The Purchaser Issue 4

Moving THE WORLD

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Ilove it when people are honest, open and show their real personalities when talking about their work. It can, sometimes, be a difficult thing to do in business. Not so for Zumba’s Kavita Kumar. Spend any time with her and you’ll find her passion for the global fitness brand, her love of the community and culture that defines being a part of Zumba, and her joy at making the world move infectious.

And that’s not to detract from her work.

As Vice President of Global Sourcing and Supply Chain, Kumar faces a task as complex as any — her team, for example, is responsible for providing new music, choreography, apparel and accessories to a global network every 45 days. That’s a huge challenge. But, Kumar’s and

Zumba’s story is one of vibrant colours, shared experiences, collaboration and a true love of what you do as much as it is one of logistics, warehouses or anything else. It shows just how powerful those attributes can be in determining success, and that’s inspiring.

We’re fortunate to speak to many like minded individuals in this issue. Take Pfizer’s Fred Turco, for example, who is using the lessons learned from an understandably disruptive period during the COVID pandemic to redefine procurement. His vision is one of evolving partner relationships, close collaboration and partnership, as well as the importance of ‘people skills’, communication and more. Similarly, passion is the driver for change in our other content, whether that’s at organisations like TDRA or HCT, or in bringing sustainability and transparency to the world.

I hope you find it inspiring. Enjoy the issue.

Matt High.

Marketing Director

Matt High

Creative Directors

Daniel Crawford

Steve Shipley

Jack Pascall

Project Director

Manuel Navarro

Managing Director

James Pepper

Stroud

Content Director

64 | ENTREPRENEUR DANIEL KHACHAB

Driving sustainable food supply chains

66 | INTERVIEW

TDRA

On procurement as a strategic value driver

78 | TECHNOLOGY INNOVATION & SUSTAINABILITY

Is Blockchain the answer for value chain emissions?

86 | INTERVIEW

HCT

On COVID as a catalyst for procurement evolution

96 | DISRUPTOR CONVOY

Machine learning-powered sustainable logistics

98 | CITY GUIDE

48 HRS: STOCKHOLM

Business and pleasure in the Swedish capital

108 | CALENDAR EVENTS

The best virtual events for 2021

Some years ago Levi Strauss announced it owns a pair of its jeans from the 1880s, found in a goldmine. Practical and tough, they were built to last. The first sustainable clothes, perhaps. A good omen for the June announcement of COO Liz O’Neill, who said the company is focusing on sustainability by showing its customers they can wear its products longer by repairing or customising them. “Sustainability is not just the right thing to do. It’s good business,” said O’Neill at NRF Retail Converge. Levi’s, which will launch its first sustainability report later this year, also intends to reduce supply chain emissions by 40%.

www.nrfconverge.nrf.com

SUSTAINABILITY NOW

The pressure that companies are facing to become more sustainable is increasing, according to the State of the Supply Chain Sustainability 2021 report from MIT Center for Transportation & Logistics and the Council of Supply Chain Management Professionals. It found that, despite expectations, COVID didn’t dampen the drive for investment in supply chain sustainability with more than 80% of respondents confirming this. Specifically between 2019 and 2020, pressure to perform sustainably grew from investors, government and international bodies. In response, executives emerged as sustainability champions, said the report, being behind the most significant corporate commitments across all areas of sustainability.

www.sscs.mit.edu

US V DISRUPTION

US Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg has pledged to tackle supply chain disruption. Following President Joe Biden’s launching of a supply chain task force in June he has held a virtual roundtable on reducing congestion in ports at Los Angeles and Long Beach – 40% of all containerised freight flowing through the US arrives or departs at these two ports alone. “For our economy to fully recover, we now need our vital supply chains to operate smoothly and without avoidable congestion,” said Buttigieg.

www.reuters.com

Levi’s New Nevada Jeans

The supply chain of the future will take centre stage in the battle to offer a superior customer experience and drive competitive advantage, says KPMG. That’s because today’s customers no longer just care about their products. Instead, they want seamless, transparent and rapid fulfilment – a natural shift driven by our use of mobile technology and greater connectivity. For businesses, it means that supply chain management is no longer about reducing cost, but service differentiation, value added and premium fulfilment options and viewing the supply chain as an interconnected, digitally enabled and predictive network. The pay off? Customer-centric organisations report 38% greater profitability.

www.kpmg.com

CLEAN TRANSPORT

Project Gigaton. Even if you don’t know what it is, it sounds impressive. In this instance, it refers to Walmart’s ambition to cumulatively avoid one billion metric tons of greenhouse gases in scope 3 emission by 2030. The project was launched in 2017, but Walmart has recently announced a new transportation pillar focused specifically on reducing supplier emissions from transportation partners to initially focus on ground transportation and commence in September 2021.

www.walmartsustainabilityhub.com

© Shutterstock / andersphoto

IT’S ALL GUCCI

Gucci has launched an initiative in partnership with Intensa Sanpaolo bank to implement ethical and responsible practices across the luxury fashion brand’s supply chain by providing financial capital to SMEs within its supplier network. It builds on work already carried out during the COVID pandemic, which saw more than 150 Italian suppliers to Gucci gain access to more than €230mn in loans. Gucci CEO and President Marco Bizaari called the initiative a “groundbreaking project: everything we have always hoped to achieve, as businesses, to promote the objective of a fairer society, is now within reach.”

www.fashionunited.in

Accenture research has identified supply chain ‘Masters’, companies that stand out above their peers and whose supply chains achieve 13% higher growth. Accenture says

Masters:

> Always begin supply strategy work with the customer in mind

> Invest in digital architecture to build a foundation for innovation

> Focus on capabilities that matter: agility, innovation and security

> Engage their CEOs and drive funding for supply chain talent

Accenture: Customercentric supply chains: A license for growth

82%

of surveyed supply chain leaders plan to expand their cognitive analytics capabilities in the next two years.

KPMG: The road to everywhere

- The Future of Supply Chain

NEXT-GEN TRANSPORT

“We believe that cargo drones will be an element in the next generation of transportation in logistics,” said DHL’s Senior Vice President, Global Head of Innovation & Commercial Development Matthias Heutger on the logistics firm’s partnership with drone developer, DRONAMICS. The collaboration will combine DRONAMICS’ middle-mile cargo drones with DHL’s first and last-mile services to deliver same-day drone cargo operations. www.dronamics.com

BMW says the ongoing global semiconductor shortage and associated supply chain issues are preventing it from completing around 10,000 cars.

Walmart will outfit 25 of its distribution centres with automated end-to-end processes including the processing of inbound shipments, storage, retrieval and outbounding.

Amazon is hiring 75,000 fulfilment and logistics workers across the US and Canada to meet growth in its fulfilment and logistics network.

McKinsey says the creation of a ‘digital nerve centre’ fusing technology and supply chain, planning, finance and operations experts is crucial for procurement leaders.

Jeff Bezos becomes the second billionaire in space, taking a seat on the first crewed flight of his rocket ship, New Shepard.

Tesla CEO Elon Musk blames supply chain price pressure for price increases the company has made to its Model 3 and Model Y vehicles.

MAKING THE WORLD Move

Passion, community and shared ambition: meet the values driving supply chain success at Zumba, according to Kavita Kumar

People don’t just love Zumba, they live it. Says the business of its 15 million-strong community in 180 countries worldwide. Spend any time with those fortunate enough to work for the innovative dance-fitness brand and it’s easy to understand why. Take Kavita Kumar as an example. As Vice President of Global Sourcing and Supply Chain her role is as complex and challenging as any [few in similar positions have to preside over introducing and shipping globally a new range every 45 days, for example], and yet you’d be forgiven for quickly forgetting that when speaking with her.

“It’s not my job, it’s my passion. I work for a brand that moves the world and makes a difference. When it’s fun and you really believe in the core values, it’s not work anymore,” says Kumar, describing how community, a shared sense of purpose, shunning ego and a desire to drive change are at the heart of the Zumba success story. In a world of global corporations and international business it’s all too easy for values like these to be left by the wayside, but not so at Zumba. Kumar herself is a seasoned supply chain professional of more than 25 years’ experience across apparel, travel, home design and fitness – she understands supply chain as well as anyone – and yet hers is as much a story of fun, vibrant colours, dancing and shared experiences as it is logistics, warehousing, technology or vendor relationships.

“My job really is to equip our fitness professionals with the tools they need to succeed and earn a living,” she says, somewhat modestly. “Whether that’s providing new monthly choreographed content – digitally or physically – educational materials and welcome kits for new instructors, fitness equipment, apparel or anything else under the Zumba brand, it’s all about building and maintaining the identity of our global Zumba community. And that’s the magic word that underpins everything; our community is so powerful. We want everyone to connect and feel as one, from those vendors manufacturing or supplying our products to those at the receiving end, dancing together. Zumba is

KAVITA KUMAR VICE PRESIDENT OF GLOBAL SOURCING AND SUPPLY CHAIN

about a shared vision and identity, and that positivity spreads through the entire business from the top down.”

INTEGRITY, VISION AND INCLUSIVENESS

Irrespective of position, location or role in the business, the focal point of that shared positivity lies in one place: the Zumba Instructor network. Worldwide, licensed Zumba Instructors help people relax, have fun and achieve their health goals through inspirational dance classes that are wholly inclusive. “It starts and ends with one main goal: make them successful,” Kumar explains. “From my perspective, that’s about realising nothing is impossible, that there’s a way to find creative solutions to any problem.

“In terms of supply chain leadership, I break that down into three main areas,” she adds. “The first is integrity. You always do the right thing, look at how we can support the instructors and spread happiness, however you go about doing that. Secondly, it’s about the vision. Strictly related to the supply chain, that means having the ability to anticipate and plan for change, understanding the dayto-day challenges faced by a brand like Zumba and never being complacent. Last, you always make sure you’re inclusive. I draw on my own background for that; I started my career in India before moving to the US, and it helps me relate to people, be more open and collaborative to diverse opinions and to translate that into caring for a truly global community.”

“ZUMBA IS ABOUT A SHARED VISION AND IDENTITY, AND THAT positivity SPREADS THROUGH THE ENTIRE BUSINESS FROM THE TOP DOWN”

KAVITA KUMAR, VICE PRESIDENT OF GLOBAL SOURCING AND SUPPLY CHAIN

SERVING THE COMMUNITY

Dealing with change has been a constant in Kumar’s career. Some, as you would expect, come as part of any senior supply chain role while other broader market changes have both influenced and reflected Zumba’s growing business. “They say the only constant is change,” she says, “supply chain was made for that phrase. In my time here I’ve seen an industry that’s become more connected globally. For us, that’s been reflected in our creating a very diverse portfolio of partnerships that allows you to prepare

for unexpected events and cater to your customers. In many ways that’s also linked to the digitalisation of every company and industry, whether that’s branding, systems and tech, marketing or social media, being tech-savvy is essential in the modern supply chain.

“One of the most important changes, certainly for us, is the evolution of consumer behaviour and consumer power,” she adds. “The modern consumer wants convenience, they’re price savvy and very digitally aware – the whole Zumba

community is very active on social media, for example, so we’re very aware of the power of digital and the desire for instant gratification. The flip side of that is that we get to participate too. Seeing people share their new Zumba workout gear or their fitness goals and targets with the rest of the community is really exciting, all the challenges that you went through getting that package to them, the issues of delayed containers or production just fall away. It makes it worthwhile.”

To serve such a community is as challenging and complex as any industry or supply chain operation. Zumba Instructors and classes can be found in 180 countries and 200,000 locations; the company also operates online and virtual classes – both of which have grown exponentially as a result of the COVID pandemic. At the same time the

Zumba community enjoys clothing and accessories, kids wear, shoes, fitness equipment and more.

“We have a global footprint, from sourcing to shipping and delivery, all of which revolves around servicing and maintaining the strong global network we have,” Kumar explains. “We provide new music, choreography, apparel and accessories every 45 days – basically every month our instructors get new supplies from us. It means the entire supply chain has to be very performance focused, as do our products. It’s a niche market, but it’s very global and to achieve that turnaround every 45 days is a huge commitment that is only possible if you have relevant KPIs, if you monitor your profitability, performance and innovation and have excellent communication with your partners and vendors.

Sustainability and innovation leaders in the clothing industry

A sustainable vision

Topitop, a Peruvian company dedicated to the production of knitted garments is committed to carrying out responsible production for the textiles industry, supporting best practices and allowing our customers to trace the entire supply chain, from cotton cultivation to the finished garment. We invest in developing and innovating products with sustainable materials, taking advantage of the resources that nature offers us, reducing toxic materials, using less water, less energy and applying the reuse of materials.

From our industrial complex with six textile plants equipped with state-of-the-art machinery and highly trained personnel, we ensure the timely delivery of products at competitive prices and with the highest quality.

Topitop was proud to recieve the award for Sustainability and Innovation in the Textile & Clothing Industry category from Peru ModaDeco. The award recognises our sustainability strategy and business vision that allows us to act with awareness of caring for the environment and the future.

“Our function is sourcing the product globally. We purchase and manage third-party production, the movement of finished goods right through to the end-customer,” she continues. “It works well because everything is essentially under one umbrella. Sourcing, for example, is an integral part of the upstream function, but there’s a synergy right through to the downstream impact of any decision that’s made. It’s really important we have that unified understanding across everything while maintaining very efficient and nimble processes. We have to stay very conscious of our expanding global reach to make sure

“WE PROVIDE NEW music , choreography , APPAREL AND accessories EVERY 45 DAYS – BASICALLY EVERY MONTH OUR INSTRUCTORS GET NEW SUPPLIES FROM US”

KAVITA KUMAR, VICE PRESIDENT OF GLOBAL SOURCING AND SUPPLY CHAIN

we’re servicing everyone equitably, and it’s all driven by the customer – from a practical standpoint, maintaining that global appeal is only possible if you really understand their needs.”

FOCUS, VALUES AND VISION

The impact of the COVID pandemic was a watershed moment for all supply chains. But, for one that essentially ‘ships new’ every month it proved a significant test that was met, says Kumar, by the very values that drive Zumba. “When the pandemic started, the biggest thing for everyone was ‘how do we serve our instructors and educate more so we can move our classes to online and virtual environments,” she explains. “From the early days, our focus was on how we move our products, from our logistics team through to our music team, everyone worked together and it was really amazing to see how we transitioned into a virtual brand. It was a dark moment, it was challenging, but we never failed to serve our community and, most importantly, we embraced the change, even down to hosting a virtual convention in Florida.

“Business continuity internally was equally important,” adds Kumar. “We met that challenge head on, using communication tools like SharePoint so as to have everyone collaborating on a single platform where there is real time visibility and communication. We created a backup buddy system for every function in the supply chain to give us bench

strength and we developed more dashboard systems for everyone in the team. The idea behind the technology, really, is to give team members the time to analyse and strategise, not collect the data. It was essential that everyone across the business think more strategically. The key was to go back to our core values, to keep on moving, helping and supporting each other while finding the best solutions. That all starts with leadership, so every month our CEO held a town hall meeting to speak with the entire company: ‘this is what we’re doing, where the challenges are, who needs help and how we can help them’, the whole company basically became a supply chain.”

For a business with such a vast global network it was also crucial that the same values extend across that whole chain, with Kumar citing collaboration and communication with vendors as an essential part of Zumba’s success, both pre- and post-COVID. At the start of every 45-day design and production cycle the company shares concepts, ideas and goals with the relevant partners. “All our partners know that their end goal isn’t just to make a product, it’s to make our consumers happy. We’ve always worked closely with them and built strong relationships, right down to having vendor conventions where we recognise and reward them for their hard work.

“We’ve got a really broad and diverse range of trading partners, which allows us a versatility that proved important during COVID,” she notes. “For example, a product that we make in Columbia is also made in China. We have a backup, a plan B and C, for every part of the supply chain, whether it’s freight forwarding, manufacturing or raw materials. The biggest thing for me, though, is that we’re very loyal and committed to them all. We work with manufacturers that have been with us from day one, meaning they’ve grown and evolved with the brand. It makes for very special long-term partnerships in which we can collectively innovate, develop and embrace change.”

It’s a mindset that has served Zumba and it’s global network of instructors and fans remarkably well to date and, according to Kumar, will continue to do so. COVID proved a test for the business, but it also demonstrated the strength of its shared values and desire to evolve. “Our vision has always been for our instructors to succeed, and that will be no different for the future. We take one day at a time as the world transitions to a new way of working, but that focus never waivers. I’d love to see our brand continuing to embrace different platforms to spread our message, reach more people and support them through their own personal transformation – however big or small. Supply chain will play a crucial role in that mission.”

www.zumba.com

“ALL OUR PARTNERS KNOW THAT THEIR END GOAL ISN’T JUST TO MAKE A PRODUCT, IT’S TO MAKE OUR CONSUMERS happy ”

KAVITA KUMAR, VICE PRESIDENT OF GLOBAL SOURCING AND SUPPLY CHAIN

PORTFOLIO

Innovat I ve and I nsp I red I tems for work, le I sure and the env I ronmentally consc I ous

ASTON MARTIN & GIRARD-PERREGAUX

Beauty, luxury, performance, style – when it comes to superlatives to describe Aston Martin, you’re spoilt for choice. Fortunately, all apply to the impressively named Tourbillon with Three Flying Bridges, a watch that blends design, materials and technology and throws in a good measure of the craftsmanship you’d expect from luxury timepiece maker, GirardPerregaux. Intended to celebrate the iconic Three Bridges pocket watch from the 19th century, it is formed of Grade 5 titanium for lightness and is limited to only 18 pieces. Form an orderly queue...

www.girard-perregaux.com

PORTFOLIO

Innovat I ve and I nsp I red I tems for work, le I sure and the env I ronmentally consc I ous

ID.EIGHT

Sneakers have one of the heaviest carbon footprints of anything we wear; according to one report production accounts for 1.4% of global greenhouse gas emissions. All the more reason to consider ID.EIGHT, an eco-sustainable sneaker project borne out of a shared passion for the environment and 90s-inspired footwear aesthetics of founders Dong Seon Lee and Giuliana Borzillo. The ethical and sustainable shoes are made in Italy with low environmental impact materials from food industry waste like apple peels, grape stalks and seeds, pineapple leaves and recycled cotton.

www.id-eight.com

PORTFOLIO

Innovat I ve and I nsp I red I tems for work, le I sure and the env I ronmentally consc I ous

PULP FACTORY

Can the better use of waste paper make an ecological, social or economical impact, or create a better cultural environment? The answer to this question, posed by sustainability, biodegradability and responsible design think tank Pulp Station is yes. Take its Pulp Factory 100% biodegradable paper furniture as an example. Handcrafted and molded using locally collected waste paper and incorporating traditional design aesthetics, it is also designed to bring local solutions at a macro level, like waste management, new skills and community development.

www.pulp.thepulpstation.com

PORTFOLIO

Innovat I ve and I nsp I red I tems for work, le I sure and the env I ronmentally consc I ous

LIVEWIRE ONE

LiveWire ONE is the digital transformation you never knew you wanted: a Harley-Davidson for the modern age, that combines the DNA of the famous brand with innovative, tech-driven specs. A statement of intent from HarleyDavidson, LiveWire ONE is a standalone brand, built for urban riding and furnished with the latest gadgets. The all-electric bike has a range of 146 miles, can fast charge from 0-100% in 60 minutes, features custom modes that let the rider define performance and personalise their riding, and is digitally connected.

www.harley-davidson.com

PORTFOLIO

Innovat I ve and I nsp I red I tems for work, le I sure and the env I ronmentally consc I ous

ARANKA MOBILE LIVING UNIT

Working from home. It takes its toll and, sometimes, you just need some space. And what a space the Aranka Mobile Living Unit is. The product of Czech brand Hide and Seek, the wood, metal and glass mobile cottage is designed to be placed in the heart of the natural landscape, for the perfect slice of tranquility. It’s clever too. It features an innovative design that harvests rainwater, uses solar and wind energy and is fully energy efficient and self-sustainable. The result? Its four inhabitants can live in peace for four days off-grid.

www.hideandseek.cz

THE INTELLIGENT ORGANISATION

The rise of intelligent automation will bring significant change to organisations and their leaders, says Drew Sonden

utomation is essential to any modern business – go without it and you risk losing your competitive edge.

Indeed, according to Gartner robotic process automation (RPA) is the world’s fastest growing enterprise technology, with leaders and key decision makers viewing it as essential for remaining competitive in the next five years and driving broader digital transformation efforts.

But, like all technologies, RPA has evolved. We are now witnessing the rise of intelligent automation, a cohesive set of products infused with AI that bring together and coordinate the work of digital and human workers. The future of work relies on the implementation of a robust intelligent automation strategy, combined with strong digital leadership and a culture that embraces the technology, says Blue Prism. Here, its EMEA Product Lead, Drew Sonden, discusses in more detail what that looks like.

The Purchaser: How has enterprise RPA grown over the last years and what have been the key drivers for adoption?

Where is the technology bringing the most significant impact?

Drew Sonden: Over the last five to 10 years, Blue Prism has moved way beyond robotic process automation (RPA) to intelligent automation, an enhanced form of RPA infused with the latest artificial intelligence (AI) capabilities. The adoption of intelligent automation has developed so much – it’s been the fastest-growing segment in the enterprise software sector in recent years. Broadly speaking, businesses have only just begun to recognise its full potential. The main factor behind the rise in intelligent automation implementation is the need to retain a competitive edge and overall productivity while facing hugely constrained human and technological resources. Another is the pressures faced by companies to meet key stakeholder demands.

Traditional thinking is that a digital workforce excels in completing mundane and repetitive back-office tasks in business functions that see a high number of these processes. However, in recent years, the scope and complexity of use cases has grown rapidly. We’re seeing that, with the constant advancement of AI capabilities, these self-organising, multi-tasking, intelligent, processing resources are automating ever more complex and differentiated endto-end business activities. And doing it faster and more accurately than humans across many different business functions.

TP: And what about digital transformation more broadly; how important is understanding and adopting automation as part of an effective transformation strategy?

DS: It’s vital, and should be used as the enabler of business-wide enterprise change. Intelligent automation not only gives businesses the opportunity to augment stretched resources, but also offers them the chance to re-think their processes from a digital-first mindset and allocate resources appropriately across the business to either revenue-generating or customer-centric roles.

What’s more, business leaders can use intelligent automation as the strategic tool to achieve their overarching business goals and objectives, whether that’s transforming customer experience, becoming a more productive organisation, or being more competitive.

TP: How well suited is intelligent automation to supply chain and procurement operations and where does it bring the greatest value?

DS: Whilst people often think of finance, HR, and shared services with respect to intelligent automation, it’s actually very well-suited to the supply chain and procurement functions. Despite the complexities of an enterprise global supply chain, the key areas that intelligent automation will bring advantage to are

any logical and clearly defined transactional processes that operate according to structured rules.

In terms of benefits, the starting point for many organisations is automated activities that are simply too time-consuming for humans. For example, a leading UK multi-brand digital retailer has done just this. With hundreds of thousands of SKUs from keyrings to sofas, managing outbound logistics was challenging.

“INTELLIGENT AUTOMATION NOT ONLY GIVES BUSINESSES THE OPPORTUNITY TO AUGMENT STRETCHED RESOURCES, BUT ALSO OFFERS THEM THE CHANCE TO RE-THINK THEIR PROCESSES FROM A DIGITAL-FIRST MINDSET”

While humans used to simply load vehicles based on demand and expediency, Blue Prism now references the dimensional data registered within the ERP and automatically calculates the best way to load each truck leaving the distribution centres for maximum efficiency, telling humans what to pick and where to pack it. This reduces human effort, freight costs, and carbon.

Another example of how to allocate valuable human time elsewhere is with a leading UK automotive retailer. It automatically updates the costs of the over 20,000 items in its parts catalogue based on a range of factors including supplier pricing, raw materials pricing and so on. Not only does this allow the company to

manage manufacturing costs more effectively but is also means that the professional buyers previously responsible for the task now spend more time negotiating with suppliers, thus further reducing parts costs.

These are just small examples. However, the next step is when we can use automation to bring together the often isolated or siloed areas of the supply chain function and share data more effectively between business functions.

TP: How is intelligent automation different from RPA? How does it bring together and coordinate the work of digital and human workers to deliver more value and improve organisational performance?

DS: Traditionally, RPA has been thought of as individual digital workers that automate tasks and processes. But intelligent automation, by extension, is a cohesive set of products, infused with AI, that bring together and coordinate the work of digital and human workers. RPA executes automations in organisations with the help of a digital workforce, while AI provides the digital workers with the eyes, ears, voices and brains needed for complex tasks.

These AI abilities, such as machine learning (ML), computer vision and natural language processing (NLP), add serious power to a digital workforce. This new intelligent automation approach delivers far more value, increasing the organisational real estate over which automation can be done.

needs prioritising, allowing them to refocus their human labour force on areas that they’re good at, such as revenue-generating tasks, creative work, and subjective decision-making.

Benefits that we’ve seen don’t just involve millions of multi-currency and time savings, but improved business performance and enhanced customer experience – all delivering more strategic value-generating roles to fulfil ever greater demand.

TP: Is there a case for leaders seeing automation as more of a strategic tool than a tactical one and do you think this understanding is still lacking for some?

DS: We’re definitely past the early adoption phase but, broadly speaking, intelligent automation and its full benefits

No longer the domain of repeatable tasks, businesses can utilise intelligent automation to increase the scope of digital workers, mine data more coherently, and speed up the process of ‘data, analysis, action’ with confidence. Businesses can orchestrate workforces intelligently by using automation to tell them what

are still making their way into the leadership mindset. The process of achieving enterprise-scale digital workforces and reaping the transformational gains these workforces can deliver takes time, strategic alignment, and senior management engagement. The truth is that the technology to significantly transform and

“IT’S BEEN THE FASTEST-GROWING SEGMENT IN THE ENTERPRISE SOFTWARE SECTOR IN RECENT YEARS BUT BUSINESSES HAVE ONLY JUST BEGUN TO RECOGNISE ITS FULL POTENTIAL”

improve businesses is already here. What vendors like Blue Prism are here to do is to help any business realise that strategic mindset and the resulting value of implementing intelligent automation.

Business leaders can expect quick return on investment through tactical deployment of intelligent automation, by automating repetitive and mundane quick-win processes. And it might be the case that a hybrid environment of strategic and citizen-led automations is most suitable for a customer. However, automations purely applied to existing processes only get businesses so far.

Bottom-up ‘citizen led’, tactical initiatives for personal use, typically delivering simple tasks such as filing an expense claim or completing forms, can stifle an organisation’s ability to scale.

When any automation technology is distributed across desktops and used in personal contexts it may help the individual, but it won’t help the whole organisation transform work collaboratively at any meaningful level. True digital transformation comes when leaders rethink processes from a digital-first mindset, using digital workers to augment their resources in the most effective way.

“THE TRUTH IS THAT THE TECHNOLOGY TO SIGNIFICANTLY TRANSFORM AND IMPROVE BUSINESSES IS ALREADY HERE”

TP: With that in mind, what are the common barriers to building a digital workforce and how should they be overcome?

DS: Quite often, intelligent automation projects are conceived too low down in the company, used by a small group of people who don’t have the support or financial backing from senior management. To gain the maximum benefit from intelligent automation, business goals have to be redefined and strategically aligned, which is a decision that often requires the full backing and involvement from higher-level executives.

A common misconception is that automation requires a large amount of IT intervention. This isn’t the case. An added bonus of intelligent automation is that it works over the top of existing systems, engaging seamlessly with them much like

human employees would. This means fundamental transformation is vastly less capital intensive than it ever was before, meaning the precious resources can be allocated elsewhere. The barrier, or challenge, here is communicating this.

TP: What’s the starting point for any intelligent automation programme and what does a strategic approach look like from a leadership perspective?

DS: The starting place should be an assessment of the organisation’s core challenges and objectives. Business leaders should be looking at their biggest strategic priorities over the next five years and then exploring how an intelligent, scalable digital workforce could help them to achieve their goals.

Manufacturers have been using physical automation for decades, such as assembly robots, automated production lines, and AI-driven QA. It was obvious to them that machines could do this sort of manual labour quicker and more efficiently than humans. Of course, the same was always true for many operational activities, it’s just that in the past the technology wasn’t up to the job.

Today, with intelligent automation, we have a software capability that is more than ready to take on the challenge, the only thing holding it back is the mental leap that businesses have to take in realising its utility.

TP: And what should supply chain or procurement leaders take away from the intelligent automation discussion?

DS: Of course, every automation programme has to start somewhere and typically a leader has to reach for some of the low-hanging fruit to demonstrate capability and prove value quickly. This could be anything from order reconciliation to automating returns request fulfilment.

aims to automate 50% of its procurement function, working on a top-down basis. In this instance, it started off by automating the tendering process for replacement parts for ships. In the case of a major retail client of ours, it has a really forwardthinking automation programme that started out with simple process improvements, before introducing

However, intelligent automation is a transformative technology and the significant opportunity is to look at the end-to-end supply chain or procurement process and look at applying automation holistically. Rather than asking ‘what can we automate’ the question instead is ‘are there activities that we definitely can’t automate?’, so, so we can let human employees excel in those areas. There are also benefits from a human perspective. Mapping out the areas where automation isn’t relevant allows us to plan how to reallocate staff to support the increased productivity that we are able to generate.

This is a journey that an international logistics client has been on, where it

automation. It is currently extending automation to include AI and ML tools, before further broadening its aspirations by introducing further cognitive platforms and additional cloud services.

Of course, for some organisations, this may not be possible, and a tactical approach may be required. The important thing here is to avoid the trap of searching for how to ‘return hours to the business’. Instead, leaders need to focus on business benefit.

TP: More generally, how important are things like effective leadership and a good culture to the rollout of any automation strategy?

“ORGANISATIONS NEED THIS TECHNOLOGY TO FLOURISH WITHIN AN INCREASINGLY DIGITAL AND COMPETITIVE ENVIRONMENT IN THE FACE OF NEW AND NIMBLE COMPETITION”

DS: Good leadership and a positive culture around automation are key to the rollout of any automation strategy. It’s not just the implementation roadmap that is important here, it’s how effectively it’s communicated across the business, as a positive relationship with automation can have a direct impact on the quantity and quality of automations across the enterprise.

Intelligent automation should be seen as a tool to increase employee satisfaction. In the majority of cases, organisations are turning to intelligent automation because their resources are already stretched. Businesses struggle to bring on the amount of skilled people required in order to grow at the rate they desire

and, as such, their resources are spread too thin to keep up with ever-increasing demands from customers.

Intelligent automation gives businesses the opportunity to augment their resources where needed and provide greater assistance to employees, or the chance for individuals to re-skill and continue their journey with the business in a different function.

TP: What does a modern, intelligent automation-driven supply chain or procurement function look like and what advantage will it have in a turbulent market?

DS: As with the strategic organisational view, the modern supply chain or

procurement organisation will increasingly become a seamless blend of human employees, existing systems, and digital workers.

One of the most exciting opportunities for supply chain and logistics functions right now is the application of intelligent automation for predictive analytics and decisioning solutions. Tools can now allow organisations to make informed predictions about demand or capacity based on analysis of their data. The Blue Prism intelligent automation platform can use the insight these tools generate as the inputs for the digital workforce.

Another area where automation can transform the supply chain is by applying more focus on the consumers. Hyper-personalisation is already a key tool in increasing customer satisfaction and maintaining brand loyalty, and automation has the power to enhance where it is applied. Whilst ecommerce and communications platforms allow point of sale and messaging to be more targeted, intelligent automation gives us the opportunity to explore personalised delivery schedules and macro-level supply chain management where the needs of high-value customers are given higher weighting when activity planning.

“GOOD LEADERSHIP AND A POSITIVE CULTURE AROUND AUTOMATION ARE KEY TO THE ROLLOUT OF ANY AUTOMATION STRATEGY”

Ultimately, intelligent automation gives organisations the opportunity to include more variation in their operating processes, without increasing labour costs. As supply chains fragmented last year, a key shift was in the use of more and smaller suppliers to cope with rapidly fluctuating demand. But this had a corresponding impact on management effort. Intelligent automation can take on much of this load, automatically building multi-part orders across multiple approved suppliers based on stock availability; or reducing the time to onboard or audit new suppliers by automating due diligence checks.

The comparative capabilities between those that invested in intelligent automation before the COVID-19 pandemic and those that didn’t is stark. Those that were investing in automation claimed a major competitive advantage in gaining current and future business adaptiveness and resilience. For those that didn’t, without strategic investment in automation and digital transformation, their competitiveness relative to those leaders will degrade seriously and possibly irreversibly over the next five years. Aside from business resilience, organisations need this technology to flourish within an increasingly digital and competitive environment in the face of new and nimble competition.

sonden

“For the last 15 years, my career has focused on helping organisations deliver digital transformation, allowing them to reshape the way that they operate and the way that they engage with both their customers and their employees. I moved to Blue Prism because I became frustrated with the ability of technology-led programmes to deliver real and meaningful change without months of effort or millions of pounds of investment. Our non-invasive nature and the fact we’re truly accessible to business users and not just technologists means that organisations can take control of their digital transformation agenda in a way that was never previously possible.

www.blueprism.com

emea product lead B lue pr I sm

drew

Innovator

EVRYTHNG BORN DIGITAL

In EVRYTHNG’s world, every item is born digital. That vision sees an environment where every product exists as a digital ‘thing’, is connected to the web and, as a result, participates in a digital application ecosystem.

If you’re running a supply chain, you need that ecosystem. The company believes that everyone has the right to know how their supply chain works, where their products go and who buys them. It’s EVRYTHNG Product Cloud gives that visibility. By managing active digital identities for the world’s consumer products, EVRYTHNG is driving end-to-end transformation across the product lifecycle and real-time supply chain and disrupting traditional fashion and apparel sustainability models.

Recently, Ralph Lauren put this to the test, launching the first mass-scale digital activation of its entire Polo apparel line, with every item in the range given its own unique digital identity at the moment of manufacture that lets it be tracked and authenticated throughout its entire lifecycle.

www.evrythng.com

COLLABORATION, EVOLVING SUPPLIER RELATIONSHIPS AND THE IMPORTANCE OF TRANSPARENCY: THE FUTURE OF PROCUREMENT ACCORDING TO PFIZER’S FRED M. TURCO

FRED M. TURCO

FRED M. TURCO

FRED M. TURCO

FRED M. TURCO

FRED M. TURCO

FRED M. TURCO

Fred Turco has a vision for procurement in 2030. It is one driven not by digital transformation or any other corporate initiative du jour, but rather, a procurement function built on the fundamental and most important best practices: leadership, collaboration, good supplier relationships, leverage, trust and transparency. And he should know about these as much as anyone. As Global Indirect Procurement Lead at Pfizer since 2019, Turco and his team have played a crucial role in ensuring the organisation has effectively and efficiently delivered its COVID-19 vaccine worldwide.

COVID taught us many lessons. Chief among those was the importance of the human element in business, the power and resilience of collaboration

and communication, together with a shared sense of driving mutual success. This was as true for Pfizer as it was for any organisation, says Turco, explaining that those key factors were crucial in allowing the global pharmaceutical and biotechnology business to address many of its vaccine scaleup challenges and maintain business continuity and operations across the whole organisation.

COLLABORATION, PARTNERSHIP AND PEOPLE

“You can have the best plan, the best strategy and tactics, but in the end it comes down to the players and execution,” he says, “that’s as true for sport as it is anything else. When the pandemic took hold, there was a real sense of all hands on deck across the whole business. Problems were no longer dealt

with in silos or by teams, they were business problems. That mix between operational control and supplier management, none of those artificial barriers were in the way anymore. It was a case of ‘we have a business challenge, let’s work on a solution’ – there was no Pfizer or supplier problem, there were only mutual issues that we poured all our collective resources and brain power into.”

As an example, Turco cites a major equipment supplier from Germany being unable to travel to, and support,

one of Pfizer’s US site equipment acceptance tests – required by regulation – due to COVID government travel restrictions. Typically, site acceptance testing at this scale takes two to four months and is an iterative process, including subject matter engineers from the manufacturer. “We had six weeks due to the overall scaleup project urgency and an international COVID travel ban preventing the manufacturer’s technicians from traveling to Pfizer to complete the work,” he says. “In short, we needed to compress the timeline for the process and safely

get German engineers to a US location during a pandemic. We didn’t need just one solution, we needed multiple solutions from multiple organisations while at the same time working with two sovereign nations that were busy with their own crisis.

“All was not lost,” Turco continues. “We had good will aided by better people/partners and

procurement simply connected the dots. In a matter of a week and half, procurement partnered with internal business and supplier executives, engineering, quality operations, our respective government relationship teams and the country embassies from Germany and the US. The result was an approved and streamlined acceptance test protocol, respective government approved and

THE PURCHASER Interview

a restricted one month continuous window for the technicians from Germany to travel to the US for the testing, leverage of enabling technology and, ultimately, an on-time delivered project that literally helped save lives. It’s one of hundreds of stories across the procurement function related to COVID business support.”

“And that taught us a lot,” Turco continues. “Particularly that all the planning, all the processes are important of course, but they don’t solve problems. People do,” he adds. “Those skillsets of collaboration, partnership and working together on a solution for a common problem(s) will carry on driving

the business and it was great to see the change across the whole organisation. Procurement is a really good example of that; many in our profession think the role is a supplier adversary. It can be, when it needs to be. But, at the highest level, the role is about understanding, leveraging and enabling supplier success – it’s about collaboration and partnership building. Finding mutual wins helps drive continued and sustained success because the other party will continue to invest. That’s what really drives value.”

CHANGING THE PROCUREMENT FUNCTION

Turco is keen to continue that momentum in the post-COVID world, with procurement facilitating an evolution in supplier relationship from one of management, through collaboration to partnership. This shift is the cornerstone for his future vision of the procurement function.

“Pre-COVID we were, probably like lots of organisations, oriented in two key ways,” he explains. “You have your customer-facing role, where you’re understanding the needs of the business – so, for us, that’s based on our three major divisions of research and development, manufacturing and

commercial business operations. Having a good understanding of the customer and making them feel they have a partner that can provide good solutions is important. Then there’s the aggregated spend side, focused on how to aggregate our spend in a meaningful way across those business-facing functions and looking externally to leverage suppliers’ capability and capacity. Typical success metrics are savings, cash-flow management and percentage of spend of diverse suppliers. It’s classic procurement and lagging factors associated with business engagement.

“With COVID though, we were integrated with the business process to define solutions to business problems‘,” adds Turco. “A great example of this shift is in how we dealt with the personal protective equipment (PPE) shortage that was experienced worldwide. Before the pandemic it was a pretty small category for my team (less than .7% spend), but it suddenly became the most important thing from an indirect procurement perspective from February 2020 through July 2020 – if we can’t source the appropriate PPE for the 30,000 or so essential

workers at our manufacturing and R&D site then we don’t operate. If we don’t operate, we don’t manufacture the COVID vaccine or any other essential medicines.

“Because of that, our solutioning had to be pretty non-traditional and it went to the very highest level in the business; there were no limitations on what could be done to solve the problem. Because the issue wasn’t just about supply, but also related to trade we established our own trade and logistics infra-

structure directly from China to over 200 global locations, including mechanisms to facilitate customs clearance. It worked so well because it was about empowerment and effectively saying ‘here’s what we need, go figure it out’. For me, that thought process

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will remain for whenever we face novel problems like that in the future. And that’s the case both internally and externally in terms of working more collaboratively with our suppliers.”

EVOLVING THE SUPPLIER RELATIONSHIP

That collaboration, says Turco, is underpinned by communication and trust. In this case, he explains, communication between decision makers was essential, as was alignment on the fundamental problem solving steps. “We always started with the ‘why’, which in this case was easy: because if we don’t, we stop. You get that right and any barriers just disappear, which makes it easy to agree on the specifics, or the ‘what’ and then the final solutioning – the ‘how’. Externally, it was easier to talk with decision makers, people in power to deploy resources differently and make those important calls based on trust; we were asking our suppliers to take a certain amount of risk in problem solving with us, so trust was essential.

“It was unique, but so important,” he continues. “If you break down how we solved those key challenges, it was through good leadership both in our organisation and our suppliers, but also then working

“ IT WAS A VALUABLE LESSON IN THE IMPORTANCE OF GOOD SUPPLIER RELATIONSHIPS FOR ANY PROCUREMENT SCENARIO”

with them across their whole supply chain. Almost weekly we needed to work with key cold chain suppliers (ultra-low temperature freezer and dry ice manufacturers, as well as key logistic and shipping carriers) to help solve commodity shortages in their supply chain. Sometimes you’ll see that on the direct material side, but not so much on the indirect services.

skills of communication, collaboration and decision making. COVID will forever change both procurement functions and the way we work. In a brief year and half we were more emotionally challenged and rewarded than many people will be throughout their whole career. But what did we learn and how will we use that going forward is the question?”

PROCUREMENT 2030

This learning has cemented Turco’s vision for procurement in 2030. Functionally, procurement is great at driving processes (RFx, contracts, projects, buying systems, KPIs, reporting and so on). But, in future, he believes the function will need to refine and leverage its process strength and further enhance it with relationship building and enabling skills to best leverage supplier capabilities.

“Each instance was different, not easily foreseen but ultimately required the same functional soft

For instance, Turco identifies three key supplier relationship types: management, wherein basic performance oversight is defined and guided by KPIs, commercial terms or service-level agreements; collaboration, which he describes as having similar performance oversight but with a balanced middle ground of mutual wins’; and partnership, a model that sees mutual investment/risk mitigation and is

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driven by full transparency and trust. Turco, says Pfizer, is generally at the management stage at present, while some of its relationships fall under the collaboration category. However, he explains that most tier 1 and 2 relationships will need to evolve to be collaborative by 2025.

Procurement’s functional evolution, notes Turco, will be driven by two key and related forces. First, is the shrinking world of finite resources

and greater population driving the need to accelerate solutions in response to a growing need. Second, is the fair societal demand for equity, transparency and accountability associated with business practice. Or, as he says: “the fact is it (e.g., business climate, access to solutions, transparency) has never been better and it needs to get better, for all.

COVID has accelerated change in many areas, in particular the need for transparency and equity. In the

ALL THE PLANNING, ALL THE PROCESSES ARE IMPORTANT OF COURSE, BUT THEY DON’T SOLVE PROBLEMS. PEOPLE DO”

future, when a supplier has a problem, it’s also my problem. As an extension of that, for key suppliers, we will be part of the solution.

“I do not know what problems may arise, but I know how we will approach them: openly and collaboratively,” he continues. “We often think of procurement as being all about technical or financial acumen, but it’s really about the soft skills that people have – empathy with suppliers, understanding their circumstances and what their business drivers are. It starts with process and by defining success criteria clearly, selecting suppliers with mutual capability and capacity fit, leveraging suppliers where they are strongest and supporting growth as appropriate. Ultimately, it’s about give and take. What starts with a process is enhanced with people willing to invest in longer term relationships.

“From a maturity standpoint, we want all our tier 1 and tier 2 suppliers to get to the next level, which involves more collaboration and greater transparency on both sides,” Turco states, explaining how supplier relationship evolution will occur. “That means they better understand our strategy and objectives, but also how they face other pharma companies so they can

pivot appropriately. Collaboration is still based on service and cost associated with service, but there’s better anticipation, understanding and alignment although no at-risk investment. That is the differentiator of true partnership, where not only do we signal where we’re going strategically and let our suppliers align to that, but there is also an investment in resources on their behalf to get there. It’s mutually beneficial, far more strategic and something that we have an ambition to reach with many of our suppliers.”

BUILDING TRANSPARENCY

To reach that ambition will require a significant focus on certain areas of performance, says Turco, including achieving full supplier transparency through the use of environmental, social, governance (ESG) tools – in this instance, Ecovadis – base regulatory compliance around work standards and more, company or industry-wide voluntary climate action and realising ethical work practices and NGO certified performance leveraged to manage the ‘what’ over the ‘how’.

“Our ambition is to be carbon neutral by 2030,” he states. “However, our supply base is around 80% of our carbon footprint. So, alongside the more pragmatic things like regulatory compliance we will

“ WE OFTEN THINK OF PROCUREMENT AS BEING ALL ABOUT TECHNICAL OR ACUMEN, BUT IT’S REALLY ABOUT THE SOFT SKILLS THAT PEOPLE HAVE”

partner with our supply base to ensure they have equally aggressive carbon reduction and social improvement goals because we cannot succeed unless they succeed, too. The 2030 vision is that by that date the majority of our suppliers not only achieve regulatory adherence but have also adopted our carbon neutrality standards. From their perspective, over time the reward is that we give more business to the suppliers that enable us to achieve that ambition; it becomes more of a business practice that we build into this relationship evolution from service to partnership.”

Transparency is crucial to Pfizer, both in terms of the medicines it delivers to patients and how sustainability it does so. With those expectations increasing, Turco explains that suppliers in the partnership model should also expect an increase in standards. EcoVadis, the platform to assess corporate social responsibility and sustainable procurement will prove crucial in this. “The most important thing is that you have some sort of partnership tool,” he says. “EcoVadis gives us great base data to make evaluations on and having that third-party data is key, particularly in the competitive bid process because we don’t have the resources

to get out and do all the verification work ourselves.”

SUCCESS THROUGH PARTNERSHIP

Turco doesn’t have a crystal ball. But, with only nine years ahead until we reach 2030, he is aware of several key steps that will be required to achieve his vision of supplier relationship evolution. The benefits are several, including longer-term relationships with key critical suppliers, generally more aggregated spend with fewer suppliers as a result of the investment required and more standardised or customised solutions. “The ability

to reach 70/30 standardisation would be great. We’re global and there’s not one supplier that can work across our network, period. I definitely see a standard way of operating or engaging our suppliers that could be more supply-base agnostic including things like integrated facilities management and so on.

“In terms of driving this evolution, I believe that the things we think are currently paramount will be

table stakes moving forward,” he says. “So, risk management? There’s a greater awareness of what that actually means. At the same time there’ll be a greater onus on procurement to drive not only financial value but a more collective, collaborative business value by identifying and enabling supplier solutions. And because we’re going to have less time on the transactional and tactical, we’ll be further leveraging key suppliers and looking for them to become true

partners to the business. Looking at that evolution, in some areas we’re already there but I think because of the increased demand on us and other businesses for transparency and greater expectation it’s going to accelerate. Think globally, act locally, is quickly turning into think and act globally for local and global betterment achieved through partnership. It’s not if it’s going to happen, it’s when. And I think 2030 is the tipping point.”

www.pfizer.com

“OUR AMBITION IS TO BE CARBON NEUTRAL BY 2030”

Entrepreneur Daniel Khachab

CEO AND CO-FOUNDER, CHOCO

Daniel Khachab estimates that as much as 40% of all food produced gets wasted. And this contributes to worsening global climate change. The German-Lebanese entrepreneur – passionate for deep-tech solutions and user-centric product management, co-founded Choco in 2018 to address this.

The company makes the food supply chain more transparent and sustainable through technology that digitises ordering workflows and communications between restaurants and suppliers. Perhaps surprisingly, a large proportion of the industry still works on pen and paper. For example, there are as many as nine parties between farmer and end point, says Khachab – or nine unconnected data silos that should exist on one single platform [enter, Choco].

He says: “We cut down rainforests to grow food we don’t need. There are about seven billion people. We have enough food for 10 billion, but we’re not capable of routing food efficiently through the system.”

www.choco.com

“THERE IS NO RETURN. IF YOU GET THE WRONG ITEM YOU THROW IT AWAY, IT’S PERISHABLE. IT’S NOT LIKE AMAZON”

DANIEL KHACHAB

AGENTS OF

Sulaiman Abdulla, Manager of Procurement & Contracts at TDRA, explains why procurement serves a purpose well beyond simply making cost efficiencies to improve an organisation’s bottom line

WORDS TOM WADLOW

OF CHANGE

I“have to be honest, from my experience not many people say procurement has been their ‘chosen’ career path, but I wouldn’t want to work in any other field. I like negotiating and collaborating with people, I enjoy having an overview of the organisation and seeing what is happening across all areas of a business.”

In the eyes of Sulaiman Abdulla, procurement is all about driving positive change. As a supply chain professional of 15 years, and as his opening statement alludes, Abdulla thrives on being set a challenge, his career journey to date being a continuous learning exercise that has brought him first-hand experiences of how multiple industries work in the real world.

They have spanned several industries, from telcos to real estate, and today Abdulla serves as Manager of Procurement & Contracts at TDRA, the UAE’s Telecommunications and Digital Government Regulatory Authority, responsible for regulating the telecommunications sector and enabling government entities in the field of smart transformation.

PROCESS, PEOPLE AND TECHNOLOGY

Indeed, learning the ropes of how industries function is critical to becoming an effective procurement leader and building a successful procurement team. “There are three things which successful procurement operations all have in common that I focus on,” he says, “process, people and technology. These must be underpinned by a clear strategy and excellence programme.”

Of the three components, Abdulla singles out people as arguably the most important focus area. “Yes, technology is a critical enabler of excellence in procurement, but it is meaningless if you do not have skilled people there to make use of it,” he continues. “It starts at the beginning, with hiring, and continues all the way through with focused training and development, making sure they are up to speed at all times.

“I DON’T CREATE STRATEGY. I CREATE CHANGE THAT DRIVES STRATEGY”

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“I myself must also be technologically aware,” Abdulla affirms. “It is the duty of a procurement leader to understand the basics of IT and what the requirements of the business are. Are we better off adopting a shared services model? What are the pros and cons of on-premise and cloud solutions? Should we be outsourcing? These are all vital questions that demand true understanding if they are to be answered appropriately. Technology has played an important role in the evolution of procurement from a centralised to decentralised or shared services model. It’s also helping automate non-value adding activities which, according to studies, is increasing by 12% every year.”

And here we reach the crux of how Abdulla views the procurement function within an organisation. No longer is it simply about purchasing and saving money, he states. Rather, it is about creating value in many different ways, a role which Abdulla refers to as an ‘agent of change’, people who make a difference by creating and implementing new ideas.

“I don’t create strategy,” he says, “I like to create change that drives strategy, It is about a whole range of value additions and being an innovative function,” Abdulla adds. “For example, supply chains are more transparent than ever, and so an organisation’s choice of supplier can have

“THERE ARE THREE THINGS WHICH SUCCESSFUL PROCUREMENT OPERATIONS ALL HAVE IN COMMON: PROCESS, PEOPLE AND TECHNOLOGY”

a great impact on brand reputation. From a security perspective, procurement plays an important role in partnering technology vendors whose solutions are secure and adhere to high standards of data privacy. Intellectual property and reducing risk are other examples of where procurement has a value-added role to play.

“As procurement professionals we need to understand the importance of the role

we play in protecting our organisation’s ‘brand’ by on-boarding the best qualified suppliers,” he notes. “It’s not only about quality and time anymore, but data protection and security detection. Many organisations have failed to deliver their objectives because of poor supplier security assurance quality, despite the fact that the supplier may be a giant player in the market. Quality and the people involved now make all the difference.”

MAKING A DIFFERENCE AT TDRA

Abdulla’s role at TDRA is framed around four key functions: contracts, procurement, inventory and supplier relationships. Several sub-elements fall within these four major pillars, which Abdulla firmly believes must interoperate and work in unison as opposed to as siloes. Only then, will true value be added to the organisation.

This belief has underpinned much of the activity the Manager of Procurement & Contracts has enacted during his tenure to date, which began back in 2015 and has been fuelled by a desire to drive continuous improvement from day one.

“One of the proudest things we have done at TDRA so far is invest in people and build up skills within procurement,” Abdulla says. “This has helped position procurement as a key advisor to the organisation, a function which is viewed as a strategic division which adds value and delivers what people want but in a better way. We have been able to close those silos and become innovative across not just procurement, but the whole ecosystem within TDRA and also our suppliers. Collaboration facilitates this.” Abdulla points to the ongoing digitisation of processes as a key example. Here, the procurement team has been influential in migrating TDRA away from paper-based ways of working to digital methods, something which has improved productivity and enhanced sustainability credentials.

“TECHNOLOGY IS A CRITICAL ENABLER OF EXCELLENCE IN PROCUREMENT, BUT IT IS MEANINGLESS IF YOU DO NOT HAVE SKILLED PEOPLE THERE TO MAKE USE OF IT”

“An ongoing priority is to enhance the customer journey, and that means expanding the automation scope beyond the procurement process and into the wider business processes,” Abdulla explains. “Before COVID, for example, we had we a traditional way of applying for a business card, which involved numerous application and validating processes, sourcing and designing, and so on.

“We presented an idea to TDRA’s internal stakeholders and management to eliminate all of these various components and create a smart business card that can provide a reliable quality and service that’s

available on a 24-hour basis through a digital platform. It is now a smarter, more secure and more sustainable process.”

To date, the work completed by Abdulla and his team has paid off. For example, TDRA has been recognised in several procurement-specific awards including Best Procurement and Best Sustainable Product/Process at the Best Business Awards and Best Response to Supplier Collaboration during COVID from CIPS Middle East. The latter was given in recognition of how the company deepend supplier relationships during the pandemic, thus helping to recover and strengthen its supply chains.

“IF I WAS TO OFFER ANY ADVICE TO PROCUREMENT PROFESSIONALS, IT WOULD BE TO FOCUS SUPPLIER RELATIONS ON TRUST AND COLLABORATION”

Abdulla believes that the digitalisation of procurement will continue in the future, driven by data-enabled procurement solutions and the drive to bring value to the business. “It’s always important to ask what’s expected from procurement in the digital and dataenabled world we exist in,” he says. “In my view, having a service provider mindset, a commitment to customers and a desire to improve the service levels is key. We live in a data-enabled procurement world, in which we are more connected than ever. With that in mind we have to be masters of our own data so that we can provide value.

“To be able to drive that value as procurement professionals, we need more expertise in digital categories and new skills and capabilities,” he adds. “All of us need to be familiar with things like cloud computing, big data, project management, risk mitigation – even the psychological awareness of understanding how to manage our stakeholders and suppliers. Knowledge of the procurement manual and the ability to raise a PO are no longer sufficient for procurement professionals, even for those just starting out in the profession.”

BUILT ON TRUST

The COVID pandemic highlights just how important procurement and supply chain functions are, not just in TDRA but worldwide.

The past 18 months has severely strained local and global supply networks and tested the strength of relations between the stakeholders that operate within them. For Abdulla, the period has demonstrated the importance of trust, particularly when it comes to managing successful supplier relationships.

“If I was to offer any advice to procurement professionals, it would be to focus supplier relations on trust and collaboration,” he continues. “You can have 50 pages of documentation and contracts, but it means nothing without trust between people. I view suppliers as business partners and people who can add value – they can bring new ideas that perhaps you and your own team may not have thought about. Trust is key to bringing those ideas into the open.”

Looking ahead, Abdulla wants to foster even more collaborative relations in order to stir innovation and entrench best procurement practice. His longerterm ambition is to set a benchmark with TDRA, a set of standards that other organisations can follow.

He affirms, bringing the conversation to a close: “We must set our own example by becoming even more agile and collaborative, using our partnerships to spread best practices and create a wider impact.”

www.tdra.gov.ae

s usta I na BI l I ty through I nnovat I on

It’s near impossible to measure carbon and other greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions across product value chains today. To say that’s worrying is an understatement. Particularly when it’s already widely recognised that current efforts to reduce emissions are insufficient to ensure the 1.5°C or even 2.0°C target of the Paris Agreement are met. But surprising? No. Not when you realise that companies are faced with a lack of accurate, granular and verified data, no consistent methodology for calculating emissions and the limited exchange of emissions data across their value chain. The stark fact is that, without significant action, targeted decarbonisation is out of the question.

For procurement and supply chain professionals that’s particularly concerning. After all, it’s estimated that some 80% of carbon emissions are created in the supply chain. Because of that, the weight of expectation on organisations – from customers, stakeholders, regulators and investors – is growing exponentially. The potential impact of finding a solution to measure the real carbon footprint across a supply or value chain and ensuring the effective and collaborative exchange of carbon data is immense. To not work to do so is tantamount to giving up a license to operate.

You can’t measure supply chain emissions without the effective and collaborative exchange of data. Blockchain may be the answer, say Gunther Walden and Kathrin Adam

INNOVATION AS A DRIVER

Technology and innovation is the answer. But it won’t happen without strong and effective leadership, a culture that’s focused on driving real change for real reasons and a shift in mindset across industries that’s centred around working together. “Supply chain transformation touches many departments within a company, so it needs a comprehensive strategy that has to come from the top,” says Gunther Walden, CEO and cofounder of CircularTree. “As to why there hasn’t been a greater focus from organisations and supply chain leaders to date, cost has certainly been an issue. But it’s also a very complex task that has been difficult to manage in the past, and I think companies were conscious of protecting their intellectual property with the increased transparency needed.

“Ultimately, sustainability has to become part of the DNA of every employee,” he says. “Fortunately, innovative new solutions now significantly reduce the complexity while ensuring the protection of critical company data. That makes it easier for companies to take care of their sustainability targets.”

Walden is a passionate and experienced supply chain professional with more than 25 years’ experience. He is also an innovator, serving on several startup advisory boards and, most importantly, passionate about driving responsibility for sustainability through the use of

technology across supply chains. CircularTree is, in some respects, the culmination of these various career strands. The business, set up two years ago, is dedicated to the development of blockchain technology that synchronises supply chain compliance management, making it simpler and safer for companies to tackle their responsibilities along the entire chain.

CircularTree believes that, with Blockchain technology, it is possible to eliminate existing supply chain challenges like lack of trust, transparency and traceability. A major stumbling block is that the existing method of establishing guidelines for the measuring of product carbon footprints is not

standardised. Little transparency across the supply chain means that, not only do participants not receive the data they need, but that carbon emissions are also measured on industry averages or other imprecise methods.

DATA IS KEY

This is where the company’s CarbonBlock comes in. The Blockchain-based solution provides the carbon footprint of parts and materials in a supply chain through smart contracts that digitally forward the CO2 emissions of components along the entire supply chain. It also sets reduction targets to assist companies in achieving carbonneutral products. “In a Blockchain system you maintain ownership over your data, and the data on the Blockchain is

immutable, which creates trust in the system,” Walden explains.

“That’s very important if you need to believe data in a supply chain which comes from suppliers you don’t even know,” he adds. “In CarbonBlock, we track real product carbon emission data through the supply chain to create transparency about the real carbon footprint and to enable companies to reduce the carbon footprint of their supply chain.”

Porsche-backed [the German manufacturer helped set up the project as a pilot together with its suppliers BASF and Motherson; it subsequently won the Innovation Award at innovation platform Startup Autobahn], and already

“Supply chain transformation touches many departments within a company, so it needs a comprehensive strategy that has to come from the top”

Gunther Walden, CEO, CircularTree

proven in the industry, CircularTree has been invited to use CarbonBlock to support the development of an open and interoperable environment to enable a fast ramp up of scope 3 emissions transparency as part of WBCSD’s Value Chain Carbon Transparency Pathfinder project. This initiative, a collective of like-minded companies and innovators, is dedicated to enabling the widespread exchange of carbon emissions data.

Data, says the project is crucial to tackling the emissions challenges across the supply chain. At present, disparity in the existing systems makes transparency and the sharing of information problematic. For example, standards and protocols are broad, leaving significant room for interpretation and requiring the collection of large volumes of data. At the same time data disclosure platforms and reporting standards are, at best, inconsistent. Through the use of technology like CarbonBlock, the Pathfinder project aims to move companies to a consistent and comparable calculation and reporting methodology for scope 3 emissions that uses a defined method; to introduce reporting based on verified primary data that is specific to products in the chain; and to simplify product footprint calculations based on the secure exchange of. The latter, it says, will improve the process and precision of lifecycle analysis – crucial for building in inherently more robust sustainability achievements.

The use of tools like CarbonBlock will enable the creation of accurate and defined data inputs across the entire value chain that, alongside sustainability, will bring a broad suite of benefits to those participants. Take the procurement and supply chain function as an example. The better use of data will provide transparency on supplier performance, will reduce risk and bring access to new supplier relationships. Other benefits include more targeted supplier decarbonisation, visibility over a potential new acquisition’s actions in the value chain thus informing potential investment decisions, improved insight for targeted and relevant innovation and R&D and greater employee engagement.

TRANSPARENCY, VISIBILITY AND DEVELOPMENT

But with greater visibility comes caution over shared information. Indeed, driving a technology like CarbonBlock across a value chain and focusing on networkwide sustainability requires trust and transparency, a mindset shift of the utmost importance. “The awareness of the need to collaborate with other supply chain participants has grown immensely in the last years,” says Kathrin Adam, CMO at CircularTree.

“The motivators for success are sustainability strategy goals, investor relations, image and marketing, cost reduction potential and political guidelines. Digital technology has changed the ability to achieve greater

transparency because, on the one hand, technical tools help to analyse data such as internal performance. On the other hand, communication between different companies becomes way more efficient due to the availability of real-time data.”

That data can help achieve one of the core goals of the Pathfinder project: the establishment of global standards, methods and technologies that are adopted by an interconnected network of organisations, value chain partners and suppliers. According to the project, an average large

FMCG company that adopts the tracking of real emissions based on verified primary and product level data can, in five to 10 years, avoid offsetting spend of 1-2% of revenue per annum, achieve top-line growth of 1-3% of revenue per annum and cost savings of €2-5mn per annum based on the more accurate and efficient emissions accounting and reporting.

Walden and Adam believe technology will play a crucial role. And while technology like CarbonBlock proves its worth, CircularTree is already considering

“The world is changing rapidly and companies need to react fast to new regulations in order to avoid the cost of non-compliance”

Gunther Walden, CEO, CircularTree

other areas of innovation including, in Walden’s case, greater automation. “At an industrial scale it’s impossible to manage hundreds or thousands of suppliers without proper automation,” he says. An acceptable level of workload and data quality can only be achieved with automated workflows. IoT and machine learning are crucial to that. Many tasks that are currently being completed manually can be done so with IoT in the future, which allows better granularity and therefore increases data quality while also reducing manual work.”

“As compliance problems are getting stricter and more complicated to integrate into any business process, the key to success is to use them as a trigger for growth,” says Adam. “The world is changing rapidly and companies need to react fast to new regulations in order to avoid the cost of non-compliance.” The time for that reaction, it seems, is now.

www.circulartree.com

Gunther Walden

Kathrin Adam

success I n advers I ty

MAHMOUD SALEM ALALAWI d I scusses how cov I d has proved to B e a catalyst for change I n the ongo I ng procurement transformat I on he spearheads at hct

WORDS

TOM WADLOW

If you ask a seasoned procurement professional whether they were destined to follow a career path in their profession, there is every chance they may say no.

Upon his graduation in 2004, Mahmoud Salem Alalawi was plotting how to make the most out of his degree in e-commerce, obtained from the UAE’s Higher Colleges of Technology (HCT). Little did he anticipate that he would be returning to his alma mater as Director of Procurement and Contracts 14 years later.

“I am certainly one of those who joined procurement by accident,” he muses. “To tell you the truth, I barely knew what it was back in my early working days. But I immediately grew to like it – the perspective you gain on people and businesses has opened my eyes, and the daily challenges you encounter keep you on your toes.”

Alalawi’s tenure at Abu Dhabi Vocational Education and Training Institute (ADVETI) bestowed upon him seven years’ experience in building procurement teams, policies and procedures, in turn presenting HCT with the ideal candidate to transform its own procurement operations.

“In 2018 I was ready and looking forward to a new challenge, but had no idea it would come from the organisation I graduated from,” Alalawi adds. “HCT is the largest applied higher educational institution in the UAE, and possibly the region, with 16 campuses and around 23,000 students to cater for.”

The Director of Procurement and Contracts is also, quite literally, learning on the job. As well as overseeing the procurement activities at HCT, he is engaged in a Doctoral of Business Administration which will hone his knowledge of this field even further.

Indeed, considering the professional traits of a strong procurement leader, knowledge is one of the first qualities Alalawi highlights, adding that it should be backed up by an unwavering commitment to the task at hand.

“Procurement is also about making difficult choices in order to add value and make life easier for other people in the organisation,” Alalawi explains. “Added to that, we must spur innovation and earn respect by communicating a clear vision – that way people will believe in what we are doing.”

MAHMOUD SALEM ALALAWI

“ we would l I ke to B e a model e X ample for other governmental organ I sat I ons I n the uae to follow ”

SETTING THE FOUNDATIONS

Upon starting at HCT in 2018, Alalawi immediately set about creating a formalised structure that could deliver results. This involved investing in the people and skills required, ranging from technological capabilities, through to softer skills, such as customer service and problem solving.

The next step saw the creation and implementation of a series of policy frameworks within which the procurement function of HCT would operate; a key priority being to successfully align this with governmental standards. Alalawi also wanted to instil a greater degree of urgency in dealing with suppliers. For instance, the length of tender processes has been reduced from a typical

window of around 150 days to 66-90 days, while payments have been accelerated to a typical timeframe of 15-30 days as opposed to 45-60 days.

Ramping up internal, cross-departmental relationships is another priority. “We soon realised that in order to standardise processes most effectively, we needed input from all stakeholders within the organisation,” Alalawi says. “Regular department feedback sessions are held and we make sure we engage with each stakeholder at every stage of the tender process.

“It is an ongoing process, and something we are enhancing all the time through numerous collaboration-centric initiatives,” he adds.

AMILAB delivers unmatched quality and value to our clients with an extensive selection of educational furniture for schools and institutes of higher studies

Abu Dhabi Medical Industries (AMI) is one of the leading manufacturers of Healthcare, Laboratory, and Educational Furniture in the UAE.

AMI is conveniently located in the Mussafah Industrial City in Abu Dhabi which has become one of the most important industrial and investment centers of the UAE. Our unique location offers closeness to the heart of Abu Dhabi city as well as to air and sea ports.

THE COVID-19 CATALYST

Such collaboration and communication initiatives are gathering pace, despite the severe disruptions experienced over the past 18 months as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.

As the virus spread around the world in the early part of 2020, Alalawi and his procurement team were faced with a daunting prospect – they had to move to a completely remote working model in the space of one week.

“We were not ready,” he concedes. “However, rather than panic, we were determined to make the most out of the challenge put in front of us. Ultimately, the pandemic has actually led to a lot of positive changes.

“The team rose to the challenge and was ready to move forward inside a week. A lot was moved online in a very short time and we had to react to other challenges, such as receiving product samples, in a way that was safe. Once we ensured

everyone was set up and comfortable working from home, the motivation was there to accelerate our automation and digitisation efforts into something that was more long term.”

Indeed, HCT turned to a cloud-based software which provided it with a cloud-based e-sourcing system that was set up inside three months; one of a series of key digitisation activities that have delivered numerous benefits to procurement operations.

“I no longer have to deal with bundles of paper on my desk,” Alalawi adds.

“ the perspect I ve you ga I n on people and B us I nesses has opened my eyes , and the da I ly challenges you encounter keep you on your toes ”

“Because we are now fully digital, I can do everything from my computer and smartphone, which has made a huge difference in terms of work efficiency.

“We’re also the first government entity to fully automate Procurement Committee meetings and activities, through a dedicated digital decision-making dashboard.”

Crucially, Alalawi and his team now have more time to spend with suppliers, which are treated as valuable partners of HCT. They are also beneficiaries of the digitised processes, with applications and submissions now made seamlessly and engagement more transparent, thanks to easy access to important data. This has helped navigate some of the

“ we ’ re the f I rst government ent I ty to fully automate procurement comm I ttee meet I ngs and act I v I t I es through a ded I cated d I g I tal dec I s I on - mak I ng dash B oard ”

disruptions caused by the pandemic, resulting in HCT being able to assist its partners with business continuity plans and support them with accelerating payments for ease of cash flows.

The institution’s pandemic response did not go unnoticed, either. In 2020, it was recognised by CIPS for its efforts to ensure supply chain continuity. The global procurement and supply body presented it

with an award for providing the Best Response to Supply Resilience in a Crisis in the Middle East and North Africa region.

ROLE MODEL

Such an accolade stands HCT and its procurement department in good stead as it continues to develop and face other inevitable hurdles along its journey. For Alalawi, three major priorities will define the next chapter of his tenure.

“The first is technology and deepening our automation capabilities,” he says. “We have learned a lot during the pandemic, and we feel there is great scope to build out the ERP into more functions. Second, and most important, is developing our people and safeguarding their wellbeing. Last is a focus on sustainability and business continuity – how do we become a sustainable procurement operation that is fit for the long-term?”

There are several elements to the latter priority, starting with environmental sustainability. Here, HCT is in the process of applying for ISO certification, which is seen as the universal standard in demonstrating environmental credentials.

Other critical aspects to sustainability include financial viability and ethics, to which the institution is already certified by CIPS ‘Corporate Ethical Procurement and Supply Certificate and Kitemark’ for its ethical approach to procurement practices.

This ties into Alalawi’s ultimate ambition, which is to present HCT as a beacon of procurement standards. “We would like to be a model example for other governmental organisations in the UAE to follow,” he concludes.

www.hct.ac.ae

transport I ng the world

It seems like every tech innovation is given the title ‘Uber of [insert industry here]’, nowadays. So much so, it’s hard to take the moniker seriously.

But bear with us on Convoy [or, according to some, the Uber of trucking]. The machine learning and sustainability-driven digital freight network business, founded by former Amazon execs Dan Lewis and Grant Goodale is taking on the global trucking and shipping industry. That industry, say its founders, sees 35% of miles travelled with empty trucks, which equates to 22 million metric tons of CO2 equivalent emissions.

Convoy uses tech to get around that problem, upending the traditional broker-reliant model by automating load matching and allowing carriers to see all available freight at any given time, both shrinking empty miles for trucks and wasted hours for drivers. The company has joined Amazon’s The Climate Pledge and, to date, has saved close to three million lbs of total carbon emissions.

Disruptor

O C K H

Made up of 14 islands and known as ‘the Venice of the North’, Stockholm – ‘the world’s smallest big city’ –is famed for its contemporary, urban appeal balanced with centuries-old history and closeness to nature. Innovation has always been part of the city’s heritage: the first Nobel Prize was held here in 1901. Today, it’s a startup mecca known for breeding unicorns – after Silicon Valley, it hosts more tech unicorns per capita than anywhere else in the world including Spotify, Minecraft (Mojang Studios), Skype, Klarna, iZettle or King (makers of Candy Crush) to name a few. It’s the perfect place to be inspired, soak up some startup magic and be influenced by the music, fashion, architecture and beautiful surroundings.

WORDS JENNY AHNELL

If you are an entrepreneur or start-up, especially with a social impact purpose then Norrsken is the incubator, co-working hub you want to hang out at. Set up by the founders of Klarna, the Swedish fintech unicorn that has revolutionised how we pay for our online shopping, Norrsken is both an inspirational co-working space and a VC Fund for companies that set out to radically change the world. Work from its lobby/café to soak up the atmosphere, book a meeting room or host your company’s Stockholm event there. I’d also recommend checking out its event calendar; it’s open fireside chats or keynotes by members, founders or partners are always interesting and enlightening.

The newest star on the growing coworking scene in Stockholm is LAMB – the antiburnout space. LAMB opened this June and offers a stylish, calm, city center location for work, play and wellbeing. Apart from coworking and meeting rooms, it also has a gym, meditation/power nap rooms, infrared sauna, healing treatments and

a number of wellbeing classes that will help you get that sought after work-life balance. I just became a member and love their vibe. If you’re just visiting, it also offers day passes via its website.

If you just need to find an easy spot for some quick hours of work between meetings then Swedish hotel chain Scandic has opened all its city hotels for lobby coworking. My favourite is Downtown Camper where many of Stockholm’s hip tech professionals can be seen with a coffee and a laptop.

LAMB

SCANDIC

DOWNTOWN CAMPER STAY

I have to confess to not being a regular hotel visitor in Stockholm as I have my own place very near the city center yet with both nature and water at my doorstep. However, there is one place that has been on everyone’s lips since it opened last summer – Ellery Beach House. This 60’s/70’s inspired hotel sits on the tip of Lidingö, the beautiful island I live on. It is just 20 minutes by cab from the city center but offers an archipelago experience with sea, beaches, pool, cabanas, Padel, music, design and art. Who needs the city when you can unwind after your day of meetings at its beach club (in- and outdoor), cocktail in hand whilst the DJ spins the tunes! I would highly recommend extending your stay over the weekend to schmooze with the Stockholm it-crowd at their favourite staycation spot.

If sea and nature is not your thing then freshly opened Villa Dagmar is Stockholm’s newest boutique hotel in the chic and exclusive Östermalm area. My Instagram has been flooded with pictures from its breakfast and brunch of late and the rooms don’t seem too shabby either. Definitely

a place to be seen or have meetings over lunch or drinks.

If you’re an urban sporty type I would suggest you stay at Downton Camper –‘the perfect place for the intrepid urban explorer’. Right in the middle of the town, it offers daily activities like yoga, expeditions, a run club, kayaks, bikes and skateboards to rent, and a rooftop pool/spa to relax your muscles after. It is just a really cool lifestyle hotel near to Arlanda Express (airport train), city shopping and restaurants a plenty.

ELLERY BEACH HOUSE

VILLA DAGMAR

EAT / DRINK

The coolest, weirdest food experience you can have in Stockholm in my opinion is undoubtedly at Punk Royale . Here you get a dining adventure of delectable flavours, surroundings that play with your senses and a serving style you have never experienced. Better suited for small groups than an intimate dinner for two I’d say. Situated in trendy Södermalm you’ll have plenty of bars nearby for a nightcap.

If you are sweet talking investors or future business partners you will impress them if you get a table at 3 Michelin starred Restaurant Frantzén. You’ll have a once in a lifetime food sensation with its fixed menu and accompanying world class wines/beverages. Or so I’ve been told –I’m still trying to get a table... To secure a seat you need to think ahead. Tables for the upcoming months are released 10am local time on the first of each month and from experience I know they get snapped up fast.

My favourite place to eat? Copine by chef duo Jim & Jacob. I love their smaller serving menu of deliciousness, great to share or to indulge yourself. The kitchen is French with influences from all over the Mediterranean, and its wine list is both surprising and tasteful. I keep coming back for more. It doesn’t hurt that the service is great too.

If I’m in the mood for wine as my main meal

I head to either one of these wine bars, Tyge & Sessil in chic Östermalm or Vina in hip Södermalm, depending on what kind of vibe I want.

RESTAURANT FRANTZÉN

VINA

JENNY AHNELL

Jenny is a keen outdoors buff with a passion for mountains, water and nature, and throwing herself at snowboarding, skiing, surfing, kayaking, hiking and anything else. She also enjoys fashion, contemporary art, food and wine. Born in Stockholm, Jenny’s career began in action sports then moved into more conventional sports working within the UK, European and US markets at brands like etnies and Nike, ending up consulting for companies like Spotify after returning to Stockholm. Today, she is a brand management/strategy consultant at Mojang Studios, the creator of Minecraft. In 2020 Jenny drove the company’s rebranding as part of the brand team, today she works on developing its employer brand and social impact efforts.

TYGE

LEISURE

The most vibrant area of Stockholm when it comes to hip shopping, bars, neighborhood bistros and restaurants is Södermalm, which is one of the largest Stockholm islands. Make your way to the Sofo area and just go for a stroll to soak up the energy, stopping for a coffee here or a cocktail there. Some places worthy of mentioning are the world-renowned sneaker store, Sneakersnstuff , or ACNE and Grandpa for shopping, or Morfar Ginko, Nytorget Urban Deli and Folkbaren if you’re looking for a bar. The area is flooded with cool places to spend any downtime you might have.

Great for a late-night culture experience is Fotografiska – Stockholm’s famous photo museum. I’m in love with everything about this place and frequently visit as a yearly pass holder. It’s beautifully placed by the water, hosting great exhibitions, a photo gallery shop and a great restaurant /bar with an amazing view.

For a quick fix to recharge your batteries Stockholm is full of parks where you can catch your breath. In fact, it is a very green city with nature closer than you think. Take a stroll or rent a bike in the gorgeous Djurgården Royal Park , a large nature

SNEAKERSNSTUFF MORFAR GINKO

FOLKBAREN

DJURGÅRDEN ROYAL PARK

reserve/park/recreational area filled with museums that’s only a 5-10 minute walk from the city center. The beauty of this city, with nature and water all around, never ceases to amaze me.

Oh, if you, like everyone else in Stockholm, have caught the Padel bug then I’m convinced there are more padel courts here than supermarkets!! If you’re done relaxing, there’s plenty of social media groups for you to find a game or links to book a court.

NYTORGET URBAN DELI

AND THE REVOLUTION, SOFO

glo B al events calender

GLOBAL PROCUREMENT CONFERENCE

7-9 JULY – Virtual Event

The goal of the Global Procurement Conference is to raise awareness for the planetary implications of joint decisions regarding what is purchased, how and for whom in the public domain.

> VISIT WEBSITE

DIGITAL PROCUREMENT WORLD

15 - 16 SEPTEMBER

Virtual Event

The tech event where the world’s biggest brands in procurement showcase cuttingedge innovations that will pave the way for the future of procurement.

> VISIT WEBSITE

EWORLD PROCUREMENT & SUPPLY

28 SEPTEMBER

London

eWorld provides a unique insight into the latest innovations and technologies for senior procurement, supply chain and finance executives.

> VISIT WEBSITE

SCTECH

04-07 OCTOBER

Central Europe – Virtual Event

A global event connecting supply chain professionals and practitioners with leading technology decision makers.

> VISIT WEBSITE

WORLD PROCUREMENT CONGRESS

13-14 OCTOBER

Virtual Event

A virtual meeting place for CPOs, digital leaders and supply chain professionals to discuss the future of procurement.

> VISIT WEBSITE

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