Procurement transformation at Dentsu Aegis
02
+ Procurement goes global at Dentsu Aegis Network WRITTEN BY
DAN BRIGHTMORE PRODUCED BY
DENITRA PRICE
= w w w.de ntsua e gi sne t wor k. com
DENTSU AEGIS NETWORK
Dentsu Aegis Network is tackling the need for a centralized procurement function to meet the demands of a strategy targeting growth through acquisition
T
he Dentsu Aegis Network is the first global marketing services group built for the digital economy; designed around the
needs of its customers with the goal of driving sustainable business growth for their brands and business. Growth through acquisitions (such as Merkle), aligned with organic development, is key to the company’s own strategy. To keep pace with that growth it became essential for Dentsu Aegis to create a centralized procurement team in each of its regions of operation. Sabrina Traskos, Senior Vice President, Procurement, heads up the organization’s American Procurement Team. “My team is responsible for the entire spectrum of procurement activities, from strategic sourcing all the way through to issuing POs and ensuring invoices are correct; as well as looking after real estate and facilities on a day to day basis,” she says. “The focus of what we’re doing is supporting the entire network throughout the procurement lifecycle.” The challenge for Traskos and her team is to build out a centralized function while assisting the brands across the Dentsu Aegis Network with their
w w w.de ntsua e gi sne t wor k. com
DENTSU AEGIS NETWORK
E X ECU T I VE P RO FI LE
Sabrina Traskos, Senior Vice President, Procurement Traskos is a proven team leader with extensive international experience in contract negotiations, strategic partnerships, OEM and licensing deals. Her procurement and project management responsibilities deliver a significant impact to a company’s bottom line. As a former Senior Director at GPO Broadlane she managed strategic sourcing on behalf of healthcare providers... “Learning how to talk about requirements in an unbiased way and gain consensus and buy-in from the different organizations was a great experience which prepared me for working with 32 different brands across the Dentsu Aegis network.” At Dentsu Aegis she manages the integration of new tech initiatives, adding value and efficiencies to its supply chain management while pushing forward with the firm’s sustainability goals.
“ Cisco is helping us move the employee base into as few facilities as possible” — Sabrina Traskos, Senior Vice President, Procurement, Dentsu Aegis Network
procurement transformation. “We have
improving efficiency. “We aim to give
32 business units in the United States
people a say in the design of the pro-
so we’re getting 32 different constitu-
cesses and choosing the vendors,”
encies on board with our Source-to-
pledges Traskos. “After all, they’re
Pay process,” explains Traskos. “For
the subject matter experts who know
some of them, it’s the first time they’re
what they need best.” The next step to
doing a purchase order, so a solid com-
tackle is integrating the right technol-
munications plan is an absolute neces-
ogy. “When we win a new client, we
sity for us. It doesn’t stop when we sign
often have to get up and running very
the contract with the supplier and get
quickly. Procurement needs to sup-
them loaded into the Source-to-Pay
port whatever they need – it could be
system. We have to make sure all of the
research, technology or recruiting, for
relevant stakeholders know who our
example – with very quick turnaround,”
suppliers are, what the process is and
explains Traskos. “But this can lead to
what the transition plan is to switch to
wildly different approaches across the
newly selected suppliers.”
network which could present a data
Consensus building is integral to
integrity issue. Procurement has a w w w.de ntsua e gi sne t wor k. com
SMART CHANGE STARTS HERE.
“CANON SOLUTIONS AMERICA IS OUR ESSENTIAL PARTNER IN PROVIDING THE STAFFING TO SUPPORT THESE OFFICES WITH THE HIGHEST LEVEL OF SERVICE.” - Chris Bendowski, VP of Real Estate and Facilities, Dentsu Aegis
Canon Solutions America provides world-class products and services that enable you to collaborate in real time, securely, and cost effectively. From managed print and content services to digital transformation, we solve the big problems with made-to-measure solutions that drive the results you care about. 800-788-5795
CSA.CANON.COM/GLOBALMANAGEDSERVICES
Canon is a registered trademark of Canon Inc. in the United States and elsewhere. All other referenced product names and marks are trademarks of their respective owners and are hereby acknowledged. © 2019 Canon Solutions America, Inc. All rights reserved. 6/19-540
ACCELERATE YOUR CHANNEL ROI WITH GfK DISTRIBUTION
Get comprehensive business intelligence to manage your supply chain from end-to-end with maximum efficiency. gfk.com/supply-chain
central role in harmonizing the process
To support positive disruption, what
and making sure the purchasing data
innovations is Dentsu Aegis embrac-
stays consistent.”
ing on its procurement transformation
The pathway to the successful
quest? Traskos is excited about the ad-
integration of new brands into Dentsu
vent of Source-to-Pay across Dentsu
Aegis’ processes is aided by a govern-
Aegis Network. “Previously, it’s been a
ance structure. “Steering committees
bit of a journey just to get aggregated
are at the heart of this,” says Traskos.
spend or figure out how much we
“We have representatives from each of
spend in a particular category or with
the business units and we meet regu-
different suppliers. Source-to-Pay’s
larly to discuss procurement projects,
spend analytics is going to help the
potential savings and to analyze any
team leapfrog to another level where
disruptive technologies.” She believes
we can provide our internal clients with
it’s vital to build a community approach
recommendations and opportunities
to change while providing the opportu-
to save, build partnerships where ap-
nity to learn from your peers.
propriate, and really improve overall
CLICK TO WATCH : ‘SUSTAINABLE PROCUREMENT AT DENTSU US’ w w w.de ntsua e gi sne t wor k. com
DENTSU AEGIS NETWORK
vendor management and relationships.” She believes building an ecosystem will improve user experience and bring through more initiatives to enhance efficiencies and savings. Currently, Dentsu Aegis is keenly focused on the benefits of automation. Dentsu’s Automation Team works with Catalytic and UI Path on robotics and RPA (Robotic Process Automation) to aid the transition from paper to digital. “We’ve been able to achieve some significant savings in terms of reducing the amount of time staff spend on basic tasks,” says Traskos. “This enables us to shift our employees’ time to work on more strategic functions and that benefits our clients. The success of the efforts to date allow us to roll out more automation of other processes.” As Dentsu has grown through acquisition, its real estate portfolio has grown as well. Now, the company seeks to work on real estate consolidation in order to reduce the overall costs of running so many offices. For Traskos alongside Chris Bendowski, VP of Real Estate and Facilities, to achieve this without disruption, partnerships with the likes of Canon Solutions America are key. Canon, the leading camera
2013
Year founded
35,000+
Approximate number of employees
1,000 Clients
50%
Revenue driven by digital
and print solutions business, a leading imaging technology and managed services company, is providing office services to ensure robust support for the smooth running of office functions for all employees. “Canon Solutions America supports us with everything from traditional printers to reception and event services. We have about a hundred offices in the US alone, with as many as seven in some cities,” adds says Traskos. “Canon Solutions America is our essential partner in providing the staffing to support these offices with the highest level of service to the organization,” adds Chris Bendowski. “As we renovate office space and design offices more conducive to collaboration, we need network and WiFi support to create a stable and high performing environment in the workplace. Cisco solutions help us achieve that with a high level of confidence while achieving savings.” Cisco are also involved with a project to install POE (Power Over Ethernet) lighting to provide energy savings across the organization. “The beautiful thing about POE is the ability to collect data from all your devices and look at room utilization, who is using the room w w w.de ntsua e gi sne t wor k. com
DENTSU AEGIS NETWORK
Consolidate Ordering for Your Office. 100,000+ Products 100+ Vendors 1 Platform officeluv.com
Reduce costs, eliminate rogue spending, access up to 60 day payment terms and gain 100% spend visibility across your organization via one easy-to-use platform for all of your procurement needs.
(800) 550-1604
|
hello@officeluv.com
ALIGN TECHNOLOGY WITH REAL BUSINESS NEEDS.
Presidio enables our clients to capture the economic value of digitally transforming their businesses. As one of the largest solutions providers in the US, we think, architect and implement advanced technologies every day, and combine the experience and stability with regional expertise and service. Bringing deep solutions expertise and a full lifecycle of services, we help our clients build the connected, cloud-agile, secure IT infrastructures that will drive them forward. Š 2019 Presidio, Inc. All rights reserved. Proprietary and Confidential.
PRESIDIO.COM
and the capabilities that come along
us streamline processes and become
with that. For example, you can adjust
more cost efficient.”
the temperature of a conference suite
Sustainable procurement is a top
according to the number of occupants.
priority for Dentsu Aegis Network in
Big Data is helping us drive efficiencies
2019 and beyond. “We’re getting the
here, and offer a customized experi-
message out there to make sure our
ence for our employees.”
suppliers understand how important
Looking at trends across the pro-
it is,” confirms Traskos. “Source-to-Pay
curement panorama, Traskos is en-
can help us set up the initial relation-
thused by the way data accessible via
ship. From the initial RFP, a supplier will
user friendly dashboards is enabling
see Dentsu’s statement on sustainable
category managers like Sultan Bajwa
procurement, they see how much of
to make quick decisions on her team,
the scoring is based on them having
both on wa tactical and strategic
a verifiable sustainable procurement
basis. “All of the data provided via IoT
program within their organization, and
sensors can lead us towards greater
how they should align with the UN
savings. For example, the ability to look
SDGs (United Nations Sustainable De-
at energy consumption by floor helps
velopment Goals). Once they become w w w.de ntsua e gi sne t wor k. com
13
DENTSU AEGIS NETWORK
“ Source-to-Pay’s spend analytics is going to help the team leapfrog to another level where we can provide our internal client base with recommendations and opportunities to save” — Sabrina Traskos, Senior Vice President, Procurement, Dentsu Aegis Network
a supplier, we communicate on how our
goals. “Our center of excellence, led by
sustainability program is progressing,
Alex Love, pays really close attention
and more specifics on what we require
to savings and trying to help different
within the various categories. The com-
business units achieve their objectives,”
munication must occur on a regular
she maintains. “Source-to-Pay will pro-
basis to build a community in tune with
vide a big lift for us but we don’t want
our objectives and further the SDGs.”
to underestimate the change manage-
While Traskos notes that all procurement organizations are focused on
ment that’s involved.” Allied to its financial and sustain-
savings targets, continuous monitoring
ability goals for procurement, Traskos
via data now allows for a more nuanced
is keen to encourage communication
approach able to identify areas for ac-
across the business around reducing
celeration to meet the organization’s
its carbon footprint. “For travel and ex-
penses, how do we partner with IT so
around it. Not just for within Dentsu
that we can leverage Microsoft Teams
but within the procurement communi-
to its full potential? What else can we
ty at large, because everybody should
do to partner with different airlines and
be working towards making the world
reduce our carbon footprint? What can
a better place for the future.�
we do with S2P in terms of making sure that the SDGs are being pushed out to our different supplier partners? Not only are we making it 15% of our scoring, to determine who to partner with and who has made this a priority, but we’re trying to make this more visible by building a communication strategy w w w.de ntsua e gi sne t wor k. com
www.dentsuaegisnetwork.com