Supplier Diversity leaders across the globe came together on February 24th at Procurement Foundry’s FORGE Conference to discuss moving the needle forward for diversity and inclusion.
How far are we? How far do we still have to go? How can we move forward together? Let’s look at some highlights from TealBook’s session at the event as well as give a general synopsis of the overall event takeaways.
Stephany Lapierre highlights the TealBook difference
In her breakout session, TealBook Founder + CEO, Stephany Lapierre, highlighted TealBook’s differentiated offering. Click the image below to watch the full session replay.
The challenge to traditional methods of capturing supplier data
Traditional methods of supplier data management are typically reliant on supplier portals and spreadsheets. Once captured by suppliers coming to multiple portals, that data quickly becomes outdated. What’s more is that small and diverse suppliers often do not have capacity to update their information across portals, leaving buyers with incorrect or missing information. This data is not easily integrated throughout business systems and processes and is full of data inaccuracies due to human error, manual, and infrequent data capture.
Stephany LapierreWhen you’re thinking about building a more agile, more flexible architecture that gives you good quality information, [manual data methods] are not a means to an end; it’s not going to get better.
An innovative and differentiated solution
Through innovative methods and technology, TealBook overcomes supplier portal fatigue, allowing users to access smarter supplier data, including certified diverse suppliers as well as potentially diverse suppliers — those that qualify as diverse but have yet to earn official certifications.
Having access to quality supplier data gives you a more holistic view and understanding of your current supplier base. With this improved scope, you have the insights you need to grow your diverse spend effectively and integrate diverse suppliers across your sourcing and business processes. By integrating TealBook into existing solutions, procurement professionals can improve their supplier data without relying on and waiting for diverse suppliers to navigate registration complexities or manually submit their data and certificate information across various portals.
Finding a way to map your supply chain in a way that is automated is our goal. Giving that kind of visibility is really powerful.
— Stephany Lapierre
Customer impact is an ROI-driven supplier diversity program
Stephany Lapierre went on to tell the story of one of our foremost TealBook supplier diversity customer success stories. In this case, TealBook was able to uncover a 20% increase in diverse spend for a company in just a number of days and reduce manual efforts for the company by 50%.
Customers who use TealBook can see up to 300% improvement in their diverse spend and immediate cost savings by removing the manual efforts of bringing diverse suppliers into their sourcing and business processes. TealBook’s machine learning and AI automatically pull in supplier data from millions of data attributes so you have the refreshed data you need right at your fingertips.
Action items to move the diversity needle
FORGE Supplier Diversity & Inclusion Conference makes it clear that, in order to make the most impact with supplier diversity, an ecosystem approach is needed; action is required on multiple fronts at the micro and macro level. Here’s a recap of key trends and ideas from the conference speakers that describe a more holistic ecosystem approach to move the diversity agenda forward:
Make supplier diversity a part of your business strategy
Supplier diversity programs should be run like any other strategy, with specific goals, metrics for success, intentional execution, monitoring, and attainment of goals.
Define your mission statement
You must align your organization on the why. Supplier diversity allows you to bring forward the importance of economic empowerment for historically underutilized communities, strengthen local economies, and seek competitive advantage by leveraging innovation from small and diverse businesses.
Understanding your business case
The right diversity strategy can improve employee attraction, social responsible investment, supplier retention, or stakeholder investment.
Consider the return on investment
Metrics and KPIs are necessary to measure the impact of a supplier diversity program. Whether it’s spend reporting or impact reporting on local economies, quantitative as well as qualitative KPIs are needed to tell the story of how your business is impacting social inclusion. Once you determine your ROI, there can be a clear economic and social understanding of the impact of your strategy.
Establish clear executive buy-in and engagement
It’s important for your board of directors and executive leaders to regularly engage in the matters of supplier diversity and sustainability and have all the key leaders at the table—from HR, CFO, DEI and procurement— align on the right metrics and targets.
Integrating supplier diversity into your business strategy is vital to establishing credibility for your supplier diversity program within the organization.
Establish a culture of DE&I
In order to establish a company culture that prioritizes diversity, equity and inclusion at every level, ask yourself these questions and consider how you can take steps to improve your organization over time.
Through your organization
Is your organization a culture that prioritizes DEI and has policies and action ingrained across the various departments? Is your organization talking about diversity topics often and regularly? What does your workforce look like? What does leadership look like? How does supplier diversity fit within your larger organizational culture and policies?
Through your supply chain
Is supplier diversity ingrained throughout your procurement process and your entire supply chain? Is there transparency throughout your supply chain so your Tier 1 and Tier 2 approach is clear? Are you engaging your buyers and emphasizing the importance of integrating diverse sourcing throughout the buying process?
Through Sustainability Initiatives
How are you implementing supplier diversity within your sustainability focus? Are suppliers plugged into your sustainability strategy? Are you viewing sustainability and supplier diversity as equal partners?
Impactful supplier diversity policy and programming
A strong supplier diversity program is about more than just strong business strategy or supportive organizational process. The key lies in devising and maintaining strong supplier diversity policies and programs. This can include establishing special payment terms for local suppliers or lowering barriers to entry by mentoring small and diverse businesses.
Only through active engagement and mentorship can you promote the capabilities of small businesses to participate with enterprise organizations on a global scale.
Participation at a global scale
We cannot achieve the full impact of these results independently. An organization acting alone is not enough. The change we want to see comes from business strategy, organizational culture and policy, and the local + global communities collaborating together.
Organizations, NGOs, public-private partnerships, and organizational + country champions need to exist to bring the mandate forward to set global policy on inclusive buying. How can you look at the entire supply chain at a global level and impact inclusive procurement? What’s the global business case?
Start moving the diversity needle
It’s time to focus on a robust strategy that includes executing steps towards prioritizing diversity in all aspects of your organization. By leveraging quality supplier data, you can make more impactful decisions that resonate through all levels of your organization and broader community, that allow you to hit and surpass benchmarks to achieve goals that much faster.
TealBook offers a number of solutions addressing Tier 1 & Tier 2 diversity initiatives using data backed by machine learning and AI.
Contact us today to start making a bigger impact with supplier diversity.
