Commercial Impact
Procurement has faced two of its most challenging years yet, in 2020 and 2021 … and 2022 has already presented further complexities around the world. From COVID-19 supply chain disruption to worldwide shortages and shipment delays across industries to global conflict, delivering savings while also driving financial growth seemed like an impossible task.
Against a backdrop of unprecedented change and an internal restructure that saw Kantar sold to Bain Capital Private Equity, the combined Kantar/Efficio team has spent the last two years delivering more than $60 million of savings for Kantar ($90 million, including cost avoidance methods). This was an increase of nearly 60% beyond the goal of $41 million in savings and accomplished in the midst of a global pandemic – all white Kantar’s new Chief Procurement Officer, Stephen Day, settled into his new role.
Together, Day and Efficio set out to build a diverse team by focussing on hiring the right people. Instead of rushing to fill the ranks, the team grew from three people to around 40 people, with a 50/50 gender split, including two apprentices from refugee backgrounds. This team’s diverse background contributes to a wide variety of perspectives, resulting in cohesive, proactive, and impactful bottom-line outcomes that put Procurement in a unique position to champion diversity and accelerate change, both internally and externally.
Stressing the power of communication, the integrated Kantar and Efficio team built a credible transformation and savings plan that engaged stakeholders across the Kantar organisation, empowering each person to understand the savings that could be delivered, the potential level of recurring savings on an annual basis, and the value provided by a high-functioning Procurement Excellence Team.
The results:
After setting an initial goal of delivering $41 million in savings, the Kantar procurement team delivered more than $60 million in cost reduction savings ($90 million, including cost avoidance) – approximately 60% over the initial target, and all in the midst of a global pandemic.
“For every dollar we invest in procurement, we try and save about $5,” says Day. He is confident that these figures will only get better, “I think we can expect a further step change in the level of savings performance that we deliver … we’re investing heavily in our technology, our products, and our people.”
Efficio’s Greg Horgan perfectly sums up the transformation: “The right strategy combined with the right technology and leveraging Kantar’s “One Kantar” vision enabled the procurement integration across all divisions. Different functions across global regions were for the first time connected and united to drive value through one team, one mission, one goal – all regions and divisions became actively part of the global blueprint to bring the demand and volume as “One Kantar” to the market.
View the Efficio profile in the MCA Members Directory.