Santa and Procurement, what do they have in common? A Healthy and Robust Ecosystem

At WNS-Denali, we regularly observe and report on the evolution of Procurement and this year, 2019, may be the year where I have been most energized by the changes I see in our space.

Let me first elaborate on the title of this blog post. Every year Santa’s business is becoming more and more complex: the increasing population children, GDPR, ethical sourcing requirements, need for intelligence on finding cool new suppliers and the need for delivering his gifts faster, cheaper and more sustainably. This requires a robust #ecosystem of Reindeers, Sleds, Elves running around scouting the market, mapping and customer data, reliable supply base and visibility into their performance.

Now back to Procurement. There is a definite shift in Procurement: a shift in our client base, in the stakeholders we serve, in how we serve them, and in the market in general. Digitization is driving much of this shift: it is both disruptive and innovative. Procurement teams now create value through new channels and previously untested approaches.

As we continue to build a bigger and better WNS-Denali, we have the privilege to work with a growing number of clients across many industries and to serve some of the world’s best and most innovative procurement organizations. We are leading their transition to a Next Generation Operating Model for Procurement and are helping them succeed and become more strategic by driving sustainable and repeatable value.

Working in such a collaborative with our clients, and experiencing the shift in their needs, has made us realize that WNS-Denali can do much more to help Procurement teams achieve their business outcomes. And so, over the last few years we have been quietly shifting from a managed services business to a Procurement Ecosystem business.

Every client has a Procurement Ecosystem. The ecosystem encompasses the key players (CPO, Category Managers, Procurement Operations Team, Stakeholders, and Suppliers), capacity to execute, capabilities, knowledge, data, intelligence, technologies, tools, strategies, policies, and processes required to function an effective operating model.

Our vision is to eliminate the friction in Procurement for our clients by co-creating (collaborating with them and supporting them in establishing) a best-in-class Procurement Ecosystem and offering advisory, managed services, and digital enablers through this ecosystem in a flexible way.

To deliver on this Procurement Ecosystem vision, in 2020, we are continuing to invest in our capabilities in several key areas:

• People: At the core of our business is our people. We are all Procurement People armed with our collective knowledge and expertise. We will further invest in the professional growth of our team.

• Knowledge: We are deepening our investments in Category Expertise and Knowledge Management to better enable the full spectrum of our services. We have exciting new projects in the works to share with you in the coming year.

• Technology: WNS-Denali is actively focused on advancing our existing toolsets to improve end-to-end procurement tracking, category knowledge management, and analytical capabilities in addition to developing new ways to leverage Artificial Intelligence, RPA, and machine learning to automate processes across the procurement operating model. We are connecting the key players of the Procurement Ecosystem for you.

As we close out a great 2019, I am excited about the direction we are taking our business and the client value we will create with our broader focus on the Procurement Ecosystem.

Wishing you peace, love, and procurement this holiday season,
Alpar

Sign up for our Newsletter to receive latest on Innovations and Insights. Subscribe now.

About the Author

Alpar Kamber
Corporate Executive Vice President & Head Procurement Services

Alpar Kamber is the Head of Procurement Services at WNS. He was the Founder and CEO of Denali Sourcing Services (now a part of WNS), a next-generation procurement services provider that enabled procurement organizations to influence more spend, and execute more effectively and efficiently. Prior to Denali, Alpar developed his cross-industry expertise in procurement value chain while in management positions at Ariba, FreeMarkets, Diamond Technology Partners and E&Y. He holds an MBA degree from the Tepper Business School of Carnegie Mellon University.