IN PARTNERSHIP WITH:
MAKING FOR ITS CU
The city’s provider of me Sydney Trains makes c
Written by: Eric Harding P
G MOVES USTOMERS
etropolitan train services, customers the priority
Produced by: Vince Kielty 3
SYDNEY TRAINS
S
ydney Trains provides train services throughout the Sydney CBD and metropolitan area, transporting about a million customers each weekday and over 300 million people annually. As a result, Sydney Trains has altered its philosophy to making the customer the top priority. C U S T O M E R S AT THE CENTRE Sydney Trains make the customer the centre of everything it does, by delivering the best possible service to the people.
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“In the past, our procurement revolved around stakeholders. Now, we’re moving to a much more customer-centric model,” said Sydney Trains chief procurement officer Mike Blanchard. “Delivery is based around a customer charter. We’re saying - this is our promise to you as an internal service provider, and this is what we need from you to help us do our job in the best possible way, and therefore give you the outcomes that you want.” Sydney Trains has been an excellent example of procurement delivery through best in class
Strategic Procurement CUSTOMER CHARTER OUR PROMISE TO YOU Safety first
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We will never compromise on safety - it is our number one priority
Your team
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We will work in partnership with you to make decisions and make sure that our priorities, expectations and goals align with yours
Make your day
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We will smile, be friendly and listen to your needs as we are passionate about delivering your procurement outcomes
Open and upfront
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We will deliver a personalised service, while always acting with integrity and being open, honest, courteous
Make it easy
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We will share our knowledge and be accountable for the provision of compliant procurement services of the highest quality
(to do the right thing)
JB000162.0216
HELP US TO HELP YOU Engage early
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Give us as much information about your enquiry as soon as you can
Participate in the spirit of cooperation
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Work closely with us, collaborate and respond to our requests in a timely, efficient manner
Be open and upfront
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Give us feedback about our service and delivery, while being courteous and respectful
Stay informed
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Keep up-to-date with procurement policies and advise us regularly if there are any changes to your requirements
SYDNEY TRAINS
policy and governance processes. In fact, the company has NSW Government’s highest accreditation for procurement, and was the first organisation in Australasia to get corporate certification from the Chartered Institute of Procurement and Supply (CIPS), a United Kingdom-based organisation that deals with training and accreditation. A current initiative, Project LEAP,
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is all about moving from being one of the top organisations in procurement policy practice to moving toward leveraging early engagement for accelerated outcomes through the delivery of procurement best practice. This project moves to a more customer-centric model, and fits with Sydney Trains’ overall endcustomer model to deliver the best customer service.
FINALIZED A CONTRACT, APPROVED AN INVOICE, ASKED MY SUPPLIER HOW HE ENJOYED HIS HOLIDAY.
IT’S SIMPLE. IT’S DONE. IT’S SAP ARIBA. SAP Ariba makes even the most intricate businessto-business transactions simple. So you can get everything you need for work from the companies you want to work with. For more, go to ariba.com
SUPPLIER PROFILE
THE DIGITAL SUPPLY CHAIN The world today is a different place. There are officially more mobile devices than people. And with increasing frequency, we use these devices to manage our lives. To shop. To pay for things. To find restaurants and hail cabs. To network with our friends and family. Many of these same technologies have made their way into the enterprise. And they are transforming the way we work. Business networks, for instance, are changing the way we discover, connect and collaborate with our trading partners. They are giving us access to insights and intelligence that allow us to make better, more informed decisions. They are, in essence, transforming procurement as we know it. Digitizing the Supply Chain Technology has driven a new wave of productivity by digitizing key financial and business processes and enabling collaboration across the organization. Best-in-class organizations are fueling the next wave, leveraging business networks to extend these processes and systems beyond the four walls of the enterprise and create a shared community of partners executing improved, fully automated, and coordinated processes in a more informed way than in the past. Enabling New Processes Many companies have taken steps to improve the efficiency and
effectiveness of their supply chain operations by automating key processes such as procurement, orders, invoicing and payment. And with good reason. Research shows that companies who have embraced digital strategies are seeing real value, boosting revenue more than nine percent, market valuation more than 12 percent and profitability by over 26 percent. Led by procurement, many of these companies are taking things to the next level and enabling new processes that drive more collaborative, intelligent and transparent ways of operating. Processes like dynamic discounting that allow them to secure discounts that can be reinvested in research and development and funding to expand their business. Contingent workforce management through which they can identify and manage highly-specialized resources needed to develop that next-generation product. Or networkbased spot buying through which they can improve the purchasing process for low-value, non-sourced items and eliminate maverick buying. Running Simpler Personal networks from Facebook to Twitter have made it simple for consumers to shop, share and consume in new and more informed ways. Business networks like SAP Ariba provide an equally easy and scalable way for companies to discover, connect and collaborate with the trading
partners and resources they need to operate in today’s dynamic world. Leading procurement organizations across both the public and private sectors are tapping into this network to create a simple, consumer-like experience where with just a few clicks, they can shop for goods and services, place and manage orders and pay for them electronically, view and manage spend across all major categories through a single, connected platform. Getting Smarter Like their social counterparts, business networks house incredible amounts of insights and data. Bestin-class procurement organizations are unleashing the power of this information to optimize their supply chain decisions and accelerate innovation and growth. They are accessing performance ratings on potential trading partners along with recommendations from the community to determine who to do business with or detect risk in the supply chain. Or combining in-the-moment purchasing data with historic trends to predict stock outs before they happen and direct replenishment. Or gaining realtime insights into invoice approval status to more efficiently manage cash. Collaborating to Win Fueled by digital technologies, procurement is taking the lead in integrating business processes and collaborating across functions in
entirely new ways that drive value. CPOs, for instance, are engaged in helping to manage the financial supply chain, turning payables into a profit center because they have real-time visibility into whether an invoice is okay to pay and whether it has it been matched against purchase orders and contracts. Or extending days payable outstanding to improve the overall balance sheet while at the same time offering early payment discounts to suppliers because to mitigate both financial and supply risk. In today’s global and connected economy, digital supply chains are the onramp to innovation and success. To be among the winners, companies need to get on the highway and go fast. And procurement needs to steer them there and do the driving. Far from simply executing purchases, procurement leaders must reimagine the supply chain. Develop digital strategies that allow them to proactively evolve ahead of the competition. Employ comprehensive solutions that support the entire source-to-pay process and create value for all parties involved in it. And not only think about the future, but see it and shape it to their advantage. In doing so, they can deliver their organizations to new worlds of excellence.
For more information, please visit ariba.com >>
CUT THROUGH THE RED TAPE, POSTED THE ORDER, CONTINUED THE MOST IMPORTANT MEETING OF THE DAY.
IT’S SIMPLE. IT’S DONE. IT’S SAP ARIBA. SAP Ariba makes even the most intricate business-to-business transactions simple. So you can get everything you need for work from the companies you want to work with. For more, go to ariba.com
T R A N S P O R TAT I O N
“In the end, we’re only as good as the service we deliver to our customers,” said Blanchard. “Project LEAP is centred on getting feedback from customers through workshops and face-to-face interviews and then delivering the improvements to make it easy to do the right thing.” “Value for money doesn’t necessarily mean the cheapest,
but the best overall value for the outcome required,” he added. E A R LY B I R D G E T S THE WORM As chief procurement officer, Blanchard is responsible for ensuring all of the spending is done within government guidelines. This is in addition to meeting a larger ethical demand of social
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C O M PA N Y N A M E
stewardship, to ensure the money provided is delivered in the most effective way through third-party contractors. According to Blanchard, the key to successful procurement is early engagement. “Poor planning promotes poor performance,” said Blanchard. “If you don’t get the planning right, 12
everything else will potentially cause issues to the engagement with a third-party supplier. If you react and do things on a short-term lifecycle because of the pressure of delivery timelines, then you’re not necessarily going to make the best long-term decisions.” Although most companies prefer doing work with the government
SECTOR
because of its legislation and policy to make sure it pays on time, there are still obstacles to vendor engagement for Sydney Trains. A big challenge that many businesses face is the funding cycle for major projects. Sydney Trains gets financial approval at the beginning of each financial year; this can at times put some pressure on
the ability to engage the market. “Under NSW government guidelines, engaging the market without funding is not permitted,� said Blanchard. “To overcome this for frequently used goods and services, we put panels in place, as traditional open market engagement is time consuming and labour intensive. This way, we can react w w w. s y d n e y t r a i n s . i n f o
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T R A N S P O R TAT I O N
much more quickly to the business demands.” Even so, organising these panels is not always easy to do, Blanchard points out. He doesn’t use the term supplier-relationship management process, which he views as an overused term, but instead supplierdevelopment management (SDM). “To break down potential barriers, you give the branding of that role a different name,” Blanchard said. “You must look at the overall relationship like it’s an umbrella over all the interactions, and not just the contractual relationship engagements with key suppliers.” Blanchard said that supplierenabled innovation is something that will increase through the delivery of a successful SDM programme.
BUILDING R E L AT I O N S H I P S Also a successful long-time rugby coach, Blanchard applies many of the same leadership skills to his management philosophies. Blanchard describes himself as a builder of high-performing teams, something he has done since the age of 24. He believes building the best company is based upon getting the basics right, such as receiving the highest accreditation, setting a global benchmark, and then building and developing a team based on competency while delivering on performance promises. “It doesn’t matter which business you’re in,” said Blanchard. “When you talk about people, you talk
“In the past, our procurement revolved around stakeholders. Now, we’re moving that to a much more customer-centric model.” – Sydney Trains chief procurement officer Mike Blanchard w w w. s y d n e y t r a i n s . i n f o
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SYDNEY TRAINS
“THE OVERALL SYSTEM WE ARE LOOKING AT ADOPTING PROVIDES AN END-TO-END PROCESS THAT WILL ALLOW THE COMPANY TO FOLLOW THROUGH ON BOTH EMPLOYEE, AS WELL AS SUPPLIER INITIATED IDEAS FOR INNOVATION” – Sydney Trains chief procurement officer Mike Blanchard
about teams.” Blanchard has always had three mottos within a team: Make a lot of decisions, because the more you make, the better you get at making them; always employ people better than you, because it makes your job easier; and finally, don’t let ego get in the way. “If you have all of those three mindsets, and you treat people 16
they way you want to be treated yourself, you’ll find that is what authentic leadership is all about,” said Blanchard. TECHNOLOGICAL A DVA N C E M E NT S Within the supplier development management program, Sydney Trains has an innovation improvement tracker. Blanchard
T R A N S P O R TAT I O N
has been searching for ways to filter, capture and commercialise innovation in a public sector agency, and this tracker is one element of enabling this. “The overall system we are looking at adopting provides an end-to-end process that will allow the company to follow through on both employee, as well as supplier initiated ideas for innovation,� said
Blanchard. Additionally, Sydney Trains has worked with the customer environment division to create the Click & Collect platform, where users can order groceries online for pick up at their final railway station destination. Retail giant Woolworths is the partner for the first trial of the program, with plans to convert w w w. s y d n e y t r a i n s . i n f o
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SYDNEY TRAINS
the contract to long-term if all testing goes well. Once the trial is completed and evaluated, Sydney Trains will explore the possibility of rolling out the initiative on a permanent basis. “They’ve designed lockers that have frozen cabinets and cold drawers so you can literally head home at night and pick your goods up,” said Blanchard. “So that’s quite a big innovation.” 18
Blanchard also mentioned future innovation and changes planned for the Sydney Rail Network. In the future, Sydney Metro will use the first driverless trains in Australia to deliver services. The fleet of trains will be fitted with new technology to provide automated train control and will integrate with the signalling systems, in order to move toward a much safer environment with trains running closely together. Current
T R A N S P O R TAT I O N
Company Information NAME
Sydney Trains INDUSTRY
Transportation HEADQUARTERS
Chippendale, NSW Australia FOUNDED
2013 EMPLOYEES
10,000
signalling systems all operate slightly differently, which puts limitations on how closely trains can run together. “The system will allow you to move to more frequent, ‘step up and go’ metro type services rather than having to use timetables to know when you can catch your train,” Blanchard said. At the same time, Sydney Trains will be upgrading its network to integrate seamlessly with the new metro operation. It’s all part of Sydney Trains’ plan to serve its customers better.
INCOME
$3,1 BNi
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SYDNEY TRASPORTS 477 Pitt street, Chippendale NSW - Australia - 1240
Tel: 61.2.8202.2200 | information@transport.nsw.gov.au | www.sydneytrains.info