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Andy Hovancik, CEO of JAGGAER – a world leader in autonomous commerce – on how it empowers businesses to grow and succeed through smart procurement and supply chain technologies.
Andy Hovancik, CEO of JAGGAER – a world leader in autonomous commerce – on how it empowers businesses to grow and succeed through smart procurement and supply chain technologies.
from this revolutionary idea and today, almost thirty years later, the company still carries the flame of innovation as an enterprise software company every single day.
Today we are joined by Andy Hovancik, CEO of JAGGAER to explore the company’s digital procurement and supply chain solutions enabling businesses to digitise, transform and thrive. We dive into JAGGAER's mission to provide its customers with the latest, smartest tech solutions to grow and succeed. We also discuss the company’s perspective on ESG as more than just a corporate strategy and explore the organisation’s approach to its partnership ecosystem.
“At the highest level, we work with companies to enable their own digitisation and transformation initiatives,” begins Andy. “Very specifically, we automate sourceto-pay processes, covering endto-end workflows, for an efficient
procurement process supported by supplier collaboration, to the benefit of buyers and their suppliers. We work with our customers to think about their processes and systems. Our solutions span both direct materials procurement and indirect procurement.”
Andy joined JAGGAER as CEO in June 2023 as a seasoned executive with proven success leading international, rapid-growth SaaS solutions providers across the manufacturing, financial and services sectors. He arrived at the company to lead JAGGAER into the next phase of its global growth, further developing its leading position in the market and continuing to deliver exceptional customer success. With his arrival, Andy brought a new vision to JAGGAER.
“Simply put, our goal is to build a global company,” says Andy. “We are operating in most parts of the world today in our core market, which is the comprehensive source-to-pay and supply chain management space, and we want to be able to serve our
customers wherever they operate and wherever they are in their digitisation journey. We're focused on expanding geographically so we can be there on the ground with local expertise and experience for our customers.”
As it enters this new phase, JAGGAER prides itself on continuing to offer exceptional service and true supply chain resilience for its customers by incorporating the latest and greatest technology into its products and solutions, explains Andy.
“In addition to providing software solutions, we’re leveraging decades of industry experience,” says Andy. “From the nascent software JAGGAER provided in its early years, to the leading-edge automated solutions we provide today, we’ve developed a tremendous amount of expertise on these workflows, systems and processes. So for us, it is about how we apply our extensive knowledge and expertise in the function and use of our software that allows companies to achieve true supply chain resilience, which we've seen over the last several years is a remarkably important objective for every company.
“The supply chain challenges of recent years have shown that companies like JAGGAER have never been more relevant.”
Andy emphasises how wielding smart technology at JAGGAER plays a fundamental role in transforming procurement and the broader supply
“WE HAVE AN OBLIGATION TO OUR CUSTOMERS TO ASSURE THEM THAT WE ARE TAKING AND INTEGRATING THESE TECHNOLOGIES INTO OUR PLATFORM AND THEIR BUSINESSES”
Andy Hovancik, CEO
chain resilience strategies for its customers.
“For many of our customers, they're going to lean on their software vendors, suppliers and partners to incorporate these smart technologies into their software solutions as part of the greater ecosystem that supports their company, to create more productivity, more efficiency and more visibility,” says Andy. “So as a result, we have an obligation to our customers to assure them that we are taking and integrating these technologies into our platform and their businesses.
“It aligns perfectly with what we've been saying for years on the topic of autonomous business-to-business commerce. For years we have been incorporating these smart technologies to make our software more intelligent. By doing so, we help
TK Elevator, a global leader in vertical transportation and urban mobility, has committed to transforming its procurement strategy amidst rapid industry growth, stringent cost-efficiency measures and increasing sustainability demands. This transformation focuses on digitisation, fostering sustainable practices and enhancing resilience.
Ralf: Oscar, given the current global challenges and the need to steer our procurement team successfully into the digital age, your role as Global CPO appears multifaceted. How did you approach the procurement transformation?
Oscar: Over the past three years, we’ve pursued a dual-track strategy. While we’ve continued to prioritise our operational imperatives around supply chain security and production delivery, we’ve also seized the opportunity to make our procurement more digital, resilient, agile and sustainable.
Ralf: That makes perfect sense. So, were the risk and resilience, and sustainability workstreams embedded into the digital procurement transformation as a comprehensive program? What were the measurable primary goals of the procurement transformation, and what challenges did you and your team face over the past three years?
Oscar: Before I delve into that, I’d like to express my gratitude once again to you and your team, Ralf, for the continuous support in aligning with these significant strategic KPIs. These include the Digital
Adoption Rate, measurement of supplier and supply chain risks and the progression of our supplier base in meeting TK Elevator’s ESG requirements.
Ralf: Behind these metrics and KPIs lie a plethora of data points. Could you briefly explain how TK Elevator’s global procurement proceeded?
Oscar: Certainly. As a first step, we opted for the comprehensive JaggaerOne procurement platform to seamlessly capture all procurement processes through a cloud solution and integrate it into our heterogeneous ERP landscape. The joint definition of a global core model for SRM and Source-to-Contract laid the groundwork to subsequently develop Procure-to-Pay for both direct and indirect operational procurement. The integration of quality processes such as APQP/PPAP was crucial to meeting our high-quality standards.
Ralf: Thank you for those insights, Oscar. Could you also briefly share what progress TK Elevator has made to date?
Oscar: We’ve achieved significant enhancements in strategic and operational procurement processes in our core countries. Following the successful rollout in China, we’re now in the process of expanding this comprehensive solution to North and South America, covering the majority of our global procurement volume. Additionally, last year, we successfully implemented supplier risk analysis and sought the necessary ESG requirements from our suppliers to better manage our supplier relationships with
sustainability considerations. In addition, TK Elevator continues to receive top sustainability ratings by CDP, EcoVadis and Sustainalytics. The company was included in the prestigious ‘A’ list by CDP for the fourth time in a row, recognising its leadership role in corporate transparency and performance on climate change. We also re-confirmed the Gold Medal in EcoVadis’ sustainability rating, now ranking in the top 2% of all assessed companies. These top ratings honour TK Elevator’s continuous efforts to combat climate change and drive sustainable action.
Ralf: Those are impressive successes, Oscar! What are your priorities for the next phase of your work?
Oscar: Now that we have the majority of procurement data within an integrated system, we can assess and plan the next steps more precisely. A central focus lies on leveraging AI, for instance, to analyse technical material specifications and further optimise our tactical procurement strategies.
Ralf: Finally, one last question: What advice would you offer to a global procurement leader embarking on a similar transformation journey?
Oscar: My advice would be not to embark on this journey alone. A successful transformation requires close collaboration from the entire team and leveraging established partnerships with companies like BearingPoint and Jaggaer to benefit from their experiences and efficiently implement the transformation project.
Oscar Luis Rego Ralf Dillmannour clients achieve their goals of productivity and efficiency so they can focus on more pressing strategic objectives, needs and programmes inside their companies.
“It starts with asking questions. How do we eliminate manual effort? How do we then go beyond that to provide real insights to our customers? Where can we offer more predictive, powerful analytics to make better decisions about their supply chain?
“Given everything that's going on in the world geopolitically, economically and environmentally – alongside the daily business challenges facing companies – what we're doing is taking these smart technologies and integrating them into our platform to mitigate supply chain risks, to meet compliance regulations, to enhance processes and then ultimately transform the enterprise commerce part of the businesses we serve.
“For instance, we have a product called Contracts AI, built specifically to apply artificial intelligence to managing and administering contracts. It is an example of how we incorporate smart technologies into our software platforms to create significant efficiency gains,
Digital Procurement Transformation projects are being heavily invested in by clients all around the globe to give them transparency over their supplier base, facilitate easier interaction with their suppliers and streamline the procurement process. Given the importance of making such a transformation, it’s no wonder that each client is looking to do the implementation in the shortest time possible at low risk. This is where the importance of having established toolkits that help speed up and streamline the project comes into play. Each implementation comes with its unique challenges but at their core, the projects and clients come with the same needs.
This is why BearingPoint has developed its own implementation and integration toolkit to streamline the implementation project by also reducing risk and delivering the highest customer impact by providing actionable steps and materials to facilitate successful execution. Due to our vast experience with solution implementations between JAGGAER & BearingPoint our integration toolkit could be leveraged with various ERP-Systems. In addition, the business transformation toolkit includes accelerators for master data migration and harmonisation, process design and process standardisation, change management and training needs.
BearingPoint is an independent, partner-led management and technology consultancy with European roots and global reach. We support the world’s leading companies and organisations in over 75 countries. As a leading provider of sourcing and procurement advisory services, we specialise in:
• Sustainable Procurement: Tailored strategies integrate environmental, social and economic factors to drive positive impact and cost efficiencies.
• Digital Transformation: Cutting-edge technologies streamline processes, enhance visibility and enable data-driven decision-making for procurement optimisation.
• Supplier Risk Management: Robust frameworks identify, assess and mitigate risks across the supply chain, ensuring resilience and continuity of operations.
• Artificial Spend Intelligence: AI-driven solutions provide actionable insights to optimise spend, detect anomalies and drive cost savings.
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Monica-Renate Schmitzer Daniel Nonnweilerfoster better compliance and better manage contracts in the process.”
Building on the notion of delivering value to its clients, Andy insists this sentiment stretches to its ESG policies and services. According to Andy, ESG is more than just a corporate strategy and JAGGAER enshrines it as an organisational imperative to empower social and environmental stewardship.
“At JAGGAER, we sit right in the middle of this topic since we work so closely with supply chain people,” says Andy. “From helping them set objectives to meeting these goals, we are intrinsically involved in our clients’ supply chains and the associated ESG priorities as both an enabler and exemplar.
“Consider the global push for decarbonisation, particularly in
“WE WORK CLOSELY WITH BEARINGPOINT, WHICH IS A GROWING GLOBAL INTEGRATOR OF OUR SYSTEMS AND PROVIDES NUMEROUS OTHER VALUE-ADDED SERVICES TO OUR CUSTOMERS”
“CONSIDER THE GLOBAL PUSH FOR DECARBONISATION, PARTICULARLY IN EUROPE. WE HAVE A ROLE TO PLAY. THE WAY WE'RE APPROACHING IT IS WE'RE FINDING TECHNOLOGY PARTNERS WHO ARE DEVELOPING THESE TYPES OF PLATFORMS AND TOOLS”
Europe. We have a role to play. The way we're approaching it is we're finding technology partners who are developing these types of platforms and tools. For example, we forged a technology partnership with carbmee, a trusted solution provider for carbon management in October 2023, where we extended our platform to fully integrate their Environmental Intelligence System carbmee EIS™ for carbon management.
“Carbmee provides comprehensive carbon transparency for companies with international supply chains. This empowers them with the ability to pinpoint carbon hotspots and collaborate with suppliers to minimise emissions. With an emphasis on Scope 3 emissions, carbmee EIS™ takes all indirect emissions into consideration – materials production, manufacturing processes, distribution and other activities across the supply chain.
This provides complete transparency into an organisation’s total carbon footprint. Now our software extends all the way through the supply chain, to deliver on carbon reduction commitments, to stay compliant and ultimately to accelerate the net zero journey.
“This is how we are taking bestin-class solutions around ESG and building them into our core platform, but also extending them in such a way that we can have a comprehensive
solution for customers who are on the same journey.
“But our commitment goes beyond this, and we've committed to specific benchmarks as an organisation ourselves. We've gone through the process of having these evaluated by the Science Based Target initiative and we have a plan for net zero in 2040. So not only are we helping our customers embrace their ESG journey, we are joining them with our own commitments and policies as well.”
“ANEON, WHICH IS ONE OF OUR STRONGEST PARTNERS IN EUROPE, DOES A LOT OF WORK ACROSS THE WORLD FOR US. THEY OFFER PARTICULAR EXPERTISE IN MANUFACTURING AND DIRECT MATERIALS PROCUREMENT”
On the topic of strategic partnerships as a means of driving technological innovation and striving towards ESG goals, Andy highlights the crucial importance of JAGGAER’s approach to collaboration and its partner ecosystem.
“It's incredibly important for us to build these collaborative alliances on a worldwide basis to build a global ecosystem of partnerships,”
says Andy. “We seek to work with companies where both parties are creating new value together.
“For instance, we work closely with BearingPoint, which is a growing global integrator of our systems and provides numerous other valueadded services to our customers.
“Aneon, which is one of our strongest partners in Europe, does a lot of work across the world for
aneon solution GmbH is an internationally operating management consultancy specialised on end-to-end procurement suite implementations. As part of the h&z group, the subsidiary is specialised in the implementation of procurement & supply chain suites. aneon offers an in-depth purchasing expertise and accompanies its customers through the entire implementation process:
Our experts advise and accompany projects during the whole process of transformation and together we develop the best individual solution for you.
We help to optimise your processes and together we develop the best individual solution for you.
We advise you on the digitalisation and make your procurement auditand future-proof.
We know how you successfully communicate change in increase acceptance in your company.
As a Jaggaer Certified Partner, Groves & Company brings over 25 years of unrivaled expertise to drive impactful change. We are trusted catalysts for digital transformation, empowering visionary leaders across diverse sectors to harness the full potential of digital solutions.
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• Source-to-Pay Assessment & Strategy
• Solution Design, Configuration and Integration
• Implementation & Change Management
• System and Process Optimisation
• Continuous Improvement & Support
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us. They offer particular expertise in manufacturing and direct materials procurement.
“Groves & Company operate here in the US and is one of our Certified Implementation Partners, bringing deep industry expertise to the table. They have been around this space and partnering with us for a long time.
“We recognise that there's only so much that we can do. We're a software provider, we have deep industry expertise and we are
for the good of our customers and we have highly complementary capabilities.
“Obviously, we're a software company, we provide services on our own software as well. But when you expand that to big global programmes, this is where our partners make a huge difference for the customer and ultimately their success.
“With our partnership strategy, we're looking for true collaboration. It's not just a transactional relationship.
“GROVES & COMPANY OPERATE HERE IN THE US AND IS ONE OF OUR CERTIFIED IMPLEMENTATION PARTNERS, BRINGING DEEP INDUSTRY EXPERTISE TO THE TABLE”
confident in what we offer our customers. But partnerships with companies like Aneon, Groves & Company and BearingPoint allow us to expand beyond those services that we can provide, from the core implementation to other related services like consulting, programme management, change management and adoption strategies which are so important.
“I don't think you can do it alone and do it right. So we go to market together. We create value together
It's about working together to pursue joint strategies in the market, developing capabilities that are complementary or augment each other, so that we deliver more value to the customer. When I think about our partnership strategy, I'm looking for businesses that add value and help us achieve our ultimate goal, which is to ensure our customers are successful. I invite prospective partners to tell me about their capabilities that can complement our own, and then demonstrate
that it can be a collaborative winwin relationship over a long period of time. If that happens, then we have a winner – we can go to market on that.”
Drawing our conversation to close, Andy wraps up the discussion on offering exceptional customer service, technology-driven solutions, striving for sustainability and wielding a robust partnership strategy to
ultimately benefit clients by sharing his insights into a yearly point of pride for JAGGAER: the company’s annual meeting with its clients.
“We held our annual meeting, REV, with our customers most recently in Barcelona for 2023, and we had people from all over the world attend. I'm relatively new at the company, and I was taken
aback by the incredible level of engagement. There's a lot going on in the enterprise software space and for our customers, who are being asked to do more than ever before, the future is exciting and yet at the same time, it's a bit daunting, because of the full transformation that has to occur. But in my time at JAGGAER, REV was a particular highlight and I
celebrate how we came together with our clients to meet them and get to know them even more – it’s an amazing privilege.”
For further information about Jaggaer, visit jaggaer.com.
Turn over for 'ADDED VALUE' with Andy.
“I recently went back and reread a book I had read decades ago and I've always espoused it as one of those primary and important readings that everyone should encounter,” says Andy. “It's called Man's Search for Meaning by Viktor Frankl. Without spoiling the book, it explores our search for purpose as human beings – and the truth is we all need a purpose. It’s fascinating how Frankl builds the case for that argument.
“You can take insights from the book and apply it to your company. We talk about purpose-driven organisations, and I absolutely believe that, firstly, we should all have our own personal purpose and, secondly every business should as well. I believe this book is one way to think about why purpose is important and how we can arrive at our personal purpose, but then take that into our organisations.”
Andy was thrilled to attend JAGGAER’s annual meeting REV2023 in Barcelona last year, where he had the chance to engage with the company’s clients and partners. He cannot wait to attend REV2024 later this year in autumn and meet with them again when the event heads to the US.
“REV2023 was a wonderful event and really showed the power of the ecosystem,” says Andy. “I’m looking forward to our next REV for the partner participation and customer engagement as an energising experience.”