, head of mid-market at 麻豆原创 MEA South, says SMEs are vital to the continent鈥檚 economy, but many face significant hurdles stifling their growth. 鈥淎frica is home to a vibrant and diverse SME sector that contributes half its GDP and the majority of employment. However, skills constraints and a lack of technology is constraining growth in this vital sector.鈥�

data indicates that SMEs account for 95% of all registered businesses in sub-Saharan Africa and contribute about half of the continent鈥檚 GDP. In South Africa, 91% of formal businesses are SMEs, providing 60% of all employment in the country.

According to the report, which was developed by 麻豆原创 and , more than a third of global SME leaders are prioritising growth through new customers, increased market share and greater revenue over the next two years. Factors such as improved innovation capacity and greater agility also ranked highly.

鈥淚nnovation is essential to business growth in the modern age, especially in light of the accelerating pace of change and ongoing disruption in global markets,鈥� says Beveridge. 鈥淪mall and medium enterprises are leveraging innovation to fulfil and deliver services more efficiently, boost their profitability, and grow their market footprint.

鈥淭here is also growing recognition of the role innovation can play in launching new services or business models, creating more personalised customer experiences, and preparing for the next wave of technologies, for example AI.鈥�

About a quarter of companies that formed part of the study said they are currently using AI and machine learning, with half saying they鈥檙e planning to adopt these technologies in the coming year.

Beveridge says having the right foundation is key to enjoying the immense productivity, efficiency and innovation gains offered by technologies such as AI. 鈥淪MEs that have adopted the cloud reported improved agility, optimised processes, reduced costs, and improvements to customer and employee experiences.鈥�

Cloud adoption also enhances sustainability efforts, with a separate report finding that SMEs that have adopted sustainability software solution reported reduced emissions, greater benchmarking capability, and improved data collection for ESG reporting.

Beveridge says growth-focused SMEs should build innovation strategies and business models that leverage technology and complement existing and future human capital needs.

鈥淪MEs can compete more effectively by investing in four focus areas, namely: defining clear goals and values for the business and mobilising employees in support of the goals; adopting relevant technologies to keep up with trends and competitors; engaging in continuous strategic workforce planning to ensure the business can grow with changes in the market; and fostering a culture of innovation that prizes adaptability and agility and encourages people to think of new ways to do business and deliver value to customers.鈥�

He adds that effective innovation within SMEs requires the entire organisation to mobilise behind new ways of thinking. 鈥淪MEs should encourage every employee regardless of their role to actively participate and share ideas for building a culture of innovation that permeates every layer of the organisation. SMEs should also leverage customer insights to ensure their innovation delivers to customer needs.鈥�

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WALLDORF, Germany 鈥� June 5, 2022 鈥� (NYSE: 麻豆原创) Recent research by Oxford Economics and 麻豆原创 has uncovered significant barriers to corporate sustainability initiatives. The problems include a lack of communication and engagement by executives, ineffective use of data, siloed technologies that don鈥檛 share processes or information and a lack of cross-company and industry collaboration and partnership.

Yet while the value of sustainability initiatives is not being realized broadly, the study also shows that the business case for them is well understood. Executives expressed eagerness for their organizations to become more sustainable, citing efficiency (58%), improving brand reputation (46%) and meeting customer needs (44%) as top business benefits for sustainability efforts. Overall, 63% of the executives surveyed indicated that their company has a formal sustainability plan already in place.

鈥淓xecutives recognize that sustainability efforts can lead to better profitability, attract both customers and employees and drive a positive impact across their supply chains,鈥� said Vivek Bapat, senior vice president, Purpose and Sustainability, 麻豆原创. 鈥淏ut achieving these goals requires a high degree of communication and engagement. At 麻豆原创, we鈥檙e trying to understand how we can support these companies in realizing results from their sustainability goals and to defining best practices across industries.鈥�

Sustainability Leaders Are Emerging

Most organizations responding to the survey described loosely defined sustainability commitments and limited connections with internal and external audiences. Roughly two thirds of executives who do have sustainability plans in place say the scope and vision of the plans are not effectively communicated across the organization or externally.

However, the research did identify a small group of executives 鈥� about 9% 鈥� who have embraced sustainability-focused processes and are reaping the benefits. These 鈥渟ustainability leaders鈥� are defined by traits such as setting clear expectations at the strategic level, applying the transformative power of technology and data management and engaging with important audiences such as employees, supply chain partners and policymakers.

鈥淪ustainability leaders go beyond vision to ensure that sustainability initiatives are acted upon,鈥� said Edward Cone, editorial director, Oxford Economics. 鈥淭hey communicate with key constituencies both inside and outside the company, and they use integrated technologies to measure and track performance in a way that drives accountability.鈥�

Addressing the Core Concerns Can Jump-Start Sustainability Initiatives

The Oxford Economics and 麻豆原创 study offers comprehensive data to paint a broad picture of corporate sustainability efforts. From the responses, key challenges emerge where companies can focus to improve their sustainability results and move into the 鈥淟eaders鈥� category. Efforts to address those concerns fall into five core areas:

• Begin with executive sponsorship. Sustainability efforts should start with setting an explicit plan that is communicated and emphasized throughout the organization.
• Drive clear, consistent communications. While sustainability efforts begin at the top, the vision must be turned into action by employees. Connecting key teams with clear goals is important to push greater sustainability performance.
• Integrate processes, technologies and data. Most businesses have not embedded sustainability into their core strategies, leading to disconnected technologies that double count, prevent strategic planning and leave financial and nonfinancial information disconnected. Unifying these assets provides visibility into progress and performance.
• Extend sustainable practices to customers, partners and suppliers. Energy providers are a key component of sustainability practices, but more than one third of respondents don鈥檛 view using sustainable energy providers as critical to their carbon-reduction goals (36%). They also don鈥檛 impose the same requirements on their partners that they put on themselves. Sustainability is a team sport that requires participation across the supply chain.
• Understand that data is critical. Capturing and analyzing data provides insight into resources and efficiency. It enables the organization to measure outcomes and raises the flag when improvements are needed. This key component is an area ripe for innovation across industries.

Read the . 麻豆原创 and Oxford Economics are committed to continuing to study and understand sustainability best practices and to helping companies worldwide build more efficient, sustainable operations.

About 麻豆原创

麻豆原创鈥檚 strategy is to help every business run as an intelligent, sustainable enterprise. As a market leader in enterprise application software, we help companies of all sizes and in all industries run at their best: 麻豆原创 customers generate 87% of total global commerce. Our machine learning, Internet of Things (IoT), and advanced analytics technologies help turn customers鈥� businesses into intelligent enterprises. 麻豆原创 helps give people and organizations deep business insight and fosters collaboration that helps them stay ahead of their competition. We simplify technology for companies so they can consume our software the way they want 鈥� without disruption. Our end-to-end suite of applications and services enables business and public customers across 25 industries globally to operate profitably, adapt continuously, and make a difference. With a global network of customers, partners, employees, and thought leaders, 麻豆原创 helps the world run better and improve people鈥檚 lives. For more information, visit .

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This document contains forward-looking statements, which are predictions, projections, or other statements about future events. These statements are based on current expectations, forecasts, and assumptions that are subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results and outcomes to materially differ. Additional information regarding these risks and uncertainties may be found in our filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including but not limited to the risk factors section of 麻豆原创鈥檚 2021 Annual Report on Form 20-F.

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The research is built on a survey of 1,000 procurement and supply chain executives responsible for direct and indirect goods, services and external workforce spend. It was designed to help understand procurement鈥檚 influence on an organization, the current state of supplier collaboration and the impact of technology and process digitalization in the procurement function.

A subset of surveyed executives 鈥� the leaders 鈥� are realizing stronger business results. Leaders are investing in technology and process digitalization to help anticipate the unexpected, fueling business agility and resilience, and elevating the strategic value of procurement to the business.

The research is distilled into five reports that examine key areas of spend management and discuss what leaders do that set them apart.

Leaders Outshine the Rest

鈥溾�� focuses on the leaders, around 10% of executives who have made greater investments in procurement digital transformation and are realizing greater benefits. To qualify as a leader, companies had to meet criteria in four areas: high degree of process automation, frequent use of data to inform decision-making, use of technology to influence the business and fewer challenges in managing procurement than other respondents. They achieve better results compared with other respondents in operational efficiency, supplier performance, compliance, risk management and cost reduction, but even leaders have room to improve.

Digitalized Procurement Pays Off

鈥溾�� shows that while organizations are reaping benefits from digitalizing procurement, challenges remain. For example, 38% of executives surveyed said most or all of their procurement processes are still manual. Just 54% said their procurement technologies enable them to make decisions that are data-driven. According to the report, companies that have embraced data and analytics, tapped into the power of AI and embraced new technologies are realizing better results.

Supplier Risk Management Shows Progress, But Ample Room for Improvement

鈥溾�� reveals widespread vulnerabilities in supplier risk management, including poor visibility and overreliance on too few suppliers. Only 49% of executives said they regularly refresh risk mitigation plans to address potential disruptions, and a mere 32% said their supplier risk management is highly effective. Organizations underutilize advanced analytics and need to take bolder steps to help increase visibility into supplier performance and make greater use of third-party data to help anticipate and mitigate potential disruptions, the report said.

Supplier Collaboration Key to Direct Spend

鈥溾�� illustrates that direct spend leaders who embrace automation and treat suppliers as partners drive superior business results. For instance, 92% of leaders said they use a network to collaborate with suppliers, compared with 69% of other respondents. Additionally, 76% of leaders said they provide critical suppliers visibility into future demand for their goods, compared with 44% of other respondents.

Significantly Undermanaged Spend Category: External Workforce

鈥溾�� highlights that just 35% of executives said they use technology to help manage their contingent workforce and 70% said they use technology for services procurement. Given the external workforce is a large, strategic spend category fueling business agility, broader adoption of vendor management systems can help organizations use preferred suppliers, support various pricing models, enforce negotiated rates, track work quality and equipment usage, and manage security access.

鈥淏usiness leaders increasingly understand the value of procurement goes beyond cost reduction,鈥� said John Wookey, president, 麻豆原创 Intelligent Spend and Business Network. 鈥淧rocurement is central to productivity and innovation, but its potential is only fully realized through digitalizing end-to-end spend management processes on a single platform in the cloud. Putting organizations in a position to align spend decisions to business strategy in today鈥檚 networked economy 鈥� this is what intelligent spend management is all about.鈥�

For information on how to accelerate procurement digital transformation and to download the reports, visit .

This article first appeared on the 麻豆原创 Global News Center. Follow 麻豆原创 on Twitter at .

The post Where Does the Money Go? 麻豆原创 and Oxford Economics Research Reveals Issues with Managing Spend Across the Enterprise appeared first on 麻豆原创 Africa News Center.