ECO-FRIENDLY
INTERIOR DESIGN FIRM
AN EXTERIOR TO REFLECT INTERIOR VALUES
A procurement manager at a leading global FMCG company with a strong focus on sustainability needed to find an eco-friendly interior design firm to ensure that their spaces aligned with their corporate goal of maintaining a sustainable and innovative environment.
It had been weeks now with no re sults.
This was turning out t o be mission impossible – kind of like asking Tom Cruise not to do his own stunts. When she’d first been given the task of finding an interior design firm, the procurement manager thought it would be a breeze - there are more interior design firms out there than you can shake a stick at, right?
The problem was that she wasn’t looking for just any interior design firm. Her organization was incredibly proud of its dedication to sustainability, so she needed to find a company that used sustainable materials, energy-efficient systems, and designs that reduce environmental impact.
On top of that, as a company that invests heavily in innovation, her organization was keen to create environments that inspire creativity and collaboration among teams, so the design firm would have to craft spaces that foster such an innovative culture.
If she managed to find the proverbial needle in a haystack, the design firm could also help her company achieve LEED
( Leadership in Energy and Environmental Desi gn) certification – something that was rapidly becoming a top priority.
She had already exhausted all of her tried and trusted methods. She’d spent weeks going through Google search results, and ChatGPT had just returned some generic information about interior design. She might consider “Celestial Sapphire” for her own apartment, but it wasn’t particularly helpful in this search. (Thanks, ChatGPT…) The internal supplier databases only contained the same tired interior design firms they’d worked with before - and they were part of the mold they were trying to break out of.
She was quickly realizing that finding firms that prioritize eco-friendly materials, energy efficiency, and sustainable design was extremely challenging, especially on a global scale. Also, interior design companies that have experience of working with large, mission-driven corporations were rare, and it was crucial for her organization to find a firm that understands and can reflect its corporate culture, values, and diversity goals in their designs.
Her network had also come up empty handed but one colleague had mentioned in passing that the company was trialing a new supplier discovery solution – Scoutbee Discovery. With her options dwindling, she had no choice but to try it out.
She opened up the program and was relieved to see that the form looked relatively simple. She entered her search criteria – design firms, global, sustainable, and the certifications the new suppliers would need to have. She also entered the interior design firms her company had already worked with so that Scoutbee Discovery could filter those out of the search results - a very useful feature.
And search!
Discovery informed her that it would return a list of suppliers that matched her criteria within a day or two .
She hoped and prayed it would deliver…
To her astonishment, the next morning she received a notification that Discovery had found 29 suppliers that matched her search criteria. 29 - this was beyond her wildest dreams! Upon examining the results more closely, she saw that the design firms were ranked in order of relevance, their profiles enriched with information on revenue, employees, and certifications.
After a meeting with her team – one meeting; normally they needed at least a dozen – they decided to invite 15 of the design firms for an RFI.
And, with that, the day was saved. Thanks to Scoutbee Discovery, her organization had significantly expanded its supply base of interior design firms that had experience of working with global corporations – and, most importantly, that shared their values of sustainability and innovation. With her main challenge out of the way, she could now focus on finding some “Celestial Sapphire” paint for her own pad…
If you’re looking for a way to innovate in your supplier sourcing, get in touch with us today to see how we can help.
