Comdata - April 2021

COMDATA

The four pillars to strategic procurement and a better CX IN ASSOCIATION WITH:

DIGITAL REPORT 2021

THE FOUR PILLARS TO STRATEGIC PROCUREMENT AND A BETTER CX

2

comdatagroup.com

comdatagroup.com

3

COMDATA

1987 Year founded

€950mn Company revenue

50,000+ Number of employees in workforce

4

comdatagroup.com

COMDATA

Javier Baranda, Group Chief Procurement Officer at Comdata, shares his strategy on driving customer value through strategic procurement

C

JAVIER BARANDA TITLE: GROUP CPO COMPANY: COMDATA INDUSTRY: CUSTOMER MANAGEMENT BPO

EXECUTIVE BIO

omdata is a leading player in the customer journey, customer attention, and BPO services market with over thirty years in the industry. In the last five years, Comdata has experienced rapid growth through acquisitions in Europe, Latin America, and Africa. It now holds a presence in 21 countries across three different continents, with about 500 customers globally, 600 million customer interactions per year, and more than 50,000 employees.

Last year, for the first time, Comdata was included in the Gartner Quadrants as one of the top players in BPO services. I sat down with their Group Chief Procurement Officer, Javier Baranda, to discuss Comdata’s procurement transformation journey and how they drive customer value through strategic procurement.

“I started at Comdata about two years ago, after receiving an attractive project challenge. The CEO had a clear vision of how they wanted to leverage procurement to better support the business. And that, honestly, was music to my ears. I have seen in business units, companies, different organisations, different mindsets that believe procurement is purely an administrative function. After 20 years in procurement, I am convinced that procurement has much more to add than just placing orders.”

Javier Baranda leads Comdata’s procurement transformation since 2019 with the goal of implementing a strategic sourcing model globally that helps Comdata’s operations maximise the value obtained from its supply chain.

Prior to Comdata, Baranda spent 21 years at Telefonica, eight of them in international assignments across Asia and Europe, where he held various management roles covering all angles of the procurement function, from Category Management to Operations to Strategic Alliances. During his career, Baranda has focused strongly on value generation and stakeholder engagement, positioning Procurement as a strategic partner for the business.

Baranda holds a Master Degree in Business Administration from Instituto de Empresa Business School and a MSc in Telcommunications Engineering from Universidad Politécnica de Madrid.

COMDATA

The shift; from transactional to strategic procurement “This project allowed me to offer a model that could help combat costly transactional procurement habits and to leverage the strategic procurement concept. In the beginning, I saw that each region had a strong focus on administrative tasks. It was blended with facility services, but in the end, probably 80% of the time was dedicated to facilities and only maybe 20% to procurement. And at least 30%, the vast majority of which was spent placing orders, resolving incidents with suppliers, etcetera. There was, generally speaking, very little focus on the generation of efficiencies for the company.

“It was a very standard policy. You get three proposals, you choose the best one out of the three, and that's it. I wanted to 6

comdatagroup.com

implement a much more strategic ‘out of the box’ model in which procurement was leading innovation, heading discussions with stakeholders to present alternatives solutions, questioning things, and ensuring the right decisions were being made for the company and its customers.

“I also wanted to insert more knowledge about how to negotiate more strategically with our vendors. We started with our most critical contracts to see what we could do differently, such as aggregating and anticipating needs, improved planning and negotiation requirements. As soon as we were able to deliver tangible results with tangible savings, which is the most visible of procurement outcomes, the organisation realised that procurement could be a partner in not only executing

COMDATA

purchases but optimising the budget.

In the end, my objective was not to buy cheaper but to buy better and maximise the value of the business.”

The Four Pillars of Procurement The journey Baranda is implementing is based on four pillars. “The first pillar is the procurement role itself and how we demonstrate that we can contribute much more than simply placing orders. That means also gaining a seat at the table of key decisions, being very close to the executive committee and presenting

and even championing viable alternatives that can drive cost efficiencies. This redefinition of the role needs to be sustained on a new organisational model, including a talent upgrade “WE HOLD GREAT to become a reference for the business in the different PRIDE IN THE categories of spend.”

FACT THAT WE The second pillar is ARE HELPING TO governance. In order to BUILD A COMPANY effect change, people must understand when and how THAT EVERY YEAR to engage with procurement.

BRINGS INCREASED Setting clear policies and VALUE TO ITS procedures helps facilitate, CUSTOMERS” in the first instance, the communication with Procurement and, as a JAVIER BARANDA consequence, enables the GROUP CPO AT COMDATA comdatagroup.com

7

DESIGNING YOUR FUTURE In a world where everything is connected, where logic meets intuition, we generate great ideas to power the progress.

NETCOM GROUP/COMDATA: 12 YEARS OF INNOVATIVE COLLABORATION

Watch: NetCom Group and Comdata Report

Founded in 2006 by a group of engineers with specialties in the telecommunications and ICT sectors, NetCom Group over the last 15 years has grown significantly. Reaching international levels by having an innovative impact through its research and development (R&D) of automation systems.

Speaking with Founder and CEO of NetCom Group, Domenico Lanzo explains that “NetCom Group has always had the vocation for applied engineering, and in particular, automation systems. Our strong presence in strategic markets has called for a complete offer that included the improvement of remote technical support to our Customers. The acquisition of Core Informatica completed our previous Offer by providing technical support.”

Explaining that NetCom Group is a service and product company, Lanzo says: “we design and develop solutions for the players in the engineering and ICT fields, where embedded software is written to digitally control automation systems.”

NetCom Group’s Partnership with Comdata Beginning their collaborative relationship in 2009, Lanzo reflects that “the historical presence of Core Informatica among the major suppliers of Comdata gives us the honor of considering ourselves a partner rather than a supplier. Our knowledge of the needs of Comdata, during all these years, has made it possible to build, through loyalty policies, our work group which, due to their speed of response to requests, is able to offer quick access to instant technical support.”

Over the years Core Informatica and Comdata’s collaborative partnership has gone from strength to strength. “From the remote and on-site helpdesk services provided from 14 offices, it has now moved on to managing 25 offices in 2020. NetCom Group helps Comdata in managing not only workstations and user services, but also provides support in managing new orders, selling ICT devices, provisioning of licenses, as well as in Data Loss Prevention and Virtual Patching.”

DESIGN YOUR FUTURE

COMDATA

21

No. of countries served

3

No. of continents served

30+

Years of experience in the market

10

comdatagroup.com

COMDATA

“AFTER 20 YEARS IN PROCUREMENT, I WAS CONVINCED THAT PROCUREMENT HAD MUCH MORE TO ADD THAN JUST PLACING ORDERS” JAVIER BARANDA

GROUP CPO AT COMDATA

mindset change of the organisation towards cost efficiency and, generally speaking, “value for money”. This helps increase “spend under management, and thus the opportunities to generate value for the company, and the decision-making process.”

“Systems are paramount for an effective governance, providing visibility in the spend, transparency and traceability of the procurement management, but also an additional efficiency to the end to end process.”

Akin to internal PR, the third pillar is the alignment with the business and its goals, ensuring internal stakeholders see procurement as a true partner. They can effectively and easily engage with procurement beyond policy requirements.

“It’s important to avoid the perception that procurement will bog down the process or that it’s simply a box-ticking exercise.

Stakeholders shouldn’t feel they need to convince or mobilise procurement to get what they need. Procurement needs to be a willing, proactive partner who will help them in terms of agility and innovation. We will bring ideas from new suppliers, and we will optimise outcomes. My objective is not to lead their business but to help them run their business better. “ The fourth pillar is monitoring and reporting. “When I started in this project, comdatagroup.com

11

COMDATA

“THE CUSTOMER’S VOICE HAS BEEN AMPLIFIED, PRESENTING BOTH AN OPPORTUNITY AND A RISK. IF YOU PERFORM POORLY WITH A CUSTOMER, IT NO LONGER STAYS BETWEEN YOU JAVIER BARANDA AND THE CUSTOMER” GROUP CPO AT COMDATA

we weren’t yet monitoring savings or spend by supplier or category. So we are building that framework on how we report spend and performance. That also allows us to benchmark across different regions, see, for instance, who is investing more in IT versus services and identify potential opportunities.”

These four pillars, role, governance, alignment with the business and monitoring and reporting, are the foundation of Comdata’s procurement transformation.

Leveraging AI for a better CX “Today, one of the main challenges of any industry is customer loyalty. Society has evolved in how we interact with companies or suppliers, especially in industries like retail banking, telcos, insurance. All these companies are facing a situation in which their customers have access to social networks where they share their opinions and experiences.

The customer’s voice has been amplified, presenting both an opportunity and a risk.

If you perform poorly with a customer, it no longer stays between you and the customer.”

Baranda says cost also remains a constant challenge. With increased competition comes increased pressures to reduce costs, and so Comdata must assist their clients in finding efficiencies and improving internal processes. “We need to help our customers 12

comdatagroup.com

COMDATA

Javier Baranda from Comdata Group talks about cyber security

comdatagroup.com

13

COMDATA

Unlock the best of cloud Whether on-premises, in the cloud or anywhere in between, no one integrates, secures and connects storage like we do.

Optimize your cloud >

14

comdatagroup.com

COMDATA

“AS SOON AS WE WERE ABLE TO DELIVER TANGIBLE RESULTS WITH TANGIBLE SAVINGS, WHICH IS THE MOST VISIBLE OF PROCUREMENT OUTCOMES, THE ORGANISATION REALISED THAT PROCUREMENT COULD BE A PARTNER IN NOT ONLY EXECUTING PURCHASES BUT OPTIMISING THE BUDGET” JAVIER BARANDA

GROUP CPO AT COMDATA

enhance customer interactions, as well as improve the efficiency and cost. Comdata aims to achieve excellence in helping our customers to impart company values and improve customer retention. With the evolution of customer interactions through different channels, more and more, we are able to better serve our customers.”

AI is one of the technologies that Comdata is leveraging in this area, developing analytics to better understand the needs of customers and better manage perceptions.

“When a customer calls you, how is this customer feeling? How can I make them feel better? How can I help them better understand the situation? What previous interactions have we had with this customer, and how were those experiences? What comdatagroup.com

15

COMDATA

“WE HAVE SOME INITIATIVES WHERE WE CONTRIBUTE TO THE SOCIAL ENVIRONMENT IN DIFFERENT COUNTRIES, AND WE SHARE AND CELEBRATE

THESE THINGS.”

JAVIER BARANDA

GROUP CPO AT COMDATA

600mn Customer interactions managed every year

500+ Number of customers globally

16

comdatagroup.com

COMDATA

are the customer’s interests? It’s that sort of analysis and modelling that AI can provide that is extremely helpful in ensuring our customers feel they are listened to and understood. We need to make our interactions more relevant, more efficient, more effective, and for that, artificial intelligence is massively important.”

A deeply embedded culture It may sound cliche, but Comdata’s values are excellence, a strong customer focus, and innovation. In truth, however, it is much more than a cliche and is deeply embedded in the way they work and is evident at every level of the organisation.

“We push ourselves not to take things for granted, to revisit old processes for potential improvement opportunities, to challenge mindsets and drive innovation.

Our CEO has a very entrepreneurial mindset and is always challenging us to bring innovation. We want to be bigger, but we want to be bigger together, and with the participation of everyone.”

“We also have some initiatives where we contribute to the social environment in different countries, and we share and celebrate these things. It's a culture that brings people together and creates a sense of belonging and a sense of pride for what we do. We hold great pride in the fact that we are helping to build a company that every year brings increased value to its customers. And I love that approach, and I am personally very aligned with working collaboratively, seeking excellence, listening to others and remaining focused on our ultimate goal of always finding better ways to service our customers, together.”

comdatagroup.com

17

Comdata Group

Via Sebastiano Caboto 1 Corsico 20094 Italy

T +3902 414 9931 | comdatagroup.com

POWERED BY: