GEODIS

Empowering Kyndryl Supply Chain Through Strategic Outsourcing

How did the relationship start?

Kyndryl looked for a global Transport and Logistics provider with proven expertise to build together the most efficient supply chain solution.

What does GEODIS solution consist of?

From an early stage, our expert teams, worked together to design and implement the most suitable logistics process and network solution - adapting models over time to complex, fast changing, vital ecosystems.

What are the benefits of GEODIS’s collaboration?

Our Supply Chain Optimization Line of Business is a neutral body that integrates and manages comprehensive supply chain solutions on behalf of the different partners involved. Through our partnership, Kyndryl benefits from a complete range of global transportation services, backed by control tower and customs classification capabilities.

About GEODIS

GEODIS is a leading global logistics provider acknowledged for its expertise across all aspects of the supply chain. As a growth partner to its clients, GEODIS specializes in five lines of business: Supply Chain Optimization, Freight Forwarding, Contract Logistics, Distribution & Express, and Road Transport. With a global network spanning nearly 170 countries and more than 44,000 employees, GEODIS is ranked no. 7 in its sector across the world. In 2021, GEODIS generated €10.9 billion in revenue. For more information, visit geodis.com

The changing culture is both an opportunity and a challenge. We have been spun off from a 100+ year old company with a very different culture to the one we have identified as being essential for Kyndryl.

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There are several very important cultural changes that have a significant impact on procurement. This starts with the fact that the role or scope of procurement in Kyndryl is significantly broader as it has a more direct influence on the business strategy, decisions, and outcomes. It is expected that procurement brings solutions to the account teams that will help improve competitiveness and margins. The status and overarching mission of procurement has been elevated as a result and this is reflected in the investment in the people, tools, and processes that we are now seeing within the function.

There has also been a significant shift in the attitude and culture to drive simplicity, speed to market and ease of use across all of Kyndryl. This too has helped procurement as it has enabled a different discussion with tax, finance, trust and compliance and audit which starts at the highest level of the organisation. Allowing procurement to collaborate with key functions to drive the right balance between managing risk in sourcing processes and making it simple for our business stakeholders to do business with our suppliers

The guiding principles for Kyndryl as an organisation are flatter, faster and focused - flatter in terms of Kyndryl’s new operating model; faster related to speed in delivery through simplification; and focused on providing innovation and value through agility.

In a short space of time a lot has happened, the opportunities for growth and creating a business with a sustainable and collaborative ethos are apparent. On every journey there are of course obstacles. What would you suggest as the primary challenges to your ongoing evolution?

The changing culture is both an opportunity and a challenge. We have been spun off from a 100+ year old company with a very different culture to the one we have identified as being essential for Kyndryl. As a start-up firm we need to embrace an entrepreneurial spirit and openness to try new things, fail fast, learn from mistakes, and quickly move on.

We are driving customer centricity throughout the firm and this mindset of understanding value in everything you do and being prepared to question processes that don’t deliver value is absolutely critical to success.

It will take time for people to feel comfortable with and embrace these new cultural tenets, and we need to show through words and deeds that this is the new norm. We are empowering the team and rationalising controls where needed, to reflect a strong controls culture from the past but also moving at the pace of a start-up that is needed for our success. We are challenging and being challenged daily to ensure that our processes and systems are suitable for a 21st Century global IT professional services firm. Our goal and expectation is we will be fully prepared and able to further accelerate process and systems transformation for customers around the world.