NEW ZEALAND,听Auckland听鈥�听09听December 2025鈥�听麻豆原创 today announced that听Zespri, the world鈥檚 largest marketer of premium-quality kiwifruit, has strengthened its commitment to trust and customer service by launching听a fully digitised, customer-first听claims platform听built on听麻豆原创鈥檚 integrated听cloud technologies. As a result,听today, customers听benefit听from a simple self-service听claims process that resolves听issues in seconds, while smart automation听helps听Zespri鈥檚 teams听deliver听fast, consistent outcomes without听compromising on听quality or control.

While accounting for only听one听percent of sales, with the company facing more than 40,000 quality claims a year 鈥撎齮otaling听over NZD $70 million 鈥� Zespri wanted to reimage its听claims process. Previously听slow, manual, and at times, associated with听inconsistent decision making 鈥撎齮oday,听new digital tools听deliver听an intuitive, self-service experience through a听centralised听claims portal,听allowing听multi-delivery claims to be created in under 30 seconds, and more than 1,000 deliveries can be processed in under two minutes.听听

鈥淏y combining intelligent automation with human expertise, we鈥檝e built a platform that reinforces our brand promise and sets a new industry standard for service,鈥� said Rahul Badge, Head of In-Market Supply Chain at Zespri.听鈥淎s a result,听we have been able to听meet our听customers鈥櫶齨eed听for a simpler, faster, and more transparent听experience, and听give听our assessors the tools to reduce manual input and share expert insights across the business.听We now see each claim as a chance to show our commitment to service, quality and openness.鈥�听

This transformation has rapidly improved Zespri鈥檚 claims process, with 80 percent of claims now听benefiting听from听human-in-the-loop听automated recommendations and decision听making. This has听significantly reduced听processing times and errors and freed听assessors to focus on complex cases听while maintaining Zespri鈥檚 strict audit requirements. The new platform also delivers comprehensive, real-time insights, supporting end-to-end visibility throughout Zespri鈥檚 global supply chain and unlocking opportunities for preventative action and continuous improvement.听

鈥淶espri has set a new benchmark for customer-centric innovation in the fresh produce industry,鈥� said Adrian Griffin, Managing Director, 麻豆原创 New Zealand. 鈥淏y听digitising听and scaling expert decision-making, Zespri is driving both operational efficiency and customer trust, strengthening its position as a global leader and delivering real value across its network.鈥�听

Leveraging 麻豆原创 Commerce Cloud as the central customer interface, Zespri introduced a seamless digital journey that enables claims to be听submitted听across multiple deliveries in under 30 seconds. Real-time supply chain data from 麻豆原创 S/4HANA,听integrated with partner solutions,听eliminates听the need for repetitive data entry and helps prevent human error, while an advanced orchestration layer powered by 麻豆原创 BTP,听alongside partner solutions,听automates the application of business rules and embeds human听expertise听at scale. The introduction of 麻豆原创 Fiori applications equips Zespri鈥檚 assessors to review end-to-end supply chain data and quality inspection reports听from partner solutions,听keeping听expert judgement听central to complex claim assessments.听听

The claims platform, delivered in partnership with听Accenture New Zealand and FAIR Consulting听Group,听is now live across major markets including Japan, China, Korea, Singapore, Vietnam, India, the United States and Europe. Business users have embraced the solution, with senior leaders describing it as 鈥渢he most business-centric digital project Zespri has ever run.鈥�听

Pete Devereux, Accenture Business Architecture Manager, said, 鈥淲e set out to make things simpler for everyone. The new system is easy to use and gets claims sorted more quickly, which is good news for both customers and Zespri鈥檚 teams.鈥澨�听

Christiaan Du Plessis, 麻豆原创 & Cloud Director at FAIR Consulting听Group, added, 鈥淚t鈥檚听been a real pleasure working together. The impact for customers is already obvious, and听we鈥檙e听excited to keep building from here.鈥�听

As a result of听digitising听its听claims听process听and unlocking richer, end-to-end data, Zespri is now positioned听to听leverage听next-generation technologies, including predictive analytics and computer vision, further advancing its goals around quality, sustainability,听and customer experience.

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Sydney, Australia 鈥� 9 April 2025 鈥� The upcoming Mastering 麻豆原创 Connect 2025 conference is set to enhance its comprehensive agenda with 麻豆原创 joining the program as a platinum sponsor including the addition of a dedicated 麻豆原创 Spend Connect Procurement Track. This new track complements the existing Enterprise Asset Management and Supply Chain Management tracks, offering attendees a holistic view of 麻豆原创’s integrated solutions.鈥�

Scheduled for 5鈥�6 June 2025 at the Royal Pines Resort in Gold Coast, Australia, Mastering 麻豆原创 Connect has been a cornerstone event for 麻豆原创 professionals, fostering collaboration and knowledge sharing across various industries.

鈥淎s tariffs and trade wars dominate the headlines, the importance of resilience in enterprise asset management, supply chain and procurement is even more stark,鈥� said Mastering 麻豆原创 CEO, Annette Slunjski.

鈥淭his is a vital time for the community to come together to learn from each other on best practices to unlock value from existing 麻豆原创 solutions, boost resilience using AI, automation and predictive analytics and deliver an agile foundation for organisations to embrace better mobility, sourcing, business process, data quality and planning approaches.鈥�

The dedicated Procurement Track will delve into using AI insights to drive more strategic procurement and build business value outside of just cost control. Sessions will cover procurement, purchasing, sourcing and operational efficiencies through AI. 听Workforce flexibility, how to take proactive control of compliance needs and the requirement to create a collaborative connection across functions, suppliers and trading partners will be discussed.

The topics will be of particular interest to procurement, finance, sourcing, category and contract executives.

By expanding its program, Mastering 麻豆原创 Connect 2025 aims to provide a more integrated and enriching experience for 麻豆原创 users, partners, and thought leaders. This initiative reflects the conference’s dedication to bringing the community together for real-world learning from those at the frontline of 麻豆原创 ecosystems.鈥�

Event Details:

• Event: Mastering 麻豆原创 Connect 2025鈥�
• Dates: 5鈥�6 June 2025鈥�
• Location: Royal Pines Resort, Gold Coast, Australia鈥�
• Tracks: Enterprise Asset Management, Supply Chain Management, Procurement鈥�

For more information and to register, please visit .

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As a heavily-regulated industry, compliance is key for mining companies. However, the system Newcrest was using to manage its expenses relied heavily on slow manual processes with a high number of touchpoints for each expense report. Not only was this affecting efficiency and productivity, but it increased the risk of human error.

鈥淎t the end of the month, we would create a manual journal based on a download from the system. We also had to enter vendors manually, which was time consuming and fraught with errors,鈥� explained Neil Sadler, Principal of Global Business Services Finance Operations at Newcrest.

Additionally, the lack of audit capability meant that every expense report had to be reviewed before being approved by a manager. According to Neil, 鈥渙ne of the things we encountered was that the managers were just approving the expense reports without delving into whether it was the right receipt or if we could claim GST.鈥�

“I think one of the things that we鈥檝e tried to do by bringing on Concur is make the business experience for our employees as easy and user friendly as possible. So this is definitely a lot more automated and there鈥檚 less chance of error” Neil Sadler, Principal (Global Business Services Finance Operations), Newcrest Mining.

Newcrest had a need for a system that could provide them with better solutions for compliance, particularly concerning statutory and taxation requirements. The previous system lacked the capability to seamlessly integrate with the team鈥檚 ERP system (managed by 麻豆原创) and did not allow for the customisation of business and compliance rules within the system, leading to further inefficiencies. Secondly, the absence of a user-friendly experience in the previous system, which was manual and lacked audit tools, posed significant hurdles for employees out in the field.

To achieve their dual objectives, Newcrest sought an end-to-end expense management solution that could integrate data into the broader 麻豆原创 ecosystem and provide a mobile application for their remote workforce. 麻豆原创 Concur provided the best solution that could expand to other markets, while allowing the team to add their own rules and policies which often differ site to site.

Automating and streamlining processes

In 2019, Newcrest put a working group together, which brought the implementation of 麻豆原创 Concur solutions into the business across the globe. With a remote workforce and employees who travel regularly, the company鈥檚 main priority was simplifying and streamlining expenses.

鈥淭he main function we use is ExpenseIt in the mobile app, which allows people to take a photo of their invoice or receipt. That then automatically links through to the expense item in Concur Expense, making expense reports a lot easier,鈥� Neil said.

Because 麻豆原创 Concur integrates into the 麻豆原创 HR system, every employee has automatic access and a vendor account linked to payroll 鈥� without needing a separate account and password. Once expenses are online, each expense report is audited by the 麻豆原创 Concur team before being sent to the manager for approval.

Neil said, 鈥淭he big benefit for us has been linking through to our 麻豆原创 modules where there鈥檚 an automated daily feed of the approved expense report into our general ledger. This eliminates the need for manual intervention, which is a great boost to productivity.鈥�

麻豆原创 Concur has enabled Newcrest to automate other processes as well. For example, when employees accidentally use their corporate card for private expenses 鈥� a mistake which can happen 鈥� these are coded as private expenses, triggering a pop-up with the bank account and BSB details to credit back into the Newcrest bank account. Where expenses are late or money is still owed, a letter is automatically emailed to the user after a defined period.

The company has now enhanced the user experience, making it as quick and simple as possible. Employees are no longer required to upload their travel expense documents or invoices which are already stored in a database by a partner travel company. 鈥淲e鈥檝e set in the system that travel doesn鈥檛 need to have the invoice attached, and the expense will still go through,鈥� Neil said.

Employees frequently travel with Uber for Business 鈥� previously, employees used to be emailed an invoice which wasn鈥檛 GST compliant. Now the team has organised that with all Uber expenses, the invoice is automatically linked into the expense in Concur Expense. This has not only simplified expense reporting and auditing, resulting in positive feedback from users, but also allows the company to track emissions for different vehicles used with Uber.

Neil commented, 鈥淔rom a sustainability reporting perspective, that鈥檚 a huge benefit.鈥�

But one of 麻豆原创 Concur鈥檚 major advantages is the ability to set controls and compliance, tailored to the unique needs of the organisation. 鈥淭here are lots of different business rules you can set, and each company will have its own,鈥� Neil explained.

By partnering with 麻豆原创 Concur, Newcrest鈥檚 finance team can rest easy knowing every expense report is audited by 麻豆原创 Concur. The team has also partnered with local banks (NAB in Australia and HSBC in overseas sites) to make sure that the feed from the bank will feed through to 麻豆原创 Concur for expense management and costing purposes.

The audit team can now give warning messages to those who overspend. The team has the ability to restrict the amount of expense types they have in Concur Expense to make it even more specific. Finance also has a monthly check where they will go through any item over $5,000 that sits in Concur Expense and check whether the vendor already exists in their database. If there are any issues that arise, they can then ensure the end user is educated on the process.

At the same time, 麻豆原创 Concur鈥檚 Consultative Intelligence function delivers rich data insights for strategic managed reporting. With total visibility over end-to-end expense management, it鈥檚 easy to see where delays and bottlenecks are occurring in terms of getting expenses in and managers giving approval 鈥� resulting in a seamless, streamlined reporting process.

“We鈥檝e had an ATO audit, and without the processes around Audit with Concur, I鈥檓 sure we wouldn鈥檛 have had as good of a result as we did” Neil Sadler, Principal (Global Business Services Finance Operations), Newcrest Mining.

Ensuring a successful rollout

As a global organisation with a footprint in multiple continents, Newcrest had to decide on the best approach for rolling out the new technology right across the business 鈥� starting with the creation of a dedicated support team.

鈥淲hen you set up the program, it鈥檚 really important to have a user group that reflects the business,鈥� Neil said. 鈥淭he first thing we did was get the IT team involved, because they鈥檙e the people you need to get the Concur system up and running and linked into our 麻豆原创 system.鈥�

It was imperative to Newcrest that they understood each of the different areas of the business and what they needed, as well as how to adapt the system to suit those needs 鈥� so they selected a representative from each site in the program to leverage their inside operational knowledge. Having this buy-in upfront proved critical to the success of the rollout.

This initial group of 鈥榮uper users鈥� became a valuable resource when it came to training employees in Concur Expense and providing technical support for any issues or problems they encountered. The business rules were also encoded in a document that sits in the portal, which any user can refer to at
any time.

Newcrest decided to launch at a single site to iron out any issues before rolling it out to other sites. This also reduced the administrative burden 鈥� allowing the admin team to focus their energies in one area. 鈥淗aving a strong admin team is really important,鈥� Neil commented. 鈥淥ur team in India do a fantastic job in supporting us, because they have the broad business knowledge of how to do things and what鈥檚 been done in the past.鈥�

The team carried out testing on their pilot site so they could work through their business rules and embed them into the system. As each site required different rules and policies, the team worked with people in those locations to ensure employees were properly trained on how to utilise the solution.

Neil recommends that other companies adopt a similar approach when it comes to implementing 麻豆原创 Concur solutions. 鈥淭ake your time, you don鈥檛 need to rush into this. Go slowly, have a pilot site, get a group together which covers everyone in the business. But most importantly, make sure you have gathered and understood all the business rules you require.鈥�

“Concur has been really valuable in helping us understand our business and our expenses. We鈥檝e had great support from the team along the way and we鈥檙e so pleased with the results” Neil Sadler, Principal (Global Business Services Finance Operations), Newcrest Mining.

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Recognising its third-party suppliers as true partners impacting its customers directly, Fujitsu prioritised enhancing its procurement function for better governance, compliance, and visibility. It faced challenges like limited visibility of active supplier contracts, lack of a centralised platform for spend data, and a fragmented procurement function. Fujitsu created a dedicated dashboard to track spending with First Nations suppliers and developed a focused buying channel, boosting their product engagement. The results were remarkable: the spend with First Nations suppliers surged from $200,000 to over $4.0 million in a few years.

This transition wasn’t limited to just supplier diversity. Fujitsu has also automated and streamlined its procurement processes, established a standardised hub for end-to-end procurement activities offshore, and built a central contract repository with over 2,000 workspaces. This transformation significantly enhanced Fujitsu’s procure-to-pay (P2P) processing efficiency and compliance, with all internal use purchase orders now managed in Ariba P2P while fully integrated with Fujitsu Financial Limited of Authority.

With Ariba’s Supplier Lifecycle and Performance (SLP) module, Fujitsu embedded a robust supplier management framework, giving visibility to over 380 total supplier lifecycle projects and more than 300 supplier request/registration projects. This reduced new vendor processing time by over 65%. The Ariba Supplier Risk Module now provides full coverage for risk monitoring and compliance assessment, enhancing Fujitsu’s capability to manage supplier performance effectively.

Moreover, the establishment of the Fujitsu Central Contract Repository has led to over 600 active contract workspaces, with 30% of contracts operationalized for downstream P2P. The launch of the Fujitsu First Nations Supplier portal through Ariba’s Guided Buying platform marks another significant stride, enhancing user experience and driving supplier diversity & inclusion initiatives. Fujitsu has achieved over $4.5M in spend with First Nations suppliers to date and an impressive $12.5M+ per annum spend with SME partners since the program’s launch.

These accomplishments underline Fujitsu’s commitment to sustainable, diverse, and inclusive supply chains, reflecting its mission of making a positive impact on environmental sustainability and empowering local communities. Nicole Forrester, APAC Vice President, Purpose, People & Culture, said, “麻豆原创 Ariba is an enabler for Fujitsu in creating a prosperous, vibrant, and sustainable Indigenous engagement.”

Fujitsu’s journey shows 麻豆原创 Ariba’s transformative power in creating a business-centric model, integrating the procurement operations team into various business units, and driving initiatives such as RAP. Ariba’s scalability enables the creation of operational support hubs and business process standardisation across the APAC region, reflecting Fujitsu鈥檚 vision of a centralised business model.

In leveraging the power of 麻豆原创 Ariba, Fujitsu has made a paradigm shift towards more inclusive, efficient, and sustainable procurement practices. Their journey underlines the transformative potential of Ariba for organisations striving for operational excellence and a more equitable, sustainable world.

The post 鈥淲e will continue to leverage 麻豆原创 Ariba to ensure we embed a sustainable procurement approach as we continue to scale up our engagements with our First Nations-owned suppliers鈥� – Payam Rahimi, APAC Head of Procurement, Fujitsu appeared first on 麻豆原创 Australia & New Zealand News Center.

This was highlighted at 麻豆原创鈥檚 recent Spend Connect Forum, which took place in Sydney on November 29 2022, where the audience heard from two of 麻豆原创鈥檚 valued partners in the social procurement space about how impactful and important social procurement is, why organisations need to champion it, and how to go about doing so.听听

麻豆原创 has been partnering with Social Traders for the past two years. Social Traders match corporate and government buyers with suppliers that are qualified as social enterprises.听听

Our partnership with Social Traders is designed to accelerate the sector鈥檚 impact by creating corporate spend opportunities through 麻豆原创鈥檚 Ariba network and to support the capability and capacity of social entrepreneurs to scale and deliver to these new markets through mentorship with 麻豆原创.听听

We have also been working closely with Supply Nation in this space. Supply Nation is a non-profit organisation that supports the growth of Australia鈥檚 indigenous businesses through the promotion of supplier diversity.听

Tara Anderson, CEO of Social Traders, and Sandra Waga, Head of Membership at Supply Nation, shared their expertise in the social enterprise space, and how the delegates could drive a social procurement strategy within their own organisations.听听

Because social procurement is still an emerging market segment, it is perhaps not as widely known as it should be just how far reaching it is becoming. There is a perception that social procurement still only largely applies to small ticket items, but the reality is very different. Opportunities for social procurement now extend across the enterprise.听

For a social procurement strategy to stand the best chance of success, there needs to be executive buy-in, clear goals and KPIs, and a champion within the organisation to drive it on. 听

In addition to this, there needs to be at least one determined individual within the enterprise that drives it along and help ensure that the agreed strategy is applied to procurement wherever and whenever possible.听听听听

Organisations now have an opportunity to redirect budgeted procurement to businesses that are traditionally under-represented in this process, and it鈥檚 by no means a narrow scope. Supply Nation represents over 900 different business types in the indigenous business sector alone.听

For the businesses involved in the procurement, the main benefit to them is that they are doing the right thing by their customers and society by minimising their environmental footprint and supporting businesses that are in turn supporting their own communities. This all comes at no additional cost to themselves.听听

Supply Nation鈥檚 statistics show that indigenous businesses are 100 times more likely to employ an indigenous person than a regular business, so from the indigenous community鈥檚 perspective, it is clear what that type of procurement support means for them, whilst for the business engaged in that social procurement, the positive impact it has on that business as a place to work, and to conduct business with, is huge. This equally applies to other groups supported in the social enterprise space.听

In closing, Tara from Social Traders really got down to brass tacks and shared with the audience at 麻豆原创鈥檚 Spend Connect Forum why procurement managers everywhere should be looking to drive social procurement within their enterprise.听听

鈥淎t the end of the day, when you get home from work and your children ask 鈥渨hat did you do at work today?鈥�, do you want to say 鈥淚 made some purchase decisions and saved a few dollars for my company鈥�, or do you want to say 鈥淚 did that whilst helping keep a ton of plastic out of the ocean, or supporting employment and education programs in the First Nations community, or helping women affected by domestic violence get back up on their feet again by supporting their business, or one of a myriad of other initiatives for the betterment of society and the planet? It鈥檚 a no-brainer really.鈥�听

To explore additional resources to learn how you can drive success in social procurement in 2023 and beyond 鈥� you can now view the replays and see the highlights from Spend Connect Forum 2022 .听

The post Understanding the impact of social procurement appeared first on 麻豆原创 Australia & New Zealand News Center.

SYDNEY, Australia 鈥� 6 October 2022 鈥� (NYSE: 麻豆原创) today announced the in-country availability of听听in Australia and New Zealand, allowing local customers to use the leading Vendor Management System (VMS) while meeting the data sovereignty requirements of the Australian and New Zealand governments.

麻豆原创 Fieldglass is a cloud-based, open VMS that听helps organisations find, engage, manage, and pay external workers anywhere in the world. Its availability in Australia and New Zealand will help customers, especially those operating in government and regulated industries, manage the external and contingent workforces supporting their sensitive and critical work in line with local data sovereignty requirements.

Damien Bueno, President and Managing Director, 麻豆原创 Australia and New Zealand said, 鈥淐ustomers in government and regulated industries, including banks and financial services, utilities, transport, and telecommunications, are under increasing pressure to meet demand for highly-skilled external workers and increase workforce agility, while at the same time experiencing heightened scrutiny of supply chain assurance.鈥�

鈥淭he legislative environment and cyber considerations in both Australia and New Zealand require organisations of different sizes to think about the provision of their cloud services and technology. 麻豆原创 Fieldglass is now available locally through, reinforcing our commitment to provide customers with the sovereignty, security, and confidence they need from their cloud products and services.鈥�

麻豆原创 Fieldglass will initially be available to customers in the ANZ areas where Microsoft Azure is available.

鈥淲e鈥檙e delighted to have signed this agreement with 麻豆原创, to give more government agencies and highly regulated industries in Australia and New Zealand the confidence to migrate their systems to the cloud, knowing their data and IT platforms meet the highest global standards for governance and security. Accelerating cloud adoption also enables such organisations to innovate with more services that improve the experiences of their teams, customers and stakeholders,鈥� said Microsoft ANZ Chief Partner Officer, Vanessa Sorenson.

As the world of work rapidly evolves, 麻豆原创 Fieldglass has been at the forefront of helping hundreds of the world鈥檚 largest companies transform and optimise how they find, engage, and manage external talent and contingent workforces.

麻豆原创 Fieldglass solutions help automate the end-to-end process of procuring and managing external talent, allowing customers to better manage costs by using preferred suppliers and adhering to market rates. The transparency into worker and supplier performance enables higher quality of work, enhanced supplier collaboration and improved talent decision-making overall.

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The demand for labour in Australia continues to outstrip talent supply, especially in sectors like resources and mining, construction and engineering, manufacturing, and trades. In a recent study between , 45 per cent of procurement executives reported frequent digital security breaches with their contingent workforce. Thirty-five per cent of respondents experienced unauthorised spend, and 34 percent experienced compliance issues.

Intelligent tech creates connected talent ecosystem

As the complexity and digitalisation of workforces increased during the pandemic, the ability to manage remote workforces throughout the employee lifecycle has become critical. Compounded by the restrictions Australian businesses face with offshore talent during the global pandemic, organisations must devote the same attention, rigor, and focus on talent supply chains as any other supply chain or asset-driven commodity.

Intelligent technology solutions are offering businesses new avenues to reconsider talent acquisition and management, creating an interconnected ecosystem for managing adaptive talent supply chains.

Benefits of talent supply chain digitalisation

In the not too distance past, companies could manage talent supply chain as complex, disconnected, and lengthy processes with numerous teams working in silos across the business without real visibility or centralisation. Now companies that rely on contingent workers and service providers in substantial numbers are turning to vendor management systems (VMS) that streamline and centralise talent sourcing, procurement, and oversight.

An intelligent VMS can consolidate operations, acquisitions, and management, on a unified platform, reducing the cost of staffing while increasing process efficiency and workforce quality. Providing a single source of truth and control is critical for compliance and efficiency.

For example, runs a global value realisation assessment program for all of our key customers, and in the last analysis of customer outcomes we saw an annualised 60 per cent improvement in worker quality since implementation, and an average of three per cent savings through improved compliance alone. This was only possible with increased visibility and access across each organisation鈥檚 talent supply chain processes.

External workforce success metrics

To manage an external workforce program successfully, leaders need to look at how they manage full-time employees today, putting equal weight and importance on how teams measure success through processes across four value drivers: cost control, compliance, quality, and efficiency.

Each value driver is directly impacted by the provision of visibility across the external workforce. To measure success, it is important to understand these drivers and how they fit into the overall strategy and direction for the organisation.

An external workforce program can mature over time. Initially, it makes the most business sense to focus on organizational and team priorities and quick wins for the quickest return-on-investment while preventing change fatigue. Consider cost control which can translate to a variety of strategies and tactics, quickly becoming overwhelming from a change management perspective, and potentially no longer obtainable. Leaders need to break this value driver down into smaller, more easily achievable goals.

For example, one organisation set a goal to streamline invoicing processes and reduced FTE (full-time equivalent) talent costs. After implementing 麻豆原创 Fieldglass, the business completely automated invoice reconciliation, saving $22M AUD in the first year. By simplifying, standardising, and automating processes, the organisation also reduce headcount in its accounts payable team by three FTE.

In setting small reachable goals and KPIs, businesses can quickly see improvements. However, as organisations constantly change, it鈥檚 important to regularly refresh goals and ensure alignment to the overarching business strategy. This needs active and continuous management, whether manually or through intelligent technology solutions.

As organisations innovate how they manage and connect with employees, technology will continue to play a significant role in how businesses adapt to and anticipate change. The 鈥榥ew normal鈥� that continues to evolve in response to the global pandemic has highlighted the importance of operating safely yet with flexibility. Organisations need the right technology in place to support these robust and ever-shifting work arrangements.

This article also appeared on

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鈥淐ompanies that recognize the role of technology in transforming their business models are the ones that have been able to thrive,鈥� said Chris Willcocks, head of intelligent spend management at 麻豆原创 ANZ. 鈥淐ustomers are focused on driving visibility in their supply chains and through their data, becoming an agile , increasing the resilience of their functions in business, and identifying and reducing risk.鈥�

Intelligent enterprises innovate with business networks

Speaking with Baber Farooq, senior vice president of intelligent spend management at 麻豆原创, during the event, Willcocks gave the virtual audience a glimpse into the future of procurement. It鈥檚 built on insights from quality data across supply chains, bringing buyers much closer to their suppliers. Noting that procurement doesn鈥檛 exist in a vacuum, Willcocks said that collaborative business networks are foundational to digital transformation.

鈥淲hen you鈥檙e connected not only to your suppliers, but to your customers and their customers, you make the move to being an intelligent enterprise,鈥� he said.

Autonomous procurement for intelligent spend

Just when the world needs to boost productivity to recover from the worldwide pandemic, markets are facing potentially dire shortages of both goods and labor. The answer lies in intelligent procurement where people do the things that machines cannot replicate.

鈥淧rocurement is at the heart of solving these [productivity] problems,鈥� said Farooq. 鈥淭hat鈥檚 why we鈥檙e focused on automating more and more processes 鈹� what we call autonomous procurement. Intelligent spend is finding out what machines can do and letting machines do that, and getting people to focus on the things that people do, which is establishing strategic relationships with suppliers.鈥�

Digitalized procurement translates to business innovation

In digitalizing forecasting, inventory management, and other collaboration points between buyers and suppliers, business networks have profoundly changed procurement. Teams have the time to be more productive, which translates to innovation.

鈥淚 was talking to an automotive customer who said that over 90 percent of the innovation they have in their cars came from their suppliers,鈥� said Farooq. 鈥淎nother customer in Asia recently launched an initiative where they used the 麻豆原创 business network supporting the goal of paying all suppliers within seven days. The network allows you to foster that amazing relationship with the supplier because everything is digital鈥eople can do what they do best, which is driving relationships and working on innovation.鈥�

Farooq challenged the audience to ask themselves, despite all the technological innovations the world has experienced in the past decade, if they had more time today for their work than they did 10 years ago.

鈥淭echnology has come about to make people more productive, but it has to get out of the way,鈥� he said.

鈥淭he heart of AI is to make businesses more effective鈥f we can make procurement organizations more productive, procurement organizations can make their entire business more productive, becoming a strategic advisor to the C-suite.鈥�

As for those organizations that regret not digitalizing fast enough to head off the worst business impacts from this pandemic, it鈥檚 not too late to prepare now for the next supply chain disruptions headed our way soon.

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鈥淐ompanies need an integrated, holistic system that brings information together in a unified way for greater visibility across operations,鈥� said Chris Willcocks, vice president and head of intelligent spend management at 麻豆原创 ANZ. 鈥淭hey can monitor, measure, and manage the entire contractor engagement lifecycle in real-time to ensure that procurement and health and safety policies and processes are consistently enforced. In an environment where human lives are at risk and unplanned shutdowns can cost millions per day, doing this right is absolutely critical.鈥�

Balance external workforce safety with productivity

Research from an conducted in collaboration with 麻豆原创 Fieldglass, showed that across all industries, 42 percent of workforce spend is on external labour. What鈥檚 more, industries like mining, oil and gas, utilities, chemicals, and heavy manufacturing typically average higher percentages of contingent workers as part of their overall workforce population. The trouble is, external workers often face additional time pressures, potentially increasing safety risks.

Findings from FEFO Consulting鈥檚 confirmed this challenge. The index benchmarked feedback about safety, engagement, leadership, and systems from over 200,000 respondents in asset intensive companies primarily based in ANZ. Compared to employees, contract workers were 24 percent likelier to feel pressured to compromise safety to complete a job, and 10 percent likelier to have seen colleagues compromise safety for the sake of shortcuts.

鈥淓xternal workforces often consist of short-term labor that鈥檚 expected to carry out complex, specialised work at speed as they interact with numerous stakeholders,鈥� said Mark Wright, managing director at FEFO Consulting. 鈥淚n driving a high performance culture, don鈥檛 put productivity before safety. That leads to a culture of rushing to get the job done, as opposed to looking after your workmates and coming home safely.鈥�

Minimise risk with tech and culture change

Asset-intensive industries face growing regulatory pressure in Australia. Industrial manslaughter laws and punishments can amount to fines in the tens of million with executive liability that could mean lengthy imprisonment. To prevent incidents, Wright recommended a combination of technology innovations plus workforce culture change.

鈥淭ake a pragmatic, risk-based approach by focusing on compliance requirements that will actually add value. Apply technology to simplify, gain efficiencies, and improve the user experience,鈥� said Wright. 鈥淢ake culture changes by setting clear expectations that balance safety before production. Recognise positive performance and create a great experience so external workers can easily follow processes and model behaviors that meet both compliance and productivity objectives.鈥�

Digitalisation for business results

To operate safely and efficiently, asset-intensive industries need to capture and understand mountains of data that reflect workforce activities spanning recruitment, hiring, and daily onsite performance. For many organisations, digitalisation has profitable business impact.

A global mining company with major operations in Australia, increased workforce visibility, process efficiencies, and cost-savings by integrating 麻豆原创 Fieldglass with its core 麻豆原创 ERP system. The company improved regulatory compliance across external workforce processes, from engagement through offboarding. Supervisors reduced their workload significantly by eliminating time-consuming administrative steps such as service entry sheets for the external workforce. They also saved costs by having one consistent system for worker types and rate cards.

Pandemic-era business resilience

Although the pandemic didn鈥檛 hurt Australia as much as other harder-hit countries, remotely located industries were affected due to their heavy reliance on a more transient workforce. These people often travel across state borders within Australia or fly in from other regions of the world. Earlier lockdowns contained the pandemic鈥檚 spread, but restricted the flow of contingent workers.

鈥淭he smartest organisations have learned from the pandemic鈥檚 challenges. They鈥檙e looking at risk beyond likelihood and consequence, to consider the velocity and speed of how major risks can impact them,鈥� said Willcocks. 鈥淔or example, we just launched , a tool designed for asset intensive industries. Companies can quickly assign large volumes of workers by task, tracking and managing spend for complex plant maintenance scenarios, and most important, ensuring health and safety compliance.鈥�

External workforce brings innovation opportunities

The pandemic鈥檚 speedy, devastating impact is now kindling innovation. Wright urged organisations to move beyond purely compliance-based external workforce selection and management, and consider new ways suppliers can add value.

鈥淚nstead of asking your external workforce suppliers hundreds of questions about their risk and injury statistics during pre-qualification and annual reviews, ask targeted questions on how they think you can innovate,鈥� he said. 鈥淚f someone can improve your safety with innovations, that will help you quickly adapt to fast-moving threats.鈥�

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This year鈥檚 offers extensive resources to help you achieve it.

Future-Focused Procurement Track

For the first time, 麻豆原创 is offering a full day of procurement sessions focused on enabling you to optimize outcomes and chart a successful path forward. Launching on June 22, the Procurement track at 麻豆原创PHIRE NOW will feature a wide array of leaders, experts, and peers exploring how 麻豆原创 helps users align every spend decision to business strategy in today鈥檚 networked economy.

Customers like TAFE NSW, Coles and Ventia will share their experience and best practices, while 麻豆原创 partners and executives will offer insights on next-generation intelligent spend management solutions, recent and planned innovations, and a vision for the future.

To accommodate different schedules and interests, sessions will be offered in a variety of short- and long-term formats and divided into several sub-tracks, including digital transformation of procurement, trading partner collaboration and innovation, and external labor spend optimization. This content will offer valuable skills and information on how to:

• Shift procurement from an operational function to a strategic business force
• Deliver a smarter, guided, more autonomous process across all categories of spend
• Get closer to and collaborate better with suppliers, providers, and other trading partners through the world鈥檚 largest unified business network
• Enhance efficiency and connection through an open, extensible platform that integrates procurement into strategic planning and supports the goals of finance, operations, and the entire company
• Effectively manage external labor procurement to reduce security risks, increase business agility, and drive greater value in this critical and fast-growing spend category
• Adopt digital transformation strategies used by procurement and supply chain leaders to meet key goals and attain competitive advantage

Fast-Paced Studio Broadcast

Before starting the sessions, we鈥檒l kick things off with 麻豆原创PHIRE NOW studio, an engaging and quick-moving broadcast covering the latest procurement news, announcements, and conversations with analysts and top regional businesses. Attendees will hear from John Wookey, president of Intelligent Spend and Business Network for 麻豆原创, along with Thomas Saueressig, member of the Executive Board of 麻豆原创 SE, Product Engineering, who will discuss what is happening now and what is ahead to accelerate your digital journey.

Exciting Activities Expand the Experience

Tune in on June 3 for the 麻豆原创PHIRE NOW global keynote, where 麻豆原创 CEO Christian Klein will deliver exciting strategy updates and examine their impact with other special guests. And don鈥檛 miss the hands-on Digital Showcase Procurement Agility Tour, where you can see bicycle manufacturer 72 Bikes tap the power of a future-proof spend management system and global business network to launch a new sustainable product line.

Register Today

Registration is free for 麻豆原创PHIRE NOW in 2021. to secure your spot, then watch your inbox for detailed information to set your schedule and make the most of this industry-leading event.

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