Supply Chain - June 2022 by Supply Chain Digital

June 2022 | supplychaindigital.com

LUFTHANSA CARGO: CEO talks air freight strategy

E X CLU S IVE IN TERVIEW:

NICK JENKINSON, OF ‘SANTANDER UK’ ON BANKING FOR THE DYNAMIC DIGITAL EVOLUTION

TECHNOLOGY: RFID is reshaping retail

Digital procurement solutions

TOMORROW STREET: Top tech talent incubator for Vodafone WALGREENS BOOTS ALLIANCE: Pharma retail procurement transformation

ACCENTURE: On hyper-connected supply chains

FEATURING:

TERZO CLOUD

SHELL

12 - 13 OCT 2022 STREAMED & IN PERSON QEII CENTRE, LONDON

THE FUTURE OF DIGITAL PROCUREMENT 3,000+

Participants

Days

Zones

60+

Speakers

Get tickets

Sponsor opportunities

A BizClik Media Group Event:

Watch our 2021 Showreel

Join us at PROCUREMENT & SUPPLYCHAIN LIVE LONDON Showcase your values, products and services to your partners and customers at PROCUREMENT & SUPPLYCHAIN LIVE LONDON 2022. Brought to you by BizClik Media Group PROCUREMENT & SUPPLYCHAIN LIVE LONDON, the hybrid event held between 12th-13th October is broadcast live to the world and incorporates two zone areas of SupplyChain LIVE plus Procurement LIVE in to one event. With a comprehensive content programme featuring senior industry leaders and expert analysts, this is an opportunity to put yourself and your brand in front of key industry decision makers.

Get tickets

From keynote addresses to lively roundtables, fireside discussions to topical presentations, Q&A sessions to 1-2-1 networking, the 2-day hybrid show is an essential deep dive into issues impacting the future of each industry today. Global giants and innovative startups will all find the perfect platform with direct access to an engaged and active audience. You can’t afford to miss this opportunity. See you on:

12 - 13 October 2022

Sponsor opportunities

Never miss an issue!

+ Discover the latest news and insights about Global SupplyChain...

JOIN THE COMMUNITY

The SupplyChain Team EDITOR-IN-CHIEF

SEAN ASHCROFT EDITORIAL DIRECTOR

SCOTT BIRCH

PRODUCTION DIRECTORS

GEORGIA ALLEN DANIELA KIANICKOVÁ PRODUCTION MANAGERS

PHILLINE VICENTE JANE ARNETA ELLA CHADNEY

CREATIVE TEAM

DIGITAL VIDEO PRODUCERS

OSCAR HATHAWAY SOPHIE-ANN PINNELL HECTOR PENROSE SAM HUBBARD MIMI GUNN JUSTIN SMITH REBEKAH BIRLESON JORDAN WOOD CALLUM HOOD

EVELYN HUANG MARTA EUGENIO ERNEST DE NEVE THOMAS EASTERFORD DREW HARDMAN

VIDEO PRODUCTION MANAGER

MIKE SADR CRAIG KILLINGBACK

KIERAN WAITE SAM KEMP

MOTION DESIGNER

TYLER LIVINGSTONE

MEDIA SALES DIRECTOR

JAMES WHITE

SALES AND MARKETING DIRECTOR

JASON WESTGATE MANAGING DIRECTOR

LEWIS VAUGHAN

MARKETING MANAGER

CHIEF OPERATIONS OFFICER

PROJECT DIRECTORS

GLEN WHITE

KAYLEIGH SHOOTER

STACY NORMAN CEO

FOREWORD

Smart data at heart of healthy supply chains The Procurement & Supply Chain LIVE: The Risk & Resilience Conference heard one word more than any other: ‘data’. But it’s how business use it that counts.

“Data is like medicine businesses must approach it with knowledge, guidance and purpose to find the right solution to the right problems at the right time”

A stellar line-up of speakers graced Procurement & Supply Chain LIVE, the hybrid event that we staged in London’s iconic Tobacco Dock at the end of April. The theme of the show was ‘Risk & Resilience’, and a rapt audience – both in person and online, viewing remotely – listened as supply chain and procurement leaders offered telling insights on how organisations can navigate uncertainty, disruption and spiralling inflation. We heard from: Jonathan Colehower, CEO of digital transformation specialist, UST; Frank Soudan, Head of Digital Supply Chain at SAP; and the incomparable Sheri Hinish, Global Sustainability lead at IBM. For these and many other speakers, one topic reigned supreme: data and its importance to resilient supply chains. But just as critical - more, in fact - the majority of them stressed how data without strategy, discernment and an adequately skilled workforce is meaningless. In short, data is like a cornucopia of medicines, and businesses need to approach it with knowledge, guidance and purpose to apply the right solution to the right problems at the right time.

SUPPLYCHAIN DIGITAL MAGAZINE IS PUBLISHED BY

SEAN ASHCROFT

sean.ashcroft@bizclikmedia.com

supplychaindigital.com

CONTENTS

Our Regular Upfront Section: 12 Big Picture 14 The Brief 16 Timeline: A brief history the Internet of Things (IoT) 18 Trailblazer: Francesca DeBiase 20 Five Minutes With: Richard Lord

Banking on dynamic digital transformation

Helping suppliers see the light with digitalisation

Santander UK

Supply Chain:

Putting the authenticity into procurement

Driving faster & sustainable digital transformation

Walgreens Boots Alliance

Terzo Cloud

Air Freight riding high in a world of change

Responsible sourcing is a delicate balancing act

Logistics:

Sustainability:

Performance. Accelerated. ▶Role-based, practical eLearning for procurement and supply chain teams. Created by experts and powered by science for you to apply in everyday workplace situations. Visit Skill Dynamics

100

126

Shell

Tomorrow Street

How Shell’s Source 2 Contract digitalisation and AI boosts productivity

Nurtures tech ecosystems of the future

118

140

RFID signals its importance in an omnichannel world

Procurement software solutions

Tech and AI:

Top 10

Meet who runs the world. A BizClik Media Group Brand

In Association with:

TOP 100

Women

SUPPLYCHAIN

NEW ISSUE OUT NOW Read now

Creating Digital Communities

BIG PICTURE

June 2022

Strawberries and the Wimbledon Tennis Championships Maidstone, Kent, England

Strawberries are an early summer crop across Northern Europe, and they have become synonymous with one thing above all else: the Wimbledon tennis championships, where they are consumed with lashings of cream. For decades, Hugh Lowe Farms in Kent has supplied Wimbledon with its strawberries.

They are hand-picked and delivered each morning of The Championships. Each year, 38.4 tons of strawberries, in 140,000 punnets, are consumed during the event. In 2020, fresh strawberries were the world's 939th most traded product, with a total trade of US$2.99bn.

supplychaindigital.com

THE BRIEF “Our goal is to identify scale-ups able to support Vodafone’s strategies and Luxembourg's tech goals”

BY THE NUMBERS Cybersecurity threats (McKinsey)

Kenny Graham CEO Tomorrow Street 

“The key to digitalisation is addressing suppliers’ concerns on data privacy and security”

<10,000

130mn

Estimated number of unique malware strains in 2002

Estimated number of unique malware strains in 2020

40%

70%

The average proportion of cybersecurity spend, post-attack, in 2016

The average proportion of cybersecurity spend, post-attack, in 2020

Maria Rey-Marston

Supply Chain Innovation Global Lead, Accenture 

EDITOR'S CHOICE

UKRAINE WAR SEES EUROPE SEEKING SUNFLOWER OIL ALTERNATIVES

“We are responding to the continued growth in demand from the e-commerce industry” Dorothea von Boxberg

Supermarkets across Europe are working with suppliers to maintain supplies of cooking oil as war in Ukraine sees sunflower oil production levels plummet. READ MORE

RESHORING 'COULD TAKE YEARS' SAYS NEW BALANCE SOURCING CHIEF

CEO Lufthansa Cargo 

Nearshoring and reshoring could take decades to implement as a response to ongoing supply chain disruption, the sourcing chief of a multinational sportswear company has said.

June 2022

Chemical companies innovating to simplify supply – Accenture Supply chains in the chemical industry are subject to the same forces as retail, and there is a shift to personalised choices in the materials and services on offer to customers, a new Accenture report concludes. The report says that for the past three decades, there has been a steady expansion of the global chemicals supply chain spurred by factors including e-commerce, liberalisation of trade agreements, investment in transportation infrastructure, improved methods of international communication, and advances in transportation technology. The challenge now, Accenture says, is for chemical companies to address complexity while delivering on customer demands more effectively and efficiently. Accenture identifies three areas where chemical companies are innovating to this effect: •A dapting supply chain dynamically to changing customer needs •B uilding a more agile business model leveraging an ecosystem of partners •G aining deeper supply chain visibility for real-time decision-making

 TESLA Tesla’s results for the first quarter in 2022 showed that total revenues had risen by 81% year-on-year, to US$18.8bn.

 PROCUREMENT Keynote speakers at Procurement & Supply Chain Live: The Risk and Resilience Conference were agreed that procurement has never been more strategically important to businesses

 SUNFLOWER OIL With Russia and Ukraine

W I N N E R S JUN 22

responsible for 80% of global sunflower oil production, the cooking oil is being rationed by supermarkets across Europe.

 RESHORING Nearshoring and reshoring could take decades to implement as a response to ongoing supply chain disruption, the sourcing

L O S E R S

chief of multinational sportswear company New Balance has said. supplychaindigital.com

TIMELINE F O Y R O T S I A BRIEF H

THE INTERNET OF THINGS ( IOT )

As the supply chain industry becomes increasingly reliant on new data sources, we take a look at the development of the IoT and plot its growth through the decades.

1980s

The dawn of the ‘Internet of Things’ Though Internet of Things, as a concept, wasn’t yet officially named, one of the earliest examples comes from the early 1980s and was a Coca Cola machine. Local programmers would connect through the Internet to the refrigerated appliance, checking to see if there was a drink available and if it was cold, before making the trip to purchase one. 16

June 2022

2002

Tracking inventory In 2002-2003, Walmart and the US Department of Defense were the first large organisations to embrace Ashton’s model of tracking inventory using tagging, RFID, and the Internet of Things.

2012

IoT goes smart A pilot programme called ‘Smart City Switzerland’ brought representatives from universities, businesses, and public administration together to discuss new ideas for the urban environment. ‘Smart City Switzerland’ has over sixty projects underway, supporting new scientific partnerships and innovation.

2010

The Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) The IIoT came into being with several large companies developing their own systems. GE is given credit for creating the term ‘Industrial Internet of Things’ in 2012.

2013

The Internet of Things becomes a part of life By the year 2013, the IoT had become a system using multiple technologies, ranging from the Internet to wireless communication, and from microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) to embedded systems.

2015

IoT goes mobile Smartphones are part of the IoT and have become an important communications tool for many individuals. In 2015, they joined the IoT with a high degree of enthusiasm from marketers.

supplychaindigital.com

TRAILBLAZER

Francesca DeBiase

JOB TITLE: CHIEF GLOBAL SUPPLY CHAIN OFFICER COMPANY: MCDONALDS

Bringing sustainable practices to the world’s biggest fast food company

s Chief Global Supply Chain Officer at McDonald's, Francesca DeBiase is one of the few Fortune 500 executives to have developed and run combined supply chain and sustainability operations. DeBiase also contributed to McDonald's standard-setting leadership, which was recognised by the company receiving a Supply Chain Masters rating from Gartner.

In our recent Top 100 Women in Supply Chain magazine, DeBiase was ranked second. She began her career as an auditor in the retail and consumer products industry with EY. Upon joining McDonalds 14 years ago, she served in multiple finance roles, which eventually culminated in a position as Senior Director of European Finance. After a time, she also added the role of Chief European Supply Chain Officer to this. DeBiase has a strong sustainability vision Based for a decade in Europe, DeBiase returned to the US to develop, lead and execute a sustainability vision that continues to advance McDonald's environmental leadership. DeBiase initiated dialogue with environmental critics to drive industrywide change, winning endorsement from management, employees, suppliers and franchisees. She also increased brand trust scores with stakeholders, NGOs, and customers to reinforce the integrity and credibility of the brand. DeBiase has 30 years’ global restaurant and toy supply chain expertise, including

June 2022

“ We're aligned with a beef value chain being environmentally sound, socially responsible and economically viable” food, packaging, logistics, construction, real estate and marketing services. She managed the COVID-19 crisis without supply chain interruption to the fast food company’s 70 million daily customers in 37,000 restaurants across 100 countries. Sustainability is about taking the long view Asked what her top priorities are on sustainability, DeBiase said: “I think for me, it’s all about what is next. With sustainability, if you want to make true impact and change, it takes a commitment and a vision that goes beyond a few years. Also, in my leadership role, how do I ensure that everyone feels like it's their responsibility?” DeBiase’s aim is to embed sustainability into everything McDonalds does – “into our people practices within HR, into our communities and also into what we stand for”. She adds: “The question is one of making the entire leadership team feel we're all accountable for this together, just as we're all accountable for the brand. Those are two big areas where I personally can help support the team and the company.” Sustainable beef programme running in Canada On sourcing sustainable beef for McDonalds burgers, DeBiase says: “It's

a journey, and I love it. We’re one of the founding members of the Global Roundtable for Sustainable Beef. We're very aligned with a beef value chain being environmentally sound, socially responsible and economically viable. “Our first pilot market is in Canada, where our verified sustainable beef pilot is currently underway. I have had the honour of meeting all of the ranch owners in Canada over the past couple of years. They've been amazing. They're really leading the beef industry in many ways. “By the time we conclude the pilot in the second quarter this year, we'll have well over 100 of those producer verifications done. We are absolutely on track to have our first purchases of sustainable beef in Canada this year. “We also have a few other things going on. The United States has a beef roundtable and so does Brazil. We are working very hard to have sustainable beef for the Olympics restaurants. So watch this space.” She added that, in Europe, McDonald’s is working with the Sustainable Agricultural Initiative. “They've been focusing on sustainable beef, and we've got some pilots and tests going there,” she said. “We've had several markets where we're moving forward.”

70 million

McDonald's has 70 million daily customers

37,000

37,000 restaurants across 100 countries supplychaindigital.com

FIVE MINUTES WITH...

RICHARD LORD VP Sales, Asia-Pacific, Kinaxis SUPPLY CHAINS THE WORLD OVER FACE SIMILAR PROBLEMS, BUT REGIONAL COMPLEXITIES CAN ALSO BRING THEIR OWN UNIQUE CHALLENGES, SAYS RICHARD LORD

Q. TELL US A LITTLE OF YOURSELF AND KINAXIS

» I am an enterprise software entrepreneur

with 25 years’ experience in building effective enterprise software sales operations in AsiaPacific and Japan. Kinaxis combines human intelligence with AI and planning to help companies plan for, and monitor, risk.

Q. HOW CAN BUSINESSES PLAN AMID CHAOS?

» It’s clear there will be more and more

disruptions in the future, so forecasting both demand and supply will be even more challenging, looking ahead. The key to thriving in the future will be to move beyond the slow, cascaded planning processes of the past 30 years. This means eliminating operational silos and focusing on improving the end-to-end supply chain, instead of individual links. By using a single version of the truth, built from accurate, up-to-date real-time data, businesses will gain a competitive edge.

Q. HOW DOES KINAXIS USE MACHINELEARNING TO SOLVE PLANNING PROBLEMS?

» We use Heuristics for real-time simulations in supply-and-demand planning, optimisation for use-cases, and machine learning for complex industries, such as retail, consumer packaged goods, life sciences and problems that require 20

June 2022

significant training. What’s unique about our application in machine learning is we use a ‘self-healing supply chain’ solution. This automatically improves the accuracy of planning design assumptions and continuously keeps companies’ supply chain operating in top health.

Q. ARE THERE ANY SUPPLY CHAIN CHALLENGES THAT ARE UNIQUE TO APAC COUNTRIES?

» For APAC, the biggest challenge is the

diversity in culture between North Asia, South Asia, South-East Asia and the Pacific. Cultures, languages, ways of thinking, and the time required to build trust are different in every country. China-related political issues may drive unexpected policy changes at any time without warning, and these in turn may hugely impact businesses across the region. Cross-border supply chain challenges remain despite free-trade agreements; borders are not as open as in EMEA. Plus they are sometimes closed, due to unexpected policy changes. There is also total dependence on ocean freight or shipping. Even ESG compliance will require tremendous investment and business model changes to many firms in the region.The scale of the business and market size for the companies in APAC is also typically smaller than those of Europe or the Americas. There’s no maturity of the market, as not all countries or companies are able to embrace technology as fast as others.

Q. WHAT DOES THE FUTURE LOOK LIKE FOR SUPPLY CHAINS IN APAC?

» We are on the verge of a major

generational change in how supply chains will be managed by the next few generations. Boards today are asking CEOs what they will do differently when the next pandemic or war or other disruptions

happen, and they are demanding that we move our supply chains from being vulnerable to being resilient. In future, supply chains in Asia – and globally – will be focused on resilience and environmental efficiency. Processes will break down silos, so there is transparency and no secrets between functions. It will be mandatory to democratise learning post 2022. When faced with a decision, anyone should be able to simulate anything, anywhere in the supply chain, in any timeframe, and know in advance what the outcome will be and whether they are helping or hurting the company. This is what the future must look like.

Q. WHO INSPIRES YOU?

» I have drawn inspiration from all of the leaders I have worked for over the years, both in terms of what I want to strive for, as well as what I do not want to emulate. supplychaindigital.com

23 - 24 JUNE 2022 STREAMED & IN PERSON TOBACCO DOCK, LONDON

SHAPING THE BUSINESS OF TECHNOLOGY 3,000+

Participants

Days

Zones

60+

Speakers

Get tickets

Sponsor opportunities

A BizClik Media Group Event:

Watch our 2021 Showreel

Join us at TECH LIVE LONDON Showcase your values, products and services to your partners and customers at TECH LIVE LONDON 2022. Brought to you by BizClik Media Group TECH LIVE LONDON, the hybrid event held between 23rd-24th June is broadcast live to the world and incorporates four zone areas of Technology & AI LIVE, Cloud & 5G LIVE, Cyber LIVE plus March8 LIVE in to one event. With a comprehensive content programme featuring senior industry leaders and expert analysts, this is an opportunity to put yourself and your brand in front of key industry decision makers.

Get tickets

23 - 24 June 2022

Sponsor opportunities

June 2022

SANTANDER UK

SANTANDER UK BANKING ON DYNAMIC DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION

WRITTEN BY: SCOTT BIRCH PRODUCED BY: GLEN WHITE supplychaindigital.com

SANTANDER UK

Nick Jenkinson, Chief Procurement Officer at Santander UK, on the challenges faced undertaking a complete digital transformation at the financial giant

ew procurement professionals have a career as broad and diverse as Nick Jenkinson, currently driving transformation at Santander UK. While using the word ‘currently’ may seem odd, like referring to your ‘current partner’, Jenkinson is the first to admit that he is constantly striving to make himself surplus to requirements. “I've worked in procurement for more years than I wish to remember and I've got a slightly strange CV in that I've worked across seven companies and seven industries for more than 20 years,” he says. “I've learned a lot over 13 years of doing transformation activities, but being able to walk away and know that you have truly left something in a better place than where you found it that's recognised within the organisation, that's recognised within the team, I guess that’s my perfect scenario. I can walk off into the sunset knowing I've created a great team. I've created the strong leadership. I've created the next step up for people within that team and then I’ll be able to move on to another challenge.”

June 2022

Nick Jenkinson, Chief Procurement Officer at Santander UK

SANTANDER UK

Jenkinson makes references to the New Zealand rugby team and its ethos that made them one of the greatest sporting teams of all time – ‘sweeping the sheds’. The simple act of cleaning the dressing rooms after a game, having that personal discipline and not considering you are above a task and someone else should do it just because you are one of the best players on the planet. 28

June 2022

“ We're really undertaking openheart surgery” NICK JENKINSON CPO, SANTANDER UK

“I'm not hierarchical in the slightest from a leadership perspective, so I like to get involved,” says Jenkinson. “But in those early stages of driving transformation, you will often look around and you haven't got all the people that you want or need within the organisation and therefore you have to look in the mirror or it doesn't happen.”

Automotive roots Twenty years is a long time in procurement, and the rapid digitisation in recent years has only accelerated that. So has the function changed beyond recognition in Jenkinson’s time? He says both yes and no. He started his career in the automotive industry which he admits was probably more advanced than most at that point in time. supplychaindigital.com

Doxim takes marketing to new level for Santander Doxim, a global Customer Communications Management (CCM) leader, leverages its expertise, alongside its flexible platform to deliver ‘next best action’ email marketing for Santander. Maximize the impact of your communications - support all digital and print channels with one vendor.

SCHEDULE A PERSONALISED DEMO SESSION

Doxim provides modern, flexible solutions for CCM James Hall, Commercial Director at Doxim, advocates flexible, accessible print and digital communications for businesses everywhere Doxim is a global customer communications management provider with over 2800 clients, providing both print and digital communications to its customers. “We provide everything from email and SMS, to a letter in the post,” says Hall, Commercial Director at Doxim. “We have over 20 years of experience in customer communications. Clients are essentially looking to outsource the complexity to Doxim so that they can focus on their core competencies.” Doxim provides a wide range of solutions that include everything from a document’s creation and personalisation, to its storage and delivery in both print and digital formats – enabling its clients to save money, increase revenue and wallet share, and give their customers the best possible experience. Asked about industry trends, Hall says: “We’re seeing a shift to cloud-based customer communication management. Businesses want to move away from large on-premises solutions to save money,

move with the times and be more secure. AI and data analytics are becoming ever more present in all technology, and this includes the CCM market. There’s also a trend towards communications becoming accessible to those with assistive devices. Vendor consolidation is a key driver in the CCM market, as businesses look to become more efficient, save money and focus on the customer experience.” Doxim delivers over half a billion emails for partner Santander every year, with a greater than 99% delivery rate. “The marketing project that we work on with them, is driven by an Artificial Intelligence engine and that helps determine next-best-communications to send the customer,” he says. “We very much work in partnership with Santander to constantly improve the customer experience,” says Hall. “And, really, the key to success with all communications projects is working in partnership, just as we do with Santander.”

REQUEST DEMO

SANTANDER UK

Jenkinson was in direct materials and says services and indirect materials were seen very much as the poor relation. It is only since he moved into the world of services procurement where Jenkinson says he recognised a difference as the function and use of technology has evolved. “I'm not going to say it's more complex as there are just different types of complexity in indirect and direct, and because I've been able to move across different industries, I've been able to see what different industries do well and also, not so well,” says Jenkinson. “In discussing digital, I can get a bit cynical sometimes because I think people can get confused when defining digital procurement. 32

June 2022

I think people get too lost in AI, RPA, NLP and the future of digitisation without sometimes understanding the drivers within their own organisation and the problems they are trying to solve – I am not a big fan of technology for the sake of technology. Some people are still at the level where they need to get the technology foundation, but whichever way you look at it, we all use technology every day and it has greatly changed our approach.

Nick Jenkinson TITLE: CPO COMPANY: SANTANDER UK INDUSTRY: PROCUREMENT, BANKING LOCATION: UNITED KINGDOM A forward thinking, selfaware, results driven and highly dynamic leader, who has demonstrated an ability to inspire, motivate and drive change through a focus on people, customer engagement and innovative strategies. Highly inquisitive and has a passion for change and building high-performing teams that can challenge the status quo and deliver tangible and transformative business outcomes. Key skills and achievements include: • Transformative Procurement • Business leader

EXECUTIVE BIO

• P assion for driving significant change • T rack record of delivering significant, sustainable value • A relentless focus on digital enablers • L eadership of multi-award winning regional and global transformations

supplychaindigital.com

Build a Digital Future and Lasting Customer Success Accelerate growth and create wholistic business value with pioneering technology-fuelled digital solutions tailored to the realities of your enterprise and the financial services industry. Inspire customer loyalty and success.

Tech ‘about evolution, not revolution’ - Coforge

It is about delivering business value for stakeholders, including shareholders, customers and employees.”

Gautam Samanta, Coforge EVP and Global Head of Banking and Financial Services, stresses that digital transformation is all about delivering value.

Samanta adds that Coforge’s approach is effective because its solutions also “absorb the realities of our customers’ enterprises” - the reality being that “the old and the new often coexist in business processes that can sometimes be decades old”.

Coforge is a global digital services and solutions provider, and helps its clients embrace emerging and new technologies to achieve real-world business impact. The company’s proprietary platforms power critical business processes across a select number of sectors, and it has a presence in 21 countries, with 25 delivery centres across nine nations. One of the sectors in which Coforge is a key player is banking and financial services (BFS), where it is helping its BFS clients on the digital transformation journey by making the road as straight and smooth as possible. “Digital transformation is an evolutionary process, not a revolutionary one,” says Samanta. “So we do not see it as disruptive.” He adds that having a clear vision of what digital transformation is - and isn’t - is what shapes the solutions that help Coforge’s clients achieve their goals. “For us, digital transformation is not just a marketing phrase to wrap around software services. It is not about the technology.

“One of the things that differentiates us is that we are pragmatic in our approach to helping clients,” Samanta adds. “Yes, we transform with the new, but not at the expense of the old, which often has value.” It helps, too, that Coforge has a deep understanding of what value looks like in BFS, because the company has chosen to focus its attention on this sector, as well as a small number of other verticals. “We focus on very select industries, and have a deep understanding of the underlying processes of those industries, which provide us with a distinct perspective,” says Samanta.

Learn more ›

SANTANDER UK

Nick Jenkinson, CPO Santander UK, on digital transformation

“It’s about putting the right people in place, doing the right things, with the right enablers and right positioning and the success will follow” NICK JENKINSON CPO, SANTANDER UK

June 2022

KEY PARTNERSHIPS

SANTANDER UK

A key element of our new operating model is our approach to developing and partnering with a supplier ecosystem who can truly help support and drive our business goals. I’m a big believer in the notion that you are what you eat and, as a result, we have developed an operating model where ~40% of our people are dedicated to supplier collaboration and risk management. Given this approach and belief, we are working with some great partners across a number of areas to drive our technology, digitisation and talent goals. Those partners include:

THE SCOTTISH BRAILLE PRESS The Scottish Braille Press is a long standing supplier of alternative format customer communications to visually impaired Santander UK customers. The Scottish Braille Press is part of the charity Sight Scotland, therefore all profits and fundraising are used to support the charity. In addition, they are an employer that supports people with disabilities.

PARAGON Santander UK has a well-established partnership with Paragon rooted in transactional print, but more recently expanding into the management of our mailroom operations. This has presented an opportunity for us to deepen our strategic partnership through transformation to a digital outsourced mailroom.

DOXIM Doxim have provided a critical service to deliver both operational and marketing email communications to customers on behalf of Santander UK since 2017. Doxim have been a vital partner in helping Santander transform the efficacy and efficiency of our digital email customer communications.

COFORGE Coforge were selected as a key partner given their expertise in emerging technology, data and digital and through the partnership, have supported a significant global workforce transformation initiative and new customer innovations.

supplychaindigital.com

We all need balance in our lives. As a strategic communications partner, it’s our purpose to create better days for you and your team. We help you deliver at work, so you can deliver for them.

#betterdayswithpcc www.paragon-cc.com/en-gb

Better days at work with

SANTANDER UK

“ I am not a big fan of technology for the sake of technology” NICK JENKINSON CPO, SANTANDER UK

“Ultimately there are significant technology enablers that I'm bringing into our organisation and really that's all about creating the time, the headspace for people to be able to be more effective in their roles and to be able to drive a different value proposition. “Despite the access to these significant enablers, I still seem to often hear the same dull conversation of where should we be sat in the organisation. As a function, we can be a bit self-indulgent if I’m honest. We like to

tell everybody else in the profession how well we're all doing but we still come on to some of those same boring conversations which, if we're still having them, then clearly we haven't evolved as much as we should have done.” Total Transformation When it comes to the challenge at Santander, Jenkinson says the banking giant is going through a major transformation programme. His own impatience means he admits they are trying to drive change from multiple angles and that is one of the reasons why he was attracted to this latest passion project. supplychaindigital.com

June 2022

SANTANDER UK

“I've been able to move across different industries, I've been able to see what different industries do well and also, not so well” NICK JENKINSON CPO, SANTANDER UK

“We're really undertaking open-heart surgery,” says Jenkinson. “We've got a number of different technology upgrades that we're going through. We've really looked at everything to do with the current operating model – including people, processes and systems – and looked at where those challenges are.” Jenkinson and his team are implementing new tools around sourceto-pay and making a lot of enhancements within risk management and supplier collaboration, not to mention sustainability. When undertaking such a transformation, it’s essential to understand how these pieces of the jigsaw come together to provide a seamless solution for the user. He is improving processes and then overlaying those technologies in order to drive the agenda forward at pace. He believes the key element about transformation is about having business confidence, being viewed as a true partner, fully engaged in all areas of the organisation, and seen as driving a broad value proposition. This is backed up, inevitably, with KPIs and scorecards but Jenkinson judges success on a different level. “For me, it's the human side that’s critical,” he says. So the big question may well be, when is Jenkinson expecting to move to the next challenge?

“Being able to leave a legacy behind that you're proud of is crucial. I'm very self-aware and self-critical and so I ask myself have I delivered something that I can truly, hand-on-heart say is a great solution I'm proud of. The teams you leave behind are also critical – have I created an environment where they can flourish for the future.. It’s about putting the right people in place, doing the right things, with the right enablers and right positioning and the success will follow .”

supplychaindigital.com

Helping suppliers

see the LIGH with

DIGITALISATION WRITTEN BY: SEAN ASHCROFT

June 2022

SUPPLY CHAIN

With some value chains containing thousands of suppliers, digitally connecting all the players can be complex and challenging, yet ultimately rewarding

D Christophe Lemaitre (CL)

Team Lead, Onboarding Strategy, Tradeshift

Maria ReyMarston (MRM)

Managing Director and Supply Chain Innovation Global Lead, Accenture

igital transformation of the supply chain was underway before the pandemic struck in 2020, but there’s no doubt that COVID-19 has accelerated the process significantly – yet the move towards creating hyper-connected supply chains is not without its challenges. Here, we look at the barriers that can deter suppliers from embracing digitalisation and explore the incentives organisations can offer suppliers to help overcome these problems. We sought the views of industry experts from different sides of the supply chain fence: Christophe Lemaitre (CL) is Team Lead, Onboarding Strategy, with Tradeshift, a cloud-based business network and platform for supply chain payments, marketplaces, and apps; Maria Rey-Marston (MRM), meanwhile, is Managing Director and Supply Chain Innovation Global Lead with Accenture, the multinational professional services company that specialises in IT services and consulting. What happens when suppliers stick with old ways of working rather than becoming part of a digital network? CL: A truly digital network is a compelling value proposition because sellers benefit every bit as much as buyers. Unfortunately, that’s usually not what’s on the table. The fact is that most enterprise software solutions designed to connect buyers and supplychaindigital.com

Making Value Measurable Suppeco delivers a paradigm shift in B2B attitude - leveraging customer-supplier relationships to drive collaborative performance excellence, relationship driven resilience, and sustainability deep into the ecosystem & supply chain.

BOOK A DEMO

Ask us about collaborative relationship driven co-resilience. Ask us about operational compliance for sustainable supply chain.

SUPPLY CHAIN

“ A truly digital network is a compelling value proposition because sellers benefit every bit as much as buyers” CHRISTOPHE LEMAITRE

TEAM LEAD, ONBOARDING STRATEGY, TRADESHIFT

sellers aren’t up to the task. Rather than making it easy for businesses to connect with one another, the majority of digitisation projects fail because they’re designed in islands. Every one-to-one connection is a project in itself, requiring significant time and effort from both the buyer and the seller. The user experience is terrible, and there is often a significant cost attached for the supplier. It’s not that suppliers are digital laggards but that change almost inevitably means cost. They need to learn a new programme,

build a new process, and integrate another system. All that takes time, money, expertise and effort. Many suppliers weigh up all that extra hassle and feel it’s simply not a price they’re willing to pay. MRM: Technology is not the main barrier today to a digitally connected supplier base. Companies have, by and large, embraced digital POs (Purchase Orders), contract management systems issue requisitions, manage negotiations, and, in the majority of industries, companies have adopted digital procurement practices. Perhaps the key challenge is more about ways of working for some buyers and the addressing of their concerns related to data privacy, data security, data platforms and data lakes to exchange information in the digital supply network. supplychaindigital.com

SUPPLY CHAIN

EY advice on hyperconnected supply ‘networks’ An EY report on how businesses can increase the resilience of their supply chains says they need to move away from a linear model to “agile networked ecosystems”. It says organisations can achieve these hyper-connected supply networks by focusing on five key areas: 1. Conduct an end-to-end supply chain risk assessment to stress test the supply chain, identify critical risk scenarios and define potential responses. 2. Invest in key supply chain capabilities – including visibility and monitoring, alternative business operating models, alternative supplier sourcing strategies, network flexibility and agile planning. 3. Implement risk monitoring and reporting tools, as well as an early warning system that enables a rapid early response to risks or disruptions. 4. Have a Plan B for supply disruption triggers, such as a natural disaster or terrorist attack. Work to ensure that external and internal communication protocols are in place for such disruptions. 5. Put in place a crisis management framework for major events, where predefined responses will be inadequate. This should be accompanied by governance procedures. 46

June 2022

“ The key challenge to digitalisation is addressing suppliers' concerns related to data privacy and security" MARIA REY-MARSTON

MD & SUPPLY CHAIN INNOVATION GLOBAL LEAD, ACCENTURE

SUPPLY CHAIN

What incentives can organisations offer to encourage suppliers to onboard? CL: Tradeshift started as a free e-invoicing tool for suppliers, so seller value sits at the core of our technology proposition. We understand that when it comes to convincing suppliers to digitise, they care about three things above all else: simplicity, transparency and speed. The way Tradeshift is designed takes inspiration from social networking sites

like LinkedIn that make it very easy for individuals to join and start exchanging information with multiple connections. When sellers connect to Tradeshift, they unlock a wealth of insight into their relationship with their customers. Being part of a digital network also means sellers can collaborate with buyers in real-time, leading to faster issues-resolution and reduced payment cycles. Our network model also means we’ve been able to build and roll-

supplychaindigital.com

SUPPLY CHAIN

out a growing range of value-added fintech services to sellers on Tradeshift, from early payment options on existing invoices to help with cash flow, through to virtual credit cards for one-off purchasing. MRM: Yes. Many companies incentivise suppliers to join control towers and provide digital records of transactions that can be tracked and traced. Incentives include faster payments, access to platforms to enhance the supplier’s visibility of the network and greater access to the customer’s information and future business intentions. How do businesses convey the benefits of digitisation to suppliers when there are thousands of them in the value chain? CL: We onboard around 40,000 new suppliers every month, so it’s absolutely possible for businesses to achieve their goals at speed and scale. Automation plays a key role in identifying, personalising and engaging with suppliers at scale. Our adaptive onboarding approach creates fully personalised invitations for sellers, and in each invite, we provide a realtime status update on outstanding invoices, giving sellers a taste of the value they’ll get using Tradeshift. We recently started working with a large customer in the transport and logistics space. We were able to show them that roughly 50% of their suppliers were already active on the Tradeshift network. Connecting with these suppliers is then simply a matter of plugging into the network. MRM: The scalability of solutions based on blockchain, visual analytics and conversational platforms has increased tenfold in the past few years. Companies that have a robust cloud backbone for their connected applications 48

June 2022

and visibility of their network can handle, by design, thousands of suppliers in their supply network. The evolution of data lakes and analytics has removed the scalability challenge for supplier connectivity. Today, the challenges are more related to strategy, security, data privacy and willingness to co-operate across the network. What are the main benefits of suppliers being part of a digital network? CL: The relationship between buyers and suppliers is still largely governed by the exchange of paper-based documents. These heavily manual processes mean finance teams spend the bulk of their time on pretty

“When it comes to convincing suppliers to digitise, they care about three things: simplicity, transparency and speed” CHRISTOPHE LEMAITRE

TEAM LEAD, ONBOARDING STRATEGY, TRADESHIFT

low-value processing tasks and virtually no time understanding the financial health of their supply chains. The lack of shareable real-time data also means that finance and procurement departments are often forced to operate in silos. So, when CFOs are tasked with looking at options to increase cash flow, they are often forced to base decisions on fragmented information. Digitalisation gives teams on the buyer’s side better data to make informed decisions and, ultimately, more time to understand the impact that any decisions they take will have on suppliers. Plus, the robust data these systems provide on buyer and supplier

relationships opens the door to innovations that offer value to suppliers – from increased access to curated marketplaces, where they can seek out fresh commercial opportunities, to digitised financing options that help them unlock faster access to working capital. MRM: Visibility is king! New EY research shows how to design and operate resilient supply networks, and visibility is foundational to that. Supply chains have always been data-rich – full of transactional information that collectively visualised and analysed to help companies make sense of an operation’s status and create live digital twins of global, regional and local operations. supplychaindigital.com

June 2022

WALGREENS BOOTS ALLIANCE

PUTTING THE AUTHENTICITY INTO PROCUREMENT WRITTEN BY: JESS GIBSON

PRODUCED BY: GLEN WHITE

supplychaindigital.com

WALGREENS BOOTS ALLIANCE

WBA’s Chief Procurement Officer, Jim Townsend, details the company’s procurement evolution, digitalisation journey and ethos

herever you are in the world, it’s highly likely that you’ve either heard of, or been a customer of, Walgreens Boots

Alliance (WBA). An integrated healthcare, pharmacy and retail leader that serves customers across the US, Europe and Latin America, WBA operates a plethora of consumer brands, of which one or two (at the very least) may already be familiar: Walgreens, Boots, Duane Reade, the No7 Beauty Company, Benavides (Mexico), and Ahumada (Chile). This brand portfolio is further bolstered by WBA’s healthcare-focused investments in several countries, including major markets such as China and the U.S. In his role of chief procurement officer (CPO) for Walgreens Boots Alliance, Jim Townsend is an integral leader. Armed with considerable experience that he has accumulated in the course of varied roles, Townsend is ripe with knowledge – whether technical, business-focused, historical or about building self-belief for success. “Every procurement professional should be bold, brave, and ready to take the right road rather than the easy road,” Townsend asserts, establishing his style of leadership and approach to conducting business. His honest, straightforward nature lends itself well to the role of CPO and has fed 52

June 2022

Example of an image caption supplychaindigital.com

THE WORLD HAS CHANGED. HAVE YOU? Is it time to rethink how procurement delivers on your organization’s objectives? The world’s leading businesses trust Proxima.

Accelerating purposeful and profitable change

PURPOSEFUL AND PROFITABLE CHANGE WITH PROXIMA Proxima COO, Dan Collings discusses how suppliers are now finally being see as the “external enterprise” and why it is now or never for procurement Whilst the current economic environment is challenging, even today there is enormous value to be had in spending wisely and well. “Around seventy percent of company spend is on supply,’’ says Dan Collings, COO of Procurement and Supply Chain Consultancy Proxima. ‘Getting that spending right is a valuable differentiator for businesses in the good but especially in the not so good times. It is more critical than ever to ensure that suppliers are perfectly aligned to the rhythm of a business, and that every cent is working in pursuit of objectives”. “And objectives evolve”, adds Collings. “Early in my career, nearly every client was asking us to focus on driving savings, something that we still excel at. Today, the definition of value can be much broader, aligned to the realization that suppliers are the ‘external

enterprise’. Whether it’s a question of cost, risk, resilience, ESG or innovation, invariably supplier networks are part of the answer”. Walgreens is a perfect example of how Proxima partners with businesses, and ambitious CPOs. “We want to help CPOs to put procurement at the heart of driving profitable and purposeful change. With Walgreens this means helping them to achieve ambitious financial targets while at the same time supporting the transformation of procurement”. “We were originally involved in assessing Walgreen’s property portfolio - everything from signage to snow clearing to the dayto-day operations of a Walgreens store. We are now into year seven of our partnership, and it’s one that we deeply value, based on trust and results delivery. What started in property now extends across a significant breadth of procurement and supply chain topics including sourcing, complex transformation and the deployment of deep subject matter expertise”. And what of savings, are these a thing of the past? “Absolutely not, although perhaps today the job of procurement is more ‘Commercial Architects’ than savings chaser. There is still enormous financial value to be had in most organizations, if you know where to look”.

FIND OUT MORE

WALGREENS BOOTS ALLIANCE

Putting the authenticity into procurement

“ WHY WOULD ANYBODY WANT TO WORK FOR SOMEBODY THAT'S NOT AUTHENTIC?” JIM TOWNSEND

CHIEF PROCUREMENT OFFICER, WALGREENS BOOTS ALLIANCE

into the company’s digital procurement transformation, as well as its overall largescale transformation process, repositioning and renewing procurement, and ensuring success for the company. WBA’s procurement process underscored by company values Though the modern iteration of the company formed back in 2014 when 56

June 2022

Walgreens joined forces with Alliance Boots, the cumulative history of WBA adds up to over 170 years. The journey began in 1849 with John Boot opening the first Boots drugstore in Nottingham, UK. This was followed over 50 years later in 1901 by Charles R. Walgreen Sr purchasing the Chicago, US, drugstore in which he worked as a pharmacist. By 1909, this drugstore had developed into Walgreens Co, kickstarting the drugstore chain expansion with the opening of a second store. Multiple mergers and developments followed over

JIM TOWNSEND TITLE: CHIEF PROCUREMENT OFFICER INDUSTRY: PROCUREMENT LOCATION: USA

the next century, and the rest is, as they say, history. With such an impressive history to its name, WBA has what Townsend refers to as “a really strong heritage in health, pharmacy, beauty, and retail”, which makes it a brand that consumers know they can trust. Right now, though, the company is more focused on the future ahead. “We've got a really exciting future in terms of where we're heading and one that will be immersed in omnichannel, expanding our health solutions and doing everything we can to make healthcare affordable,” says Townsend.

EXECUTIVE BIO

Prior to joining Walgreens Boots Alliance, he worked for Anglo American and General Electric also within commercial procurement. He has worked overseas extensively, in both manufacturing and retail environments. He holds an MBA in Strategic Procurement from the University of Birmingham, UK and a bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering.

Leave tail spend to us. Tail Spend can no longer be ignored. Unlike other procurement tools, Fairmarkit uses a unique AI-based supplier recommendation engine to find right suppliers for the request and removes manual touchpoints completely.

Learn More

Taming tail spend: Fairmarkit helps WBA cut costs and cycle time

Insert Article Title.

Fairmarkit hit the procurement scene in

intelligent sourcing and structured data

2017, disrupting the procurement landscape

to transform the way buyers are sourcing,

so long dominated by complex providers like

purchasing and optimising tail spend.

Oracle and SAP and giving enterprises the

Within four years Fairmarkit had attracted

tools they need to automate their supply

global interest, winning multiple awards,

chain operations. It characterises itself volutpat. Ut wisi enim ad minim veniam, quis

and was in partnership with a host of volutpat. Ut wisi enim ad minim veniam, quis

empowers partners efficiently lobortis nisl its ut aliquip ex to ea more commodo conse-

global PCIex Pharma and BP, lobortisgiants nisl ut like aliquip ea commodo conse-

Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetuer

adipiscing elit, sed diam nonummy nibh euismod tincidunt ut laoreet dolore magna aliquam erat

as the intelligent sourcing platform that nostrud exerci tation ullamcorper suscipit

purchase goods andiriure services need. quat. Duis the autem vel eum dolorthey in hendre-

Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetuer

adipiscing elit, sed diam nonummy nibh euismod tincidunt ut laoreet dolore magna aliquam erat

large and small organisations, nostrud exerci tation ullamcorperincluding suscipit

helping power their digital procurement quat. Duis autem vel eum iriure dolor in hendre-

“We the velit procurement process minimal rit in make vulputate esse molestie consequat, vel

transformation. Recently the $1.3bn rit in vulputate velit esse molestie consequat, vel

touch for staff and effortless for buyers,” illum dolore eu feugiat nulla facilisis at vero eros

Walgreens Alliance illum doloreBoots eu feugiat nulla(WBA) facilisisbrought at vero eros

et accumsan et iusto odio dignissim blandit says Fairmarkit’s co-founder and qui COO Tarek

et accumsan odio the dignissim qui blandit Fairmarkit in et toiusto address problem.

praesent“Despite luptatumthe zzril delenit augue duis Alaruri. widespread adoption of

praesent luptatum zzril auguecan duistake “Enterprises the size ofdelenit Walgreens

dolore te feugait nulla facilisi. Lorem ipsum dolor procurement software solutions companies

dolore te feugait facilisi. Lorem an ipsum dolor anything up to anulla week to process order

nonummy ut laoreet are tied bynibh theeuismod tail, andtincidunt spend too much

nonummy nibh euismod tincidunt laoreet Fairmarkit we can cut that to a ut couple of

sit amet, consthat ectetuer elit, sed diam are realising theiradipiscing procurement teams

amet, cons ectetuer adipiscing elit, sed diam –sit it’s a very cumbersome process but with

time managing low-value contracts.”

dolore magna aliquam erat volutpat. Ut wisi

dolore magna aliquam erat volutpat. Ut wisi hours. Our customers on average see 30%

Tail spend makes up about 30% to 40%

cost savings, 80% operational efficiency

of a company’s total spend and about

gains and a dramatic reduction of cycle time

90% to 95% of their total purchases.

to within a matter of hours.” Savings of this

Most procurement functions devote little

magnitude are clearly a massive benefit to

attention to managing tail spend because ut laoreet dolore magna aliquam erat volutpat.

stakeholders, making sense of the speed at

effectively, companies need to leverage

the investment it needed since its launch.

enim ad minim Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet,

consectetuer adipiscing elit, sed diam nonummy Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetuer Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetuer adipiscing elit, sed diam nonummy nibh euismod tincidunt

it’s so complex. Tositmanage tail spend Lorem ipsum dolor amet, consectetuer

enim ad minim Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet,

consectetuer adipiscing elit, sed diam nonummy Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetuer Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetuer adipiscing

elit, sed diam nonummy nibh euismod tincidunt ut laoreet dolore magna aliquam erat volutpat.

which company grown and secured Lorem the ipsum dolor sit has amet, consectetuer

Establishing its procurement arm as a disrupter, Townsend describes WBA as “challenging in a truly positive way, in terms of the assumptions that are being made and the direction that's being taken” in procurement, while also building connections among colleagues and within the communities it serves. “This is about being connected with where we are heading, with what's happening within the communities that we serve, 60

June 2022

understanding our customers and patients, and, equally as importantly, our fellow team members,” he says, a sentiment that also extends to the key players around the organisation. “It’s really about how you turn up, about acting with integrity, bravely stepping forward into the future, about having the desire to continuously learn and use this to create new opportunities,” Townsend continues. “If I look at the procurement side,

WALGREENS BOOTS ALLIANCE

The onset of the pandemic shut down the vast majority of society, with only those businesses deemed essential still running; WBA, based predominantly within the remit of healthcare, was one such business. Nevertheless, while “COVID was unquestionably one of the most challenging periods in all of our careers”, Townsend also feels that he has been lucky that WBA had “the incredible opportunity to serve patients and customers in perhaps the greatest era of collective need”. “We've administered nearly 65 million vaccines, more than 12 million boosters, and more than 30 million tests. In parallel with that, we've witnessed huge growth in our digital sales. We've also developed some truly innovative health and retail solutions as we've navigated through this period. “Again, on top of that, not only have we worked all of that space, but we've also focused extensively on our ESG agenda and how to expand our role in the community,” Townsend says. This focus on ESG led to the company developing a solid set of values to model and aspire to: Courage, Connectivity, Commitment and Curiosity. Despite the opportunities presented to WBA, for Townsend himself – used to

our teams have had to learn new things and really develop as professionals to find solutions that fit this new environment that we're in. Curiosity is incredibly strong, anybody within procurement should have that – the very best procurement people are incredibly curious.” It’s exactly this curiosity and integrity that have led to WBA being an indispensable help and connection to the outside world during what has been a bumpy few years.

“ SOMETIMES YOU NEED TO MAKE SOME TOUGH CALLS THAT NOT EVERYBODY WILL AGREE WITH” JIM TOWNSEND

CHIEF PROCUREMENT OFFICER, WALGREENS BOOTS ALLIANCE supplychaindigital.com

GEP DRIVES GREATER COLLABORATION AND VISIBILITY FOR WBA Paul Blake, Senior Director of Engagement at GEP, discusses how the company is working with WBA to drive greater collaboration & transparency in procurement Supply chains today are more complex than ever before. Transparency and collaboration are key to supply chains’ future in order to get the right footing in a more vulnerable and uncertain environment. For 10 years, Paul Blake has worked for GEP; today, he is the Senior Director of Engagement. Blake explains: “Our approach to working with our customers in this kind of environment is multifaceted. Firstly, we help our customers define what a 21st century modern supply chain should look like.” He adds: “At GEP, we bring information to the forefront with intelligent solutions to ensure that our customers make the right decisions when it comes to the suppliers that they work with.”

GEP AND ITS PARTNERSHIP WITH WALGREENS BOOTS ALLIANCE Like many customers of GEP, Walgreens Boots Alliance (WBA) has an abundance of complexity within its operations and a legacy of handling a lot of information in different systems, as well as offline.

“With WBA we have provided a technology platform that allows them to achieve a single source of truth, a central system that allows multiple different project types, stakeholders, territories, and regions to collaborate with, within a single framework that can be continuously improved,” says Blake. He adds: “So it’s about taking data from the company’s historical records of what has been spent on what and with whom, and then providing the means to analyse that data for opportunities. We also provide a system that allows those opportunities to be turned into actionable projects for forecasting and setting goals. Bringing together all this information into the GEP SMART provides organisations with greater visibility and brings contracts to life, rather than being a static document.” With this implementation, GEP SOFTWARE provides a much greater coherence in the end-to-end process allowing collaboration between the different stakeholders within the procurement operation, with improved collaboration between procurement and the supply base, too.

WALGREENS BOOTS ALLIANCE

networking and negotiating with other professionals on a daily basis – isolation and social distancing has been difficult. “Personally, I've missed the face-toface human interaction over the last couple of years that many of us derive a lot of personal energy from,” he says. “And those conversations that generate new opportunities and new ways of thinking, inspiring us all to do something different – that's definitely more difficult in the virtual world.

“ RETAIL AND HEALTHCARE HAS REVOLUTIONISED OVER THE PAST FIVE YEARS, AND THE PANDEMIC HAS FURTHER ACCELERATED DEVELOPMENT WITHIN THESE SECTORS” JIM TOWNSEND

CHIEF PROCUREMENT OFFICER, WALGREENS BOOTS ALLIANCE

Townsend adds: “I'm not suggesting it can't be done, but the whole thing about a virtual meeting is that it’s typically very structural, targeted with a particular outcome. It's about, ‘let's think about where we'll go tomorrow’; it's rarely that kind of broad conversation you’d have in person where you strengthen connectivity and develop your left-field thinking.” Regardless of the rigidity that can halt creativity in digital meetings, Townsend has a more ebullient attitude about technology in general, recognising its role in WBA’s strategy and transformation over the last few years.

June 2022

Presence in 9 countries

13,000+ Retail footprint

315,000

More than 315,000 team members

35,000

Nearly 35,000 pharmacists

8,965

8,965 drugstores in the U.S

4,031

More than 315,000 team members

35,000

Retail stores outside the U.S.

supplychaindigital.com

www.GlobalRMS.com

Proactively Manage Supplier Risk ™

GRMS is the recognized leader in providing customizable supplier risk assessment programs in over 120 countries. With services that include the verification of data, physical review of documents and a supplier support team, GRMS offers you the ability to proactively manage and continuously monitor your suppliers for key areas of risk.

Schedule a Demo

WALGREENS BOOTS ALLIANCE

“ CURRENTLY, WE USE A SUITE OF DIFFERENT PROCUREMENT TECH TOOLS; AT THE HEART OF THIS IS GEP’S SMART SUITE” JIM TOWNSEND

CHIEF PROCUREMENT OFFICER, WALGREENS BOOTS ALLIANCE

The procurement evolution and digital strategy “WBA’s been very progressive with its large-scale transformations in terms of the core elements of business and its digital transformation, but also in procurement,” Townsend says. That much is certainly evident, but what exactly instigated this and how has it added business value to customers? “Retail and healthcare have revolutionised over the past

five years, and the pandemic has further accelerated development within these sectors. Customers and patients expect increased convenience through digital omnichannel experiences, as well as greater value, transparency, sustainability, and diversity,” Townsend outlines. Change has been a prevalent theme throughout the last decade, with much of society opting to purchase through multiple channels and maximising the opportunity of the online spaces to match the needs and expectations of generations brought up in a technological world; the pandemic merely illuminated and sped up this shift. Explaining the process further, Townsend says: “We recognised that strategic supply partnerships were crucial to delivering a new sustainable customer offering and that the investments needed to be funded through supplychaindigital.com

WALGREENS BOOTS ALLIANCE

operating efficiencies. We were charged with jointly identifying, structuring and developing these partnerships.” “To achieve this, we had to transform our organisation. We had to attract, grow and retain talent and reposition ourselves within the organisation, as well as grow our ambition to levels past thought of as unthinkable.” The first stage of this transformation began back in 2017 and focused on a ‘back to basics’ approach: getting the core procurement operating model firing on all cylinders and delivering what the business needed – and not what procurement thought it needed. They made a small number of dedicated digital investments during this initial phase, preferring to 68

June 2022

pick the right moment in time for a more comprehensive digital transformation. Developing the core four strategic themes to innovate procurement In 2017, WBA’s procurement team developed four strategic themes for its digital innovation and company-wide evolution. The first of these strategic themes focused on growth partnerships and the company repositioning itself within its existing markets; the second was based around a relentless focus on ESG and efficiency for sustainability purposes; the third was devoted to building procurement’s executive influence and functional centrality; the fourth and final theme detailed the transformation of the procurement

operating and partnering models, in addition to its capability, environment, supplier relationships and team engagement. “The executive leadership team supported and sponsored the new procurement model, which in turn aligned with the wider organisation. Policies were overhauled and embedded,” Townsend says of the process. “We defined new practices and found a way to drive end-to-end procurement engagement in a different way. Success was essentially enabled through an innovative business partnering model that built on business partnering with functional teams.” “To drive the strategic agenda and leverage sustainable growth opportunities, we put in place collaborative, crossfunctional teams that identified a

pipeline of prospective partnerships and entrepreneurship. Furthermore, this was supported by a group-wide Procurement Efficiency Programme enabling the wider ‘Total Cost Management’ programme. “We ensured that this landed within the respective budgets by making those necessary adjustments and, similarly, we made some significant balance sheet improvements that we tracked to validate cash release as we executed on each of our initiatives.” The Procurement Efficiency Programme was formed in collaboration with these crossfunctional teams and has since delivered approximately 600 initiatives each year. “Delivery of these outcomes rested on the capability transformation within supplychaindigital.com

WALGREENS BOOTS ALLIANCE

Procurement, enabled through changes to the operating model, investing in the team via the Procurement Academy, and disciplined execution,” says Townsend. But what about the technology aiding this transformation? “Currently, we use a suite of different procurement tech tools; at the heart of this is GEP’s Smart Suite,” he says. “This enables us to focus on our role, the partnering and commerciality of what we do. We heavily utilise the programme management module for, among other things, tracking benefits, the e-sourcing tool and the contracts repository. How we drive our programme is key to our success, our day-to-day operations, as well as our strategic initiatives. “By design, business processes, requirements and partnerships, as well as technology growth partnerships – through optimising for sustainability impact, for example – facilitated Walgreens to much better reach the socially vulnerable, which has been critical during the pandemic,” Townsend explains, the notion of supporting the socially vulnerable having helped shape the company’s overall ethos of making healthcare more affordable. “This really sets the drum beat of the organisation.” Talking of the near-future, Townsend excitedly tells us: “We’re building out the future digital environment for our team members, this will focus on delivering material value growth and retention to WBA. “The next phase will see us optimising our existing Ariba platform, implementing a comprehensive end to end contract lifecycle management solution, optimised buying channels and an intuitive low value sourcing solution. The real prize here is figuring out how to stitch this 70

June 2022

“ WE’LL CONTINUE TO BUILD OUT OUR NEW OPERATING MODEL TO EXTEND THE VALUE CYCLE AND BROADEN THE SCOPE OF WHAT PROCUREMENT IS ABOUT WITHIN OUR ORGANISATION, WHILE BUILDING AN EVEN STRONGER TEAM WITH SPECIALISED TALENT” JIM TOWNSEND

CHIEF PROCUREMENT OFFICER, WALGREENS BOOTS ALLIANCE

ecosphere together to make the process of procurement seamless and connected.” A focus on ESG and planning for the future As already established, the onset of the pandemic offered the opportunity for the world to pause and reassess. It exposed the overwhelmingly negative impact of human activity on the environment, as well as the vast racial, gender, and social inequalities plaguing the world, in ways that people could no longer ignore. Soon, demand for much more accountability and transparency from brands across the spectrum of industry began to swell – and businesses had no choice but to comply. WBA wasn’t exempt from this turning of the tide and swiftly got down to business identifying ESG initiatives, focusing its supplychaindigital.com

June 2022

WALGREENS BOOTS ALLIANCE

forward-facing company-wide strategy on environmental and social issues, while overhauling its management strategy. “We made a commitment to expand our understanding of climate-related risk and the opportunities around that. And we're on track to reduce our absolute scope two emissions through some of our initiatives,” Townsend states proudly. “60% of WBA waste is recycled – we've increased that by 6% since 2019, while also reducing our carbon emissions by almost 15% compared to 2019. “Within the Boots UK arm of the business, less than 1% of our waste went to landfill for

the third year in a row. About 6.3% of energy consumed across the organisations comes from renewable sources. We have a strong focus in this space and a very clear clue around where we're heading, from an ESG perspective.” This attitude of constantly doing better and dedicating yourself to the betterment of others is core to Townsend’s personal approach. He feels that, while a good leader should be driven, focused and courageous, it is more important to be authentic, grounded, fun to work with and, above all, genuinely caring – attributes that have had a significant hand in WBA’s transformation and future focus. “Why would anybody want to work for somebody that's not authentic?” Townsend questions, hitting the nail on the head in terms of identifying the company culture that potential employees and customers are looking for these days. So what’s in store for WBA’s procurement team in the next couple of years? Well, it’s guaranteed that ESG initiatives and strategies will be central in the company’s future plans. According to Townsend, this will be joined by a commitment to being “customerfocused”, “socially responsible” and, to some degree, “technology-led”. He concludes: “We thought through where we want to be, and it was around end-to-end digitalisation and being insights driven. We’ll continue to build out our new operating model to extend the value cycle and broaden the scope of what procurement is about within our organisation, while building an even stronger team with specialised talent. “As part of that, we’ll continue making WBA an even better place to work.”

supplychaindigital.com

Demand for air freight is sky high, and profits are healthy, but the industry is facing serious challenges from the Great Resignation and war in Ukraine

WRITTEN BY: SEAN ASHCROFT espite the pandemic resulting in net losses for the air passenger industry – estimated at US$51.8bn in 2021 – the air cargo market is soaring, and the rest of 2022 is looking even better. While there has been huge focus on stratospherically high revenues for sea freight carriers, less attention has been paid to the air freight market, where similarly high demand and limited capacity continues to drive up shipping prices. Accordingly, in March 2022, the International Air Transport Association (IATA) – a trade association of the world's airlines – said air cargo revenues hit a record US$175bn in 2021, and it expects revenues to remain at a similar level in 2022. Not all passenger aircraft carriers are able to take advantage of the opportunity to capture increased air cargo volume, but those who do are getting much-needed trade in what is turning out to be one of the most difficult periods of economic strife in living memory.

June 2022

RIDIN

LOGISTICS

NG HIGH

IN WORLD OF CHANGE supplychaindigital.com

Simplifying the way everyone buys, pays & saves. Invoice Automation | Online Buying | Purchase to Pay | Advanced Analytics

Advanced Spend Analytics. It’s that simple. Make savings whilst also reducing your carbon footprint. Build a constant reflection of your spend Save money on items you already buy Integrate into the world’s most popular retail marketplaces... Review spend over time for future savings See what you’re spending in each procurement spend category Track spend in multiple locations

Empowering businesses to achieve the extraordinary. To achieve the extraordinary go to www.compleatsoftware.com

#TheFutureIsNow

LOGISTICS

“ We are responding to the continued growth in demand from the e-commerce industry” DOROTHEA VON BOXBERG CEO, LUFTHANSA CARGO

Air freight industry undergoing huge change Yet the hugely inflated margins in air freight barely even begin to tell the story of the profound changes the industry is undergoing. Mainly as a result of shifting customer demand resulting from the pandemic, air freight providers are now looking to service the omnichannel model most retailers are moving to. Increasingly, airlines are looking beyond traditional airport-to-airport services and are instead considering opportunities to provide

end-to-end services – something that has powerful implications for global logistics. One such company is Lufthansa Cargo. With a turnover of €3.8bn and a transport performance of 7.2bn freight ton kilometres in 2021, it is one of the world's leading air freight transport companies. Lufthansa Cargo CEO Dorothea von Boxberg confirms that the demand for air freight capacity “remains unbroken”, and adds that the company’s most important goal “remains offering our customers sufficient capacity on the routes that are most important to them”. Air freight servicing retail’s shift to omnichannel Increasingly, these routes are being used to service the ongoing e-commerce boom, which has also driven the collective move to omnichannel. supplychaindigital.com

LOGISTICS

Von Boxberg revealed that, since March 2022, the company has been supplementing its intercontinental network with a medium-haul network. “We serve these routes with smaller A321F freighters operated by Lufthansa Cityline,” she says. “By entering this market, we are responding to the continued growth in demand from the e-commerce industry, enabling us to offer customers even more capacity and additional fast connections.” She adds: “We are now beginning to offer same-day e-commerce solutions within Europe and to selected medium-haul destinations. “The new aircraft will serve a wide range of customers and routes, both scheduled and charter. We are pleased to provide muchneeded capacity in the European market and further strengthen our position as the leading air cargo carrier in Europe.” Great Resignation poses air freight recruitment problems As well as the opportunities for air freight, there are also challenges, with the Great Resignation posing recruitment problems for the industry – on both the cargo and passenger sides – as it is for so many other sectors. John Bacon Jr is VP Supply Chain at Mesa Airlines, a Phoenix-based airline that operates as American Eagle from hubs in Phoenix and Dallas, and as United Express from Washington Dulles and Houston. Mesa operates 145 large regional jets with 700 daily departures to 100 cities, 44 states, the District of Columbia, Canada and Mexico. The company has around 3,500 employees. “The current job market is extremely competitive,” Bacon confirms. “Employees can change employers with relative ease, and this means businesses have been forced to consider incentives such as full-time or part78

June 2022

Top 5 air freight companies 1. Cathay Pacific Airlines The Hong Kong-based air cargo service now has six Boeing 747-400 extended range freighters, while it has acquired 10 next-gen Boeing 747-8Fs since 2008. The Cathay Pacific Cargo Terminal cost an estimated £40 million. 2. Emirates Emirates' 218-strong fleet serves 142 destinations in 80 countries on six continents. Scheduled freighter services now operate to 51 destinations in 44 countries.

“ The Ukraine war has resulted in longer flight times and we’ve had to adjust our flight schedules” DOROTHEA VON BOXBERG CEO, LUFTHANSA CARGO

3. DHL Aviation A division of DHL Express, which in turn is owned by Deutsche Post DHL, DHL Aviation comprises five main airlines and carries an estimated 12% of the worldwide market. 4. UPS Air Cargo UPS Air Cargo has been operating since 1982, and, in that time, it has serviced shipping and logistics functions to 727 airports – most countries in the world. It has 20,000 employees and net revenue of £8.9mn across its supply chain and freight arm. 5. FedEx Express Freight Delivering to 220 countries, FedEx is in the top five largest aircraft fleets in the world. Founded in 1971 as Federal Express Corporation, FedEx Express Freight promises 100% coverage to any US location in one-to-three business days. Its international express freight promise to 50 countries is one-to-three business days. supplychaindigital.com

LOGISTICS

time remote-working options, to retain and attract the best talent.” But hybrid working itself brings its own challenges, especially to an industry where many of its staff – pilots, air crew and maintenance workers – are unable to work from home. “It’s something you have to take on board,” he says. “I insist on meeting members of my team face-to-face once a week.” 80

June 2022

Ukraine war means longer lead times and lower loads Another serious headache for air cargo carriers is the war in Ukraine, which has seen airspace over Ukraine, Russia and Belarus closed to commercial traffic. “It’s no secret the situation between Russia and Ukraine has put a tremendous strain on air cargo,” confirms Bacon.”The distances between routes have been

“ It’s no secret the situation between Russia and Ukraine has put a tremendous strain on air cargo” DOROTHEA VON BOXBERG CEO, LUFTHANSA CARGO

Cargo has been flying on a southern route around Russia and Ukraine,” she says. “This results in longer flight times, and we’ve had to adjust our flight schedules. European airlines like us now have longer routes and less payload. Payloads on aircraft destined for Japan, China and South Korea have had to be reduced, “by as much as 20%” she reveals, but adds that the company “does not expect a short-term shift in freight flows, as production sites cannot be relocated quickly”.

extended due to the restrictions on Russian air space, and this is forcing extended delivery delays in the short-term.” He says that, in the long-term, “longer lead times will have to be built into planning decisions to compensate for the extended shipping times”. Von Boxberg agrees that the war has posed serious problems. “Since the outbreak of the war in Ukraine, Lufthansa

And what of the future - especially the drive to net-zero carbon emissions? Bacon feels that alternate fuel options is something every major aviation company has been exploring for some time anyway, as “the fluctuating price of oil has always been an Achilles’ heel for profit margins in aviation”. He adds: “It will be exciting to see what the future has in store when it comes to alternate fuel options such as electric or hydrogen powered flight.” supplychaindigital.com

June 2022

DRIVING FASTER & SUSTAINABLE DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION AD FEATURE WRITTEN BY: GEORGIA WILSON PRODUCED BY: JAMES WHITE supplychaindigital.com

TERZO

Brandon Card, CEO & Founder of Terzo, introduces the company's digitalisation mission, achieving sustainability in supplier management & its future plans

ith a keen natural interest in technology and a stroke of perfect timing, Brandon Card (CEO) founded Terzo in 2022 with a vision to help large organisations drive sustainable digital transformation. Leveraging data across the entirety of an organisation's operations, Terzo helps enterprises optimise their relationships with critical suppliers, generate cost savings and drive faster innovation. “Terzo is a supplier cloud platform. We offer three key solutions,” says Card. “We primarily work with Fortune 1000 companies, helping them with contract management, spend analytics, and ESG programme management. “For many years, I heard of the difficulties when it comes to managing the third-party supplier ecosystem. The need for a new supplier cloud platform to centralise all critical supplier data is what drove me to build Terzo.” Card believes that it is the platform’s consumer-grade user experience that makes it stand out from others out there on the market. “We’ve developed this product with a lot of design thinking,” he says. “We are very passionate about providing a simple, intuitive user experience to our customers, and one of the big differentiators 84

June 2022

“We are very passionate about providing a simple and intuitive user experience to our customers” BRANDON CARD

CEO AND FOUNDER, TERZO

Example of an image caption supplychaindigital.com

TERZO

between Terzo and some of the other legacy players in the industry is our contract intelligence and AI. “We take complex metadata out of vendor contracts to provide intelligence and insights – this is the big gap that we're filling. We are bringing intelligence to these companies so they can better understand where their money is going and the associated risks. Terzo is a very flexible platform for our customers to drive faster and more sustainable digital transformations.” Helping customers make smarter decisions Delivering on its promise to provide instant visibility across supplier contracts is central to the Terzo mission. By centralising siloed data across an organisation's operations, Terzo provides a 360 dashboard view of supplier data for its users. Card explains: “With this capability, leaders can make smarter decisions when 86

June 2022

2020 Year founded

$1mn-$10mn Revenue

65+

Number of employees

WHY DOES AN ORGANISATION NEED CONTRACT INTELLIGENCE?

it comes to the likes of rationalising its portfolio or finding redundant services and software. Organisations can also drive greater efficiencies and cost savings, as well as mitigate risk. “So it's a combination of helping customers optimise cost and waste, but also providing the ability to reallocate that waste and spend on new innovative strategic projects instead.”

“Contract management is one of the biggest challenges in the enterprise,” says Card. “Having thousands of agreements with thousands of suppliers hidden in emails, file storage or machines results in such large quantities of data with untapped potential.” He adds: “At Terzo, we try to unlock these insights by using AI to bring metadata into our platform, making it useful within minutes. In doing this, we help organisations manage their siloed data, reducing the risk of wrong payments and unnecessary spend.”

supplychaindigital.com

TERZO

BRANDON CARD TITLE: CEO AND FOUNDER INDUSTRY: SOFTWARE

EXECUTIVE BIO

LOCATION: CALIFORNIA, USA

June June2022 2022

With a keen natural interest in technology and a stroke of perfect timing, Brandon Card (CEO) Founded Terzo in 2020 with the vision to help large organisations drive sustainable, digital transformation. Coming out of school, Card had a desire to work on Wall Street, but in 2008 the economy crashed, so he turned his attention towards other opportunities. “I made a bet on technology, and I got excited about the opportunity to go into software. My Career began at Oracle.” Prior to founding Terzo, Card worked for IBM and Microsoft before founding Terzo, a data leveraging organisation that helps enterprises optimise their relationships with critical suppliers, generate cost savings and drive faster innovation.

TERZO

Automating contract renewal tracking An important element of Terzo’s offerings, the automation of contract renewal tracking enhances the manual process with alerts and intelligence that increase the buying cycle speed. “This reduces the risk of missing important contract renewals and increases the time to be proactive and negotiate,” says Card. “That's one of the important elements of Terzo: being able to give people enough time to renegotiate, get the right people to the table, and be able to optimise the value from these agreements.” Helping customers improve their data For many organisations, data lives in various different silos. Email and spreadsheets are the most common ways that organisations manually gather data. With Terzo’s ability to integrate with more than 800 applications, the company helps customers to gain insights into this scattered data. “We understand that data lives in many different silos, and our goal is to centralise that data for our customers using our API

“ We are bringing intelligence to these companies so they can better understand where their money is going and the associated risks” BRANDON CARD

CEO AND FOUNDER, TERZO supplychaindigital.com

TERZO

“ We understand that data lives in many different silos, and our goal is to centralise that data for our customers using our API integrations and supplier 360 dashboard” BRANDON CARD

CEO AND FOUNDER, TERZO

Driving faster & sustainable digital transformation

June 2022

supplychaindigital.com

TERZO

integrations and supplier 360 dashboard. This allows us to bring all this data to the forefront so people can make smarter decisions and reduce the amount of errors that come from manually moving data,” says Card. Providing spend management insights Aside from its core offerings – contract management, contract renewal and forecasting – Terzo helps its customers to effectively analyse their spend. 92

June 2022

“ We believe that partnering with great companies that are doing well in areas like risk or compliance is important to our long-term strategy” BRANDON CARD

CEO AND FOUNDER, TERZO

TERZO

Terzo the future ERP for ESG Currently concentrating on the social aspect of ESG – important in light of government and investor focus on this area – Terzo helps organisations to track their tier one and two supplier diversity, to help companies reach their goal of spending more money with diverse suppliers across their ecosystem. Looking to the future, Terzo plans to expand its ESG programme management and goal tracking to include carbon tracking and reductions. “We plan to help organisations track their multi-year emissions reduction projects with our software, centralising all stakeholders, budgets, projects, activities, and tasks required over a given period of time to ensure the success of their reduction targets. We will allow them to manage the entire life cycle of those long-term projects,” says Card.

TERZO AND ITS PARTNERSHIPS

Pulling together the spend data from multiple systems, such as ERP, finance systems and procurement platforms, Terzo provides intelligent insights to its customers. Such insights include supplier diversity spend and the amount of spend generated by individual departments or business units, to ensure that organisations stay on track and meet their budgets. “We are also very excited about rolling out our new ESG programme management to help organisations manage their sustainability, diversity, equity, inclusion and social goals,” explains Card. “This is a new area for us that we're rolling out this summer, but it will complete the supplier cloud platform having contracts, spend and ESG all together in one solution.”

At Terzo, the organisation has a handful of key partners it works with. “We believe that partnering with great companies that are doing well in areas like risk or compliance is important to our long-term strategy of being able to centralise and aggregate data for our customers,” explains Card. He adds: “It's all about our customers. We want to complement the existing systems they're using today, as well as be able to bring in as much data to the 360 dashboards for them to make their lives easier and more efficient. “So when we look at a partner, it's important to know that we have a similar enterprise customer base, but it’s also important that we can complement the platform and not compete, therefore providing a better user experience to the customer.” With there being so many different solutions out there that customers are using, Card believes that it is important for Terzo to partner with other technology companies. “Ultimately, we want to be able to give the best experience to our customers. If these solutions do not work well together offering seamless integration, then a very complex, inefficient way of working is created,” says Card. “So the number one thing we look for is complementary platforms. Platforms that can help our customers do their jobs easier by bringing data into the Terzo solution, and that is one thing that we see as being extremely important.”

supplychaindigital.com

RESPONSIBLE

SOURCING

IS A

DELICATE BALANCING ACT A means of meeting sustainability goals, supplier sourcing requires both vendors and existing suppliers to be part of the solution

WRITTEN BY: SEAN ASHCROFT

he global move to net zero has to be a team effort, with governments, businesses and individuals all working together for the same goal. In the same vein, then, it’s vital for organisations and their suppliers to collaborate to the same end – especially with Scope 3 supply chain emissions making up an estimated 80% of the carbon footprint of any business. Responsible sourcing, also known as ‘supply chain responsibility’, is a voluntary commitment by companies to take into account social and environmental factors when managing their relationships with suppliers. There are numerous independent bodies that help companies develop their approach to responsible sourcing. One such guide is from the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC), which is a series of steps based on real-life experiences collected from ICC member companies worldwide. Guides are helpful, but the reality is that businesses have to exercise their own judgement on responsible sourcing, and it’s a complex area to dig through. 94

June 2022

How, for example, can an organisation identify a supplier who is likely to be a strong collaborator on sustainability? “Procurement needs to have insight into the maturity of the supplier’s management system across key sustainability topics,” says David McClintock, Marketing Director at EcoVadis, one of the world’s leading providers of sustainability ratings. Identifying supplier performance on ESG issues McClintock says this should include areas such as environment, labour and human rights, ethics and also, crucially, how the supplier itself is performing in assessing its own tier 2 and 3 suppliers. “This insight will involve not only data collection and validation,” says McClintock, “but also the monitoring of multiple data sources to assure reliability.” He adds: “Suppliers who respond and engage in a sustainability assessment, and who can show an improvement journey, is a strong sign that they are willing to make sustainability part of a long-term relationship.”

SUSTAINBILITY

supplychaindigital.com

“ TealBook has been proven to make an even bigger impact on our customers’ supplier diversity goals, increasing targets by as much as 100%, representing

HUNDREDS OF MILLIONS in additional diverse spend.” Stephany Lapierre Founder + CEO, TealBook

LEARN MORE

SUSTAINABILITY

Organisations should consider re-sourcing for products or services provided by suppliers who demonstrate no willingness to collaborate going forward.”

" NO SUPPLIER – OR BUYER, FOR THAT MATTER – IS PERFECT IN ANY SUSTAINABILITY TOPIC” DAVID MCCLINTOCK

MARKETING DIRECTOR, ECOVADIS

Asked the same question, Mark Perera, CEO of leading supplier collaboration and innovation platform, Vizibl, said that, with regards to broader ESG goals – such as supplier diversity or fair living wages across the supply chain – it is feasible to identify those who have shown a willingness to collaborate. He says: “Partners who are enthusiastic to set mutual objectives, who are willing to share data and insight, and who contribute innovative ideas, are likely to be strong collaborators across the board.

Things get complicated on Scope 3 emissions Nevertheless, Perera feels that, when it comes to Scope 3 emissions, it’s important that businesses remember “it is not just a question of identifying suppliers who are likely to be strong collaborators on sustainability”. “You have to also look at the groups of suppliers that have the most significant impact on whether or not you’ll meet your sustainability goals,” he says. “Those most willing to collaborate are not necessarily those who will have the most impact on strategic goals around emissions ‒ and it’s important to keep organisation-wide objectives front of mind. “Emissions goals especially tend to be of huge strategic importance to a business, with most large organisations having publicly pledged reductions. On Scope 3 emissions reductions, prioritising the building of robust partnerships with incumbent suppliers, with a view to fostering sustainable collaboration in the longer-term, should be a top priority.” Continuing this thread, Perera says businesses who view sourcing as a means to meet sustainability goals should remember that, while sourcing strategies “impact precontract to point of contract activities with suppliers”, most organisations have a large number of incumbent suppliers that have been contracted for many years. Strengthen relationships with existing suppliers As a result, Perera believes that meeting wider sustainability goals must also include working effectively with existing suppliers. supplychaindigital.com

SUSTAINABILTY

“We often think of this as being the carrot versus the stick mentality, so that instead of tailoring suppliers to your needs, it is more beneficial to tailor your approach to them, to encourage progress towards sustainability goals. “Seeking ‘customer of choice’ status with strategically important suppliers on sustainability goes a long way to ensuring this engagement. This entitles the buying organisation to better engagement, priority access to capacity in times of scarcity, and first-in-line access to supplier innovation. “But customer of choice status isn’t achieved overnight. You have to demonstrate that you’ll take positive, mutually beneficial action with these supplier stakeholders, and that you will guard their interests besides your own.” Large businesses are, of course, forever onboarding new suppliers, and McClintock says that this is why it’s important that new suppliers are made aware of sustainability-related expectations during initial engagements. He says: “The procurement organisation must integrate sustainability performance into the sourcing process. They need weighted request for proposal (RFP) criteria and supplier relations management (SRM) touchpoints. “Procurement teams should set minimum eligibility conditions so that prospective suppliers can provide some indicator of their engagement in sustainability.” Monitor and nurture supplier sustainability performance McClintock says that, beyond the initial screening process, setting expectations and ongoing monitoring are both important if companies are to “engage suppliers in a continuous improvement journey”. 98

June 2022

“ LONG-TERM RELATIONSHIPS WITH SUPPLIERS WHO ARE COMMITTED TO PROGRESSING ON THE JOURNEY IS A RELIABLE PATH” DAVID MCCLINTOCK

MARKETING DIRECTOR, ECOVADIS

He adds: “No supplier– or buyer, for that matter – is perfect on any sustainability topic. Discontinuing a supplier with a low sustainability score and onboarding a new supplier is expensive, and should be an exception. “Long-term relationships with suppliers who are committed to progressing on the journey is a more reliable path – even if they don’t have exceptional performance or scores at the beginning.”

Vizibl teams up with Supplier Day Vizibl, the supplier collaboration and innovation platform, has established a new partnership with Supplier Day, which helps companies with virtual events to align suppliers around strategies for growth, innovation and sustainability. Mark Perera, CEO and Founder of Vizibl said “We have partnered with Supplier Day because of the many synergies in our beliefs around the benefits of close alignment and collaboration between large organisations and their suppliers. “Though many companies offer event planning and event management services none of them understand the priorities and challenges of the procurement function in the way that Supplier Day does. “Its integration with Vizibl enables Supplier Day client organisations to capture stakeholder actions, initiatives, and opportunities on a single digital platform to maximise the value potential of these ideas."

He says this relies on a procurement function that is able to guide suppliers and prioritise performance areas needing improvement. “If improvement is needed, then this requires resources around learning and capacity building to help get them there,” explains McClintock. He adds that organisations can also accelerate their sustainability programmes by seeking sustainable supply chain

initiatives within their industry sector and identifying peers with whom to collaborate. “This will give them an opportunity to develop common approaches for assessing and monitoring suppliers, and could also help manage costs,” he says. “Aligning on common methods of supplier-performance assessment creates more value for suppliers and increases their incentive to participate.” supplychaindigital.com

HOW SHELL’S SOURCE 2 CONTRACT DIGITALISATION AND AI BOOSTS PRODUCTIVITY

100

June 2022

SHELL

WRITTEN BY: ILKHAN OZSEVIM PRODUCED BY: CRAIG KILLINGBACK

supplychaindigital.com

101

SHELL

Through its digitalisation, automation and AI systems in procurement Shell is receiving global recognition for its productivity and growing ethical standards

eading a transformation to digitise and automate Shell’s S2C (Sourceto-Contract) and E2E (End-to-End) processes, Sander Voorn, the S2C Digital and Process Transformation Design Manager at Shell, discusses how the use of certain digital systems and tools have had a huge and measurable impact on their output. “My current role is really focused on looking at how we can digitalise,” he says, “and with that, largely automate these processes.” Voorn has been in procurement for the last 20 years, starting in an internal supply chain management consulting practice and within that role, helping to manage one of the company’s strategic supplier relationships — their technology partner for telecoms. From there, he was integral in centralising their procurement activities, moving into a role to digitalise their contingent workforce spend and activities. How digital tools fuel Shell’s procurement process Now at Shell, and describing the interplay of procurement structures and systems that brought this transformation about, Voorn says: “Each business has a procurement function, but they fall under one Executive Vice President, and my organisation supports all of these different businesses

102

June 2022

supplychaindigital.com

103

SHELL

centrally. We have a few key tools to carry out this function. We have our Category Management and Contracting Process framework, which lays out the requirements that everybody needs to meet, which we incorporated into the system, SAP Ariba, which has embedded DocuSign. We also have Salesforce to complement this process, and a few other systems which together operate to manage the entire end-to-end (E2E) process.” With the rise of digital systems in business, and their inevitable impact on global procurement processes, the effects are considerable. Voorn says: “The biggest changes have been around centralisation, and a growing awareness of the importance and value of data, and the need to structure and standardise that data in order to extract value from it. The risk-management aspect of procurement has fluctuated a little, but in the last couple of years I’ve seen a growing awareness of its importance not only from a cost perspective, but also from a differentiator perspective. “The ability to identify viable organisations — that is, who from a risk and ESG perspective we want and do not want to be doing business with — is becoming increasingly important, and I think this trend will continue to grow.” Growing digitalisation has unmistakable global consequences, according to Voorn: “We are now able to connect the process End-To-End (E2E) that would not have been possible in the past.” “The key to E2E system and process optimisation and integration is to create Natural Working Teams (NWT) composed of all relevant disciplines. The core of these NWTs consists of the Process Architects from my team, our partners from IT and the 104

June 2022

“ MY CURRENT ROLE IS REALLY FOCUSED ON LOOKING AT HOW WE CAN DIGITALISE AND, WITH THAT, LARGELY AUTOMATE OUR SOURCE-TO-CONTRACT (S2C) PROCESS” SANDER VOORN

S2C DIGITAL &PROCESS TRANSFORMATION DESIGN MANAGER, SHELL

Data Analytics team. These experts make the digitalisation happen!” One of the main systems in Shell’s entire S2C process is SAP Ariba, where they now manage all of their spend. Describing the process, he says: “From my perspective, it begins with category management. We have categories like contingent workforce, rotating equipment or consulting, for example. These categories are managed by the Category Managers (CMs) who help collect market intelligence and are responsible for providing global steer to a group of buyers. “The CMs set up these category strategies that detail how we want to go to market. They typically create global framework agreements, which are then made available through SAP Ariba. The next step begins when our buyers are looking to identify demand for a specific contract. They come up with a sourcing strategy, tie this into the global category strategies and leverage the information from them.”

SANDER VOORN TITLE: S2C DIGITAL & PROCESS TRANSFORMATION DESIGN MANAGER INDUSTRY: ENERGY SUPPLIER

EXECUTIVE BIO

LOCATION: NETHERLANDS Sander Voorn is the Source to Contract Digital & Process Transformation design manager at Shell where he has led the S2C digital transformation over the past 4 years. During this time the S2C cycle-time was reduced by over 25%. Prior to this, he developed and implemented Shell’s Supplier Performance Management best practices for its Arctic operations. Ensuring safe and efficient performance throughout its supply chain. Sander’s first global digital transformation was in 2005 when he developed a global programme for the sourcing and management of Shell’s 10,000+ Contingent workforce. The transparency and control this enabled reduced Contingent Workforce cost by USD 60 Mln+ annually.

Build Supply Chain Resilience By Disrupting It Winning supply chains achieve breakthrough business outcomes by leveraging analytics automation on internal and external data to develop actionable insight into the needs of customers across product, channels and other factors that influence demand. Some of the most successful supply chains use Alteryx to improve forecasts, assortment and inventory decisions, and the uptime of in- service equipment: y

Demand Forecasting: Improve on-shelf-availability and avoid out of stock conditions

Assortment and Inventory Optimization: Operate a competitive supply chain with a clear line of sight

Predictive Maintenance: Identify and address potential downtime before it arises

DISCOVER MORE

SHELL

We can already see how much of Shell’s procurement process is carried out within SAP Ariba. “We also review and approve them within SAP Ariba,” he says, “which provides the added benefit of being able to reuse and leverage existing or prior strategies, and we then use SAP Ariba to go to market, eSourcing either auctions or tenders. “We typically provide our suppliers during the tender with our fit-for-purpose contract proposal, in order for them to base their quote on. This draft, too, is created in SAP Ariba, which is done by leveraging

the metadata or the header data of the contract, which identify things like country, commodity, dates, contract value and so on to automatically assemble a fit for purpose contract for that unique situation.” This is where SAP Ariba’s Artificial Intelligence starts to play a greater role. How Artificial Intelligence and Automation lead to increased productivity “Contract Authoring was a time consuming and non-compliance risk area until we were able to use SAP Ariba Contract Authoring technology. There are about 50 key data points that the system uses to automatically assemble from around 4000 different elements of clauses, in order to determine the right contract for a specific situation. We have about 6 million possible combinations, supplychaindigital.com

107

and that's the draft that we give to our suppliers to base their bids on. Once we get the quotes back, we finalise the contract agreement, then use DocuSign to get a quick signature on those contracts.” Once contracts have been signed, they have an automated bot – referred to as an RPA (Robotic Process Automation) – that then releases the outline agreement of the contract on the SAP ERP system, from which the volume of spending for individual contacts is monitored. The sheer volume and complexity of data that is sifted through and analysed highlights the extraordinary productivity and efficiency that AI is able to achieve compared to its relative human elements. Shell also employs a selection of other (AI) systems to bolster and complete their operations. 108

June 2022

One of these is Microsoft Power BI (Business Intelligence), which is used in conjunction with SAP Ariba to allow procurement staff and stakeholders to easily follow contract journeys. A new Suite Dashboard for Shell’s Contract Management Teams (CMTs) is to be implemented into Salesforce, too, where they can see and collaborate on the contract relevant to each party. Digital contracts, the limitations of AI and the need for human intervention Voorn’s position is that, even as part of the Shell procurement process – widely recognised as one of the most effective in the world – it is not yet perfect. And this is, he believes, due to the fact much of it still requires a certain amount of human intervention: “Presently, from a workflow

SHELL

perspective, contracts are integrated and to a degree, automated. From an Artificial Intelligence (AI) perspective, however, most of the technology that I see is quite limited, and still needs a lot of human intervention. “AI, no doubt, is able to perform numerous activities, but in reality for many applications it only has around a 60-70% accuracy rate, which means that you still need to have a person double-checking its work, which kind of defeats the purpose.” He adds: “Truth be told, when people talk about Machine Learning, it's really about training the algorithm. We train the algorithm what is and what is not permitted, by embedding that training (or that learning) into our regular workflows.”

“ THE ABILITY TO IDENTIFY VIABLE ORGANISATIONS – THAT IS, WHO FROM A RISK AND ESG PERSPECTIVE WE WANT AND DO NOT WANT TO DO BUSINESS WITH – IS BECOMING INCREASINGLY IMPORTANT, AND I THINK THIS TREND WILL CONTINUE TO GROW” SANDER VOORN

S2C DIGITAL &PROCESS TRANSFORMATION DESIGN MANAGER, SHELL

How AI can help to drive creativity and ethical standards The AI aspect of Shell’s procurement systems is not only able to improve costeffectiveness and operational efficiency, but is also able to free up staff from certain laborious and time-consuming tasks, enabling them to work more creatively, as well as having an impact on ethical procurement. “If you look at our strategy at Shell ‘Powering Progress’,” says Voorn. “It consists of a number of elements, a key one being ‘Powering Lives’. This means that Shell is concerned with supporting inclusive societies, but it also means making sure that we only ever do business with ethical suppliers, and also that there is supplierdiversity, where we do a lot of supplier development which can take time. “So, thanks to the AI and automation process, we can free up staff to spend more time finding potentially viable suppliers and to look at how Shell can help these suppliers reduce their own carbon footprint.” supplychaindigital.com

109

SHELL

When considering ethical procurement at Shell, the company takes time to develop actions and solutions to diversify their suppliers, as well as how to ensure that workers’ welfare rights and ethical standards are not only complied with, but substantially increased. Artificial Intelligence also plays a significant role in the quality of Shell’s health and safety standards, with Voorn saying: “As part of our process, we ask suppliers about their safety standards and worker-welfare policies. Some suppliers respond, some don't, or don’t do so quickly enough. In order to tackle this problem, we are building bots to ask these questions and to follow them up. “Once suppliers come back with their Health and Safety and Welfare Policy documents, they need, of course, to be fully read and digested. We typically know what kind of HSE (Health, Safety and Environmental) policy their documents should cover. With AI NLP (Natural Language processing) capabilities, we can see whether this document and their policy is up to a certain standard and whether it meets our thresholds, so we can then determine where there’s a safety risk for a specific category. Shell’s Scope 3 ambitions and data driven sustainability As an energy company, Shell is looking at its own CO2 emissions, as well as Scope 2 and 3 – which includes the CO2 footprint of their suppliers. One of Shell’s policies, implemented last year, surrounds the company’s drive to identify those suppliers who want to actively reduce their CO2 footprint, who can then register themselves in the Supplier Energy Transition Hub (a Shell-initiated programme), which Shell has made available as a public application 110

June 2022

supplychaindigital.com

111

Shell uses Whatfix to drive adoption of its S2P digital applications Shell transformed its contract management and procurement processes with SAP Ariba to keep up with the competitor landscape, streamline operations, cut supply chain costs, and meet evolving customer expectations. However, with a complex new application and outdated training practices, Shell struggled to meet its adoption goals, meaning longer process times, large amounts of support tickets, high training costs, and poor data quality. With Whatfix’s digital adoption platform (DAP), Shell created a simple application experience with in-app content providing personalized guidance for employees. With in-app elements like step-by-step flows, task lists, and tooltips, Shell provided its contract and procurement departments with engaging onboarding and training, in the flow of work.

“Whatfix provides a great way to store information where it’s most needed, reducing the number of users' questions, and simplifying training. It’s a great way to communicate changes - ‘just follow the Whatfix flow!’” With Whatfix, Shell launched its in-app digital assistant, SCAI, which embedded a knowledge base into SAP Ariba - allowing users to search for any applicationrelated questions. “Whatfix enabled SCAI, which answers the majority of questions related to our contract and procurement processes, hence we don’t have to answer each support question from the frontline! Users ask SCAI anything they need on the contracting process or tool, allowing my team to focus on more important activities.” With Whatfix, Shell created an intuitive SAP Ariba experience that supported its workforce through complex contract and procurement workflows. Whatfix provided an intuitive point-and-click digital adoption solution that accelerated its SAP Ariba adoption. Empower your workforce with better in-app experiences and on-demand support with Whatfix!

By the Numbers:

The Whatfix Difference • • •

20% reduction in SAP Ariba support queries & 30% reduction in time spent on application-related support tickets 100% change communication to all SAP Ariba end-users 20 minute reduction in end-to-end cycle time per contract

SHELL

to which any company can join. In turn, Shell then works with these companies to reduce their carbon footprint. “This is where you see a touch of symbiosis between our suppliers as customers, and our customers as suppliers; nobody can do this alone, what’s needed is collaboration.” Shell is currently upgrading one of its SAP Ariba modules, called Supplier Life Cycle and Performance Management (SLP). SLP will allow Shell to develop sophisticated supplier profiles, by being able to analyse the qualifications of a supplier’s performance data from a variety of different angles and lenses. Everything from safety to delivery methods, through to their pricing, quality – and even worker-welfare – will be considered. Voorn says: “I think that SLP capability is going to be critical in our ‘Powering Lives’ development, and as partof our Net-Zero ambitions.”

Electrifying energy: Shell’s strategy to move away from Fossil Fuels Shell has set out a strategy to accelerate the transition of our business to net-zero emissions. “Shell is working to provide more renewable and low-carbon energy options for customers through investments in wind, solar, electric vehicle charging, hydrogen, and more,” says Voorn. ‘For example, Shell is investing in lower-carbon options – from electric-vehicle charging points and solutions to fuels like hydrogen and biofuels.” Additionally, Shell recently announced that it plans to increase the number of charging points from 80,000 to 500,000 worldwide by 2025. “We've been recognised on a number of elements of our portfolio, from CIPS (Chartered Institute of Procurement & Supply) and others. With CIPS, it was for our end-to-end (E2E) process,” says Voorn. “Our source to contact (S2C) digitalisation supplychaindigital.com

113

SHELL

“ I HAVE SEEN GREAT CHANGES IN PROCUREMENT OVER THE PAST 20 YEARS. THE BIGGEST HAVE BEEN AROUND CENTRALISATION, A GROWING AWARENESS OF THE IMPORTANCE AND VALUE OF DATA” SANDER VOORN

S2C DIGITAL &PROCESS TRANSFORMATION DESIGN MANAGER, SHELL

114

June 2022

strategy was recognised due to our global journey, but also due to our position moving forward. We have a fairly high percentage of sourcing that’s done through e-sourcing and e-auctions – when compared to the market standard – with around 88% of our contracts being signed through DocuSign. Just a few years ago, this was very uncommon. We encourage its use at Shell and, once you've used it, you know that it's a better way to go.” Unexpected Data-Synergies and Value from Artificial Intelligence For Voorn, the Salesforce programme that Shell uses has two primary functions: it acts as both a kind of dashboard where data from different sources can be directly

pulled, as well as having the ability to jump via embedded hyperlinks into SAP Ariba to a specific task or activity. Salesforce gives them the ability to collaborate, whereas most Source-toContract (S2C) tools have limited collaboration capabilities. It also allows them to collaborate on documents and pulls in documents and data from other systems, while also pushing these back into SAP Ariba via a systematic record–keeping function. The entire system is streamlined toward higher productivity. Voorn says: “A big surprise to me was that data analytics with Alteryx identified activities that were being done that didn’t require doing. We then saw the number of contracts that staff could manage increase and the time

it took to complete a contract decrease. The game changer in process optimisation through process mining was when we decided to use Alteryx. We fed the system all our SAP Ariba workflow data which we analysed to identify frictions points, waste and other inefficiencies. This generated very surprising insights that enabled us to close knowledge gaps with some of our users, take out process steps that were not needed, re-engage with key process participants that were ignoring their tasks in the system and were still using e-mail and implement many more improvements. All combined this led to a 25% shorter cycle time and very material reduction in effort by procurement staff and key stakeholders. supplychaindigital.com

115

SHELL

“ONE OF THE MAIN SYSTEMS IN SHELL’S ENTIRE S2C PROCESS IS SAP ARIBA” SANDER VOORN

S2C DIGITAL &PROCESS TRANSFORMATION DESIGN MANAGER, SHELL

Another programme that Shell uses is Whatfix, which is a digital assistant that’s implemented inside SAP Ariba. Voorn says: “We have about 10 different features that Whatfix can do to help a user who’s, for example, using a feature that's never been used before. Or, if we change something in the system affecting a certain field, they will be notified of this change – and even explain the purpose of that field. Whatfix has enabled us to stop ‘classroom’ training and replaced this with short demos, guided tours, real time tips and similar features. So our users are much more comfortable trying new things because the system will support them. It will also detect in real-time any incongruent data, flag this to the user and guide the user to correct this, avoiding errors further down in the process. This again leads to increased productivity. The impact of these systems at Shell is palpable. Productivity has been increased and the company is able to react to geopolitical shifts through automation and raising ethical standards while increasing productivity. Sander Voorn predicts that these trends will continue to grow, serving as a perfect example of the essential nature of digitisation and automation in contributing to the success of any company aiming to thrive in an everexpanding digital landscape.

supplychaindigital.com

117

RFID

S T I S L A SIGN E C N A T IMPOR IN AN L E N N A H C I N M O WORLD Radio-tagging technology, used in retail supply chains for 50 years, is now also being used to underpin laser-guided inventory management systems

or a technology that has been with us for more than 80 years, RFID (radio frequency identification) is as fresh and vital as ever. RFID is rooted in the radar technology that emerged during World War Two, used by the British, American and German militaries to identify whether aircrafts were friend or foe. The first patent for commercial RFID tags was granted in 1973. Since then, the technology has been used in manufacturing, logistics and delivery networks, where tracking and monitoring product location is critical, as well as across wide-ranging sectors including consumer products, automotive, electronics, agriculture and retail. Pandemic sees RFID become vital for omnichannel Although prevalent in the preceding decades, it’s only following the pandemic that RFID has begun to 118

June 2022

TECH & AI

T RIT

: BY

S NA

O CR

supplychaindigital.com

119

Because Insight Beats Hindsight

Inform your supply chain resilience planning with our time-measured report series Ensuring the agility and resilience of your business and supply chain starts with identifying the risks. Download our report to start your resilience planning today.

Download ASCRI Report

TECH & AI

“ RETAILERS REAP THE COST-BENEFIT OF RFID BY SHIPPING FROM THE LOCATION NEAREST TO THE CUSTOMER” GAYLENE MEYER

VP GLOBAL MARKETING & COMMUNICATION, IMPINJ

play an even more critical role in supply chains. COVID-19 forced businesses to rapidly adjust their priorities to meet new customer preferences – particularly the seismic switch from in-store to online shopping, and the omnichannel retail model that has since sprung from this.

Tracking and tracing of products has never been more important, especially for retail, which now needs solutions that can deliver real-time, all-round visibility of channel inventory. But RFID tech is also beginning to play a role in helping to transform the in-store element of omnichannel to a more online space, in terms of the flexibility, convenience and choice they are able to offer consumers. French multinational IT services and consulting company Capgemini recently surveyed both retailers and shoppers. It found that 40% of consumers see shopping in-store as a chore, while more than half of retailers (54%) admitted they have been slow to digitise their physical stores. For example, the majority of retailers do not offer inventory checks to consumers ahead of store visits – even though 75% supplychaindigital.com

121

TECH & AI

“RFID HELPS MAKE THE RETAIL EXPERIENCE A POSITIVE, DELIGHTFUL THING FOR CUSTOMERS” GAYLENE MEYER

New intralogistics RFID products for warehouses RFiD Discovery, a leading UK provider of passive and active RFID, realtime locating systems (RTLS) and automation solutions has introduced a new range of RFID portals designed to track assets, inventory, and people in the supply chain to improve efficiency and reduce costs. RFiD Discovery is the brand name for RFID tracking solutions from Paragon ID, a leader in identification solutions. The new UHF portal range was created by RFiD Discovery’s engineers with intralogistics – logistics in a warehouse environment – in mind. The portals are supplied with a choice of RFID readers, antennas, and direction-sensing technologies that fit into existing automation installations. The rugged weather-proof portals can capture information from RFID-tagged goods and assets, so are ideal for: • Automatic shipping and receiving • Asset tracking at dock doors or other entry and exit points • Recording the arrival or departure of tagged assets, goods, or parts. • Scanning of stock, parts, and assets at dispatch stations • Shipping verification

122

June 2022

VP GLOBAL MARKETING & COMMUNICATION, IMPINJ

of consumers told Capgemini they want this service. But this is changing. In the US, department stores including Nordstrom, JC Penney, Sears and Macy’s now use their stores as fulfilment centres. RFID helping retailers expand fulfilment options More retailers are starting to offer collection options – either third-party or in-store – and finding ways to fulfil click-andcollect orders in-store, to save on logistics costs. The key to such a model is inventory visibility, allowing online orders to be confirmed at store level – and the key to this is RFID solutions. One company acutely aware of the new applications for what is known to be ‘old’ tech is Impinj, one of the world’s largest RFID device-and-software companies.

Founded in 2000, the company is headquartered on the US West Coast, in Seattle, Washington. Gaylene Meyer, VP of Global Marketing and Communication, explains why RFID is a perfect solution for the inventory challenges thrown up by omnichannel. “Retail stores can be chaotic environments and it’s difficult to keep track of inventory,” she says. “But because RFID can wirelessly identify one thousand items simultaneously

and without line-of-sight it’s the right technology for counting all the inventory across an enterprise of stores. With accurate data about every item in every store, a retailer can reliably tell online shoppers if an item is available in the store near them.” Logistics costs can be cut by RFID tech Meyer points out that RFID is also ideal for helping businesses turn stores into fulfilment centres, to save on logistics costs. supplychaindigital.com

123

TECH & AI

She says: “Accurate, real-time data about inventory in a retail store can then be made available to online shoppers. Retailers will reap the cost-benefit by shipping from the location nearest to the customer, decreasing the need for excess warehouse space, increasing inventory turnover, and avoiding markdowns.” Meyer says that sportswear giant Nike tracks “more than 1 billion inventory units at 99.99% readability across all stores”, and goes on to quote Nike’s CEO, John Donahoe, who has called RFID “the most precise tool to meet customer-specific needs at the exact right moment”. Moving on to food retail, Meyer adds that it’s RFID that allows for food to be tracked from field to store, for a fully visible, traceable supply chain providing customers information about the provenance of their food and producers traceability in the event of a product recall.

“ DELTA AIRLINES USES RFID TO TRACK PASSENGER BAGS FROM CHECK-IN TO PICK-UP” GAYLENE MEYER

VP GLOBAL MARKETING & COMMUNICATION, IMPINJ

124

June 2022

As well as helping satisfy the online and in-store needs of individual consumers, RFID is also helping retailers with more accurate demand forecasting. Demand forecasting ‘easier with RFID systems’ “RFID is 25 times faster than manual barcode scanning and is 99% accurate,” says Meyer. “This level of inventory accuracy and insight allows retailers to sell down to the very last item, better managing loss and more accurately forecasting demand.” On this front, Meyer offers the example of fashion retailer Zara, which has RFID integrated into its stores. “RFID is an integral part of the company’s technology strategy,” she says. “It has changed how it operates its stores. Before using RFID, ZARA employees undertook inventory checks once every six months by scanning each item’s barcode, which

TECH & AI

took a team of 40 employees five hours to complete. With RFID handheld readers, a team of 10 can complete the same task in half the time.” RFID can also improve the in-store shopping experience for customers, allowing them to identify items they’re interested in and verify in-store availability in advance. Store workers are also able to easily locate RFID-tagged items in-store or arrange to have an item shipped from one location to another. “Nobody wants to fumble about scanning a barcode at a self-checkout stand,” says Meyer. “Plus, in the wake of COVID, shoppers with compromised immune systems prefer to limit close contact with others, which makes RFID touchless self-checkouts perfect. Not only is it fast and accurate, but it also allows for social distancing. RFID helps make the retail experience a positive, delightful thing for customers.”

Low-cost RFID makes it ideal for global IoT systems Away from retail – and with an eye on the future of RFID – Meyer says the low cost of RFID tags makes the technology ideal for large-scale IoT systems that connect thousands, millions, or billions of things. “RFID technology has evolved since it was first deployed for retail inventory tracking,” she says. “Large global companies are now deploying RFID across their enterprises. Delta airlines, for example, uses it to track passenger bags from check-in to when they’re back into travellers’ hands. “And the automotive industry, including Daimler AG, Volvo, Audi and Volkswagen, use RFID as part of their automated assembly lines, to identify parts, and to ensure every vehicle that rolls off the production line is consistent with the configuration selected by its new owner.”

supplychaindigital.com

125

126

June 2022

TOMORROW STREET

WRITTEN BY: SEAN ASHCROFT PRODUCED BY: GLEN WHITE

TOMORROW STREET NURTURES TECH ECOSYSTEMS OF THE FUTURE

supplychaindigital.com

127

TOMORROW STREET

Tomorrow Street – a joint venture between Vodafone and the Luxembourg government – is bridging the divide between scale-ups and corporates

he most successful economies are a joined-up network of ecosystems that are fuelled by synergies and shared goals – essentially, where the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. This model can be seen at work in the smart offices of Tomorrow Street, situated in the ever-expanding business district of Luxembourg City. Tomorrow Street partners with young companies who have innovative tech, helping them to scale across the globe. It is a venture that connects scaleups, corporate partners and Vodafone functions to establish and grow new business opportunities. It is a joint project between Vodafone’s procurement business, based in Luxembourg, and the Luxembourg government’s national tech incubator, Technoport. “We have two primary objectives,” says Kenny Graham, the Scotland-born CEO of Tomorrow Street. “For Vodafone, we identify tech that can be used to help transform and evolve its network, IT, and digital estate – or to enable new customer propositions. “The other goal is for us to help support the development of the tech ecosystem in Luxembourg through attracting scaleups to Luxembourg and hosting them in the Tomorrow Street offices.”

128

June 2022

Kenneth (Kenny) Graham, CEO, of Tomorrow Street

Example of an image caption supplychaindigital.com

129

Key corporate partners Accenture and Exclusive Networks Tomorrow Street has two corporate partners in Accenture and Exclusive Networks, the latter of which is a global cybersecurity specialist. “We work very closely together, sharing our scouting pipeline of startups and scaleups, and looking for opportunities to take those technologies and scale them across the Vodafone ecosystem together,” explains Graham. 130

June 2022

Tomorrow Street defines a scale-up as a company that already has significant funding and a growing revenue stream, generated from a product relevant to Vodafone’s strategic priorities. “Typically, we're looking for companies that have got around 100-plus employees, because that gives a large global company like Vodafone the confidence that they’ve got what it takes to scale – the support infrastructure, including operational people you need to put a company out to a global playing field.”

TOMORROW STREET

One such company is Quantexa, who were introduced by Accenture, which has 500 staff and is performing strongly in the financial crime sector, detecting fraud and money laundering. “They have a powerful technology that can ‘connect the dots’ in different data sets,” says Graham. “We've now brought them into Vodafone, and they're using that technology to help Vodafone better understand their customer base. They're a company that is very well funded with a strong range of products, and are now moving into different industry sectors.”

KENNETH (KENNY) GRAHAM TITLE: CEO COMPANY: TOMORROW STREET INDUSTRY: TECHNOLOGY LOCATION: LUXEMBOURG

Kenny is the CEO of Tomorrow Street, a joint venture between Vodafone and Luxembourg’s technology incubator, Technoport. Tomorrow Street partners with innovative young companies and supports them to scale across the globe. Kenny has held a number of leadership roles over a 20+ year career at Vodafone covering a wide range of disciplines, including, Technology Strategy, Product Development, Business Planning and Supply Chain Management.

countries

partner markets

300mn

customers worldwide

EXECUTIVE BIO

Tomorrow Street scaleup partners are enabling digital transformation and new business products Tomorrow Street has partners covering a range of technologies important to Vodafone and the Luxembourg ecosystem. In addition to Quantexa, Tomorrow Street partners Vizibl, Sitetracker and BlockGemini are all providing Vodafone with solutions that have digitised its operations. New customer propositions have also been launched with Security Scorecard and Digital Barriers. Security Scorecard provides organisations with an executive summarystyle assessment of their cybersecurity risks. Its partnership with Tomorrow Street has helped it expand into Europe.

TOMORROW STREET

Digital Barriers has a leading-edge video surveillance solution already proven in the security and defence sectors, but that is now productised for commercial use with Vodafone customers. Expeto is another example of an innovative tech company whose mobile private network solution is being deployed by Vodafone Partners. Graham and his team say they feel lucky to meet so many exciting young scale-ups, but that sometimes the job can be tough, as not all of them come through the robust evaluation process to become partners. “We have to focus our time and energy on those companies that best fit Vodafone's needs and the needs of Luxembourg’s ecosystem.”

Tomorrow Street nurtures tech ecosystems of the future

132

June 2022

“ A high-performing team with a positive dynamic is vital for any business” KENNY GRAHAM

CEO, TOMORROW STREET

Corporates & scale-up have different mindsets and priorities According to Graham, the other main challenge is that both corporates and scale-ups have different mindsets, processes, constraints and priorities to contend with. “So we have to chart a course for both parties to get to a successful outcome,” Graham says of bridging that divide.

He adds that there are three key elements to Tomorrow Street’s strategy: • Developing a vibrant global ecosystem that allows it to identify young companies able to support Vodafone’s strategy and Luxembourg's tech nation goals. • Continuing to evolve its model, so the companies with which it partners can scale at pace. • Creating an inclusive, growth-focused culture, both within the Tomorrow Street team and the community in which it works. “It’s all about achieving our end goals,” says Graham, “which are to bring innovation to Vodafone and both tech talent and young companies to Luxembourg.” One of the main ways Tomorrow Street helps bridge the divide between scaleups and big corporates is to provide operational support. supplychaindigital.com

133

134

June June2022 2022

TOMORROW STREET

“Tomorrow Street’s goal is to identify young companies able to support Vodafone’s strategies and Luxembourg's tech goals” KENNY GRAHAM

CEO, TOMORROW STREET

“Together with Vodafone, we spend a lot of time navigating the scale-ups, with the end goal being bringing their innovation to Vodafone. We support their procurement processes, sales enablement and productisation processes, and also provide both project management support and technical support. “We've got a dynamic team with a diverse set of backgrounds and experiences, and we apply that to whatever challenge or opportunity we face to help advance that company into the Vodafone ecosystem.” Growing Vodafone and Luxembourg's tech ecosystem is a key goal Growing and strengthening Vodafone's tech scaleup ecosystem – and that of Luxembourg – is the main purpose of one of Tomorrow Street’s most important undertakings: its annual Arch Summit event, first established in 2018. It established Arch as a means to bring the two groups together and further close the gap between corporates and scale-ups, while adding leading technologists, entrepreneurs, and thought leaders to the mix. The purpose of the event is to create new opportunities through human contact, of which there was precious little during the pandemic. Unsurprisingly, what with the past two years, the last event took place in 2019,

when 5,000 people attended over the course of two days – around 40% of whom were entrepreneurs and senior leaders - mixing with people from industry and specialist organisations. In all, there were around 100 corporate exhibitors, and roughly the same number of start-ups. And then came COVID-19, which saw Arch Summit shelved for two years. Rhys Astoralli is the Arch Summit Lead at Tomorrow Street, and oversees the Arch Summit events. Those delivering keynotes at the 2022 Arch summit include the Prime Minister of Luxembourg, Xavier Bettel, who has also attended past events. Also speaking is Sophia Kianni, the noted Iranian-American environmentalist and climate activist, who is the youngest female appointed to the UN's youth climate change group.Then there is Rana el Kaliouby, an AI thought leader and author of the book, Girl, Decoded. 2022 Arch Summit is ‘keenly anticipated’ “We are massively anticipating this year’s Arch,” he says. “The whole purpose of the event is to use networking as a way to close the gap between the world of corporates and the organisations in the start-up and scale up ecosystems, and everyone has missed that these past two years.” supplychaindigital.com

135

TOMORROW STREET

New Zealand-born Astoralli adds that the event is particularly effective at “identifying and exploring different areas of value generation”. He adds: “Large organisations will typically use scale-up technology to solve an internal business problem, or they'll look at how they can use it as part of their product portfolio or market positioning.” Astoralli says the event is also vitally important in another regard: giving start-ups and scale-ups access to large organisations. “One of the difficulties for start-ups and scale-ups is access into large corporates, which is where the human connection aspect of Arch is important,” says Astoralli. “What we've seen with past events is that, when you bring these two worlds together, you can actually become more efficient in terms of product development or the way in which you orientate yourself in building solutions.” He adds: “There are panel discussions, thought-provoking keynotes and masterclasses, all driven by thought leaders across many areas, and so conversations and dialogue are very rich. “You don’t get that when you’re sat by yourself, studying technology or a problem. You look at it through a single lens. But when you bring other parties to that discussion, you're able to explore where the tech needs to evolve and how it might be consumed by corporations or consumers.” Curated walk-abouts a feature of Arch Summit Tomorrow Street is mindful that the networking element of Arch Summit is as effective as possible, which is why it stages carefully curated event walk-arounds with corporates and industry thought leaders. “We connect such people with those scaleups and start-ups most likely to be of interest to them,” explains Astoralli. “Without Arch, 136

June 2022

Rhys Astoralli, Arch Summit Lead, Tomorrow Street.

“ Technology is creating the future, so we all need to ensure that it takes everyone with us” RHYS ASTORALLI

ARCH SUMMIT LEAD, TOMORROW STREET

supplychaindigital.com

137

TOMORROW STREET

“ Arch Summit is an event that’s about making meaningful connections, to help unlock naturally existing synergies” RHYS ASTORALLI

ARCH SUMMIT LEAD, TOMORROW STREET

138

June 2022

or an event like it, connecting with a large corporate or a thought leader can be very complicated and difficult for start-ups.” He adds: “If you are an organisation of 20 people and want to sell into an organisation of 50,000, where do you go? Who do you talk to? How do you go about it? At Arch, we make those people connections, and, by doing so, we can help unlock some of the synergies that naturally exist.”

This year’s Arch event will have a slightly different feel to previous ones, because of the huge importance that ESG has assumed in recent years. “For us, it was really important to look at Arch Summit through that lens of inclusion and diversity,” says Astoralli. “We want to also promote technology that is more inclusive and doesn't leave people behind; it's really important to shine a light on that.

“When we think about diversity and inclusion , where is the technology that helps people in their day-to-day lives? How do we make sure that we have more young girls going into stem subjects such as aerospace, biological sciences and chemical engineering?”

supplychaindigital.com

139

TOP 10

PROCUREMENT

SOFTWARE SOLUTIONS The pandemic has seen procurement become more strategic across organisations, with its value as a function helped by a raft of innovative digital solutions

WRITTEN BY: SEAN ASHCROFT

140

June 2022

re-pandemic, procurement was a cost-control centre with little perceived strategic importance. That has all changed, with CPOs having much more clout in the boardroom. As a result, procurement software has never been more important. Software solutions help automate the purchasing process and manage activities related to an

organisation's expenditures. They can automate the process of resource acquisition and supplier relationship management. Plus, employees can easily create purchase orders subject to review and approval by managers. With software doing so much of the heavy lifting, procurement has more capacity to focus on being strategic. supplychaindigital.com

141

TOP 10

10 Xelix

Xelix is AI-powered software that sits alongside existing finance systems, acting as an intelligence layer to automate processes, spot payment risks and to deliver meaningful insights. Xelix is a British company that was founded in 2015. The company says that for every £100mn spent, £1mn is lost in fraud or overpayment errors. The solution uses AI and anomaly detection to prevent such losses. It also consolidates data across different systems, giving a better understanding of supplier spend. “Having the right data available, at the right time, and knowing what to do with it, is the critical modern-day challenge,” the company says.

“ Having the right data available, at the right time, and knowing what to do with it, is the critical modern-day challenge” 142

June 2022

09 Zycus

Zycus is a pioneer in ‘cognitive procurement software’, and has been a partner of choice for large global enterprises for two decades. It is AI-based technology that drives value generation across organisations. Zycus prides itself on being “the pioneer in cognitive procurement”. Its solution also allows enterprises to reduce risks and boost compliance, while its simple UI promotes a high adoption rate across organisations. It caters to sectors including: automotive; electronics; energy and utilities; and health care and pharmaceuticals.

TOP 10

08 Medius

Swedish company Medius was founded in 2001 and now trades in 102 countries. It launched its AP automation software in 2013, specialising in automation, procurement, sourcing, and contract and supplier management. Medius can integrate a company’s ERP and supporting systems. The company says its implementation methodology is tried and tested “on 20 years’ experience”. “Medius provides spend management solutions in an ever-changing digital and global economy,” says CEO Jim Lucier. The company also claims that, once deployed “you’ll see your staff happier and more productive and you’ll notice game-changing process efficiencies”.

JAGGAER JAGGAER, formerly SciQuest, is a provider of cloud-based business automation technology for business spend management. Its Enterprise Commerce Network, enabled by its procurement platform, transforms how businesses buy, sell and partner, giving procurement professionals control and visibility. JAGGAER onboards suppliers, and manages catalogues and system integrations to provide “a comprehensive marketplace with more shopping, buying and payment options”. Some of its customers include: Hyster-Yale, Hitachi, Merck, Schneider, Emirates NBD Bank, University of Cincinnati, UniHa, and Surface Oncology, among others. It now serves 2,000 customers globally. supplychaindigital.com

143

Supplier performance. Supplier risk. Supplier diversity and ESG. You've got big plans; Vendorful has the tools to help you execute. -

www.vendorful.com

144

April 2022

TOP 10

GEP Smart

Workday Workday provides finance, human resources and student/faculty lifecycle management cloud applications. Founded by PeopleSoft veterans Dave Duffield and Aneel Bhusri, the company claims its solution “combines a lower cost of ownership with an innovative approach to enterprise applications”. Following its 2019 purchase of Scout for US$540mn. Workday has made further inroads into the Cloud procurement market, by supporting around 1,000 customers with features such as strategic sourcing, supplier engagement, and e-procurement. Before the purchase, Scout had 240 customers and Workday Procurement signed over 650 customers.

GEP Smart is a unified procurement software platform “built for procurement professionals by procurement experts”. It is designed to drive greater efficiency across direct and indirect procurement. It is also designed to streamline and automate S2P pay processes. GEP SMART unifies upstream sourcing and downstream procurement operations into a single cloud-based platform, and has a powerful, complete set of capabilities to drive efficiency and performance. It provides solutions for: spend analysis, savings tracking, sourcing, contract management, supplier management and procureto-pay.

supplychaindigital.com

145

TOP 10

04 Coupa

Coupa is an international technology platform for business spend management that was founded in 2006 and is built on AWS (Amazon Web Services) infrastructure. This allows for it to be cloud-based and therefore accessible to all customers. Coupa manages indirect purchases, invoices and expenses in realtime for its customers. Its invoicing software is aimed to get rid of paper and increase savings. With features such as an Accounts Payable email inbox to communicate with suppliers - as well as touchless invoice processing - companies gain better visibility into outstanding tasks. Three Gartner reports all recognised Coupa as a leader among P2P suite vendors.

146

June 2022

03 Ivalua

Ivalua was founded on the idea that procurement can unlock significant strategic value from a company’s spend and supply chain. Ivalua is a single platform to efficiently manage all supplier relationships and spend. Ivalua’s suite provides: digitalisation of procurement and supply chain processes; management of all spend categories; and improved transparency and data quality. The company says its solution: “Brings the consumer shopping experience that your users recognise to a B2B platform.” It adds that it “allows your users to engage in an intuitive shopping and search experience to find what they need on an existing contract or catalogue”.

TOP 10

Oracle NetSuite Oracle’s ERP procurement platform, NetSuite, provides users with a standardised, streamlined and automated source-to-pay process. With this cloud technology, organisations can benefit from a more efficient, effective and influential procurement process. Key features include sourcing, supplier management, contracting and procureto-pay solutions. NetSuite gives organisations all the applications they need to run efficiently “while nurturing growth”, the company says. Organisations of all sizes and across dozens of industries run on NetSuite, using its applications for finance, supply chain, customer relationship management (CRM), human resources, professional services and ecommerce.

7 - 8 SEPT 2022

STREAMED & IN PERSON

BUSINESS DESIGN CENTRE, LONDON

SHAPING THE BUSINESS OF SUSTAINABILITY 3,000+

Participants

Days

Zones

60+

Speakers

Get tickets

Sponsor opportunities

A BizClik Media Group Event:

Watch our 2022 Showreel

Join us at SUSTAINABILITY LIVE LONDON Showcase your values, products and services to your partners and customers at SUSTAINABILITY LIVE LONDON 2022. Brought to you by BizClik Media Group SUSTAINABILITY LIVE LONDON, the hybrid event held between 7th-8th September is broadcast live to the world and incorporates three zone areas of Sustainability LIVE, B-Corp LIVE plus March8 LIVE in to one event. With a comprehensive content programme featuring senior industry leaders and expert analysts, this is an opportunity to put yourself and your brand in front of key industry decision makers.

Get tickets

7 - 8 September 2022

Sponsor opportunities

TOP 10

150

June 2022

TOP 10

“ Ariba Network is a dynamic, digital marketplace with millions of buyers and suppliers, operating in more than 190 countries” SAP Ariba SAP Ariba, established in 1996, uses its extensive portfolio of solutions for companies of all sizes to drive innovation within procurement, fulfilment, and financial supply chain management processes. Ariba Network is a dynamic, digital marketplace where millions of buyers and suppliers, operating in 190 countries, transact trillions of dollars in business commerce every year. Buyers can automate the entire procurement process from source to settle, while controlling spending, finding new sources of savings, and building a healthy, ethical supply chain. Suppliers, meanwhile, can help buyers achieve their procurement transformation goals, collaborating in the cloud to boost customer satisfaction, simplify the sales cycle, and improve cash flow.

supplychaindigital.com

151

EDUCATE • MOTIVATE • EL EVATE

PRESENTS:

23rd-24th June 2022 TOBACCO DOCK - LONDON E1W 2SF

GET TICKETS

PART OF:

INCORPORATING:

Supply Chain - June 2022

Articles inside

Trailblazer Francesca DeBiase

Timeline A breif history the Internet of Things (IoT)

Big Picture