Mandatory enforcement of human rights, environmental due diligence and even data privacy are a few examples of the regulatory challenges procurement faces in managing complex global supply networks.

I could also talk about the negative impact that a failure to address these regulatory conditions can have on an organization's brand as a company and employer. Of course, it's not exactly a revelation that negative press regarding regulatory violations will certainly impact your image with the public, e.g., your customers. However, did you realize that in a highly competitive job market, "58% of candidates surveyed said they consider a company's social and environmental commitments when deciding where to work." This mindset isn't just a checkbox sentiment: "55% said they would choose to work for a socially responsible company, even if the salary was less."

While employee attraction and retention are not often discussed in the same breath as ESG regulatory compliance – at least not enough, it is yet another indication of the expanded importance and impact of getting ESG right. In other words, people are taking this seriously.

Learning How To Get It Right

Given ESG's recognized importance, I will be part of the panel discussion on preparing For Ever-Changing Supply Chain Regulations at the upcoming SIG Procurement Technology Summit.

We will specifically get into the critical aspects of identifying and managing compliance risks in your supply network, focusing on the following four Learning Objectives:

“The path to gender equality does not involve stickers pointing out that a product has been made by a female entrepreneur. Women are not a charity group. If we want to help women in business, let’s close the pay gap and remove the glass ceiling – and then let products designed by women rise or fall on their own merits, by the realities of business.” – Diana Sz

The above quote is an excerpt from an article I read regarding Walmart’s “commitment to source $20 billion of goods by 2016 from women-owned businesses in the U.S.”

The program or initiative, launched with much fanfare in 2011, achieved the $20 billion objective within the expected five-year period. One would think that this would be a cause for celebrating the progressive practices on the part of corporate procurement departments.

Facilitated by the inclusion of product labels informing the consumer that a woman owns the company behind the product they are buying, Pamela Prince-Eason was a champion of the Walmart initiative. The Women’s Business Enterprise National Council CEO, Prince-Eason, believed that the “new labeling will give people a reason to feel good about the company they’re buying from.”

In short, it was a noble plan to achieve meaningful results for everyone to feel good. I know you are waiting for the other shoe to drop in the form of a but – and there is a but,

The Bigger Picture

Don’t get me wrong when I say things like a drop in the bucket regarding the achievement of the $20 billion goal. Such a lofty amount isn’t exactly pocket change.

At the heart of that urgency is assessing and then mobilizing your procurement team’s digital capabilities throughout the extended organization.

How do you mobilize your procurement team’s digital capabilities?

With this third article from the 2022 SIG Procurement Technology Summit Keynote Series, I will share with you the "key insights" from Chris Kee (VP, Sourcing and Procurement at Northwestern Mutual) and Colin Frazier (VP – Solutions at ZIP) keynote on creating the right digital experience.  

To better understand what creating the right digital experience around your team's procurement process involves, you must first understand your organization’s procurement workflow.

What Is The “Procurement Workflow?”

When asked, "what does the term procurement workflow really mean to you,” Northwestern’s Kee indicated that it does more than encompass the process for supplier onboarding. Kee believes the workflow process involves all critical end-to-end touchpoints, including reviews and signoffs. It also provides total stakeholder transparency to address company risk and privacy, legal, and data security requirements.

Furthermore, procurement professionals can't only be involved in the transactional process, which has traditionally been the case. Beyond managing the process from start to finish, procurement professionals also need to be capturing stakeholder engagement feedback to best manage the supplier relationship post-contract.

In what will be the first of several articles on the 2022 SIG Procurement Technology Summit Keynote Series, I will share with you the insights from each session, starting with today's post on my discussion with Shashank Saxena, General Manager for VNDLY - A Workday Company.

In the session - aptly titled "Closing The Digital Acceleration Gap In Procurement," Shashank and I talk about the disruptive approaches and new innovations that will reshape how procurement leaders can satisfy their most pressing strategic imperatives.

A little background information is in order before getting into the above specifics.

The New Digital Imperative

"Everyone wants to do digital transformation – think of all the board level priorities you have this is probably the most and biggest."

The above words by Shashank resonated with me on many levels.

They are a reminder of how far we have come over the past few years and how we still have a way to go before we achieve or realize the full potential of the digital promise.

What do I mean when I say "the full potential" of the digital promise?

A December 2019 Forbes article reported that "70% of companies either have a digital transformation strategy in place or are working on one." However, recognizing the importance of having a digital strategy is not the same as realizing the anticipated return as "only 7% of companies have fully implemented their digital transformations." As you can see, there is a notable difference between having a strategy and the ability to implement it successfully, and it is quite a gap to bridge.

Kristen Jordeth is the Director of Procurement Product Strategy at SAP. At SIG's Fall Global Executive Summit, Kristen will highlight how the ability to survive future disruptions will be dependent on a companies ability to manage and respond to real-time risk information about third parties transacting with the business.

What is your role and what are your day-to-day responsibilities?

I am the Director of Procurement Product Strategy focusing on future innovations within Supplier Management and the SAP Business Network.  My day-to-day responsibilities are to ensure our solutions are addressing the future needs of our customers.

What does Procurement 3.0 mean to you?

Procurement 3.0 means to make the day-to-day procurement process more efficient, transparent and streamlined.  Removing tactical procurement that is traditionally done in a spreadsheet or via lots of paperwork and replacing it with technology. 

How have you and your team innovated through Procurement’s new “seat at the table”?

Procurement’s new “seat at the table” has validated the need for intelligent enterprise solutions.  With Procurement now involved in executive planning, it is important for the procurement processes to connect to all other business processes.  At Sapphire this year we announced the SAP Business Network which brings together our SAP Ariba Network, SAP Logistics Network and SAP Asset Network together to expand transparency and enable stronger collaboration.