Procurement leader on digital transformation: ‘Nothing can be left for human error. We have to have automation all the time’ – Spend Matters

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The AP automation specialist Tipalti recently held a one-hour webinar to share some best practices for implementing a technology-empowered procurement process, and the real-life examples and insights were grounded in straightforward terms even though technology can be seen as scary or too complicated.

Spend Matters Global Head of Client Services Jenny Draper talked with Tipaltis GM of Procurement, Bar Winkler, and with webinar panelist Tomer Gamlielle-Druyan, VP of Global Supply Management for Cybereason, an end-to-end cybersecurity solution.

As a senior leader who oversees Cybereason's procurement, facility, travel and vendor compliance functions, Tomer and his team carry a broader mission and loftier goals to support the whole business including adopting technology to modernize procurement. As such, Tomer said his company changed the name of its procurement function to Global Supply Management to align with the elevated mission.

He said the companys hyper-growth going from 590 employees to about 1,500 in less than two years resulted from its focus on technology and being more efficient. A plan to go public also meant the company needed to ensure it had the proper compliance capabilities, internal controls and automated processes in place.

Nothing can be left for human error, Tomer said. We have to have automation all the time. Automation works.

Later in the webinar, an attendee asked a question that cut to the heart of the matter: How does technology prevent common mistakes attributed to procurement?

Tipaltis GM of Procurement, Bar, had the answers because he has spent the last few years building procurement technology and has spoken with hundreds of procurement executives and professionals on this subject.

To procurement pros, his list of problems will sound familiar problems like hunting down old information for a PO, late involvement in business decisions so procurement teams feel like a rubber stamp, no visibility into spend, and slow onboarding or complex processes that upset other departments across the company.

The systems in place can alert you, he said of the technology that can prevent problems, analyze spend or smooth out repetitive daily tasks.

And that struck a chord with the host.

That is the role of technology to get rid of those problems, Jenny said.

Jenny used her experience with Freemarkets (pre-Ariba acquisition), lessons from running other businesses, and her insights from the vendor and solution research at Spend Matters to curate and share 18 trends in digital procurement.

The first nine trends (above) reflect the developments related to strategy, but No. 12 on her second slide in the webinar lists a tactical, long-term problem that technology is finally addressing and thats getting control of tail-spend management. (With greater visibility into tail spend and better payment options, you could control more of the nearly 30% of spend that isnt managed. As Spend Matters analysts have pointed out, if you could cut 30% of your spend by 30%, that's a 9% cost reduction that could go straight to the bottom line.)

Tail-spend management is NOT the sexy thing, is it? Jenny said. Remember that sourcing was all hype and sexy and doing reverse auctions and so on. People didnt want to talk about tail spend because it was low value and its administration. But its become uncontrollable for some organizations so (technology) is really getting ahold of that.

Spend Matters also partners with Deloitte on its procurement-focused research that comes out every two years, and in 2021, the Global CPO Survey of more than 400 procurement professionals showed that the top concern wasnt cost-cutting, which procurement is known for.

The biggest focus for CPOs was driving operational efficiency, which the webinar panel discussed in detail.

The panelists also addressed a range of other issues, like the steps to take to switch to a technology footing and how to ensure that new processes and technology serve the people using them. But the discussion also focused on why technology is needed and how businesses decide to do digital transformations.

Our management had a learning curve, said Tomer, of Cybereason. When they thought about procurement, they thought about procurement in the old days.

He said they hired him to make a change, so he asked for three things.

I need the support, I need the funds and I need the systems, Tomer said, noting that he got good technology and hired proper procurement experts to use it. Im happy to report that the entire company sees the advantage and the added value.

With a big-picture perspective of how companies are seeking growth with the aid of technology, Jenny said I think a lot of (companies) are at this tipping point in making that investment and how they can sell that to the board.

Bar said the need for digital transformation commonly results when companies seek a funding round, are going public or are making leadership changes to spur growth, like adding offices or going international. Each of these comes with the expectation to show investors, regulators or the open market that your company has the proper controls and systems to meet the challenge.

Often, Bar said, the pressure to make a technology-based change comes from a new senior person who is hired. He noted that when the new leader sees that the companys current setup will not scale and that they have to automate to grow, the leader will have to say to management Whoa if you want me to take responsibility over this huge budget and very fast-growing budget then I need tools and systems in place. Otherwise, its going to break.

Bar said that before this person comes in, its very hard for people to make this kind of statement, its hard for them to get the support to change core workflows in an organization.

Go beyond the highlights mentioned here and listen to the full Tipalti webinar to get all of the slides, insights and expertise to help build a technology-driven procurement process.

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Procurement leader on digital transformation: 'Nothing can be left for human error. We have to have automation all the time' - Spend Matters