EcoVadis and Archlet — New Year wishes for the procurement solutions and services marketplace 2022

As we continue our series of New Year wishes (rather than ‘predictions’) for the procurement, supply and services market for the year ahead (read more about it here), which runs from mid-December to early January, today we hear from two providers. Let’s start with Julia Salant, Head of Sustainability Innovation at EcoVadis, provider of business sustainability ratings, intelligence and collaborative performance improvement tools for global supply chains.

My Wish:

2022 becomes the year of delivery

Following the agreements that have come out of COP26, it is important that 2022 becomes the year of delivery. Fancy pledges and ambitious targets will not be sufficient. The climate crisis will be even less forgiving than Covid: 70% to 80% of emissions occur in the supply chain (according to CDP), but not enough companies are taking action. Stakeholders are going to demand to see progress, especially on climate targets. In order to facilitate this move from ambition to action companies must use a technology-powered approach to supply chain decarbonization. Companies can use this technology to gain visibility into the carbon management practices of their trading partners and overall supply chain. Action can also be taken through sourcing renewable energy, calculating carbon footprint in line with global standards and providing environmental training to employees.

If you are looking for procurement technology to help with your wishes for 2022, try out Spend Matters TechMatch℠ to benchmark and shortlist providers. 

Today we also hear from Fabian Lampe, Head of Procurement & Marketing at advanced sourcing analytics provider Archlet, also one of Spend Matters Future 5.

My three wishes for 2022:

1. User experience should become a stronger criterion in the tool selection process. Today, the breadth of technical capabilities often outweighs the actual ability to drive broad adoption across procurement teams. This way of evaluating solutions therefore favors solution breadth at the expense of customer experiences.

2. I wish that organizations become more open towards adopting best-of-breed or hybrid technology ecosystems and to engage with start-ups. To deliver on the promise of procurement digitalization people need to embrace ambiguity and potentially engage with multiple solutions simultaneously for distinct use-cases.

3. I hope that organizations become more comfortable with the idea of testing new solutions quickly. Lengthy review processes without clear objectives and success criteria often stifle creativity and excitement. Leaner processes and focused experiments can vastly improve the relationships between procurement and tech vendors.

At the end of our ‘wishes’ series, our analyst Bertrand Maltaverne will wrap up with his own take on the key themes that emerge. Wishes are published in no other order than when they are received through our digital letterbox.

And if you are looking for procurement services providers to help you with your 2022 decisions, look no further than our Procurement Services Market Landscape Directory.