STRONG SUPPLIER RELATIONS
Hyper-connectivity with suppliers bringing supply chain resilience
DATA INTO INSIGHT Weetabix procurement adapting to a changing world
PROCUREMENT AUTOMATION
Aera Technology on procurement strategy driving automated solutions
Procurement Events 2024
Noga Sharabani, Director of Global Procurement at Claroty, discusses putting procurement at the heart of business strategy
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In an uncertain world, how are procurement solutions and professionals keeping pace?
In every interview or conversation we have with procurement professionals and technology providers, you can all but guarantee references to certain key themes. Everyone speaks of the impact of an uncertain world, with geopolitical scenarios, environmental concerns, and regulatory changes accelerating the need for supply chain agility and intelligence.
This is matched by the turbo-charging of technological change with the exciting possibilities of AI and other smart procurement solutions that offer more opportunities for competitive advantage.
It is against that backdrop this issue was assembled, with automated procurement breaking down silos, ESG strategy giving new inspiration for inventive thinking, and turning the power of data into actionable insight.
It is an exciting time to be part of the procurement ecosystem, with so many developments in a changing world, and this issue explores how the industry is evolving to keep pace with that change.
NEIL PERRY
neil.perry@bizclikmedia.com
“It is an exciting time to be part of the procurement eco-system”
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128 EVENT REVIEW
In an increasingly digital world, traditional paper-based processes are being replaced by innovative electronic solutions. One such advancement is the adoption of electronic surety bonds, which offer government agencies significant security, efficiency, and convenience benefits. However, many agencies are yet to register for Surety2000, a leading platform for electronic surety bonds. This article explores the advantages that agencies can unlock by embracing this modern approach and highlights why those who have not yet registered are missing out.
Electronic surety bonds through platforms like Surety2000 provide an added layer of security for government agencies. Unlike paper bonds that can be misplaced, damaged, or tampered with, electronic bonds are stored securely in a
Lisa Deatherage Director of Sales & Marketing Surety2000
digital format. This eliminates the risk of loss and ensures that the bond’s integrity remains intact throughout its lifecycle. Furthermore, electronic bonds offer improved traceability and auditability, allowing for easy access to bond details, transaction history, and verification records, minimizing the potential for fraud or errors.
Implementing Surety2000’s electronic surety bonds streamlines the entire bonding process for agencies. With traditional paper-based bonds, there are numerous administrative tasks involved, such as printing, signing, mailing, and manual record-keeping. These tasks are time-consuming, prone to errors, and can cause delays. However, electronic surety bonds eliminate these
inefficiencies. Bonds can be created, signed, and submitted electronically, reducing paperwork and manual handling. Additionally, digital records can be easily accessed and shared, enabling faster processing, accurate tracking, and seamless collaboration between relevant parties.
Moving away from paper-based surety bonds to electronic alternatives can result in significant cost savings for agencies. Printing, postage, storage, and administrative expenses associated with paper bonds can add up over time. By transitioning to Surety2000’s electronic surety bonds, agencies can minimize these costs. The platform offers free pricing models for agencies, which is more cost-effective in the long run compared to traditional bond management approaches. Moreover, the reduction in paperwork and manual processes frees up staff time, allowing them to focus on more value-added tasks.
Surety2000’s electronic surety bonds enable convenient access to bond information for all stakeholders involved. Authorized individuals can securely access bond documents and related information anytime, anywhere, through an internet-connected device. This accessibility enhances collaboration and communication between government agencies, surety companies, contractors, and their surety brokers.
As technology continues to advance, electronic surety bonds are poised to become the industry standard. By registering for Surety2000, agencies can future-proof their bond management processes. These platforms continuously evolve to meet emerging industry requirements and technological advancements. Therefore, agencies that embrace electronic surety bonds position themselves for scalability and seamless integration with other digital systems, creating a foundation for more efficient and streamlined operations in the long term.
Government agencies that have not yet registered to accept Surety2000 electronic surety bonds are missing out on numerous advantages. From heightened security and streamlined processes to cost savings, improved accessibility, and future scalability, embracing electronic bonds can significantly enhance bond management operations. The transition to electronic bonds is a logical step in the digital transformation journey of agencies, allowing them to stay ahead of the curve and reap the benefits of modern technology.
The UK has introduced a new digital trade act that updates older legislation from 1882 to allow digital, rather than paper based records from shipping.
A key aspect of the change states that the electronic document must be identifiable from copies and must be
safe from unauthorised alterations and there has to be a reliable system in place to enforce that.
It is estimated the act could generate a net benefit of £1.14 billion for the British economy over the next decade for UK businesses trading across the world.
Procurement Manager at Weetabix Philipa Abbott explains how data is being turned into insight to face modern procurement challenges
WRITTEN BY: NEIL PERRY
» I have over 15 years’ experience within procurement, in which time I’ve sourced ingredients from across the globe. I’m lucky I get to do what I love for a living. I have purchased a wide variety of commodities during my career to date, including spices from India, dried fruit from Thailand and cheesecake sauces made in the UK. I’ve enjoyed the progression my career has provided, starting out with smaller businesses, and now working at such a well-loved and iconic brand like Weetabix.
I joined Weetabix earlier this year as Procurement Manager for Wheat and Utilities, following two and a half years as Procurement Manager for Vibrant Foods. Before that I’ve also held positions at Bowman Ingredients, Samworth Brothers, Whitworths and Premier Foods.
Sourcing wheat for the nation’s favourite cereal is certainly a good story to share with the family around the breakfast table. What’s been clear since joining Weetabix is the company’s commitment to responsible production at every step along the journey from the wheat fields to your cereal bowl.
80%+
of Weetabix growers have been supplying the company with wheat for more than five years
Weetabix already has a great story to tell when it comes to wheat and in fact, 100% of the wheat used in both the classic Weetabix Original biscuits and our flavoured Weetabix variants is sourced from within 50 miles of our factory in Northamptonshire, UK. We work closely with our Growers’ Group, who are a collective of approximately 120 environmentally aware farmers who we trust to grow, harvest, store and deliver the finest quality wheat. This has been a key part of Weetabix’s sustainable sourcing policy for over 12 years now with all our farmers abide by our Wheat Protocol, which sets out environmental and quality requirements to ensure we use greattasing, local wheat for years to come. Looking forward, we’re continuing to work closely with our Growers Group to advance our Wheat Protocol, allowing us to drive further reductions in the carbon footprint of our ingredient production. When it comes to utilities, we’re constantly looking to implement best-practice in sourcing so that we can minimise our environmental impact. Although we rely increasingly on renewable energy supplied through the grid to power our manufacturing operations at
“Our role as procurement professionals is to take it all in, make it consumable and turn it into insight for the whole business to utilise”
PHILIPA ABBOTT PROCUREMENT MANAGER –WHEAT & UTILITIES WEETABIX
Burton Latimer, we still generate most energy ourselves through our Combined Heat and Power Plant (CHP). We will be upgrading this plant over the coming year to enhance its performance and efficiency. We are focused on making day-to-day progress with our utilities efficiency programmes but have also started to work towards our longer-term targets of operating as a net zero business by 2050. This is a journey we will be undertaking through close work with our partners both up and down the supply chain.
» Change always moves at an unprecedented pace within procurement, especially in recent years, whether it is a change in people behaviour due to Covid or on importing due to Brexit or other political issues impacting market stability.
At the same time there is the backdrop of global warming impacting on the crops and the numerous ongoing challenges this brings us as we look to source responsibly grown wheat for the future. Grain traders have seen 25 different seasons across 25 years, the level and pace of change can be overwhelming. However, it’s about working with the data you have and collaborating with suppliers to ensure
we can sustainably keep putting breakfast cereal on the table of millions of households.
As a procurement professional we must adjust to these fluctuating markets and an ever-evolving environment. It is therefore increasingly important to be informed of the world around you so that you are in a stronger position to efficiently react to those changes, both communicating the risks with your team and coming up with solutions for the business.
There is a vast amount of data within the industry and our role as procurement professionals is to take it all in, make it consumable and turn it into insight for the whole business to utilise.
Procurement also allows you to work with a mix of different customers, which certainly keeps you on your toes. The most demanding customers give you the chance to be exceptional, which is a challenging, but incredibly rewarding aspect of the job.
The maximum distance wheat travels from farm to factory to make Weetabix Original biscuits
Q: HOW IMPORTANT IS IT TO HAVE A DIVERSE GROUP OF PROFESSIONALS WORKING IN PROCUREMENT?
» Diversity is critical to procurement. As the risks facing our environment evolve, so do the solutions that are required to be implemented. If the biggest challenge is an ongoing state of flux, then as a result, we need professionals from all backgrounds to support the creativity of thinking and to lead the procurement sector in the years to come.
There is strength in different viewpoints, which is why Weetabix’s support of cross-functional career moves can be so beneficial. For example, Becky Hain, our Head of Procurement here at Weetabix has previously held roles at the company as Head of Sales and Head of Category. These different experiences have given her a wealth of knowledge, both of the overall market landscape and the company itself, that has really contributed to her success in her current role. We are all expecting ongoing change and as procurement professionals, we are ultimately here to support and manage risk. Having a diverse team is critical to support diverse thinking and we need individuals from various backgrounds to confront norms and push forward our business.
In my short time at Weetabix, I’ve seen the emphasis they place on creative thinking and challenging their employees in a constructive way to
be the best they can be. It’s important to question the idea, not the individual and a healthy interrogation of ideas is encouraged here.
It’s clear that they truly value their people, and this creates a positive and nurturing atmosphere to grow and develop a career – it is honestly an exceptional working environment they create and maintain.
» There are lots of systems available for procurement teams nowadays to help you turn data into insight. These can be highly valuable tools in taking complex and vast amounts of data into something that is useful and usable to the wider business.
Here at Weetabix, we use Microsoft Dynamics AX as our ERP system (moving on to Microsoft 365 from next year), and use Medius for e-Procurement and Cirtuo for category management. The combined power of these systems gives us the means to effectively manage our data streams and supports automation across the procurement team, as well as other areas of the business.
Without doubt, during my time in procurement, technology has significantly streamlined processes within procurement operations by increasing efficiencies and providing constructive insights to aid better decision-making.
“We need professionals from all backgrounds to support the creativity of thinking and to lead the procurement sector in the years to come”
PHILIPA ABBOTT PROCUREMENT MANAGER –WHEAT & UTILITIES WEETABIX
WEETABIX SUSTAINABILITY PROGRESS
PILLAR ONE 91% OF INGREDIENT SUPPLIERS HAVE SIGNED UP TO UPDATED PROCUREMENT STANDARDS
PILLAR TWO Over 99% OF PACKAGING IS NOW WIDELY RECYCLABLE
PILLAR THREE 5 Million+ LITRES OF WATER SAVED IN A PROGRAMME TO CAPTURE AND REUSE CONDENSATE IN OUR MANUFACTURING PROCESS
(SOURCE WEETABIX SUSTAINABILITY REPORT 2022)
PILLAR FOUR 3 Million BREAKFASTS DONATED TO FARESHARE AND MAGIC BREAKFAST IN THE PAST YEAR TO ENSURE HEALTHY BREAKFASTS FOR THOSE WHO NEED THEM
TITLE: PROCUREMENT MANAGER
– WHEAT & UTILITIES
COMPANY: WEETABIX
INDUSTRY: FOOD LOCATION: UK
Experienced Commodity
Buyer with a demonstrated history of working in the food production industry. Skilled in Budgeting, Food & Beverage, FastMoving Consumer Goods (FMCG), Procurement, and Forecasting. Strong purchasing professional with a cips level 4 focused in Cips from City College
» It certainly plays a big role, and I’m a nerd so I love all data! Data allows for quantitative evaluation. It can be easy to be caught up in the sentiment of a market, but good data allows procurement specialists to make informed decisions and reduces the bias from the noise within the market.
I suspect in the future, analytical analysis will form a greater part of a buyer’s role. Without the right quantitative data, it would be hard to know if you’re working with the right suppliers, or if they’re the best choice for your business needs –you’d be basing it on your own world view. This is why it’s vital to spend money on purchasing external data, so you’re not led simply by what’s in the newspapers or your own personal biases.
In addition, it’s much cleaner and effective to have strong independent data, rather than relying on potentially biassed reportage from the suppliers themselves.
Currently I’m working on a ‘seed to spoon’ study which initially will be used to further educate the business about our procurement chain, but could also have more consumerfacing uses as well. It would be impossible to paint the picture of our supply chain without data – it’s imperative to everything we do as a procurement team.
“It can be easy to be caught up in the sentiment of a market, but good data allows procurement specialists to make informed decisions”
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Procurement Magazine lists its Top 10 unmissable events every procurement and supply chain executive should attend in 2024
WRITTEN BY: GEORGIA WILSON
Riding the waves of another successful Procurement & Supply Chain LIVE London, Procurement Magazine ranks 10 of the top upcoming events in procurement and supply chain to keep an eye out for.
When: October 16-18, 2023
Where: Scottsdale, Arizona Agenda: Overview
Renowned for their networking, thought-provoking content, and cutting-edge solutions, SIG’s Global Executive Summit is a three day event packed with the latest practices, cost-cutting strategies, innovative processes, and risk mitigation approaches for the procurement industry.
Via CPO roundtables, 4-hour SIG University workshops, keynote sessions, breakout sessions, solution demonstrations and networking events, those attending will have access to an oasis of procurement knowledge.
The summit will also include the 2023 Future of Sourcing Awards.
When: October 11-12, 2023
Where: Amsterdam & Virtual Agenda: DPW Agenda
Making digital aspirations for procurement a reality now. The theme for DPW 2023 is ‘Making Tech Work’. Over the two-day event speakers, panelists, exhibitors, and attendees will be challenged to deliver actionable solutions - not just ideas.
Whether you’re at the start or the end of your digital journey, DPW has something for everyone. The event’s top-level discussion points include: setting up the digital program for success; building and integrating technologies; and creating a futureproof organisation.
When: November 15, 2023
Where: Dubai, UAE
Agenda: TBC
Hosted by 3novex Global, the 100 CPO Forum 2023 is returning to Dubai for its second edition. The event gathers CPOs together leading them towards strategic and agile product direction aligned with future goals.
Last year’s event looked at seven core topics including: the metaverse of procurement; the future of public procurement; mitigating global disruption; sustainable procurement; procurement and contracting; selfservice procurement; and blockchain.
When: TBC
Where: TBC
Agenda: Register interest in 2024
With procurement having a clear position of influence to drive purpose-based strategies, World Procurement Congress will be returning in 2024 following the success of 2023.
At this year’s event, World Procurement Congres discussed Total Procurement and the need for CPOs to bring creativity and imagination to drive commercial success with purpose.
When: April 29-May 1, 2024
Where: Las Vegas
Agenda: TBC
Delivering a world-class experience for thought leaders, supply management professionals, and suppliers alike, ISM World is returning in 2024 to provide an educational environment that fosters learning, networking, and idea sharing.
During ISM World events attendees can gain insights and actionable tips via a variety of mediums including keynote speakers, silent theatres, idea labs, and wellness spaces.
When: May 6-7, 2024
Where: Orlando, Florida
Agenda: TBC
Returning for another year, Gartner Supply Chain Symposium/Xpo™ delivers must-have insights, strategies, and frameworks for chief supply chain officers and leaders in the industry.
This year’s Gartner Supply Chain Symposium/Xpo™ focused on the collective potential of supply chain ecosystems; risk mitigation; digital initiatives for business growth; creating inclusive and engaging talent strategy; and commercial innovation.
When: June 12-13, 2024
Where: Hamburg, Germany Agenda: Coming soon…
An exhibition for digitalisation and innovation in the procurement sector, the Procurement Summit is back for its seventh year, to provide insights, panel discussions, workships and more to its attendees.
Core themes of 2023 included sustainability, the future of procurement, negotiation strategies, innovation, automation, procurement transformation, trapsnport and logistics, and many more!
Procurement Summit’s primary focus is digitaiosation in purchasing keeping an eye on the newest topics and controversies influencing procurement.
When: December 6-7, 2023
Where: Virtual – Global Agenda: Manufacturing LIVE
The virtual event for every manufacturing leader. Sister publication for Procurement Magazine and Supply Chain Digital, Manufacturing Digital is debuting its first virtual LIVE event featuring more than 30 internationally acclaimed speakers across six interactive panel discussions.
Key themes for the event include: Factory of the future; industry 4.0; digital manufacturing; tech and AI; and women in manufacturing.
Two days, one unmissable event – it’s time to be disruptive. Get your pass!
When: January 24-25 & June 5-6, 2024
Where: Virtual – Global Agenda: TBC
Off the back of the success of 2023’s virtual Procurement & Supply Chain LIVE New York, Procurement Magazine alongside Supply Chain Digital will be hosting for a second year Procurement & Supply Chain LIVE New York, and debuting Procurement & Supply Chain LIVE Dubai.
Like our in person events, both New York and Dubai will bring some of the most renowned leaders from the world’s biggest companies to drive impactful and thought-provoking conversations and insights.
2023’s premier one-day virtual event featured an elite line-up of strategic thinkers from across supply chain and procurement, who will take part in an array of keynotes, interactive fireside chats and panel discussions.
Knowledge Partners
When: September 25-26, 2024
Where: Business Design Centre Agenda: TBC
Returning to London for a fourth year after a successful run last month, Procurement & Supply Chain LIVE will gather again industry-leading voices for global organisations.
Key themes of 2023 included procurement techology; supplier diversity; strategic sourcing; procurement strategy; supply chain sustainability; risk
and resilience; digital supply chain and transformation; and women in procurement and supply chain.
Did you attend one of our previous events? Head over to Procurement Magazine to watch on-demand Procurement & Supply Chain LIVE London and Procurement & Supply Chain LIVE New York (Virtual).
It is hyper-connectivity with suppliers that brings resilience to supply chains, rather than super-lean, super-fast operations
WRITTEN BY: SEAN ASHCROFT
“When a business is looking to improve its performance, suppliers are often overlooked compared to other key stakeholders”
RICHARD HOGG, CEO, VIZIBL
Strong supplier relations are forged by the management of frontline operations, contracts performance and risk. Put like this, It sounds simple, but in reality requires businesses to know their supply chain inside out.
In old money such knowledge might be called having an ‘in-the-round’ view of supply chain. Today, it’s more likely to be dubbed ‘hyper-visibility’, a 360-degree view or end-to-end visibility.
The naming conventions might have changed, but the prerequisites for healthy supplier relations have not. The clue is in the title: it’s all about relationships.
And like all relationships, it’s a two-way street. Suppliers want to build strong relations because this is what gives them preferred supplier status. Organisations want the same thing, because such relationships help add value outside of supplier contracts, and when scaled-up these benefits bring resilience.
Richard Hogg is CEO of Vizibl, a collaboration and innovation platform, that helps both buyers and suppliers manage their relationship. Hogg says strong supplier engagement is a way to improve supply chain resilience and sustainability.
“When a business is looking to improve its performance, suppliers are often overlooked compared to other key stakeholders like shareholders and customers,” he says. “This view is not only misjudged, but it’s also a wasted opportunity.”
He says supplier engagement can cover a broad set of actions, activities and tactics to deepen relations, but feels the best results come from “higher-intensity tactics”, which include supplier collaboration and innovation.
Knowing where to start can often be the most difficult thing, says Hogg. One logical place he says is for businesses to not only have clear strategic aims as a
TITLE: CEO
COMPANY: VIZIBL
INDUSTRY: SUPPLY CHAIN
Former JAGGAER executive Hogg joined as Vizible’s new CEO six months ago. He says of himself: “I specialise in B2B SaaS GTM planning, marketing, customer acquisition, sales cycle processes, expansion, successful implementation, adoption and retention focus with full sales bookings and P&L responsibility.”
business but to share these with suppliers.
“These should include the metrics you need to meet in order to be a success, and how your procurement strategy and tactics fit into that broader goal,” he says.
He adds: “Strategy sharing should address short-, medium-, and long- term plans, and include a sense of the pains your business is responding to.”
This he says gives suppliers an idea of how they can strengthen their relationship with an organisation based on its priorities, meaning they are better able to meet and understand its needs.
“This should also be reciprocal,” Hogg advises. “Suppliers should be invited to share strategic plans for their own businesses, as this facilitates joint opportunities for mutual growth and development early on in the relationship.”
Data collection is another crucial aspect of strong supplier relations, Hogg says.
“This allows you to identify areas for improvement or opportunities for growth, in addition to laying the groundwork to prove the value of other engagement tactics.”
He says this data should include indicators of performance, risk, and opportunity, across areas such as spending, quality, sustainability, resilience and innovation.
“How you collect these will vary,” he says. “When it comes to spending, quality, and operational performance it’s likely to be a case of enriching the data you already have on a given supplier.”
By contrast, he says for sustainability, the data-gathering process is likely to be more involved.
“Turning to disclosure platforms is a great way to ease this friction,” says Hogg.
By way of example, Hogg says businesses can ask suppliers to disclose to CDP, the not-for-profit body that runs the global disclosure system for investors, companies, cities, states and regions to manage their environmental performance.
But what if there is a mismatch between an organisation’s strategies and those of a supplier?
“It’s important to remember that some targets can undermine your relationship with suppliers if they do not yet have the capacity or knowledge within their business to understand or meet them,” warns Hogg. “Begin with manageable, leading indicator
targets. Regardless of your use case, it’s important for suppliers to feel reassured they’ll receive support to achieve them.”
In short, Hogg says it’s best to “aim high but start small”, with a view to scaling successes.
Another expert in the field of supplier relationships is Andreas Baader, who is SVP Supply Chain Serviceline, Germany, with US professional services firm, Genpact.
Baader feels that some organisations can become too focused on supply chain performance levels, and that such a ‘need for speed’ approach can be to the detriment of supplier relations.
TITLE: SVP SUPPLY CHAIN SERVICELINE, GERMANY
COMPANY: GENPACT
INDUSTRY: PROFESSIONAL SERVICES
Genpact for four years, and is based in Munich. Prior to this he was Managing Partner with Barkawi Management Consultants, a Genpact company.
“Hyper-connectivity with suppliers, rather than lightning-fast speed, should be the ultimate measure of a successful supply chain”
ANDREAS BAADER, SVP SUPPLY CHAIN SERVICELINE, GERMANY, GENPACT
Best practice supply chain strategies –including those to boost supplier relations – is overseen by the Institute for Supply Management.
The ISM is the oldest not-for-profit supply management organisation worldwide.
Founded in 1915 it is committed to advancing supply management to drive value and competitive advantage for its 50,000 members. It publishes professional guides, including the ISM Report On Business, and also runs highly-regarded certification and training programs, corporate services and events.
It also offers advocacy and thought leadership around supply management, and lobbies on issues that affect its members at national and international levels.
“We work to promote the value of supply chain management and contribute to policy discussions on issues affecting the profession,” it says.
According to PwC research, almost a quarter (23%) of businesses do not have an SRM programme
“Lightning-fast speeds should not be the ultimate measure of a successful supply chain,” he says. “Rather, the target should be hyper-connectivity with suppliers, and the inherent resilience that comes with this.”
Baader adds: “While the global supply chain continues to struggle with new demand patterns, looming recession, and geopolitical tensions, there still lies a sense of urgency to bolster production and return to the status quo, which in some minds, equals speed.
To counter this, Baader says businesses must begin to accept that “the supply chain does not need to be lightning fast to succeed”.
He adds; “Companies should instead focus on creating a hyper-connected supply chain that through successful supplier
relationships, planning, and data, tech and AI reduces their supply chain footprint and builds onto existing capabilities – essentially concentrating on reliability and resilience.”
Supply chains should allow sales to match customer demand and constraint supply, Badder points out, adding: “To do this organisations can embed agility into all aspects of the supply chain using digital enablers such as IoT, data analytics, and advanced control towers.”
These tools, he says, “will improve insights and help streamline processes, from sourcing to demand”. He adds: “Speed will come for free through reliability, and the use of technology, data, and AI will create sustainable, nimble, and hyper-connected supply chains that are prepared to serve the next generation of consumers.”
WRITTEN BY:
NEIL PERRY
PRODUCED BY:
STUART IRVING
Claroty’s goal is to secure the cyber-physical systems (CPS) that are used to run critical infrastructure every day. Its technology protects systems used to run oil pipelines, health facilities, power grids, water utilities and many other essential services.
When Noga Sharabani made her first steps into the procurement sector, it was to protect against a very different type of threat.
“It was mid-1999, I was working in a bank and studying for my Master’s degree in Marketing & Finance when a friend called me saying that the high-tech company she was working for, Gilat Satellite Networks, was looking for someone to join the procurement team for a temporary role to oversee suppliers’ compliance for the Y2K bug,” she says.
“At the beginning of 2000, when the Y2K panic ended, I was asked to take the role of direct buyer and started to learn everything about the procurement world. Working for nearly 22 years at Gilat gave me the opportunity to develop my skills and gain experience in almost every category of purchasing – direct and indirect –and managing OEMs and suppliers in a multicultural environment, which kept my career very challenging but interesting.
“I had excellent mentors over the years who taught me about supplier relationship management, and this is what I am focused on teaching my team today.”
Learn more
ProcurementWorks gives procurement teams what they need to build buying experiences that are personalized and intelligent. Now, procurement can automate the intake of all kinds of procurement requests and orchestrate complex resolutions.
Sagi Eliyahu, co-founder and CEO, Tonkean
To understand the mission of Tonkean, you need to understand that compliance requires high adoption, and adoption requires a great experience
Sagi Eliyahu is CEO at Tonkean and was one of the founders just under a decade ago. Tonkean is a first-ofits-kind experience platform with the purpose of developing internal processes that employees actually follow.
“We started the company with a very simple goal in theory, but very hard in practice, which is empowering companies to leverage software better,” he says.
The key to empowering companies in that way is helping them optimise their internal processes so that following those processes is both easier and more valuable than circumventing them.
“Everyone knows that if you go on a website and there are twenty fields for you to fill in versus one, the conversion rate is going to be poor. Why do we expect people within the company to fill in a twenty-step process?” he says.
Partnership with Claroty
Tonkean has been working with Claroty to modernise the way internal teams engage with the company’s processes and systems, with the aim of increasing adoption, compliance and satisfaction.
Ultimately, organisations like Claroty work with Tonkean to increase the value their procurement teams are able to create as partners to the business.
“They were a great partner to work with, and we are very excited to see the results and the value they’ve been getting through the platform,” Eliyahu adds.
The influence of AI is also something that excites Eliyahu, as he believes it will inspire people to rethink their approach..
“One thing that is very clear, is that it has reinvigorated the minds and the imagination of people into asking ‘why do I do it manually?’,” Eliyahu concludes. “They will ask why is this something that I need to take 10 clicks to do? Why can’t this be smarter? Why can’t this be more intelligent?”
Nearly 25 years later, Sharabani is a passionate advocate of procurement operations taking a leading role within business, being central to the strategy of organisations going forward, and brought that mindset to Claroty since establishing its procurement operation in 2020.
After leaving her career in banking, she embraced procurement at Gilat Satellite Engineering, before making the step to Claroty, where she enjoyed the opportunity presented by helping a young cyber company implement a growth strategy.
Driving innovation through procurement Claroty was founded in 2015 and has grown to be a trusted provider and advisor for
“I am passionate about driving innovation in procurement and staying up to date on industry trends and best practices”
NOGA SHARABANI DIRECTOR OF GLOBAL PROCUREMENT, CLAROTY
hundreds of businesses with thousands of locations around the world. Its platform is a crucial tool that integrates with customers’ existing infrastructure to provide a full range of controls for visibility, risk and vulnerability management, threat detection, and secure remote access.
“I am passionate about driving innovation in procurement and staying up to date on industry trends and best practices,” says Sharabani. “I believe that collaboration and building strong relationships with suppliers are essential for achieving successful procurement outcomes.”
Driving that innovation has become ever more crucial after the expansion of
TITLE: DIRECTOR OF GLOBAL PROCUREMENT
COMPANY: CLAROTY
INDUSTRY: CYBER SECURITY
LOCATION: ISRAEL
Noga Sharabani is the Director of Global Procurement at Claroty, and has 25 years of experience in the procurement sector and a Master’s Degree in Business Management from Ben-Gurion University in Israel.
She spent two decades at Gilat Satellite Networks, working her way from Procurement Buyer to Strategic Procurement Manager, before moving to Claroty in 2020.
She is passionate about professional development, embracing the latest technological trends, and moving procurement operations to the forefront of business.
Wing provides peace of mind by leveraging in-product remediation and automation to secure organizations' SaaS usage at an affordable price
Claroty turned to SaaS security posture management (SSPM) leader Wing Security, to ensure its SaaS usage is secure.
Claroty secures the Extended Internet of Things (XIoT) to achieve unmatched visibility, protection, and threat detection across all cyber-physical systems. When it came to securing their employees’ SaaS usage, they turned to Wing Security to ensure they have full control over their SaaS layer.
“Wing provides us with the visibility and the detail we need to protect our (SaaS) environment and make sure that our employees are safe and secure when they’re dealing with SaaS applications,” says Tim Hillyard, Senior Director of Security Operations at Claroty.
SaaS onboarding is decentralised and often doesn’t go through IT or Security approvals. This creates a massive Shadow IT problem, as well as a serious security concern Hillyard adds: “We need Wing because many SaaS applications are actually vulnerable to certain types of attacks, and in some cases these SaaS applications are malicious. “They are created
by bad actors whose intention is to compromise your end systems, or gain access to your personal data. So we need visibility on bad applications so that we can protect our employees.”
Wing Security is the only SSPM provider to deliver SaaS visibility completely for free. More info on that here It is unique in that it doesn’t only lay out the problem for you by showing you all the SaaS applications, users who use them and the data that is shared in and between SaaS applications, it also automatically remediates SaaS security issues from within the system, taking the load off of the security teams.
For other companies looking for similar SaaS peace of mind, Hillyard has this advice: “Find a company like Wing, that can change quickly and adapt to the ever-changing SaaS threat landscape.
“You need a tool that can also adapt quickly to the environment and protect your users and your data.”
the Claroty team and portfolio with the acquisition of the healthcare IoT security company Medigate in January 2022.
This represented a quantum change in the company, expanding its focus beyond operational technology (OT) to protect all CPS across industrial, healthcare, and
commercial environments: the Extended Internet of Things (XIoT).
This expansion, combined with the everchanging roster of cyber threats, means it is imperative that the company remains at the forefront of technology innovation while maintaining fast, efficient, and sustained growth.
“In my experience, putting procurement at the forefront of business strategy is essential in driving efficient growth for any organisation. At Claroty, the procurement function is fully aligned with the company’s growth objectives, which empowers our team to not only source and manage resources more effectively, but also to proactively identify cost-saving
“Procurement teams must establish robust data governance practices, clear policies, data quality controls, and data integration strategies to leverage AI effectively”
NOGA SHARABANI DIRECTOR OF GLOBAL PROCUREMENT, CLAROTY
opportunities, adopt a culture of innovation, and foster supplier partnerships.”
One of the biggest challenges Sharabani faced in this role was managing cloud spend. “After the Medigate acquisition, we had to bring two very different cloud spend strategies together. The Claroty platform at the time was on-prem with very little cloud spend, while the Medigate platform was fully SaaS and drove high cloud spend.”
Within a few months of the acquisition, Claroty had developed a new SaaS product called xDome, which further increased its cloud spend.
“To address this challenge, I asked Eli Mansoor, the owner of OskaQ Consulting, to help us develop a cloud spend management plan,” Sharabani describes. “This plan included setting clear goals, identifying cost-
“By leveraging cutting-edge solutions, emerging technologies, and strategic partnerships, I am able to secure the most innovative and robust technologies offerings for our organisation”Claroty WATCH NOW
NOGA SHARABANI DIRECTOR OF GLOBAL PROCUREMENT, CLAROTY
saving opportunities, and implementing best practices for cloud procurement. As a result of this plan, Claroty as a team – including Procurement, Product, DevOps, R&D, and Chief Architect – is working in full sync and we were able to reduce the cloud spending substantially, while still supporting the growth of our business.”
It is by adopting this mindset for the procurement function that Sharabani believes she can make the greatest impact on the future success of the business and the customers who rely on its technology to secure their most critical operations.
“I am committed to staying at the forefront of technological advancements and industry best practices,” she argues.
“By leveraging cutting-edge solutions, emerging technologies, and strategic
partnerships, I am able to secure the most innovative and robust technology offerings for our organisation. I meticulously evaluate and select suppliers with proven expertise, track records of excellence, and a strong commitment to data protection and privacy.”
By building strong communication channels with other business functions, Sharabani has helped to add value to Claroty and support the revenue side through proactive engagement with key departments such as Business Development, Product, DevOps, and Finance. I’ve been able to identify and capitalize on numerous opportunities for cost optimization and value enhancement that directly contribute to revenue growth.
My team and I work closely with the Product team to define and track our COGS (Cost Of
“With OskaQ Consulting I feel confident that Claroty’s cloud spend is optimized, in control, and we have the agreements we need in order to accelerate Claroty’s business growth”
Noga Sharabani, Director of Global Procurement, Claroty
OskaQ
• On-going FinOps-as-a-service
• Negotiate cloud discount agreements
• FinOps maturity assessment
• Build a cost aware organization culture
• Accelerate business collaboration with your cloud vendors
and CEO
Goods Sold) and cloud infrastructure, ensuring we are getting the best value for our investments but also maintaining scalability.
In collaboration with the Finance department, we’ve successfully optimized payment terms, reduced supplier duplication, and streamlined critical processes. For instance, we’ve implemented an efficient vendor onboarding process through automation using the Tonkean AI platform, which not only saves time but also ensures compliance and cost efficiency.
Year founded
driven innovation and continuous improvement throughout the organisation,” Sharabani says. “I take great pride in my ability to establish and nurture these relationships and communication channels, as they have been instrumental in driving success and positively impacting the procurement function at Claroty.”
Moreover, a strategic partnership with the Business Development team has resulted in the optimization of AWS agreements, further boosting revenue for Claroty. This collaborative approach across functions underscores how procurement can have a direct and positive impact on the bottom line.
“These examples reflect how the strong relationships and effective communication channels established in procurement have
Sharabani believes that the future of procurement is going to be fundamentally linked to, and influenced by, emerging technologies and digital transformation and that procurement leads need to embrace automation, AI and data-driven decisions.
“By leveraging technology effectively, procurement leads can enhance efficiency, reduce costs, and improve decision-making,” she says. “So, in the next 12 to 18 months, we’ll continue to adopt automation and AI.” This mentality, Sharabani explains, will help
“I wake up each morning eager to learn something new and experience the impact it has on procurement”
NOGA SHARABANI DIRECTOR OF GLOBAL PROCUREMENT, CLAROTY
build the foundations for the next decade of progress at Claroty.
“By successfully establishing a scalable procurement organisation, we are helping to position Claroty as a trusted partner for securing critical infrastructure and enabling the adoption of CPS. This will create new opportunities for growth and expansion, allowing us to play a pivotal role in securing the XIoT ecosystem.”
Although AI presents many positive possibilities, she emphasises that it needs to be used carefully and with intelligence to get the most useful results.
“AI relies heavily on high-quality data and we – as the data source – need to ensure data accuracy and integrity. Procurement teams must establish robust data governance practices, clear policies, data quality controls, and data integration strategies to leverage AI effectively.”
The quality of the partnerships formed between the procurement team at Claroty and both internal and external colleagues is something Sharabani is particularly proud of, as it has allowed her to align with business objectives and drive successful outcomes.
“Collaborating closely with strategic suppliers has allowed for deeper, stronger partnerships, resulting in achieving company targets like opening local fulfilment centres in the US and Germany to support our customers locally,” Sharabani says. “By maintaining strong connections with stakeholders, I have been able to align procurement strategies with organisational goals, ensuring seamless integration and driving mutual success like cost optimisation and risk mitigations.”
Sharabani emphasises the importance of some of Claroty’s external partners, as identifying best-in-class partners helps the company achieve its objectives.
She highlights the partnership with OskaQ which has become a key partner in cloud management strategy.
“They have expertise in optimising cloud expenditure and work closely with me and the company to identify areas of improvement,” she says. “Through their guidance and recommendations, we have been able to make strategic adjustments that increase profitability and optimise our cloud spending.”
This has helped fulfil a highpriority project focused on cloud cost management and optimisation, which is essential for improving the company’s gross margin.
Another key partnership Sharabani references is Wing Security, which gives full visibility into Claroty’s environment and enforces security controls and policy.
“We have monthly meetings with the partner to discuss issues, features, new requests and mutually understand the evolving threat landscape to ensure we are aligned,” Sharabani says, emphasising the importance of close communication.
“The partnership with Wing Security has been essential,” she adds, “allowing Claroty to effectively manage our security programme and meet our projected target goals to protect Claroty and ultimately our customers from everchanging threats.”
Another partner is Snyk, which helps Claroty’s software development team develop fast and
stay secure, using AI and automation from their first lines of code to their running cloud.
Sharabani also highlights the value of the Tonkean partnership, as a comprehensive solution to handling the entire procurement process.
“By leveraging Tonkean, we can save time and resources for my team while ensuring a seamless and efficient procurement process, from intake to resolution,” she says. Sharabani continuously links the importance of the procurement operation to wider business and customer goals, whether that be in terms of finance, environment, or security, and the input of partners is critical to that success.
“Overall, these partnerships have been invaluable in helping us achieve our aims. They bring expertise, technological capabilities, and streamlined processes that contribute to cost savings, efficiency, and a positive user experience,” she emphasises. “By collaborating with these partners, we can drive success in our procurement function and support the overall growth and success of the company.”
When Claroty acquired Medigate, Sharabani says this presented an opportunity to increase value from procurement synergies. “I implemented a new SaaS management platform called Zluri for visibility into all the software within Claroty and Medigate’s respective technology stacks and was able to manage renewal effectively. This way I could better manage the integration, and identify similar or duplicate SaaS platforms, which not only saved a significant amount of money but also enhanced overall efficiency.”
With nearly 25 years of experience in the procurement sector, Noga Sharabani has seen significant changes in technology that have fundamentally transformed the way procurement business is conducted, and she says it motivates her to stay on top of industry trends and best practice.
She believes seeking continuous improvement is the way she gets constant fulfilment from her profession.
“Besides the joy of raising my five children, I wake up each morning eager to learn something new and experience the impact it has on procurement,” she says enthusiastically. “I actively engage in professional networks, participate in continuous learning opportunities, and find inspiration in podcasts and webinars. It is incredibly exciting to witness how AI, for example, can elevate the field of procurement.”
Her advice to other professionals earlier in their procurement careers is to embrace change, as the environment is constantly evolving because of technological advancements, market dynamics and global factors, but by staying adaptable you can thrive.
“What I find most fulfilling about working in my role is the opportunity to shape the future of my organisation in today’s rapidly changing business landscape,” Sharabani concludes. “By embracing innovation, collaboration, and continuous improvement, I can contribute to creating a resilient and sustainable procurement and supply chain that drives business success.”
With a spend that doubled in two years – and working in a highly regulated sector – the Los Alamos National Laboratory turned to SAP Ariba for its procurement solution
WRITTEN BY: SEAN ASHCROFT
LOS ALAMOS NATIONAL LABORATORY, Los Alamos, New Mexico, USA
WEBSITE: www.lanl.gov
INDUSTRY: Defence and Security
PRODUCTS AND SERVICES: Nuclear Energy Technology and Energy Security Solutions
EMPLOYEES: 13,806
REVENUE: US$4BN
In one of the most secluded places on Earth, in the high desert near Santa Fe in New Mexico, 10,000 people work in one of the most cutting-edge facilities in the world – one that, as part of the Manhattan Project in World War II, was instrumental in developing the first ever atomic bomb. The Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) is one of 16 R&D laboratories run under contract by the US Department of Energy.
“We're known as the birthplace of the atomic bomb,” says Christine Hipp, Acquisition Services Management Center of Excellence Leader at LANL. “A lot of people don't realise we still exist.”
Today, LANL undertakes R&D on everything from the COVID-19 vaccine to genome sequencing, but retains a strong nuclear function, too, having stewardship of the US nuclear weapons programme.
The super-sensitive nature of its work means procurement processes at LANL are, to say the least, quite unlike those of most businesses. I interviewed Hipp in Dallas at SAP Spend Connect Live – a conference and expo where SAP unveiled updated versions of its spend management solutions to highly-regulated US industries such as
defence, medicine, government and space exploration. At present, this functionality is available to these sectors only in the US, but SAP has plans to also serve regulated industries outside of the United States.
LANL’s procurement transformation kickstarted in 2019, when it began its move from Oracle e-Business Suite to SAP Ariba.
“We were seeing significant growth in our procurement demand and needed to modernise our tool set,” explains Hipp. “We chose Ariba as our source-to-pay solution and implemented it between January 2020 and June 2021.”
A key reason for the switch was because Ariba, in Hipp’s words, “allowed us to
TITLE: ACQUISITION SERVICES MANAGEMENT, CENTER OF EXCELLENCE LEADER
COMPANY: LOS ALAMOS NATIONAL LABORATORY
INDUSTRY: SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY
LOCATION: US
At LANL Christine Hipp leads the ACE (Agility, Capability, Excellence) programme for procurement. This includes implementing new technology, and, she says, “adopting robust spend analytics and focusing on strategic sourcing and category management for procurement”.
Hipps adds: “Los Alamos is a government contract-run laboratory for the Department of Energy. We are run by a company called Triad, which is made up of a combination of Battelle Memorial Institute and the University of California.
“It's always been run by educational institutions. Historically, LANL was created as part of the Manhattan Project during World War II. We're known as the birthplace of the atomic bomb. Today, we do all kinds of work, from R&D and science to genome sequencing for the Covid-19 vaccine.
“We maintain a heavy presence in US national security, being stewards of the nation's nuclear weapons programme. So it's an interesting place to work".
Gain real-time visibility across your end-to-end supply chain by connecting data into a ‘single source of truth’ with streamlined business processes through
address our compliance requirements. We have very heavily regulated procurement procedures; had we not switched many of the requirements we have to follow, they might have prevented us from streamlining and automating procurement processes.”
SAP Ariba configurability ‘was key’
Ariba’s configurability, she says, “gave us the opportunity to do exactly this, thanks to its best-in-class solutions around automation”.
Hipp says LANL its procurement transformation has delivered “new tools and capabilities”, and that these have helped it manage the $1bn uptick in
procurement spend over the past two years. The doubling of its spend in this time “is an interesting problem to have as a government contractor”.
She adds: “The Federal government needs us to expand, and so we're acquiring things to facilitate that. Our revenue has grown from $2bn to more than $4bn, and half of that goes into more procurement. We’re also modernising our facilities in Atlanta, so that has also led to a lot of large procurement spend.”
The huge increase in spend has seen LANL’s more agile procurement transformation come into its own.
Expansion has meant more staff are required, and with a burgeoning payroll comes an increase in indirect procurement, such as office supplies –another reason LANL needed a more agile procurement solution.
And, as with so many organisations, the pandemic also sent Hipp and her procurement team into overdrive.
“With working from home, everybody needed a new laptop, so there was a lot of investment in IT infrastructure, and many of those people have remained working from home.”
Hipp also says that the breadth and variety of work LANL does brings its own procurement challenges: “We procure across space exploration, geophysics, medicine and sustainable energy, and each of these present their own challenges.
“We probably have one of the most unusual procurement functions anywhere. One of the nice things about SAP Ariba is it gives us visibility into each of these areas, which allows us to optimise our processes and address needs quickly."
Needs like that of a ship-based research team in the Arctic Circle, who were frozen in an ice floe for 13 months as they measured climate change.
“Somebody in our organisation had to figure out how to buy the supplies they needed for those 13 months,” says Hipp. “They had to work out what they needed, where to source it and how to get it to them.”
But on a more conventional note, LANL’s procurement team is – like everyone else –battling to help their organisations recover from the supply chain disruptions of the past few years.
“SAP Ariba helped us learn how to pivot from being an organisation that was very reactive in its sourcing, to being proactive. It wasn’t enough any more to source something only after somebody had asked for it. Now, we are far more focused on supplier management".
"We have established far more relationships with key strategic suppliers than we did before.
“We used the SAP Ariba Network to source more suppliers. Now, we see suppliers more as business partners, who we need to have procurement planning conversations with."
Radiological Control Technicians simulate work processes in a glove box training facility» Better-informed decision-making based on advanced spend analytics
» Accelerated workflows, with transactions processed more than 18 times faster than before
» Transparent processes and reporting in line with requirements for public sector agencies
» Smooth transition, due to a realignment of roles and extensive consultation with users prior to go-live
» Improved supplier relationships, thanks to more efficient processes and faster payment
» Increased agility, with the ability to quickly adjust software configuration according to changing needs
» Continuous improvement opportunities based on SAP's road map
“SAP Ariba and SAP Fieldglass solutions have enabled us to drastically change the way we do business and turn our suppliers into business partners”
CHRISTINE HIPP, HEAD OF PROCUREMENT CENTRE OF EXCELLENCE, LOS ALAMOS NATIONAL LABORATORY
PROJECT STATISTICS
<8 HOURS: to process commercial transactions under US$250,000: down from 30 days
250%: Projected increase in contingent labour over a two-year period
Key to LANL’s procurement transformation, says Hipp, was Chief Procurement Officer Drew Fuller, who joined the organisation at the outset of the project.
“I’ve been an IT manager and have implemented a lot of systems, but I’ve never had a partnership with someone like Drew before, who himself was embedded into the project and determined we were going to stick with it. His commitment got me more
excited about the project and this built my commitment to it, which was very inspiring.
“The entire project was delivered over Zoom calls, which I never thought would be possible. With things like the work we had to do to implement SAP Ariba, it’s important to keep an open mind, and to not have preconceived notions. This definitely allowed me to achieve more than I otherwise would.”
Convera looks at today’s global economy, analysing the impacts of monetary policy, bonds & equity, credit, trade and geopolitics on FX rates, with an eye to how these may change as we enter 2024
WRITTEN BY: LOUIS THOMPSETT PRODUCED BY: JAMES WHITEToday, exchange rates are experiencing volatility, with economic headwinds leading to unpredictable impacts on a growing global trade market post-COVID-19. This volatility is affecting cross-border trade for SMEs and large corporations alike.
Interest rates from 155 central banks between August 2021-2023 have risen over 500 times – constituting the most aggressive period of interest rate hikes ever recorded – a reality that has jolted foreign exchange (FX) rates.
The cause of these unprecedented hikes? The need to swiftly contain inflation. Central banks have had to reverse course from their actions during the COVID-19 pandemic when over 200 interest rate cuts happened throughout 2020.
As the gears of industry and trade began turning again in 2021, a regime shift has been mandated to control inflation. But rapidly imposed, successive interest rate hikes have knocked exchange rates; the euro, US dollar and pound sterling have seen much volatility since.
Note: percentages will not add up to 100% due to multiple response options. Only displaying top 5 concerns.
Source: Convera – July 6-7 2023. Displaying responses from 95 businesses across Europe, APAC and NAM. Respondents included industries such as financial services, manufacturing, and respondent job titles included FDs, CFOs, and MDs. Question: “Thinking about the next 6-12 months, what issue(s) concerns you most today?”. ‘Other’ concerns not displayed included Digital transformation/automation.
In fact, Kybira’s 2023 Currency Impact Report examining 1,200 companies found that rising exchange rate risk cost them US$64.2bn in Q3 2022 alone. These FX headwinds were more than three times the fiscal amount of any tailwinds experienced by any of the sampled companies.
Moreover, a Convera survey found that 71% of such businesses counted high inflation and rising interest rates as the most pressing macroeconomic issues they face, with another 49% citing a lack of cash flow and 44% geopolitical trade risks as the most immediate issues. These figures are best highlighted in the graph below.
With these figures in mind, it’s clear that exchange rate risk constitutes a significant point of friction in cross-border trade for SMEs and corporates alike. These headwinds are affecting payments and organisations’ bottom lines.
2024 may mark a turning point, with volatility easing at the back end of the year to keep cross-border trade on a path to growth. Convera forecasts that crossborder business will accelerate some 33% between 2023-2028, reaching US$39.8tn from US$30.3tn in 2022.
Today’s higher for longer interest rate narrative will be challenged if inflation falls to the much-coveted 2% mark, meaning central banks could be compelled to lower interest rates.
In the US, inflation is falling, but economic resilience has resulted in volatile US rate expectations, reducing the US dollar’s 13% fall from its October 2022 high, to around 7% at present.
While falling inflation could constitute a shift in monetary policy from central banks – which in turn could impact FX rates – other factors could contribute to
the broader macroeconomic outlook and the potential for further FX rate volatility: bond and equity price divergence, credit conditions, trade circumstances, and the geopolitical landscape.
This report considers each of these coalescing factors, forecasting their compounding effects on FX rates.
From Convera’s perspective, the key to success for cross-border trading businesses in 2024 will be determined by their ability to mitigate cross-border frictions and volatility, negate losses and maximise growth. Those who succeed will execute sophisticated hedging processes, effectively automating these processes at speed.
Having the right solutions in place will enable global organisations to address cross-border frictions, ensuring they remain beneficiaries of a growing trade industry, amid widening macroeconomic uncertainty.
Exchange rates are experiencing volatility today. This is a legacy of recent crises –from the US-China trade war, the aftermath of fiscal COVID-19 measures and Russia’s war with Ukraine – all leading to the current cost-of-living crisis stretching from 2021 into 2023.
Many economists predicted the global economy would fall under its weight, with high interest rates and high energy prices – the latter a partial symptom of severed trade with Russia following its invasion of Ukraine – seeing consumers’ wallets pinched and the economy heading to a potential recession.
Despite fears, inflation – particularly in the US (as aforementioned) – has started to
fall. With incoming economic data showing resilience, these stagflation risks have subsequently eased.
But where does this economic resilience come from? The pandemic may have had a part to play. Fiscal stimulus measures sparked a global consumption boom that is still influencing the global economy in 2023.
Consumers have accrued excess savings post-pandemic and a shift in consumer preferences may have contributed to the disconnect between lagging and leading economic indicators currently seen.
But this is not the only disparity contributing to an uncertain economy. The potential for further divergence between bond and equity markets could further alter the outlook for FX rates.
Quantitative tightening is gaining more and more attention and could have significant side effects for the economy and, subsequently, FX rates. Bond yields have continued to surge as central banks raise interest rates across the board and actively sell government bonds. The graph below shows how, historically, bond prices fall
Median cross-asset performance after interest rates peak, 7-day moving average
Sources: Refinitiv,
Note: Historical data since 1971. G7 bond price series is an average of individual bond prices for G7 nations, weighed by their respective GDP values. G7 equity index is an average of individual equity indices, weighed by their respective trading volumes. Yahoo Finance, Oxford Economics, Macrobond, Convera – August 2023when the Federal Reserve raises rates but rise once rates eventually reach their peak.
Additionally, equities have surprinsgly outperformed this year and the VIX Index – a measure of equity market volatility commonly known as the “fear index” –has stayed below its long-term index average of 20 for over three quarters of this year. In comparison, we saw the VIX Index above 20 for over 90% of the time in 2022.
This only adds to the picture of an uncertain economy, and the divergence between bond and equity markets could lead to further jolts in FX volatility as we head into 2024.
Quantitative tightening to reduce the economy’s money supply, as imposed by central banks, has been mirrored in the credit space. In fact, one of the most aggressive credit tightening cycles is potentially coming to an end, although the impact of higher credit rates is still feeding through.
The result of this tightening is that 40% of consumers across 28 markets expect their disposable income to fall in the next year, potentially driving down consumer spending.
For years, consumers have relied upon cheap credit. In December 2020, at the height of the pandemic, the world’s negative-yielding debt pile hit a record high of US$18tn and home prices in the US, UK and Germany rose by an average of 30% from the start of 2020 to mid-2022.
But since then, the battle against rising inflation has shifted the landscape of credit in the private sector. Today, shortterm interest rates and mortgage rates in G10 countries have hit a 14-year high, and
“As we near the peak of high interest rates and ponder the timing of future rate cuts, volatility in, and divergence between bond and equity markets could materially alter the outlook for FX rates”
GEORGE VESSEY LEAD FX & MACRO STRATEGIST, EUROPE
we see companies and households having to adjust to a new rate environment.
While we don’t expect credit conditions to tighten much more, the lagged negative effect of tighter conditions is yet to be experienced by businesses and households.
This could be particularly true for mortgage holders. In the UK, mortgage debt has shifted from being responsive to changing interest rates to stagnant over longer periods as many consumers have elected for fixed mortgage rates in blocks of two or five years.
With this lagged impact on consumers in mind, financial conditions – particularly consumer spending – could tighten further in 2024 when both sovereign credit and mortgages come due for refinancing.
We are already seeing tighter bank lending standards due to rising interest rates, which may start to crimp down on credit flowing to businesses and households, particularly those households with mortgages due for refinancing.
In the Eurozone, the Bank Lending Survey (BLS) reported demand from firms for loans or drawing of credit lines in
Change in G5 central bank’s balance sheets as a share of global GDP, in % terms Note: Global GDP forecast taken from the
the second quarter of 2023 dropped to a record low.
Meanwhile, the share of small US firms reporting it is difficult to access loans rose to a 10-year high in May 2023, and the Senior Loan Officer Opinion Survey (SLOOS) showed that US banks’ tighter lending standards have breached the threshold that in the past was consistent with a recession. This may come into sharper focus once lag effects have run their course.
And yet – to add further fuel to economic uncertainty – while credit may be tightening and bond prices surging, global stocks have bucked the trend seen from other economic indicators that point toward recession – appreciating over 15% year-to-date. US Nasdaq stocks are
particularly noteworthy in their defiance of expectations, surging 40% in large part thanks to the emergence of AI products on the market.
With global stocks healthy, one may assume this lays the foundation for stability in global trade. But is this the case? Yes and no. The value of cross-border global trade, much like stock markets, defied expectations of a downturn. Although global cross-border collapses were feared amid the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, trade grew 24% between 2019 and 2022 and compared favourably with the longrun average of around 6% per annum since 1995. Nevertheless, a thriving global crossborder trade market does not necessarily rule out volatility, particularly regarding FX rates.
New politically charged trading policies have had a big impact on trade in recent years, as leading Western nations look to diversify from an over-reliance on China. Near-shoring trading has seen India, Vietnam, Mexico and Thailand become key beneficiaries of new trade opportunities as global firms move production away from China.
The US Inflation Reduction Act and the CHIPS and Science Act have both impacted the ability of China to undertake trade with the US and accept foreign direct investment. Chipmaker Intel is one major producer that is considering moving
production out of China to comply with new US regulations.
Today, the difference between Chinese imports into the US compared to five years ago is stark. In the first six months of 2018, Chinese imports into the US sat at US$249bn, but in the same period in 2023, Chinese imports accounted for only US$203bn – a drop of 18.5%.
Decoupling from China, the US has turned to Mexico as its number one importer. Its imports have grown from US$168bn in the first six months of 2018 to US$236bn in the first six months of 2023 –an increase of more than 40%, underpinning
Monthly US imports, USD mln, 6-month rolling total Sources: US Census Bureau,
the geopolitically-fuelled shifts emerging in trade patterns post-pandemic as part of the US-China trade war.
The process of decoupling from China is hastening amid growing geopolitical tensions, something that is bound to have implications for USD/CNY exchange rates.
This could be further complicated, as Xi Jinping looks to diversify his country’s economy, a process that is expected to result in China generating more than onequarter of all global consumption growth – more than any other country.
How the Chinese Yuan will subsequently look against the US Dollar seems all the more uncertain.
Shifting trade conditions are not endemic to just China and the US, Europe has introduced the EU Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (coming into force in 2026) to penalise high-carbon imports which, according to Energy Monitor, is likely to have the biggest impact on Russia. Over US$10bn of its largely iron and steel exports between 2015 and 2019 would have fallen under this new CBAM legislation.
Of course, the key driver in these shifting trade conditions is the result of geopolitical decisions and the key role politics plays in economic issues that affect FX rates. And in 2024, some big political events could alter economic outlooks, thus fuelling exchange rate volatility.
No upcoming political event is perhaps as large as the impending 2024 US election, where it is expected that incumbent President Joe Biden will again face off with Donald Trump, the likely Republican candidate.
The outcome of this election could have vastly different geopolitical implications.
“In the first six months of 2023, Mexico overtook China as the largest overseas source market for US imports of goods. Trade disputes or diversification is having consequences for longer-term balance of trade and payments”
STEVEN DOOLEY LEAD FX & MACRO STRATEGIST, APAC
For instance, would another Trump administration roll back any of the severe economic sanctions on Moscow that ensued after Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022?
Such is the polarity in today’s political sphere that the impact of elections on the economy is arguably more unpredictable than ever.
History backs this up. Since 1980, only six of the US’s Congressional 21 sessions (29%) have been led by a unified government, leading to higher policy uncertainty.
Add to that Donald Trump’s 2016 election win, the US-China trade war and pandemic-led economic policy responses, and the polarity only grows. The Global Economic Policy Uncertainty Index has already reached record levels near 435 in 2020 (versus 196 in 2010) and it has never really normalised to pre-pandemic levels.
Such political conditions are not constrained to the US alone either – they are global.
Take the UK, where the British pound collapsed in 2022 because of thenPrime Minister Liz Truss’ poorly received economic recovery plan. And the UK could see further economic shifts in 2025 at the time of its next general election.
That is if it does happen in 2025. There are suggestions current Prime Minister Rishi Sunak could pull this timeline forward should the UK economy remain on a resilient path. And should the British public vote in the Labour Party after more than a decade out, there is a chance this could alter UK-EU trade and business relations.
The scope for election-driven economic uncertainty is everywhere in 2024, with key elections happening in Mexico, South Africa and the EU. There is
“Most forward-looking indicators – like the Purchasing Managers Index, the Conference Board’s Economic Index, and yield curves across government bonds –point to high recession probabilities in 2024, while backward-looking indicators continue to perform well”
BORIS KOVACEVIC GLOBAL MACRO STRATEGIST
uncertainty around the election of a new European Parliament in 2024, with far-right candidates gaining traction in recent months.
Could far-right candidates, if successful, reshape the European landscape for climate policy and lead to a more conservative Brussels?
This adds to today’s economic picture of disparity and uncertainty. The changeability of political policy and shifting trade allegiances, alongside a lag in the pinch on credit, and a divergence between bonds and equities points to an uncertain economic outlook, one which could unpredictably affect FX rates globally.
Most forward-looking indicators –like the Purchasing Managers Index, the Conference Board’s Economic Index, and yield curves across government bonds – point to high recession probabilities in
2024, while backward-looking indicators continue to perform well.
The last four recessions have been preceded by circumstances that are currently in place, such as tighter US Federal Reserve monetary policy, the New York Federal Reserve’s recession probability indicator rising above 30%, the Conference Board’s US Leading Economic Index falling below -5, over 50% of US bond yield curves inverting, and the US’ CEO Confidence Index falling below the key 40 threshold. Nevertheless, consumer spending has remained resilient and global stocks have appreciated, with the Nasdaq surging.
So, amid the divergence and uncertainty today, what outcomes should we expect in 2024, and how could these potential outcomes affect FX rates?
In our full report, we’ll provide an even more comprehensive outlook for 2024, looking at how key markets will be affected in our FX rates analysis and forecast scenarios and recommendations for crossborder businesses looking to successfully navigate international trade as we enter 2024. Register here to receive a copy of our full report, launching at Money2020 US on October 23rd.
The need for procurement to be more strategic is driving adoption of automated solutions for heavy lifting in areas such as supplier vetting and contract renewals
WRITTEN BY: SEAN ASHCROFTOngoing supply disruption and the prevailing climate of economic and geopolitical uncertainty means there has never been a greater need for procurement to be a strategic business function. This, in turn, is driving the adoption of AI and machine learning (ML) solutions in automating the less strategic aspects of procurement –which, traditionally, have been something of a time-sink for the profession.
Procurement leaders are expected to drive the execution and management of contracts in collaboration with internal stakeholders and suppliers. Their teams, meanwhile, are also expected to contribute to the vendor management lifecycle, including areas such as ESG, risk, and performance requirements.
Today, there's a raft of procurement automation solutions to do the heavy lifting in these and other areas.
Here, we talk to Jennifer Chaplain – Solution Engineering & Customer Engagement Principal for Aera Technology, which helps businesses use real-time data and AI to predict business risk and opportunity – about the hot areas of procurement automation, the benefits of such solutions, and how businesses can get the most from them. In her role, Chaplain implements the company’s core technologies and also designs decision intelligence workflows for global companies. “I am a passionate evangelist for data science and machine learning to enable predictive, self-healing supply chains,” she says. “I guide customers in transformational projects so their systems can react to supply issues autonomously and in real-time, including communication with n-tier suppliers and
“Technologies that digitise and automate decisions can break down silos across the organisation that hide process gaps”
JENNIFER CHAPLAIN, SOLUTION ENGINEERING & CUSTOMER ENGAGEMENT PRINCIPAL, AERA TECHNOLOGY
TITLE: SOLUTION ENGINEERING & CUSTOMER ENGAGEMENT
PRINCIPAL
COMPANY: AERA TECHNOLOGY
INDUSTRY: TECHNOLOGY AND AI
LOCATION: US
In her role, Chaplain implements Aera’s core technologies and also designs decision intelligence workflows for global companies. “I am a passionate evangelist for data science and machine learning to enable predictive, self-healing supply chains,” she says.
“I guide customers in transformational projects so their systems can react to supply issues autonomously and in realtime, including communication with n-tier suppliers and contract manufacturers.”
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receive a recommended course of action. When a decision is made, the technology then writes back to business systems to change purchase orders and update records. Supplier performance issues are resolved in a fraction of the time. Beyond simply automating tasks, this makes it possible to keep a digital memory of every decision made – capturing valuable institutional knowledge and increasing the team’s ability to automate more decisions in the future.
How
Procurement teams rely on data from customer orders, safety stock, total cost of ownership, suppliers’ on-time in-full performance, and other sources. With so many time-sensitive decisions to be made, technology that makes it easier to harness all of this data is transforming how teams strategise and collaborate.
Technologies that digitise and automate decisions can break down silos across the organisation that hide process gaps. They provide the visibility required for informed actions and better, faster decision making – not just in procurement, but across
Purchase Order Processing
Purchase Requisition
Invoices and Payments
Vendor Management
Contract Management
The Procurement Automation Processes
is digital innovation changing procurement?
“Technology makes it easier to harness data that's transforming how teams strategise and collaborate”
JENNIFER CHAPLAIN, SOLUTION ENGINEERING & CUSTOMER ENGAGEMENT PRINCIPAL, AERA TECHNOLOGY
1 Procurement teams are often forced to work reactively rather than proactively.
2 They juggle strategy and execution while making daily, even hourly, decisions; responding to supply chain and logistics volatility; managing costs and compliance; and other tasks.
3 Often, such teams have to act without full context for the decisions they make, on top of the fact that the number of decisions that must be made has grown beyond even the best team’s ability to keep up.
5 In many cases, decisions are delayed by complexity amid the slow speed of human collaboration and alignment.
6Information has to be gathered and analysed not just from data lakes, but spreadsheets, emails, or even faxes.
7 Traditional approaches to capturing knowledge and determining the best actions aren’t enough to stay competitive True digital transformation of procurement requires technology that enables faster, more accurate decision making.
4
What’s more, procurement teams frequently rely on siloed technology systems and business processes that don’t provide real-time visibility
the business as a whole. This approach combines data science with digital technologies to understand the business, make recommendations, take action, and learn from decisions and outcomes. With AI and ML constantly analysing data, teams can consider more variables in purchasing and supply chain decisions than before. The system identifies patterns that people might miss, enabling teams to act quickly as market conditions shift.
Also, by capturing decisions and their outcomes, procurement teams can (for instance) better understand discrepancies between budgeted and actual spend.
They can balance risk, cost, quality, and other factors whilst making sure that decisions and outcomes align with business objectives.
What benefits is automation bringing procurement?
With improved tools to analyse data, and digitise and automate decisions, procurement teams are identifying new opportunities for cost reduction and savings.
One of the best outcomes is improved communication, collaboration, and accountability, not just within the team but across the enterprise and its ecosystem of
“The ability to automate decision making is a fast-growing trend that’s driving positive outcomes for supply chain functions”
JENNIFER CHAPLAIN, SOLUTION ENGINEERING & CUSTOMER ENGAGEMENT PRINCIPAL, AERA TECHNOLOGY
customers, suppliers, service providers, and partners.
To give one example, a global consumer packaged goods company is using decision intelligence to identify purchaseprice variance (PPV) in direct materials procurement. This allows the team to identify and correct issues with poor master data, misalignment of pricing data between systems, purchase orders and invoices that aren’t compliant with contracts, and manual pricing changes.
In contrast to relying on spreadsheets to find gaps and then communicating with suppliers for corrections, the company is now automatically identifying issues, accepting auto-generated recommendations for corrections needed, and automatically deferring to a supplier for closure, eliminating the need for manual action.
Not only has the company dynamically streamlined its PPV management and vendor collaboration, but it has also identified practices that weren’t aligned with company-wide procurement processes.
Transformations such as these are possible for procurement teams across a range of industries, and the companies that start this journey now will be better able to innovate for the future.
“I am a passionate evangelist for data science and machine learning to enable predictive, self-healing supply chains”
JENNIFER CHAPLAIN, SOLUTION ENGINEERING & CUSTOMER ENGAGEMENT PRINCIPAL, AERA TECHNOLOGY
Procurement automation refers to the use of technology to automate and streamline various processes involved in procurement, such as sourcing, purchasing, invoice processing, and contract management. The goal of procurement automation is to improve efficiency, reduce costs, minimize errors and increase visibility into the procurement process.
Some of the benefits of procurement automation include:
• IMPROVED EFFICIENCY
Automation of procurement processes can significantly reduce manual effort and streamline workflows, resulting in improved efficiency and faster processing times.
• INCREASED VISIBILITY
Procurement automation can provide real-time data and reporting, allowing organisations to easily track the status of their procurement activities.
• REDUCED COSTS
Automation can help to minimise errors, reduce manual effort, and increase efficiency, resulting in cost savings.
• BETTER SUPPLIER MANAGEMENT
Procurement automation can also support better supplier management, such as by automating the tracking of supplier performance and by providing better data to support supplier negotiations.
There are several types of procurement automation solutions available, including e-sourcing platforms, e-procurement systems, and spend analysis tools. When considering procurement automation, it is important to choose a solution that fits your organization's specific needs and processes.
WRITTEN BY: SCOTT BIRCH
PRODUCED BY: STUART IRVING
Mansour Al Blooshi, Head of Procurement at Abu Dhabi’s Mohamed bin Zayed University of Artificial Intelligence (MBZUAI), on delivering AI’s future talent
There are many routes to becoming a procurement leader, but Mansour Al Blooshi may have taken one of the more unusual career paths to the profession.
The world of procurement found Mansour almost by accident while he was working at Etihad Airways as a member of
the airline’s renowned cabin crew. Before that, he was a professional football referee in the UAE league.
“Being a referee taught me three valuable lessons that I bring to procurement,” says Mansour, now Head of Procurement at Mohamed bin Zayed University of Artificial Intelligence (MBZUAI).
“Fairness, patience, and clear decisionmaking are crucial both on the football pitch and in procurement.
“No two days are the same in procurement. It is a routine job, but not a routine scenario.”
Few readers would argue with that statement, especially as the role of
procurement has evolved significantly in the decade that Mansour has been building his career and credentials. His rise has been even more impressive given he admits to never having heard the word ‘procurement’ until that chance discussion with an Etihad Airways’ manager.
Mansour explains that he learned quickly through hard work, following his mentor’s direction, and “never making the same mistake twice”.
He spent a couple of formative years in the Etihad Airways’ procurement team before moving to Masdar Institute (later merging with Khalifa University) in 2015 where he spent four years. He joined MBZUAI in 2020, commencing as Head of Procurement in August 2022.
Working at the world’s first graduate, research university dedicated to artificial intelligence (AI) presents its own unique challenges – not least because it was a startup pioneering high-level curriculum in computer science, computer vision, machine learning, natural language processing, and robotics.
Then there was the dreaded pandemic to contend with, too. But that did not
stop MBZUAI producing its first master’s graduates in December 2022 and again in June 2023. The Class of 2024 will see the university’s first Ph.D. students graduating.
MBZUAI was founded in 2019 and provides a purpose-built, high-tech, and eco-friendly campus. Currently, MBZUAI has 283 students from 41 countries. Its diversity makes it a unique and welcoming institution and benefits the work it undertakes.
From a procurement perspective, the task was even more significant given that MBZUAI funds every student via a full scholarship – covering course fees, accommodation, flights, and even providing a generous ‘stipend’ allowance.
“Being an AI university, our main suppliers are naturally in the IT field,” Mansour says.
“We started the IT infrastructure with Emircom, then we developed our High Performance Computing (HPC) data centre with Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE) and Alpha Data.”
Emircom and Alpha Data are both Abu Dhabi-based technology companies and Mansour says the university is keen to work with local, homegrown suppliers and partners where possible.
“Fairness, patience, and clear decision-making are crucial both on the football pitch and in procurement”
MANSOUR AL BLOOSHI HEAD OF PROCUREMENT, MBZUAI
MANSOUR AL BLOOSHI TITLE: HEAD OF PROCUREMENT COMPANY: MBZUAI
Mohamed bin Zayed University of Artificial Intelligence (MBZUAI) was established in 2019 as an open invitation to the world. Against a backdrop of global artificial intelligence (AI) talent shortages, the university is providing a worldleading pipeline of AI specialists to support the UAE’s innovation trajectory.
MBZUAI is supporting the UAE to find solutions to the world’s most pressing challenges with transformative research in areas such as healthcare, education, and climate.
According to CSRankings –MBZUAI ranks in the top 20 globally in AI, computer vision, machine learning, and natural language processing, ahead of many respected peer institutions.
However, there is also a greater focus on sustainability when it comes to commercial evaluation of suppliers.
“Sustainability is one of the major goals we are trying to achieve within the Abu Dhabi Government, not only the university,” Mansour says.
“This is a long-term goal, but today if I make even a small change then in 10 years that might make a difference, and we may reach our 2050 goal.”
One of the first sustainability initiatives instigated by Mansour was the removal of plastic water bottles. He then set about creating a sustainability policy for
procurement, setting out what suppliers need to do to meet MBZUAI’s requirements.
“We made sustainability worth between five and 10 marks for our evaluation of suppliers, so that’s around 20 percent of the commercial evaluation,” Mansour explains.
“From IT to kitchen supplies, we look for products that are recyclable, sustainable, and do not impact the environment. We need to make sure that God-given resources are protected.”
Less than 12 months old when Mansour started at MBZUAI, he soon discovered the procurement team was processing by hand because they were ‘between’ digital systems.
More than 50 faculty members have been appointed to date; 56 percent of whom come to Abu Dhabi from the world’s top 100 AI institutions
Mansour admits that the system does have some challenges, and he works around that by creating some bespoke systems and processes to make sure he stays on top of closing open POs especially, so that they do not have a negative impact on his annual budget.
Of course, challenges are all part of the fun when it comes to procurement, and this variety is what appeals to Mansour.
“No two days are the same in procurement,” he states. “It is a routine job, but not a routine scenario. Educating people about procurement, helping them understand procurement, makes me feel good.”
That is a good thing, as Mansour’s team is expanding and becoming
MANSOUR AL BLOOSHI HEAD OF PROCUREMENT, MBZUAI
“Sustainability is one of the major goals we are trying to achieve within the Abu Dhabi Government, not only the university”
more specialised. The procurement department continues to go from strength to strength with its procurement strategy in place. They are supported in simultaneously handling contracts, vendor
management and quality assurance. Mansour adds that it has taken a lot of effort and resources, but those investments will pay dividends as the procurement team delivers greater efficiencies.
As well as providing master’s and Ph.D. degrees for the brightest computer science minds, MBZUAI also runs regular executive and professional training programs for leaders in both government and the private sector.
These courses provide leaders and managers with knowledge about AI and
“No two days are the same in procurement. It is a routine job, but not a routine scenario”
MANSOUR AL BLOOSHI HEAD OF PROCUREMENT, MBZUAI
how it can be best used to positively impact business and society. The university’s oneof-a-kind Executive Program (MEP) has successfully trained three cohorts consisting of more than 120 UAE leaders in AI so they can begin implementation in their home organisations. Through their exposure to elite, global AI researchers and heads of industry, private and public sector leaders in the UAE are growing into a powerful AI ecosystem — an essential ingredient for long-term success with the technology.
MBZUAI believes that leadership’s buy-in towards implementing AI is a critical factor to successful digital transformation
and adoption in industries across the UAE and the world.
Mansour is excited to be working for one of the global leaders in AI and believes the institution’s future is bright.
“We have all the resources when it comes to talent. We have brilliant ideas,” he says proudly.
“I believe that the UAE can be central to the future of AI both in the region and the world. MBZUAI is the paradise of AI.”
Achieving ESG compliance – both within a business and throughout the supply chain – is complex and challenging, which is why clarity of purpose is all-important
WRITTEN BY: SEAN ASHCROFT
Streamline
In today's world, everyone –staff, investors, stakeholders and customers – demand meaningful commitment on ESG compliance. Yet, ESG can be a grey area. A report from SaaS data, research and technology company Pitchbook suggests there is a deal of variance in investors’ definitions of what constitutes a sustainable investment – meaning where one sees a legitimate sustainable investment, another might see greenwashing.
But whatever the complexities and grey areas, one thing is certain: ESG has become far more than the nice-to-have option it was not so long ago. Now, businesses are looking to ESG to help deliver competitive advantage in a tumultuous marketplace. ESG was a hot topic at the most recent Procurement & Supply Chain LIVE event, held in London last Autumn. At that event, a discussion of ESG issues teased out many insights and advice on the subject.
The following is an edited version of this event, involving the following three speakers:
is Head of Oxfam Advisory Services
BEN NGOBI (BN)
is Global Supplier Inclusion & Sustainability Lead at Accenture
is Executive VP of US-based digital consulting firm VDart
CLAIRE LISSAMAN (CL)
ROHIT BARDAIYAR (RB)
BN: At Accenture, we believe responsible business is integral to the future of our planet. We have a target to be net zero by 2025.
On protecting human rights in the supply chain, we work by the ten principles of the United Nations' Global Compact, a global movement of sustainable companies and stakeholders. We communicate these supplier standards to all key suppliers.
On supplier diversity, our target is to develop 250 businesses globally by the end of 2023.
CL: Oxfam’s mission is to overcome poverty through trade, and we have environmental and carbon targets mainly around our shops and our offices. We have 600 shops in the UK. Our supply chain is mostly donated goods, but we also have our own product range. We also look very closely at the environmental and social impact of what we are buying.
On inequality, we strive to drive ESG through our own research on business & human rights, and on human rights & supply chains. Often, businesses tell us that they know what they need to do on ESG but that they need help doing it, and that’s our role at Oxfam Advisory Service.
RB: VDart has 3,700 employees spread across 11 countries, so we have a pretty large global footprint. I would say that, from around 2020, ESG has become a primary focus and a key business imperative – and Accenture has helped here with its Diverse Supplier Development Programme. They are mentoring us on our ESG journey and helping us achieve competitive
TITLE: HEAD OF OXFAM ADVISORY SERVICES
COMPANY: OXFAM
INDUSTRY: CHARITY
LOCATION: UK
Claire Lissaman is Head of Oxfam Advisory Services, an organisation that provides companies with guidance around sustainability and ESG best practice. Prior to this, Lissaman was Director of Content and Impact for the Common Objective Platform, a global tech solution for promoting sustainability in fashion.
Claire Lissaman
“If you’re struggling to develop an ESG strategy, you need clarity on what the problem is”
CLAIRE LISSAMAN, HEAD OF OXFAM ADVISORY SERVICES
advantage through ESG compliance. Our major ESG goals are helping eliminate hunger and gender inequality, while securing equal education for all. We’ve also created a five-year sustainability roadmap with help from Accenture.
CL: This is a crucial area for companies to focus on. If you don’t know where your products are coming from, you've got a serious business risk. I appreciate that some sectors have complex, fragmented supply chains.
In textiles for example, where does the cotton come from that ends up in the spinning mills? But someone always knows. There's always some way of doing it.
It would be nice if we had better governments that oversaw good regulation and a healthy culture of trade unions, because then workers, farmers and producers could stand up for their own rights. But a lot of the time, we don’t, so the onus is on businesses.
If businesses campaigned collectively for strong regulation and trade unions, this would make life much easier for them in terms of ESG compliance in the extended tiers of their supply chain. It’s a challenging journey, and we need to work collectively towards change.
BN: To make headway on ESG you need to get senior leadership involvement, and you also need to reach out to people like me – people who are invested in helping businesses reduce their environmental
TITLE: GLOBAL SUPPLIER INCLUSION & SUSTAINABILITY LEAD
COMPANY: ACCENTURE
INDUSTRY: BUSINESS SERVICES
LOCATION: UK
Ben Ngobi is Global Supplier Inclusion & Sustainability Lead at Accenture, where he helps organisations embed ESG initiatives in their operations. Ngobi is also involved with several nonprofit organisations around supplier inclusion and sustainability.
Top 10: Innovative & ESG-friendly global supply chains
READ MORE
“To make headway on ESG, you need to get senior leadership involvement”
BEN NGOBI, GLOBAL SUPPLIER INCLUSION & SUSTAINABILITY LEAD, ACCENTURE
impact. There are also lots of nonprofits that can help, such as Minority Supplier Development UK, or the National Minority Supplier Development Council in the US.
CL: If you're struggling to develop an ESG strategy, you need clarity on what exactly is the problem. Maybe you simply don’t know where to start? Or perhaps there is resistance within the organisation?
One thing that is crucial is when you have an ESG policy, it must be embedded throughout the entire organisation. It’s no good just one or two departments having ownership. Involve stakeholders in the process, especially those impacted by the work you do.
RB: ESG reporting is itself fairly new, and the problem in the early days was that many organisations were strong on environmental but less strong on social and governance, meaning there continued to be violations of human rights and slavery practices in their supply chain. But, now, companies and countries cannot just look at one aspect and ignore others. Yet, we still see instances where companies are generally ESG-compliant but, at the same time, have been hit by a cybersecurity attack and have negotiated a massive ransomware settlement with unethical hackers.
Rohit BardaiyarTITLE: EXECUTIVE VP
COMPANY: VDART
INDUSTRY: DIGITAL CONSULTING
LOCATION: US
Rohit Bardaiyar is Executive VP of US-based digital consulting firm VDart, which is part of Accenture's Diverse Supplier Development Programme. As such, he engages with businesses owned by different ethnicities, women, persons with disabilities, members of the LGBTQ+ community, veterans, and others.
1: Start with a comprehensive assessment: The first step in integrating ESG considerations into supply chain sustainability is to understand the current state of the supply chain. This may include evaluating the environmental impact of suppliers, the social impact of production processes, and the governance practices of suppliers.
2: Establish clear ESG goals and objectives: Companies should set clear ESG goals and objectives for their supply chain, such as reducing greenhouse gas emissions, improving worker conditions, or increasing transparency in governance practices.
3: Engage with suppliers: Companies should engage with suppliers to understand their ESG practices and work together to improve sustainability in the supply
chain. This may include providing training and resources to suppliers to help them improve their sustainability practices.
4: Monitor and report on ESG performance: Companies should monitor and report on the ESG performance of their supply chain to ensure that they are making progress towards their sustainability goals. This can be done through regular audits, surveys, and other forms of monitoring.
5: Continuously improve: Companies should continuously strive to improve their ESG practices in the supply chain. This may involve updating sustainability goals, engaging with new suppliers, or implementing new technologies and processes to reduce environmental impact.
By following these tips, companies can integrate ESG considerations into their supply chain sustainability efforts and help create a more sustainable future for all.
“Companies and countries cannot just look at one aspect of ESG and ignore the others”
ROHIT BARDAIYAR, EXECUTIVE VP, VDART
(Left to right)
Jon Willescroft, G4S; Nicholas Wright, BP; Milind Tailor,Diebold Nixdorf; Patsy Duncan, PepsiCo
WRITTEN BY: SEAN ASHCROFT
The world’s fastest growing procurement and supply chain event recently took place over two insight-packed days in one of London’s top business arenas – the Business Design Centre, in Islington.
BizClik’s Procurement & Supply Chain Live London was a disruptive learning and networking event that showcased some of the industry’s top speakers across innovation, thought leadership and strategy.
The line up for Procurement and Supply Chain LIVE 2023 included:
• Alisa Bornstein, Chief Procurement Officer, VISA Europe
• Matthew Harris CPO, Logistics & Services, A.P. Moller – Maersk
• Juud Tempelman Global Chief Procurement Officer, JLL
• Nicholas Wright, Director, Procurement Innovation (Digital & Talent) bp
• Ashley Naughton, Former Director of Logistics, McLaren Automotive
• Waleed AlSaeedi, Director of Procurement Department, Abu Dhabi Government
• Alexander Tschentscher, Head of Supply Chain & Logistics Excellence & Strategy, Siemens AG
Benn Godfrey, Rolls Royce
Scott Birch, BizClik
A sparkling programme of keynotes and panel discussions was hosted on two conference stages, as leading industry figures discuss the most important ideas – and shared telling insights – around the world of procurement, supply chain and logistics.
As well as keynote speakers and fireside chats there were networking opportunities for an estimated 2,000 in-person attendees with nearly one thousand more attending as virtual delegates.
It was a packed agenda. Matt Yanchyshyn, General Manager, AWS Marketplace & Partner Engineering at AWS discussed procurement challenges and how to overcome them, as well as the benefits of digital marketplaces to foster innovation.
There was also Jim Townsend, Chief Procurement Officer at Walgreen Boots
Boost financial performance. Mitigate risk. Drive efficiency. All while building trust across your trading partners. Schedule
Alliance, who shared his perspective on ProcureTech companies and how they can be more successful in the sales process.
Delegates also heard from the likes of Community Fibre, Baringa, and Wyndham Hotels & Resorts as part of the Supply Chain Sustainability Forum; and Siemens and Cushman & Wakefield as part of the Supply Chain Strategy Forum.
Strategic sourcing was a key theme, with events on Stage 1 dealing with this key issue:
Adrian Oyekanmi, Radisson Hotel Group Global Strategic Sourcing SVP, discussed how strategic sourcing can unlock the potential for success.
Patsy Duncan, Senior Director of Global Procurement at PepsiCo, shared insights around unlocking ESG targets through strategic sourcing.
The Strategic Sourcing Forum featured three speakers:
• Milind Taylor, Global Head, Services Procurement & Vendor Management, Diebold Nixdorf
• Andrew Turner, Global Head of Indirect Procurement with real estate professional services firm JLL
• Benn Godfrey, VP Raw material & Forming at Rolls-Royce
Meanwhile, Alexander Tschentscher, Head of Supply Chain Excellence & Head of Strategy, Supply Chain & Logistics, at
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Andrew Turner JLL
Eirini Etoimou, Sellafield Ltd
Siemens AG, spoke about the company’s move from being tactical to being strategic.
Another address came from Shawn Plunkett – Global Procurement Category Director, Warehousing & Logistics at Springer Nature, an academic publisher – who spoke about how smart inventory management has furthered the company’s sustainability goals,
The networking area was buzzing across the two days, with many conversations taking place in an Expo-style atmosphere, at company stands.
One company with a stand was Kodiak Hub, whose supplier relationship management platform boosts efficiency and performance through automation, data enrichment and advanced analytics, so leveraging supplier data and market
information into actionable insights. There was insight aplenty from a raft of industry experts, including Mark Gilham, an evangelist with Enable, a SaaS rebate management platform that drives relationships between B2B trading partners.
He delivered a powerful keynote entitled ‘The Transformative Journey of Procurement’, sharing insights and expertise on the latest trends and strategies in procurement and supply chain management.
Gilham told his audience: “You don't want to be spending time on administrative tasks
– ploughing through software we, working out what's going on with rebates. Every hour you're doing that, the tech-savvy version of you isn't there, which means it can’t add value.
He then urged showgoers to “speak to your peers – the thought leaders and the service providers – and challenge them, so you can go away more informed on what technology can and can't do for you”.
Sheldon Mydat is CEO of supplier relationship-management platform, Suppeco. He took part in a panel discussion on digital procurement.
Speaking about the importance of data governance, Mydat told his in-person and virtual audience: “All procurement solutions are based on data, so if you have poor data your KPIs exist in a dysfunctional environment.
He added: “Most company data is unstructured, and you need to sort the wheat from the chaff, in order to be able to understand that data. It's also about harnessing unstructured data that lives inside the operation.”
6th December 2023
1,000+ Virtual Attendees
1 Day Learning and Networking Event
30+ Acclaimed Speakers
6 Interactive Panel Discussions
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