring sessions led by industry experts designed to empower procurement teams and technology innovators in navigating the path toward 10X Procurement.
We spoke to Clive R. Heal at LavenirAI about the innovative ways in which AI can be applied to procurement.
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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.”
The fast-moving-consumer-goods market is turning to AI to procure produce when it’s at its cheapest and freshest
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Artificial intelligence (AI) could have an increasingly vital role in produce procurement.
Few markets move faster than produce. What is a delicious, enticing and, above all, valuable piece of tropical fruit one morning could, by the next, be quite literally a pile of rotten garbage.
A lot has been done throughout the agricultural sciences over the centuries to lengthen the amount of time fruit varietals stay edible.
This is also true in the logistics sector. Thanks to modern techniques, cold chains and complex shipping networks can get a fresh picked tomato from the south of Spain to the north of Sweden before its leaves start to wilt. However, procurement—especially when it comes to produce—is fundamentally about balancing the cost of a product with the quality that can be attained within the regulatory, environmental, and physical contextual constraints of the market.
Produce is fast moving and complex. Increasingly, the sector also faces criticism for its environmental impact and record of abysmal human working conditions. For large scale retailers with national, or even international, footprints, produce procurement is a challenging prospect. Some CPOs believe the process is better left to the machines.
The AI ordering system aims to “optimise in-stock levels” and replenish shelves to “fight food insecurity”. It could also save Dollar General a lot of money in unsold stock. Dollar General, which is currently being sued over allegations that it has been routinely scamming tens of thousands of customers by charging more money for items than their listed prices, made $11.9 billion in profit last year.
In Rhode Island, United Natural Foods also implemented AI as a way of automating elements of its distribution process this January. In November of 2023, grocery retailer Albertsons also announced the introduction of AI solutionss. The retail giant is using AI to automate store ordering and inventory management across its meat and seafood operations—another area with narrow margins for error with regard to the delicate balance between demand and supply.
The platform adopted by Albertsons aims to help meat and seafood teams “keep coolers and freezers light while boosting in-stock rates” using AI-powered recommendations for high-value, hyper-perishable items like fresh poultry and prefilled order quantities for slower-moving, prepackaged items such as bacon. Susan Morris, EVP and Chief Operations Officer for Albertsons also added that the platform would help “significantly reduce food waste as Albertsons continues to make progress toward our goal to have zero waste going to landfill by 2030.”
HICX CEO Costas Xyloyiannis on why we should turn the spotlight toward the experience suppliers receive as they serve big manufacturing brands.
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What’s clear from Deloitte’s Global Chief Procurement Officer Survey 2023 is that environmental and social governance (ESG) is now firmly on the corporate agenda. This year, it leapt right up the priority list, from seventh place to second.
Elevating ESG, however, is tough to deliver. In practice, it is hugely dependent upon good supplier data, which is notoriously hard to achieve and maintain. Exploring why turns the spotlight to its source: suppliers. So, do suppliers themselves cause brands to struggle with data?
Supplier experience expert HICX’s CEO, Costas Xyloyiannis, says they do – but only reactively. Where we really should turn the spotlight, he believes, is toward the experience suppliers receive as they serve big manufacturing brands.
Letting data live across teams will harm it
The way in which big brands work with suppliers creates too many entry points for their data. Each digital tool which employees use to engage suppliers is an opening. And by default, suppliers deposit their data in whichever tool they’re expected to use.
For example, when working with a major brand, suppliers are expected to use different tools for placing orders, sending compliance surveys, assessing performance, and doing many other tasks. Furthermore, most employees across the business work with suppliers in some way. Each time the parties work together in one of these tools, it stores the supplier’s data. And when we step back and look at all the data across the brand, as a whole, it is very compromised.
When the master dataset is created this way, it gets peppered with duplicated, incomplete, and outdated entries. Regrettably, in this format, it misguides decisions – including those which shape ESG activity.
The best team to own supplier data is overrun
Brands can reverse this weakness by addressing the data problem. But someone needs to do it. Despite so many teams contributing to and using supplier data, there is no one perfect owner for the job.
There is a function, however, which is closest. Procurement. As it already runs the relationship with suppliers, Chief Procurement Officers (CPOs) can probe adjacent issues – such as data.
A consideration though, is that Procurement teams already have mandates, which they are stretched to deliver. Eating into the function’s bandwidth is the necessity to tackle inflation, demand surges, driver shortages, and other Covid-19-related issues. Also waiting for the function’s attention is digital transformation, an area in which it seriously lags.
Put data at the heart of current strategies
Looking at Deloitte’s latest survey results, there is an opportunity for CPOs to work smart. There is a clear path for CPOs to fit the brand’s data goal at the heart of their two top strategies, “increasing supplier collaboration” and “investing in digital transformation.” Supporting this approach is in the interest – and arguably the responsibility – of all C-suite executives.
How then can fellow executives get involved? First, we can help Procurement’s collaboration strategy by reforming how every employee sees suppliers. Too often, suppliers are just a means to save costs. And while saving costs is important, it’s not everything. Untypically, cost savings slipped off the podium in this year’s survey, into fourth place. This shift in focus – away from squeezing suppliers and towards collaborating with them – will bode well for brands that want to perform in ESG. But only if everyone in the organisation can adopt the mindset.
If they do, brands can offer suppliers a better experience which will encourage them to contribute to improving data. It is human nature to want to give back. Further, we learnt in a recent HICX survey that suppliers are 20% more likely to “go the extra mile” for brands they rate as customers of choice. Therefore, it’s likely that suppliers will want to participate.
But a willingness to hike data quality is not enough. In addition to company mindsets, brands must tackle a second obstacle: digital processes.
Redefine what it means to digitise
Next, we can help Procurement to revamp the tools through which everyone engages suppliers. We know that too many entry points pull down data quality. The opportunity, then, is to guide the way in which Procurement digitises so that the brand and function can gain control. Thinking about processes in this way is real digital transformation.
Today’s situation makes maintaining reliable data very hard. Any attempt to cleanse data is undermined by the inflow of new data from multiple sources. It’s like trying to clean the ocean. The rate at which new pollution enters the ocean outstrips most efforts to remove it. And in both cases, it makes sense to control the inflow.
In a digital environment, this means fitting a solid data foundation. A data foundation, in practice, is a central repository with one front door that is monitored and through which all new data must come in. Master data can be sent to other tools. The rule however is that they can only borrow the data, and never alter it. Good data resides in this foundational repository, where it is looked after.
A word of caution though: be aware of quick fixes. A deeper look at the “multiple entry points” situation reveals a deeper integration challenge. Established tools, such as source-to-pay suites through which Procurement and Finance work with suppliers, don’t always mix well with newer tools on the market. One remedy is to use established suites fitted with newer features. But this fails to address the data quality goal. It reminds me of the famous quote by Henry Ford: If I had asked people what they wanted, they would have said faster horses. Using old suites fitted with new features is like using a faster horse. It’s a stopgap. Rather, let’s stop good data’s tendency to evade ESG leaders when they need it most. Let’s tackle underlying issues once and for all.
Building for the future
Truly digitising, of course, gives suppliers a better experience too, which drives the collaboration goal—and sets in motion a virtuous cycle.
Now, suppliers who once fed the ESG data problem can contribute to its solution. Leaders who help their CPOs to collaborate with suppliers and digitally transform, for the greater enterprise, can steer supplier behaviour and keep good data. And this, as we know, is the fuel to ESG success.
CPOstrategy is a proud partner of ProcureCon Asia Transformation is on the lips and minds of every procurement and supply…
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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.
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.
Sara Malconian, Chief Procurement Officer at Harvard University & Jim Bureau, CEO of JAGGAER explain how ESG & the Circular Economy is changing the evolution of procurement.
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We speak to Sara Malconian, Chief Procurement Officer at Harvard University and Jim Bureau, CEO of JAGGAER to see how ESG and the Circular Economy is changing the evolution of procurement…
Sara, how have you seen your role evolve as a procurement leader over the years as ESG and supplier diversity come into focus?
Procurement leaders have gone from ‘cost cutters’ to ‘problem solvers’ within their organisations. Our core mandates used to be to drive cost savings and efficiency. We were hyper-focused on getting the most out of the organisation’s spend and supplier relationships. Those priorities haven’t gone away, especially in today’s inflationary environment, but the expectations of the procurement function are significantly higher and broader today.
Procurement functions saved their companies during COVID and the confluence of disruptions that followed. We showed we are a strategic linchpin. We are now looked upon to drive value and impact and strategically guide our organisations to achieve broader goals, including diversity and environmental, social, governance (ESG). Internal stakeholders realised the benefits of procurement and sought help with advancing their department’s agendas or solving their challenges. We listen to their needs, allocate the right resources, and ultimately enable them and the overall organisation to be successful.
I’ve been in procurement for over 20 years, and I can honestly say you’d be hard-pressed to find a more rewarding and exciting career. Procurement professionals have a real opportunity to make a tangible difference within their organisations, communities, and the world through the way we source products and services.
What is Harvard doing to have a positive impact on society? Can you share some examples, Sara?
Across the Harvard community, students, alumni, faculty, and staff are advancing scholarship and teaching on the world’s most significant challenges, and everyone wants to do their part to address inequities. Supplier diversity and inclusion have been a priority for Harvard for years, but we wanted to make even more of an impact and really invest in the growth and development of diverse businesses, especially as the pandemic highlighted inequities and disparities within our communities.
In 2021, we formed the Office for Economic Inclusion & Diversity (OEID), which is dedicated to reaching out to diverse suppliers, giving them opportunities, and providing them with tools, training, and resources to be successful. The office also encourages the use of underrepresented business enterprises (UBEs) in the purchasing of all goods, services, and construction at Harvard and standardises procurement practices with these businesses across the university.
We’re proud of the work this office is doing. We’re actively training suppliers on Harvard’s policies and how they can work with us. We’re creating a central location for them to access bid and RFP opportunities. UBEs can also apply to be mentored by Harvard Business School students.
We’ve created a dashboard to track and analyse spend with diverse suppliers across all of Harvard’s schools and measure progress over time. Everything we’re doing is aimed at increasing spend with our existing diverse suppliers, as well as the number of diverse suppliers that work with Harvard, and helping these suppliers grow their businesses.
Jim, why is prioritizing ESG and supplier diversity important and what steps can companies take today to progress in their journey?
Beyond being the right thing to do, investors, boards, regulators, customers, and employees now expect organisations to prioritise ESG and diversity initiatives and walk the talk. There’s also a clear business impact. Supplier diversity drives competitive bidding processes that lead to cost savings. Working with partners who are sustainable and have different ideas and perspectives fuels innovation and creates a competitive advantage. Sourcing from a sustainable and diverse supplier pool also reduces risk by broadening organisations’ access to multiple resources for various materials, products, and services.
One of the most critical steps companies can take to progress on their ESG journey is to make it clear to suppliers that environmentalism is a priority for their organisation. They will attract suppliers with higher levels of ESG maturity and provide suppliers who are earlier on in their ESG journey with sustainability toolkits and training to help educate them on eco-friendly best practices and sustainability innovations.
This step avoids having to overhaul their supply chain to account for ESG. Strategically managing suppliers by leveraging third-party data, scorecards, and supplier audits are crucial for understanding the ESG risks that suppliers pose and minimizing disruptions by working with them to correct these issues.
Successful supplier diversity programs start with a top-down culture shift. If a company’s culture isn’t diverse, inclusive, and supportive for all its stakeholders, they won’t be able to drive supplier diversity in a meaningful way. Supplier diversity strategy should map back to company goals and include an executive-level champion to sponsor the program internally and help bring in the resources they need.
Outside of leveraging technology to identify diverse suppliers and build a program, businesses can talk with people who have been in their shoes. They can collaborate with like-minded companies at industry events, engage in relevant LinkedIn groups, and connect with organisations such as the National Minority Supplier Development Council.
Once diverse suppliers are on board, organisations can create a supplier diversity policy that clearly outlines how many diverse suppliers need to be invited to bid for each event to ensure teams are executing on the strategy. Leading supplier diversity programs go beyond simply spending with diverse suppliers to providing mentorship and training them on how to respond to RFPs correctly, as well as creating environments where it’s easier for them to engage.
Jim, what role does technology play in helping organisations achieve ESG and supplier diversity goals?
Technology is a key enabler of ESG and supplier diversity initiatives. One of the biggest obstacles to supplier diversity and ESG is a lack of reliable supplier data. Suppliers don’t always keep their information up to date in self-service portals. The data procurement teams have isn’t always enriched to the level they need, with insights on diversity status, certifications, and proof of ESG compliance.
Researching and assessing suppliers is tedious and time-consuming, which leads many organisations to skip the verification step. Without this information, organisations don’t have a true picture of the inclusivity and sustainability of their supplier network, which makes it impossible to identify the right partners to source from to meet their ESG and supplier diversity goals and make an impact.
Technology addresses this challenge by automatically collecting, enriching, validating, and integrating the supplier data needed to obtain this level of supply base visibility and make decisions that drive ESG and diversity. AI-powered tools are available to match buyers with specific diverse suppliers who also have the capabilities to help drive ESG objectives and meet broader procurement criteria.
Software that segments the supply base and helps visualise spending with small and diverse suppliers across a variety of classifications is critical for setting benchmarks and measuring progress and ROI.
Jim and Sara, how do you expect the ESG and diversity conversation to shift and where should procurement leaders focus for the future?
Sara: I expect we’ll see the conversation shift to emphasise measurement. It’s not enough anymore to say you’re committed to ESG – you need to prove it and show demonstrable progress and ROI. Maintaining the momentum on ESG initiatives is hard. Technology is key for setting benchmarks and goals, ensuring accountability for hitting key milestones, and measuring progress and return in a credible way.
Jim: In a declining economic environment, choices inevitably need to be made. I expect the conversation around ESG will center around where companies can focus to maintain progress on ESG initiatives as financial and economic pressures come to the forefront. While some companies may need to scale back in some areas to preserve cash and resources to navigate a downturn, I’d advise them to be careful about slowing ESG down too much as it will be much harder to catch up to current levels after the economy bounces back.
I’d argue that when ESG is done right it can be a strategic lever for navigating a down economy, saving organizations money and resources, driving innovation, and helping them achieve broader business objectives and resilience.
Here are five of the best procurement schools in Europe.
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As procurement becomes an increasingly vital and strategic function within many organisations, people are beginning to realise the full potential of turning it into a career for themselves.
This has subsequently led to many universities noticing the demand in the industry and offering courses which equip students with the relevant qualifications and skills needed to succeed in the supply chain space.
With this in mind, here are five of the best procurement schools in Europe.
1. CIPS
Course: Various Where: Across England
Run by Oxford College of Procurement and Supply, there are 10 Chartered Institute of Procurement and Supply centres in England offering several different qualification levels to choose from. The courses are recognised throughout the world as harnessing leading edge thinking and professionalism across the procurement and supply chain management space.
CIPS offers courses such as level three, four, five and six in procurement and supply with each qualification created to reflect current, emerging and best practice in procurement and supply chain management. Classes focus on exploring legacy purchasing and supply methods as well as techniques and theory to the application in a business environment.
CIPS doesn’t just offer in-person studying as courses are designed to suit individual lifestyles with virtual classrooms, part-time and weekend options to choose from.
2. Politecnico di Milano
Course: MSc in Supply Chain and Procurement Management Where: Milan, Italy
Renowned as being one of the best scientific and technological universities in the world, Politecnico di Milano offers an extensive portfolio of programmes in a variety of different spaces. Its supply chain master’s degree is a 12-month course aimed at equipping students with vital knowledge and skills needed to succeed in the industry.
The course also includes a number of practical activities in the programme such as lessons with international lectures, workshops on soft skills, company presentations, projects with companies, company visits and an international study tour in Rotterdam.
According to Politecnico di Milano, 86% of students were employed three months after graduation while 55% were also working abroad during the same period.
The course was ranked third in the TOP 2021 Eduniversal Best Masters Ranking (Global) and eighth in the QS Supply Chain Management Masters Rankings for 2023.
3. SKEMA Business School
Course: MSc (and MS) Supply Chain Management and Purchasing Where: Lille and Paris, France
Skema offers two supply chain management (SCM) and procurement masters: The premium international MSc Global Supply Chain Management in Lille taught in English, and the MS in SCM and Purchasing in Paris and Lille mainly taught in French. France’s highly-rated supply chain and procurement program has been designed with a progressive shift from theory to practice. The degree covers the entirety of supply chain activities from planning, purchasing, receiving, production, storage to delivery through nine compulsory and six elective courses.
The global MSc has a new cooperation with the leading prestigious business school, MIT in the US, plus another cooperation with Politechnico from Milano. The MSc master’s degree provides soft skills in supply chain and purchasing management as well as going into future trends in digitalisation, AI, sustainability, ethics, globalisation, risk management and agility. The course’s primary goal is to find future leaders who are seeking to make a positive impact on the world of supply chain management and procurement. The MSc is a full time program, complemented by paid internships in the area of the student’s choice, while the MS alternates weeks of classes with professionals at the forefront of their fields.
4. Audencia Business School
Course: MSc in Supply Chain and Purchasing Management Where: Nantes, France
Created in 2009, Audencia Business School’s programme will cover topics such as procurement, global sourcing and supply chain strategies. Other topics to feature includes green logistics, Big Data, digital transformation, negotiation and commercial law. The course will provide expertise from industry insiders as business executives visit and share professional insights during the programme.
The school works closely with the corporate world and is recognised for its responsible management practices. Audencia is triple-accredited, highly ranked and internationally oriented and according to its website, 79% of course graduates are employed before graduation. The course is available as a one-year or two-year master’s programme.
In autumn 2024, the course is set to be renamed to the MSc in Responsible Procurement and Supply Chain Management.
5. Cranfield School of Management
Course: MSc in Procurement and Supply Chain Management Where: Cranfield, United Kingdom
Cranfield School of Management provides students with specialist knowledge and skills in procurement needed to progress their careers
Cranfield’s Procurement and Supply Chain Management course has been co-designed with senior industry executives. This purchasing postgraduate course provides students with specialist knowledge and skills in procurement needed to progress their careers. Possessing one of the largest facilities in Europe, the course places considerable emphasis on how to overcome real-world challenges.
Students will gain an in-depth understanding of supply chain strategy and sustainability, procurement strategy, supplier selection and evaluation, negotiation and contact management. They will also be taught how to use data, models and software to solve problems and inform decisions, inventory and operations management and how to design effective supply chain operations.
Students will have the opportunity to attend a study tour and experience a different supply chain perspective elsewhere in Europe.
The course was ranked 11th in the world on the QS Supply Chain Management Masters Rankings for 2023.
This month’s exclusive cover story features Nathan Fisher, Executive Vice President, Chief Procurement Officer, at Hexion, who reflects on a global procurement vision that empowers people to make sustainable change…
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As the year continues to fly by, we continue to bring you some of the biggest stories tackling the real heart of the procurement and supply chain landscape, and this month’s cover star is a true testament to that.
Nathan Fisher, Executive Vice President, Chief Procurement Officer, at Hexion, has a story that might make you do a double take. In a world where we are constantly moving from job to job, delivering transformation projects, realigning procurement functions and moving on to the next challenge, Nathan has been at Hexion for 15 years. Why? A commitment to results, responsible procurement and most importantly – investing in people.
“I love to develop people,” he says. “I like to coach them and I enjoy watching others develop, move up and move on, and achieve success (…) Hexion knows this and truly values their leaders and they want them to succeed and they want them to stay.”
Be sure to read this incredible interview as Nathan tells us that one day he would love to pick up a copy of CPOstrategy and find one of his own prodigious talents gracing the front cover!
Elsewhere, Brish Bhan Vaidya, Head of Strategic Sourcing & Supply Chain at Uber APAC, why procurement is even more important to the ride sharing company than you think, and how it continues to drive the transformation of the business.
We examine the results of Procurious’ How Now survey on the impact of COVID-19 on supply chains, and what’s next for procurement and supply chain leaders, we have part one of a fantastic Q&A on the future of procurement, and Dave Brittain of Amazon Business tells us why procurement should be the hero in your business in digital transformation.
Unilever sets out new actions to fight climate change, and protect and regenerate nature, to preserve resources for future generations
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Unilever has set out a new range of measures and commitments designed to improve the health of the planet by taking even more decisive action to fight climate change, and protect and regenerate nature, to preserve resources for future generations. Unilever will achieve Net Zero emissions from all our products by 2039. We will also empower, and work with, a new generation of farmers and smallholders, driving programmes to protect and restore forests, soil and biodiversity; and we will work with governments and other organisations to improve access to water for communities in water-stressed areas.
To accelerate action, Unilever’s brands will collectively invest €1 billion in a new dedicated Climate & Nature Fund. This will be used over the next ten years to take meaningful and decisive action, with projects likely to include landscape restoration, reforestation, carbon sequestration, wildlife protection and water preservation. The new initiatives will build on the great work that is already underway, such as Ben & Jerry’s initiative to reduce GHG emissions from dairy farms; Seventh Generation helping Native American nations to access renewable energy; and Knorr supporting farmers to grow food more sustainably.
Alan Jope, Unilever CEO, explains: “While the world is dealing with the devastating effects of the Covid-19 pandemic, and grappling with serious issues of inequality, we can’t let ourselves forget that the climate crisis is still a threat to all of us. Climate change, nature degradation, biodiversity depletion, water scarcity – all these issues are interconnected, and we must address them all simultaneously. In doing so, we must also recognise that the climate crisis is not only an environmental emergency; it also has a terrible impact on lives and livelihoods. We, therefore, have a responsibility to help tackle the crisis: as a business, and through direct action by our brands.”
Fighting the climate crisis
Our existing science-based targets are: to have no carbon emissions from our own operations, and to halve the GHG footprint of our products across the value chain, by 2030. In response to the scale and urgency of the climate crisis, we are today additionally committing to net zero emissions from all our products by 2039 – from the sourcing of the materials we use, up to the point of sale of our products in the store.
To achieve this goal 11 years ahead of the 2050 Paris Agreement deadline, we must work jointly with our partners across our value chain, to collectively drive lower levels of greenhouse gas emissions. We will, therefore, prioritise building partnerships with our suppliers who have set and committed to their own science-based targets.
We believe that transparency about carbon footprint will be an accelerator in the global race to zero emissions, and it is our ambition to communicate the carbon footprint of every product we sell. To do this, we will set up a system for our suppliers to declare, on each invoice, the carbon footprint of the goods and services provided; and we will create partnerships with other businesses and organisations to standardise data collection, sharing and communication.
Protecting and regenerating nature
Unilever has been leading the industry on sustainable sourcing practices for over a decade, and we are proud that 97% of our forest-related commodities are certified as sustainably sourced to globally recognised standards. However, to end deforestation, we must challenge ourselves to even higher standards. This means that we need to have visibility on exact sourcing locations, and no longer rely on the mass balance system, which does not allow for accurate verification of deforestation-free when sourcing derivatives of our commodities.
We will achieve a deforestation-free supply chain by 2023. To do this, we will increase traceability and transparency by using emerging digital technologies – such as satellite monitoring, geolocation tracking and blockchain – accelerating smallholder inclusion, changing our approach to derivates sourcing, and making significant additional investment in derivative fractioning facilities.
We are also committed to working with the industry, NGOs and governments, to look beyond forests, peatlands and tropical rainforests, and to protect other important areas of high conservation value and high carbon stock which are under threat of conversion to arable land, with potentially devastating impact on the natural habitats.
In addition to continuing to drive sustainable sourcing and an end to deforestation, Unilever is setting out to help regenerate nature: increasing local biodiversity, restoring soil health, and preserving water conservation and access. To do this, we will empower a new generation of farmers and smallholders who are committed to protecting and regenerating their farm environment. Initiatives that we will drive include securing legal land rights, access to finance and financial inclusion, and development of restorative practices. This integrated approach will improve the livelihoods of smallholder farmers and give them leverage to drive the regeneration of nature.
Unilever is also introducing a pioneering Regenerative Agriculture Code for all our suppliers. The new code will build on our existing Sustainable Agriculture Code, which is widely recognised as being best-in-class in the industry, and it will include details on farming practices that help rebuild critical resources. As we have done in the past, we will make the Regenerative Agriculture Code available to any organisation that may find it useful – with the goal of driving change throughout the industry.
Unilever will also step up direct efforts to preserve water. Already, 40% of the world’s population is affected by water scarcity, and more than 2.1 billion people consume unsafe drinking water.1 We will implement water stewardship programmes for local communities in 100 locations by 2030. To do this, we will take the learnings from our Prabhat programme in India, which tackles water quality and supply risks around our factories. This programme takes a community approach to water management, and not only helps farmers across cropping seasons, but also addresses the basic human need for adequate and easy access to water. We will build a model for this water stewardship programme, and partner with key suppliers for them to also run similar programmes.
Unilever will also join the 2030 Water Resources Group, a multi-stakeholder platform hosted by the World Bank, to contribute to transformative change and building resilience in water management in key water-stressed markets, such as India, Brazil, South Africa, Vietnam and Indonesia.
Nick Pike, Chief Revenue Officer at Vizibl discusses how companies should find their new normal, build supply chain resiliency and innovation and how there are no second chances if your supply chain is not reliable.
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Innovation in procurement technology has not moved on much in the past decade, however the impact of COVID-19 and supply shortages expected as a result have certainly focused minds and shone a light on procurement sourcing. In fact, according to the UN’s Deputy-Secretary-General, Amina J. Mohammed: “Companies should focus on scaling up production, making sure supply chains are reliable.”
For many procurement and supply chain professionals, the dramatic events of the last couple of months – including lockdowns, quarantine, production stops – were a wake-up call. Following the firefighting mode during the pandemic, companies have realised that they can no longer afford to be unprepared for such an event in the future.
Building resiliency into the supply chain
Securing the supply chain to ensure that it is not negatively impacting the ability to meet customer commitments will be crucial. CPOs & CSCOs will want to know if there are any supply chain issues so they can quickly source alternative solutions. They also want to know what projects they need to prioritise following the crisis because, compared to earlier in the year, priorities have more than likely changed.
CPOs will be keen to understand what key projects they need to undertake to drive the organisation’s revenue and success. Outside of this, CPOs & CSCOs will also be looking at how to extend and enhance their supply network and how they can better understand their dependence on that network. Ultimately, short term they will be looking at how they transform their supply chain risk management processes and build in resiliency to not only survive but thrive.
To this point,Deloitte recently published an excellent overview around managing supply chain risk during COVID-19, and I would highly recommend this report to anyone involved in developing improved supply chain practices for their business.
Resiliency will be the post COVID-19 watchword
This need for resiliency provoked us to develop a bespoke version of our Vizibl Supplier Collaboration and Innovation solution (Vizibl Resilience) that focuses on the need for companies to address these issues. We expose the critical projects that customers need to work on in the supply chain and have easy to use dashboards to be able to report critical information to the Board.
It is important to ensure that everyone is sharing information in an efficient way rather than individual-by-individual via email or phone. Businesses need to have the right collaboration technology to underpin their procurement sourcing, to solve problems faster. For many CPOs working remotely with their teams, perhaps for the first time, this level of shared visibility is vital.
Vizibl Resilience ensures that all communication, actions, and results from vendors working throughout the supply chain are captured in real-time within a single, easy-to-navigate platform. Dashboards give the leadership team transparency around where the business is at in any point in time on any number of projects. This enables the organisation to identify any issues within those projects and quickly triage those that need attention.
Building supply chain innovation
Of equal importance to visibility, collaboration and control is building innovation into the supply chain.
If we look at an industry such as telecommunications and take Vodafone as an example – historically, generating revenue for the business has been very network bandwidth-orientated. Now Vodafone and its peers are required to build additional services on top of these networks, enabling them to differentiate. We are working with Vodafone looking at the new projects and innovations which are coming from their suppliers such as Huawei, Google, Nokia and establishing how Vodafone can bring those to market faster. We have been helping them to identify which ones are aligned to their business goals and how they can accelerate these projects.
Removing costly duplication
But what we have seen historically is that as companies start to do this, so duplication creeps in. Often, we find that a very similar project is happening in a different part of the organisation at the same time. By deploying Vizibl, we are able to shine a light on the duplication and show that elsewhere in the organisation there are two or three projects which are the same or very similar, which could be brought together.
While saving money is one aspect, the other aspect is about getting various project teams to collaborate and get projects to market faster.
No second chances
In just a few months, COVID-19 has triggered sweeping changes in how we all do business. This massive scale disruption created a succession of different supply chain issues. These issues are not necessarily new, but what has changed is that, going forward, not being prepared for such issues is no longer an acceptable position. With supply chains firmly in focus boards are pushing for a more proactive approach and level of insight and visibility.
Now the CEO will be asking the CFO, COO and CPO: is the supply chain prepared? During the pandemic, companies scurried to secure supply. During recovery, the CPO needs to initiate measures that lead to preparedness. They’ll be no second chances for CPOs going forward. This means being prepared must be an integral part of sourcing and supply chain management.
Black Friday is fast approaching, but retailers have been preparing for this event since last year – or they should…
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Black Friday is fast approaching, but retailers have been preparing for this event since last year – or they should have been, according to Gartner’s Vice President Supply Chain EMEA, Frank Vorrath.
“This is not the first Black Friday event,” said Vorrath, in an interview with The Digital Insight podcast. “Learn from the past: use data from previous years and look at what it tells you about the peaks and demands.”
“Black Friday is a special event, so use that data to make a prediction for the next one. This is an important consideration when it comes to your ability to respond to demands.”
“To help this, make sure your environment is prepared to collect as much data as possible throughout this event.”
Planning and making educated predictions are recurring themes when it comes to advice on making a success of Black Friday, but Vorrath is also keen to place emphasis on widespread collaboration.
“Work with your partners, both your logistics providers and your other providers such as outsourced manufacturers and suppliers,” said Vorrath.
“Consider that the activities on Black Friday will not only be about selling your products but also delivering them to your customers. When you sit and collaborate with your partners, you will have better outcomes.”
All this preparation, however, could go out the window if there’s more demand than expected.
“Consider risk mitigation. Things may happen that result in more demand than you ever legislated for, so consider increasing the risk mitigation to avoid being on the backfoot when demand over exceeds your ability to respond.”
Over cover story this month features Jill Robbins, Senior Director, Global
Procurement of Indirect Goods & Services at Elanco, the animal health
enterprise. In an absorbing interview, Robbins outlines how a procurement lens
enables smarter business growth.
“Procurement has a unique lens and insight into
all aspects of the business,” she says. “There are always going to be people
that do not understand the value of procurement… but we see opportunities and
connectivity across the value chain that others may not be able to see that
drive enterprise efficiency and productivity.”
Elsewhere, we speak to Anis Tabka, CPO at UAE
telco du to talk about the challenges to procurement transformation. “A lot of people aren’t coming from the supply chain background.
They have technology experience or administration experience and just assume
that procurement is simple price squeezing and handling of contracts,” he
explains. “I always try to tell them that there is so much more to
procurement.”
Plus, we have
articles focusing on procurement at Roland Berger and The Cost of Holding
Inventory, alongside the best events and conferences around, and the Top 5 takeaways
from the CIPS procurement salary report.
Part four of a six-part supply chain masterclass with Frank Vorrath, Executive Partner of supply chain at Gartner. Frank explains…
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Part four of a six-part supply chain masterclass with Frank Vorrath, Executive Partner of supply chain at Gartner. Frank explains how to build a supply chain excellence operating system, enabled by a centre of excellence.
Frank Vorrath, Executive Partner of Supply Chain at Gartner
One of the key things identified within your concept of a supply chain excellence operating system is two-directional thinking, where you’ve got people working in the business and people working on the business – could you elaborate on that, please?
Transformations are really driven by future growth ambitions of those organisations, or if they are looking and expanding into new areas and new business models. Lots of things are changing very fast and exponentially. If you look at that, that sets limitations for organisations to actually do the same things as they did in the past. From a structural point of view, your current capabilities won’t allow you to compete in the future. You have to think about how you are going to approach that.
There’s also a limitation in terms of resources. The concept of perform and transform is simple to understand, which means you still have to focus on your core business and create results and good performance, while at the same time transforming. The concept is almost like running a sprint and a marathon at the same time. If you think about what you can do with the same setup and structure you have without investing, and potentially a different set of excellences, then it’s probably stretching your current resources to a limit.
If you think about the transform activity you
have to do as an organisation, you think more about what you need to do to be
successful in the future. If you think about the sprints, you still have to
focus on your core business and on day-to-day good performance, and you also need
to think about what enables you to perform day to day, running these sprints,
making sure you keep and stay focused on delivering performance end results to
your business and to your customers as well meeting their objectives and needs,
but also transforming the organisation at the same time and building the new
muscles you need in the future related to the capabilities.
What sort of
challenge does this balancing act, between the two areas, present?
If you do that with your current resources you have available in your business you may find yourself in a position that is too much a stretch for your resources: to be able to deliver on your expectations. Somewhere, you need to balance it. The question is can you balance that with your existing resources and the existing structure you have, or perhaps you have to set up a different structure – where you have people working in the business and people working on the transformation. Both are equally important to you as a business because one is really keeping the lights on and delivering the performance you need today, which is finding the capabilities you have to build for the future. That needs to be balanced. Is it easy? Probably not. But is it required? Absolutely.
Where does
change management come into the equation?
With change management and transformations, it’s really shifting the mindset and the behaviour and actions towards generating more an improved and sustainable business performance and results. It’s about having clarity of the destination, and a clear understanding of why are you doing this, and what you want and need in order to transform.
The next important part of change management is role modelling. Your leadership plays such an important role here in championing the transformation with clear and defined specific communication and milestones. Taking people along with you on this journey and having an understanding of ‘walk the talk’, and being visible and aligned on a leadership level creates the pull in an organisation.
There’s also organisational capabilities, the resources I need, the financial commitment that an organisation has to make to transform, because it can be dependent on the maturity of that organisation. Sometimes you have to be able to invest first to generate the benefits later on. You have to be able to have governance in that model, which is strictly focused on priorities for the business as an outcome and is steering the organisation through that transformation. The culture and the mindset of the people, the knowledge and skills have to be in place, and it has to be somewhere measured and sustained.
Also, you have to be able to reinforce. How do you align your goals and objectives and your incentives structures on the two important activities, perform and transform, in a balanced way? Not just incentivising generating results today, but also incentivising transforming the organisation to be able to compete in the future. It’s not just continuous improvement. It’s building an operating system, considering what drives change, creating push and pull in an organisation, and really with the mindset of the future to improve, as well as building muscle, creating sustainable business performance and end results, and meeting the never-ending customer expectations in future.
How does a
role model approach help overcome the challenges in change?
It has to start at the top of an organisation, which means you have to be very clear, very concise and compelling. People need to understand why you are doing this, and be very clear about the outcome, when you want to do certain things, and what it’s actually going to do for the organisation. Take people along the journey and bring them in a way in that they have a stake in the game, so they are able to participate and provide their input into the transformation. That’s really important when you start your change management and transformation.
You also have to somewhere create an excitement
factor for your people to believe that the future you’re going to create for
them is a future where they want to be part of, where they want to be proud of,
so they are excited to actually take you as an organization forward into that
future.
How do you
bring the customer into the conversation?
It’s key to incorporate customers into it. Don’t
be shy in asking your customer how can you serve them better. How can you
create more a collaborative joint partnership together? It’s no longer about
vendor and supply and customer relationship, it’s about a partnership on a more
strategic level. As a business, if you’re able to figure that out and bring
your key customers in, listen to them and make them part of it, or even make
them a joint development in terms of building an operating system, even better.
You may want to consider joint investments into building the capabilities you
need in future, especially in areas when it comes to looking into talent related
to emerging technologies, data, data scientists, etc.
You really have a scarcity and you have to build and think about how you want to build these kinds of talents in your organisation from a different perspective and different ways. You may want to do this jointly together with your customers, because they probably have the same needs like you have in their own business, and the same kind of limitation and challenges to find the right talents. Instead of just doing it on your own and being completely internally focused, combine the inside out with the outside in. The key in that is your customer or your customers.
How
important is it to develop an end to end supply chain IT strategy and
technology roadmap so that the technology and the procurement transformation
are aligned?
You have to have an end-to-end view of your technology. Technology can’t be seen in isolation with what you are trying to accomplish with the strategic objectives of your business related to the value proposition you have. Technology and digitalisation, you can be taken from two angles and that’s what I’m seeing currently happening in the marketplace. On the one side, you see companies focusing and creating new business models through digitalisation related to their products and services, selling outcomes and solutions instead of selling products and devices.
On the other side, you see a lot of activity in terms of digitalisation in the supply chain. These two things are connected, but we also know that 70% of the initiatives currently in the marketplace are disconnected. Technology is creating new business models, using data to access and provide insights to your business for better and informed decision making. Data could also mean monetising that data and creating new business models. Technology, from your business process optimisation point of view, can create a new level of maturity in terms of efficiency.
That’s where a lot of companies are focusing on and deploying new technologies because they want to figure out if there are business benefits they can introduce to the business and to harness new capabilities and with automated processes that reduce time, errors, cost, and also increase the efficiencies they have in their business. To be able to do that, you need to have a blueprint and an understanding of where you are at currently with your technology landscape and your applications, and also where you want to grow in the future.
What is the overall journey of this centre of excellence system, where it starts with developing infrastructure, building supply chain excellence capabilities, and then reaching a stage where that supply chain excellence is woven within the organisation’s DNA?
The ideas of transform and perform, and the
resource constraints that organisations are having by using the same resources
has been recognised in the market widely and you have seen over the last couple
of years more and more organisations actually building a centre of excellence.
With a centre of excellence, you have to consider that there are different
centres of excellence. Now you have to have a functional centre of excellence
where you just focus on building the maturity in certain areas of your supply
chain.
You could also have a logistics centre of
excellence. You could have other centres of excellence, like a manufacturing
centre of excellence. The goal is to design your centre of excellence and be
aligned with the main activity across your whole value chain, which means if
you are a manufacturing organisation and a supply chain organisation or procurement,
you would organise your centre of excellence in a way that would incorporate
the strategy element into that. There are different ways of structuring a
supply chain centre of excellence.
My recommendation, if a business can afford it,
would be to focus on end to end, rather than just functional, because if you
just focus on functional excellence, again, your integration and collaboration
across the different functions might be a bit of a challenge.
Is
excellence an ever-moving target?
You always have to work on that. You’re never
done. If you really think about your
plan of a transformation, does it stop after three years? No, it’s not going to
stop.
What you’re hoping for when you had enough momentum, excitement and generated the results, is the building of a culture and a DNA. That is probably the longest part of a transformation which is never-ending, because if you think about it from a leadership point of view, when you build it with your team and operating system, you want to build something which is sustainable and not dependent on you as a leader or your team. It should be there, even if you move on. It should be part of the culture so that people and generations after can still build from what was built, to make it better.
Our cover story this month, features David Medori, Chief Procurement Officer at William Hill who reveals how strategic procurement is aiding the global gaming giant…
During 2018, 600 million bets were placed with William Hill, further establishing its reputation as a world leader in gaming. Employing more than 15,500 people in 10 countries, the 85-year-old bookmaker and games provider is continually innovating new and engaging ways to bet and game, whether in shops, sports books, online or mobile devices.
Leading a procurement function in this world-renowned brand and
operating on varying platforms in differing geographies is no easy task,
whether your requirement is software, hardware or professional services.
William Hill’s Chief Procurement Officer, David Medori, is responsible for
procurement of all third-party goods and services, covering indirect and direct
procurement. We met up with David at William Hill’s brand-new headquarters in
Tottenham Court Rd, London, to see how the procurement function is transforming
under his leadership…
Elsewhere, we spoke to Edgar Lim, Vice President of Technology and
Procurement at EnterSolar to explore how a sound procurement philosophyachieves growth in a “solar-coaster” market. Jon
Hansen tells us the 3 Obstacles To Digitally Transforming Your Supply
Chain and we also catch up with Tradeshift co-founder
Gert Sylvest, and CPO Roy Anderson, who reveal how their global open business
platform is transforming the future for buyers and sellers.
We also list the top 5 key influencers in procurement and reveal the
biggest events and conferences from around the globe.
With direct access to audiences across a global stage, social media has redefined the idea of influencers. Looking to tap…
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With direct access to audiences across a global stage, social media has redefined the idea of influencers.
Looking to tap into and explore this ever-growing resource, industry giants have their very own influencers steering and engaging the conversation. CPOstrategy looks at 5 leading procurement influencers as ranked by ProcurementiQ
Kelly Barner, Owner and Managing Director – Buyers Meeting Point
As the owner and manager of Buyers
Meeting Point, Barner has spent the last decade providing the procurement
industry with an unmissable events calendar, a blog that captures the current
procurement discourse, a huge social media network, and a uniquely engaging
podcast. Barner is the voice and the influential figure behind one of the most
trusted sources of information for procurement practitioners and solution
providers alike.
Lora Cecere, Founder – Supply Chain Insights
Supply Chain Insights,
of which Lora Cecere is the founder, is one of the most trusted resources of
independent, actionable and objective advice for global supply chain leaders.
Since the foundation in 2012, Cecere has sought to pave a new direction in
building thought-leading supply chain research.
CEO of one of the largest
not-for-profit organisations in the supply chain world, the Institute for
Supply Management (ISM), Tom Derry oversees the provision of market
intelligence, certification, training and professional development to
procurement and supply chain practitioners from all over the world. Derry also
sits on the board of the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM), a
leading voice in addressing the evolving challenges in today’s workplaces.
Omid Ghamami, CEO and Chairman of the Board – Center for Purchasing and Supply Chain Management Excellence As CEO of the Center for Purchasing and Supply Chain Management Excellence, Omid Ghamami is the spearhead of the world’s most advanced, interactive and prestigious purchasing & supply chain management certification system. Calling on his extensive experience in managing purchasing and spend for global tech giants Intel, Ghamami works with some of the biggest companies in the world to foster a new order of supply chain management, one that sees organisations recognise the true value-added centre of profit that it can be for their business.
Dawn Tiura, CEO & President of Sourcing Industry Group
(SIG)
The CEO of Sourcing Industry Group
(SIG), Dawn Tiura drives the vision of creating a premier global sourcing
association that provides thought leadership and networking opportunities to
executives in sourcing and procurement from Fortune 500 and Global 1000
companies. Tiura describes herself as a passionate leader of SIG, going above
and beyond to raise the executive presence of sourcing, procurement and
outsourcing professionals. Since joining SIG in 2007, Tiura has truly
“revolutionised” the group in order to establish itself as the premier global
sourcing association.
The latest issue of CPOstrategy is live and this month’s cover story features Natalia Graves, VP Head of Procurement at cloud management giant Veeam Software who discusses its recent procurement transformation. “We looked at simplifying our processes and putting systems into place that allow Veeam teams across the globe to move even faster,” she explains.
Elsewhere, we speak to Dr. Preston Butler JR, on achieving
procurement excellence at Vinnell Arabia, which provides logistics and training
to the National Guard of Saudi Arabia. We also spend time with Mahmoud Al
Alawi, Director of Procurement and Contracts at Higher Colleges Technology
(HCT), who discusses the organisation’s digital journey in procurement. While Frank
Vorrath, Executive Partner Supply Chain at Gartner
details the hidden potential of a strategy-driven supply chain. We also
provide five big takeaways from World Procurement Week and list the best
procurement events and conferences from around the globe.
A global leader in procurement and supply chain, Sam Achampong is Head of CIPS MENA, and responsible for influencing supply…
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A global leader in procurement and supply chain, Sam Achampong is Head of CIPS MENA, and responsible for influencing supply chain and procurement transformation across the region.
So,
could you give us a brief outline of your role at CIPS MENA?
CIPS works in a number of ways. I
guess if you look at a triangle, there’s three main areas we work in. One is
education, and that’s around our qualifications. Another is around thought
leadership in terms of the events and social networks we create. The other is
around our B2B operations where we work directly with organisations to work on
the capability development of their own procurement teams, and their
procurement organisation.
The operation in the Middle East
has been around for about 10 years now. In terms of the region, I think we
acknowledge that the level of maturity in procurement is in many ways a little
bit behind more established areas of the world. But over the past 10 years that
gap has been closing. So, we’ve seen some significant strides in terms of how
people view procurement, and how strategic people see procurement. However, there
remains a lag in recognising it as a strategic function. We continue to work
with organisations and individuals in this region to improve that.
What are the challenges procurement is facing in MENA at the moment? Skill shortages or technology uptake?
So, it’s a bit of both. There are
skills shortages, because there is a lack of people who have those commensurate
professional and strategic skills in procurement in the region. So, let’s call
them licensed procurement professionals; people who are actually qualified in
procurement practice, and who have the skills in that function. So, that’s a
skills gap that only CPOs in the region will acknowledge.
The other thing is the recognition
of the profession itself. So, when you go above the actual stakeholders around
procurement, your CFO, CEOs, the C-suite and others, the recognition of
procurement as a strategic function is lacking in many ways here. So, what that
means is, you find that a lot of procurement departments are being used as
transactional departments, who are either performing a compliance role, or a
simple transactional role. So, that obviously diminishes the role of
procurement and diminishes the effectiveness of what procurement can deliver in
this region. really is a lack of depth in the market of people who have those
skills when they are called upon. So as a result, you cannot look to a major
organisation or a particular job description, procurement category manager, for
example, in a major bank and assume that they have the necessary skills that
you would expect a procurement IT category manager to have. Because there just
isn’t that depth of skills in many areas.
However, as I’ve said, there have
been big strides over the past five to eight years to improve that. So, there
are real centres of excellence around the region who have been working for a
long time to overhaul their entire departments. You’re talking about some of
the major organisations like ADNOC, the major oil company, or SABIC in Saudi
Arabia, around to Etihad Airways in Abu Dhabi, who’ve been working very hard
for a few years to ensure that procurement becomes a strategic function, and that
the people who work in it are professionals.
Would
you recommend more professional qualifications being introduced in the region?
Yeah, that’s the other side of it.
So, there is looking for people in the market who already have those skills,
that’s one side of it. The other side is putting together the infrastructure,
whereby people are able to get hold of those skills. So, that’s the backbone of
what we’re trying to do. We set up several study centres across the region
where people can go and study CIPS qualifications anywhere around the region
from Lebanon, to Bahrain, to Saudi Arabia, to the United Arab Emirates, to
Egypt. In addition to that, we’ve worked very closely with a lot of organisations
to set up in-house procurement academies, whereby we work directly with them to
upscale their teams to the highest level over a period of time. There are two
areas in which we work. One is the B2B, and the other is just for the B2C where
you have the student network and the individuals who want to attain those
skills.
We’re working with a lot of the
educational establishments to work with them to ensure that procurement
qualifications, skills and standards are available in the local university
network. So, we’ve done that across the region, where we work with centres of
education, to help them put in place skills and qualifications that are
commensurate with leading procurement practice.
I guess, the other side is away
from the people. It’s a case of how people actually do procurement. So, what are the strategic games, what are the
processes, practices? We’ve also worked with several organisations to provide
advisory services to look at how they actually do procurement and guide them
into putting into place procurement practices that are leading practices to
help achieve value. You’ll see organisations like the Dubai Expo 2020 project,
who have recently gone through what we call the CIPS Procurement Excellence
Program, where we review how they do procurement and guide them towards best
practice.
Have
you encountered a stark contrast between, broadly speaking, the Middle East and
the North Africa region?
In the Gulf, you will find real
centres of excellence and some real heavyweights in the public and private
sectors, who have invested in putting together skilled procurement
professionals, and invested in how their departments manage procurement
strategically. So, you will find some very educated and strategic people.
When you look more to North
Africa, Egypt is a very populous and academic country. So, you do find a lot of
people from the academic perspective, who have come through a level of education
to attain procurement skills; maybe not to the highest level, in terms of
strength and depth, but that’s the angle that happens in North Africa rather
than companies sponsoring people to go through qualifications.
West Africa, again, is slightly different.
You have countries in West Africa, like Ghana, who are working very hard now to
establish procurement centres of excellence among the public sector. So again,
we’re working very hard with them to put in place structures that defend how
they build up the reputation of good public procurement within those areas.
So, there are differences between
the Gulf, North Africa and West Africa and several subtleties between the
public and the private sector. But interestingly, I think what’s happened over
the years is that there’s always been a gulf in the maturity levels of the
practice of procurement and many other professions. What’s happened over the
last two or three, or three or four years is the advent of technology. So,
there’s an element now where people are looking to leap frog the long route of
getting people highly qualified and educated in procurement and are instead
trying to invest in technology to do that procurement for them, which makes
sense to a certain perspective. But obviously, the caution has always been to
make sure that whoever is working on procurement for you, in terms of people,
are highly skilled commercial managers, because it’s clear that you cannot rely
fully on technology.
I can recall one particular
instance where the prerogative was to try and eradicate as much as possible,
the ethics and procurement fraud from the procurement life cycle. So, the
solution that was being implemented was a whole-scale eSourcing suite, which is
a good idea in terms of transparency. But of course, the fact is that probably
80% of procurement fraud is carried out at the specification stage. So, you
still do need to work on the people, otherwise, you’re not really eradicating
the problem.
You
touched upon ethics, and obviously transparency within the supply chain is a
hot topic globally, so I guess within MENA, building trust is a very important
part attracting foreign investment, for example…
I think you’re right, and for any
country or region that’s looking to attract foreign investment, it’s incumbent
on them to create an environment conducive to that investment coming in. And
key to that is procurement, the reputation of how business is done, and how
supplies interact, and how organisations are gained through those transactions
across the supply chain to obtain value is absolutely crucial to attracting
investment.
So, ethics is key. We work with a
number of organisations across the region, specifically on that subject. In
fact, there are several organisations who now have the CIPS Ethics Kite Mark
where all of their team have, specifically on that subject, been trained in
ethics. The organisation can demonstrate that people within their team, as long
as they procure anything, they have a full knowledge of what the subject is.
Now, if you look at some statistics, and in terms of the effect on procurement,
I think procurement fraud is like taking up 20% of the cost of doing business
in developing countries, and 10% of the cost of doing procurement anywhere
else. So, I guess for those areas of those countries who can ill afford it,
that becomes a really, really important topic to address because it directly
affects their affordability to invest in infrastructure and other areas, as
it’s adding to the cost of doing business.
Technology is driving a lot of the procurement transformation stories at the moment and obviously MENA has had sort of issues such as the uptake of technology in the past and concepts such as cashless banking, plus they’ve had cyber security weaknesses. What kind of challenges have you seen there with regards to the technological side of it?
People have access to the latest
technology, and people do have access to, and are able to purchase, the best
solution they can afford. So, if there is an issue that it’s sometimes a case
of people over specifying what they want. So, an organisation may have acquired
the latest ERP or eSourcing suite, or solution, that is applicable to their
operations, and to a certain extent, other organisations have seen that and
said, “Okay, well, we’ll have that as well,” without aligning it
directly to what they need.
So, there has been, to a certain
extent, some over specification, which procurement transformations are now addressing.
There are an awful lot of procurement transformation going on, where organisations
are actually really looking at what they’ve done over the last 18 months and
sizing or repointing how technology is adding value.
So, you have people looking at
developing marketplaces, where they haven’t thought about it before. A lot of
organisations are creating their own marketplaces where everyone could be a
buyer, rather than continue to centralise procurement across the procurement
team. So, they are making use of those cloud-based systems and those
marketplaces enabled by some of the technological solutions out there.
Do
you see blockchain playing a bigger part in procurement transformation?
There’s a lot going on around blockchain
at the moment. We have the UAE government, for example, who have said that they
will become the first blockchain government by 2020. And there are several
practical examples of how blockchain is used around scanning trans-shipments
etc. There are many other examples from around the world and the region. I
think the reality is that blockchain is not yet an end-to-end solution. I think
when it is, then you’ll see the benefits of the really embedded end-to-end
blockchain solutions where people either have an in-house blockchain or a
localised blockchain across groups of businesses; a corporate blockchain.
I think that’s where regions like
the Middle East will come to the fore, because they are perfectly positioned to
be leaders in the adoption of this technology. Because they don’t have a lot of
legacy systems and practices to hinder their adoption of new technologies. They
also have very strong advocacy at government level. If the UAE government, for
example, says that they will become the first blockchain government by 2020.
Well, that means that everyone’s going to have to participate in that
transformation. Because if the government will make that a priority, then
certainly everyone else does it. So, there’s a great opportunity for wide scale
adoption of blockchain technology, when end-to-end solutions are implemented.
Companies out here are very, very open to the technological changes.
More than three quarters (81%) of B2B organisations are witnessing a decrease in profits due to online order errors, causing…
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More
than three quarters (81%) of B2B organisations are witnessing a decrease in
profits due to online order errors, causing significant repercussions on wider
business growth, according to new
research out today. 84% of businesses have witnessed a decrease in
efficiency due to order errors, while 81% saw a drop in productivity and a
further 81% saw a decrease in profitability. The survey of 560 global B2B
buying professionals found that 44% of organisations have witnessed a decrease
of more than 11% in sales, productivity, efficiency or profitability due to
errors during the purchasing process. Some are seeing a decrease in excess of
25%.
The
majority of B2B buyers place orders weekly, often daily, which means the
opportunity for errors to occur is high. 44% of individuals experience errors
with online orders at least once a fortnight, while a fifth encounter issues
weekly and 9% experience issues on a daily basis. With the majority of B2B
buyers preferring to buy online (75%) it’s critical that e-commerce platforms
can reflect current and accurate sales information, such as pricing, shipping
and stock as a way to help reduce errors.
The
research found that user entry was the top reason for problems occurring during
the online buying process. 28% however, felt that incorrect product information
is causing errors while 28% said it was incorrect purchase entry. Other reasons
for errors include incorrect inventory display (27%), incorrect shipping
information (25%) and incorrect pricing information (23%).
Online
order errors appear to be most frequent in Benelux with 55% of buyers
experiencing problems at least once a fortnight and 25% on a weekly basis. 48%
of businesses based in Germany, Austria and Switzerland also experience errors
once a fortnight and nearly half (46%) of British or Irish businesses face the
same problem. Yet order errors in the US and Canada appears to be less
frequent, with the majority (51%) witnessing order errors at least monthly.
B2B
buyers purchasing automotive parts appear to be the most susceptible to errors
when making purchases online, as 54% experience problems at least once a
fortnight. This is closely followed by those purchasing building materials
(53%) and food & beverage products (52%).
Michiel
Schipperus, CEO and Managing Partner at Sana Commerce comments: “B2B
organisations have embraced e-commerce as a route to market and as a way to
remain competitive and reach new markets. But our research highlights the need
for e-commerce platforms to deliver accuracy across all buying channels.
Ensuring that the e-commerce system is integrated into the organisation’s ERP
platform to provide a single source of truth at the point of purchase goes a long
way to ensuring that customers have the correct information needed to make an
informed purchase decision and reduce order errors.”
The
survey of B2B organisations in Europe and the US was undertaken by independent
market research company Sapio on behalf on Sana Commerce. The survey sample
covered food and beverage, electronics, building materials, medical supplies
and automotive parts. For more insights download the report here.
With procurement undergoing nothing short of a revolution right now, the brand-new CPOstrategy will keep you up to speed with…
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With procurement undergoing nothing short of a revolution right now, the brand-new CPOstrategy will keep you up to speed with all the latest insights and stories from the biggest names in this space. Each month, we will cover all aspects of procurement strategy and transformation as well as supply chain digitisation and management. CPOstrategy is from executive, for executive. Read the launch issue now!
Procurement is being
transformed by new technologies, but people are the secret to success according
to LEO Pharma’s Head of Operational
Procurement, Martin Starcke in our cover story this month. Drug developer LEO
Pharma is seeking to revolutionise its procurement right now through the
deployment of a decentralised system. However, Starcke, believes that the digital
transformation of procurement is about a lot more than software or computer
services. “It’s fundamentally about people. I think implementing software,
implementing the technology is around 10% of your effort,” he says.
We also have an
exclusive interview with Frank Vorrath,
Executive Partner for the Gartner CSCO and COO Service who talks about the
importance of delivering real value to its clients.
Elsewhere, we speak to
procurement consultancy Efficio who prompts
the question: “Are procurement leaders feeling let down by technology?” We also
detail the barriers to smart procurement
technology and list the five top
reasons why supply chain strategies fail and what to do about it. Plus,
lots, lots more.
Global procurement market intelligence firm SpendEdge has released its Global E-Commerce Logistics Category of its Procurement Market Intelligence Report. According…
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Global
procurement market intelligence firm SpendEdge has released its Global
E-Commerce Logistics Category of its Procurement Market Intelligence Report.
According to SpendEdge, “the growing popularity of the e-commerce industry has spurred the rise
in intra-regional and cross-border trade which is supported by the prevalence
of favourable e-commerce trade policies across the globe”.
The improving purchasing power is, according to the report,
giving freedom to the working-age population to exhibit a significant
incremental spend on e-commerce websites, which consequently, is accelerating
spend momentum of the e-commerce logistics market.
This e-commerce logistics market intelligence report offers
a comprehensive analysis of the primary cost drivers and its subsequent impact
on the overall pricing. Current supply market forecasts and the spend
opportunities for the suppliers are also outlined and the category spend is
analysed from the perspective of both buyers and the suppliers.
SpendEdge procurement expert Anil Seth said: “Buyer’s
service requirements vary based on their geographic location. This makes it
essential for them to select suppliers based on their capability to provide
customised services.”
Every business needs to remain on top of its supplier relationships but, of course, there is more to procurement than…
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Every business needs to remain on top of its
supplier relationships but, of course, there is more to procurement than making
a few back-of-the-envelope calculations about which materials and services are
needed. All manner of concerns can come into play: cost – but also regulator
compliance, forward planning and more.
Clearly this is an area where IT systems can
play a role, smoothing out what can be a notoriously laborious process. And yet
business-to-business purchasing as a whole lags well behind
business-to-consumer when it comes to volume. Only 13 percent of business-to-business sales are being
conducted online.
So, is procurement a cold house for IT? Or is
it that further investment is required? Or are some kinds of suppliers simply
easier to deal with face-to-face? After all, buying professional services is
quite different from buying a thousand ballpoint pens.
Being digital
Peter Wetherill, senior technology manager at procurement specialists Efficio Consulting, says that as companies go digital it is natural that processes such as procurement come under scrutiny.
“We published a study recently, looking at the
future of procurement; looking at whether or not digitalisation is the future.
Everyone is [being] pushed to have a digital strategy these days, so we try to
turn it into something actionable.”
The objective
should be to make things more efficient, he says.
“If you look at things like strategic sourcing,
spend analysis and running a sourcing event—those are very ‘processised’
things. We’ve run that as a structure thing for 18 years ourselves [and] we’re
building technology now that adds automation to it. It’s repeatable.”
Where the real value is added, though, is not merely in the technology, says Wetherill. Instead, it is in intelligence.
“There are a number of assets you create during the process that are useful the next time. Instead of reinventing the wheel, you use the same things, albeit modified. Technology really lends itself to the strategic part of procurement. Time and time again I’ve sat with clients who have brand new installations, but it has nothing in it and [so] they’re only using ten to fifteen percent of its capability. They’re not getting the business use case out of it.”
In effect, then the question becomes no longer
one of either procurement or IT per se, but about how to implement a process that
makes use of the intelligence in a business.
“Are various KPIs being hit? Am I paying the right price? It’s part people, part machine, but we’ve built something that rather than trying to map invoices to the project, has a workflow that does all these things properly; it has the rate card in it, it has all the data [and] you can run a large programme through this and show the [for example] five percent where there is non-compliance.
“The
technology is not there to remove the human element, it’s there to help make
more data-driven decisions,” he says.
Computer says no
Allyson Stewart-Allen, chief executive of
International Marketing Partners, says that she has doubts about deepening the
intrusion of IT into procurement—at least when it comes to some types of
purchasing.
“I think it’s affecting the bidders
significantly because they aren’t always clear what the criteria are. They may
be bidding for the provision of professional services and, traditionally, those
require a relationship of some kind: interaction with the client and the
buyers,” she says.
Stewart-Allen says that the challenge of e-bidding is that
you do not get to easily convey the values of your business.
“It’s even more difficult with professional
services, as you’re buying the people, buying their judgement, and not a
product.
“My frustration and challenge is that I don’t
get to readily communicate, other than in print, what my sources of
differentiation are. They can read my background on the website, but that’s not
the same as putting trust in the person’s judgement and the ability to
contextualise,” she says.
Nonetheless, IT systems are here to stay,
including machine learning (ML) and artificial intelligence (AI) that reduces
administration and opportunity for human error.
Procuring IT
One area where it is natural for IT systems to
take a lead in procurement is in the procurement of IT itself. This has changed
radically as the culture of IT departments has changed—not least as IT now
typically has increased board-level representation and it is expected to make a
strategic contribution to business objectives.
“It’s an interesting time,” says Charles Blair, a
senior management consultant for technology at Efficio.
CIO agendas have changed. They used to be about building IT; pulling all the widgets together and keeping the lights on. Nowadays, with the maturity and commodification of all of these services, you can buy then all in in the form of managed services. CIOs [now] have a much more greater focus on cost,” he says.
However, IT departments, historically, have not
has the skillsets needed for procurement, he says.
“IT teams don’t
typically have negotiation skills. Procurement as well, they’re not technology
guys.
“There was [previously] a bit of a ‘project
culture’, and procurement wasn’t involved until the end of the process.
Procurement ended up with a really bad name. Likewise, some people in
procurement don’t understand IT and challenged on the wrong things, [while], on
the other side, IT would be approaching suppliers in the wrong way and eroding
any levers procurement might have,” he says.
Nonetheless, despite the trend toward cloud
computing and external service provision, there is greater need for procurement
in IT rather than less. True, fewer servers and switches are being bought, but
those were always easier to buy than services.
“Cost in technology is on the increase as software is invested in instead of people, and also with the trend for using suppliers,” says Blair.
“There’s no reason for most companies to have
their own service desk. It’s much cheaper and more efficient to get a service
provider who does it all the time to run it. [But] Services like that need to
be obtained in accordance with service level agreements (SLAs) and (key
performance indicators (KPIs),” he says.
So, in fact, the
stakes are higher than ever—and they are also not on-off.
“Procurement is not only about sourcing the
solution, but also about managing it,” says Blair.
Whether for IT services or any other kind one
contractor relationship, procurement teams must, says Allyson Stewart-Allen,
make it clear to the business that any IT used should be there to support the decision-making process, not
replace it.
“The issue that the procurement folks have that
they don’t push back. There’s a difference between buying professional services
versus buying pens,” she says.
In the end, for Stewart-Allen, humans may
be aided by machines, but letting the machines replace them is a false economy.
“They’re seeking
efficiency, but end-up making bad decisions,” she says.
“Maybe they could make better decisions if they
applied different processes to services vs goods. I think that the challenge is
the one-size-fits-all mentality. There is often bind faith put in technology
and what it’s going to do for you, versus the reality. It’s not a great idea
when you’re buying people,” she says.
