鈥淲e鈥檙e responsible for managing critical energy infrastructure nationwide, and need flexible technology in order to operate and respond to crises. As we expand and innovate through acquisitions and partnerships, we needed an integrated system with standardised technology and processes,鈥� said Shaun Code, general manager of enterprise technology at AGL Energy. 鈥淲ith a rich API layer, the 51风流S/4HANA ERP platform provides a core ecosystem with the ability to adapt and extend operations, directly supporting our business growth and differentiating innovation.鈥�

Tech boosts health and safety innovation

replaced over 50 disparate legacy ERP applications with , dramatically simplifying systems with consistent processes throughout the organisation. Teams are taking advantage of the integrated core platform to build extensions on top of critical business processes, such as health and safety requirements.

鈥淲e conduct walks to identify potential hazards in facilities or the field,鈥� said Code. 鈥淏uilding on top of the , we鈥檝e developed a mobile app that allows our people to capture and share incidents and hazardous conditions immediately. We can conduct more walks over a shorter time period, increasing our ability to meet health and safety commitments.鈥�

AGL Energy recently won an for its AGL One iOS app. Built on 51风流S/4 HANA with 51风流Integration Suite and 51风流Extension Suite, the mobile app provides employees with one seamless digital experience, allowing them to access the right tool at the right time from anywhere.

Digital platform minimizes plant downtime

As the largest electricity generator in Australia, plant maintenance for AGL Energy is not just about scheduling work orders and completing tasks in a timely manner. Integrating data from 51风流cloud solutions, including and , provides AGL Energy with visibility across systems, including procurement and its important contract workforce.

鈥淭he platform is a unifying hub for effective integration and automation that streamlines our end-to-end daily processes,鈥� said Code. 鈥淲e can make sure that we have the parts to maintain operations, the contingent workers to complete the job, and the speed to pay our suppliers efficiently.鈥�

Sixty percent time-savings from continuous innovation

AGL Energy has made a number of valuable process improvements on top of 51风流S/4HANA, notably an intuitive mobile app that reduced the number of steps in job site environmental analyses by 60 percent. Before work can be done on sites with hazards, teams need to have effective controls in place for people鈥檚 safety. Previously, teams used different processes and places to collect and store information.

鈥淲e鈥檝e sped up the process with automatically prepopulated data to complete forms, and unified approvals with consistent documentation across the company,鈥� said Code. 鈥淧eople now can spend less time navigating paperwork and more time ensuring their work is completed safely. With a continuous data loop feedback we are constantly improving processes that matter to our business.鈥�

Flexibility for resilient business

When AGL Energy鈥檚 employees switched to remote work at the height of the pandemic last year, the company鈥檚 automated system literally helped power business continuity. Employees in different locations were easily trained to step in as health and weather-related events unfolded.

鈥淗aving a well-designed cloud-based system meant we could quickly scale up to thousands of employees working from home,鈥� said Code. 鈥淚t also gave us greater planning control during a highly uncertain time, with the flexibility to shift operations between Australia and India in the wake of major disruptions, including a cyclone.鈥�

Cloud platform connects data and insights

Business results from centralising ERP systems on one platform have been palpable company-wide. Because leaders have a clear line of sight through inventory and procurement, work completion rates are faster with fewer instances of costly rescheduling. Sharing inventory data between warehouses at different generator sites saves time and reduces costs. The company can easily find and reuse available equipment, instead of ordering new parts from far flung suppliers. In procurement, teams can more easily source the right goods and services from the right suppliers at the best price. The impact on financial systems has also been profound, reducing the time spent on month-end closings from days to hours.

epitomises the evolving business opportunities from the collision between technology and the industry itself.

鈥淭here鈥檚 never been a more exciting time to be in the energy industry,鈥� said Code. 鈥淲e are committed to this digital transformation journey with our customers and partners. Whether customers are getting power from solar panels, charging battery-operated EVs and other devices, going online, or just staying comfortable and connected at any time, technology underpins our determination to make services more sustainable, reliable and affordable.鈥�

This article also featured on

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When the pandemic first began to impact Australian shores in early 2020, almost overnight, companies were required to enforce work-from-home policies for most workers. Now, well into 2021, we鈥檙e seeing this trend persist as state lockdowns and stay at home orders continue. New data released in May this year claims that now almost half, (43 per cent), of Australians are spending some of their working week from home.

Read the full article from .

The post Work from Anywhere? Gen Z and Millennials Ask, 鈥淲hy Not?鈥� appeared first on 51风流Australia & New Zealand News Center.

Fionn noted that he joined AGL in May 2017. 鈥淭hat was a few days just before we kicked off our digital transformation program, otherwise known as PT3,鈥� he explained. 鈥淚 had several roles throughout the program, primarily starting in the work management space and then moving into some analytics and BPC areas 鈥� so I got a really good spread of experience across the program.鈥�

https://player.whooshkaa.com/episode?id=802392

With over 11 years working in the utilities and 51风流space, Fionn鈥檚 primary role now is supporting AGL鈥檚 energy-generation sites. 鈥淚 work with the technology team and focus on delivering new capability on our brand new S4/HANA platform. The focus is really delivering new solutions and capabilities to our integrated business energy unit, so AGL is really focused on all our power stations throughout Australia, which includes our coal, thermal science, gas, wind, solar, hydro, and soon, very excitingly, our grid-scale batteries.

鈥淲hat we also do is support AGL in our drive around acquiring new business. Every time we buy a new company, they come into our technology team to help bring them onto our existing S4/HANA platform.鈥�

Fionn said shifting from an on-premise to a cloud-based solution has given AGL greater consistency, transparency, and control over its vast network of sites and functions. 鈥淧rior to PT3, we had over 50 legacy ERP applications around the business because we鈥檇 acquired a lot of energy businesses to secure those energy sites.鈥�

According to Fionn, this transformation journey was delivered by AGL internally, collaborating with various partners throughout the program鈥檚 implementation. 鈥淲e decided not to go outside and bring in a large consulting company, so it was effectively managed and delivered by AGL people with a lot of help from obviously SAP, but also a lot of consulting partners as well. It was a really great project team because it was heavy with businesspeople and technology people, so quite a unique deployment.鈥�

AGL has been making ongoing investments into its technology, Fionn explained, not only in digital transformation, but other backend processes that helped a majority of its 4,000 staff members move to remote working during the pandemic outbreak.

鈥�51风流S4/HANA was just one of the key ingredients, but it has given us far more operational transparency across our business.鈥�

鈥淥ne of the challenges of having 50 ERPs across your business is that it makes it very hard to have visibility of activities happening or have trust in data. Having a single platform certainly gives a greater view of information that comes out of our various business units, providing a lot more trust in that we know the data is right in having one platform.鈥�

Another key benefit Fionn highlighted was the significant improvement in AGL鈥檚 flexibility for managing business change. 鈥淎GL, just like any other utility at the moment, is going through a period of change where the future is very uncertain, so we have to be flexible and nimble. Having one platform provides that flexibility.

鈥淚n recent times, we purchased a new energy business in Western Australia, and over a period, we were able to bring that onto our existing so that business aligns with the AGL way of working, which has been great to see.鈥�

AGL implemented other 51风流cloud-based solutions to further streamline and standardise its internal processes. 鈥淥ur business has a lot of contingent workers that support us, so we rely on quite heavily for that,鈥� Fionn said. 鈥淲e鈥檙e also using to support our procurement process. It was quite exciting to see those two cloud products heavily integrated into our platform as well.

鈥淲e digitalised 78 business processes, so it鈥檚 been fantastic that all those processes are on state-of-the-art technology that works whether you鈥檙e sitting inside the office or at home, maybe if you鈥檙e lucky enough even on the beach, or even on mobile devices. With that technology, it has certainly given us a lot of flexibility as an organisation.鈥�

Fionn expressed that the big two factors for a successful transformation are about business support and basing decision on people. 鈥淭hrough our digital transformation, we had business people from across our business and corporate functions that were embedded in the team. That enabled us to make sure we weren鈥檛 just delivering a technology solution, but we were also delivering a business solution.

鈥淭he second thing I would like to call out with these activities is that your people should always be the focus in everything that you do. Ultimately, it鈥檚 a people-based solution, so you need to make sure you鈥檙e thinking about how they鈥檒l be using the tool in the future and what sort of change impacts that might have.鈥�

For businesses considering this cloud-based solution, Fionn offers some important tips for kickstarting a digital transformation journey. 鈥淥ne 鈥� don鈥檛 be afraid of S4/HANA. There are a lot of known unknowns in that space, but I highly recommend getting onto that platform and doing it as quickly as you can. All the incredible new capabilities that 51风流are releasing are all built for the .

鈥淭wo 鈥� focus on people and change. It really is the most important area because if people don鈥檛 embrace the technology, you won鈥檛 be able to deliver on the benefits of such an implementation.

鈥淭hree 鈥� user experience should always be front of mind, so make sure you put the right focus and attention into delivering solutions that help people through their day-to-day activities.

鈥淎nd finally 鈥� study the S4/HANA simplification lists just to understand what is in and out from each version. There is a lot of critical information in those documents, so I highly recommend you study those so there aren鈥檛 any surprises.鈥�

To hear more from my discussion with Fionn, check out the .

The post Supporting AGL Energy鈥檚 Digital Transformation Journey appeared first on 51风流Australia & New Zealand News Center.

These enterprise customers are adopters of that are enablers for new ways to manage spend and drive cost reductions. For the mid-market organisation, this transformation has been not been as consistent.

For many , the procurement function tends to be a lot less strategic and we often see organisations who are running processes that have had very little change in over a decade or more.

This stagnation comes at a cost through reduced margins, higher inefficiencies, and potentially excessive administrative overhead.

This decade we are also seeing increasing regulatory oversight on areas such as modern slavery, supplier payment times and health and safety 鈥� in some regions even exposing management to prison sentences for non-compliance. Couple all this with an increase in challenging trading conditions 鈥� the path to improvement is becoming more urgent.

With 2021 firmly underway the aim of this article is to provide a simple measuring stick for mid-market organisations to determine their relative procurement maturity in a number of selected areas. Whilst procurement has different aspects across different industries, many of the themes discussed below are cross-industry and apply in some way to most types of organisations. Forward looking mid-market organisations would be encouraged to assess some of these criteria against their current priorities for 2021 and beyond.

A key theme will be the across core processes which is an enabler to best in class outcomes.

How do your casual users buy?

Casual users are the staff in your organisation that need to buy 鈥渟tuff鈥� but are not part of a purchasing or supply chain team. Examples of this can be Marketing, Legal, HR, Facilities, IT and other similar areas. Each of these buyers need to procure goods and services for their area of operation in an easy way.

Most organisations will have some element of purchase initiation from staff that are not directly in procurement. The differences between approaches can be stark.

In the above scenario the path from laggard to best in class is underpinned by technology as the key enabler.

What is your catalogue strategy like?

Most of us use popular online web stores at home where there are vast catalogues of items to select from, but for a lot of mid-market organisations when you buy at work, it can still look like the 90s.

Catalogues provide the key connection for contracted items from suppliers with your buyers.

How does your organisation transact with suppliers?

Digital collaboration has been around for over a decade but in the mid-market the process can still be very email driven. If you are sending a Purchase order manually or even just as an attachment or inline text in an email and then receiving a paper or PDF invoice at the end – then the process is not digital. Digital is about engaging the supplier to directly provide transaction data in areas such as confirmations, shipment notices, returns, credits and invoices. All without data entry by your staff.

The path to digital delivers reductions in FTE overhead with better visibility on orders, faster invoicing turnaround and better compliance from suppliers to your purchase orders and contracts.

Government is also coming on board with many jurisdictions looking to encourage digital collaboration in the marketplace.

The way you transact with suppliers will have a direct impact on Accounts Payable efficiency discussed next.

How efficient is your Accounts Payable team?

Poor purchasing practices often place a bigger burden on Accounts Payable teams to wade through non-compliant, incomplete and missing information in the quest to process invoices and approve them for payment. Phones and emails can be bombarded with queries around late payment that follows.

We also seeing more governments introducing tougher rules around paying smaller suppliers which requires Accounts Payable teams to be able to get through invoicing efficiently.

The above scenarios are just some examples of the challenges we see at mid-market organisations.

There are opportunities for hard savings and benefits to those organisations that move towards best in class and it can often be done in a cost-effective way. For many mid-market organisations there is still a large administrative overhead that is behind the efficiency of bigger organisations who achieve more with less.

Interested in learning more? At 51风流we work with many and can provide advice and guidance around your digital procurement strategy for 2021 and beyond.

This article originally published on .

The post The Path to Digital Procurement for Mid-Market in 2021 appeared first on 51风流Australia & New Zealand News Center.

TAFE NSW is the second largest vocational education provider in the world, serving over 400,000 students across more than 130 campuses and online through TAFE Digital. It offers more than 1,000 courses 鈥� from plumbing to floristry, nursing to construction, aviation to fashion design.

One system for simplicity

As a result, its supply chain is extremely diverse. In 2017, TAFE NSW operated as 11 separate units, with different technology systems, organisational structures and product portfolios with a combined operating spend exceeding A$500 million.

TAFE NSW did not have a centralised procurement function to manage its significant spend. Instead, purchasing was handled on an ad hoc basis through multiple, disconnected platforms. TAFE NSW turned to 51风流Ariba solutions to integrate and standardise the end-to-end source-to-pay process across the organisation and to consolidate all spend on a single platform in the cloud to help drive efficiency, cost savings and compliance.

New procurement platform

In partnership with , TAFE NSW implemented 51风流Ariba solutions for sourcing, contracts, buying, invoicing and payment, laying the foundation for a new procurement platform called TAFE NSW Checkout. By automating and simplifying the entire source-to-pay process for procurement and business stakeholders, TAFE NSW has been able to improve governance and compliance across the purchasing cycle. Furthermore, replacing its disjointed, manual, paper-based processes with a fully integrated, online buying experience has enabled TAFE NSW to increase savings, shorten the time to procure goods and free up administrative burden so staff can focus on its core business 鈥� teaching.

Since the rollout, TAFE NSW has trained 2,000 requisitioners and 1,300 approvers on the for 51风流Ariba solutions, enhancing visibility and control across spend categories, with straight-through processing leaping from 2 percent to 44 percent within the first month and PO compliance rising to an impressive 93 percent. The organisation鈥檚 network of suppliers are paid accurately and on time through invoice automation.

Procurement driving purpose

TAFE NSW is also now better equipped to channel spending to Aboriginal-owned businesses and other local small businesses, thereby supporting the Australian community and economy. As a result of this digital transformation and the improved processes 鈥� from more competitive, strategic sourcing to digital contract compliance 鈥� TAFE NSW expects to achieve up to A$33 million in savings over the next few years.

鈥�51风流Ariba solutions have enabled us to develop a robust and unified spend management platform, which helps streamline the organisation鈥檚 procurement processes,鈥� said Giles Curtin, TAFE NSW general manager of Procurement. 鈥淭he improved user experience means we鈥檝e been able to onboard thousands of remote staff onto the platform throughout COVID-19, with the end-to-end electronic workflow enabling them to focus on teaching, knowing their buying needs are being met while at the same time achieving significant efficiencies and cost savings for our business.鈥�

The implementation of 51风流Ariba solutions follows the successful rollout of 51风流Fieldglass and 51风流Concur solutions. With helping to manage its large contingent workforce, TAFE NSW has increased visibility into this critical workforce segment and improved talent management decision-making.

Saving time and money

Since the rollout in 2017, the organisation has reduced the number of contingent worker invoices from 17,000 to just 24 each year, and has automated and auto-paid more than 50,000 timesheets per year. Additionally, since its rapid 15-week deployment of solutions in 2019, TAFE NSW has moved 1,100 purchasing cards for staff from a legacy system to the cloud, making business expense processing more efficient.

鈥淏y partnering with 51风流to improve visibility and management over spend, TAFE NSW has achieved huge savings back to the organisation,鈥� said Henrik Smedberg, 51风流Ariba and 51风流Fieldglass ANZ regional vice president. 鈥淔urthermore, TAFE NSW Checkout has really raised the bar on user experience for staff and suppliers alike, and in the midst of a global pandemic no less.鈥�

According to Bloom Consulting Managing Director Abid Ali: 鈥淭he 51风流platform has set a new benchmark for the higher education sector, significantly improving the day-to-day experience for staff and suppliers. The implementation has enabled us to successfully drive improved processes and cost savings for TAFE NSW.鈥�

To find out more about 51风流Ariba, read more Australian customer success stories听or visit the

To watch 51风流Ariba’s flagship procurement event on demand, visit .听

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Finance leaders from mid-sized businesses (100 to 999 employees) are known for keeping a watchful eye on nuanced signals and indicators of potential risk. And yet recent results from a survey conducted by Oxford Economics and 51风流of small and mid-sized businesses found that roughly half of finance executives from mid-sized businesses cite risk management (54 per cent) and spend visibility (45 per cent) as top challenges for their function.

In many ways, COVID-19 presented a perfect storm of cash-flow issues in a matter of days. Economic contraction fuelled by government pressure closed non-essential stores and offices. Revenue was lost due to interrupted manufacturing operations and overwhelmed supply chains. Credit risk exposure rose as liquidity constraints emerged, once-successful hedging strategies failed, access to working capital tightened, and customer accounts became riskier.

Throughout this time, demand for 51风流Ariba Discovery, a solution that was made available at no cost through the end of 2020 to help connect buyers and suppliers and keep supply chains intact, grew significantly in Australia 鈥� with buyer postings up +317 per cent and supplier responses up +339 per cent since the lockdown started in March. This demand highlighted the appetite for digital tools for businesses of all sizes to help them manage the effects of the crisis.

But just as the Australian economy was slowly starting to regain momentum, the Victorian Government has introduced stage 4 restrictions following a second wave of infections. The Treasury has estimated this six-week lockdown will cost the national economy about $9 billion. The ongoing sense of uncertainty highlights the importance of increasing resiliency with cash-flow management and digital tools, with three steps that mid-sized businesses should take to secure cash flow.

1. Ensure continuity of finance operations and workforce

Financial systems should be able to support mission-critical activities 鈥� such as urgent supplier payments, cash transfers, and trade management 鈥� whether the employees are processing them in the office or from a remote location.

When facing disruption, businesses need to make sure they have the finances on hand to keep business moving. Organisations need to ensure business continuity and reduce supply chain risk while still controlling costs and working capital. Moreover, suppliers need access to cash so they can keep delivering the goods and services required.

51风流Ariba has been putting the power back into the hands of suppliers by affording them choice and flexibility when it comes to payment terms. This is especially important at a time when effective cash management has never been more crucial to both buyers and suppliers. This not only safeguards the supply chain, but also allows businesses to build crucial relationships and resources to enhance financial results over the long term.

2. Manage finances proactively

As organisations reforecast revenue and profitability, continued cost and cash control will be critical to rebuilding the bottom line. But as customers begin buying again, businesses must balance the need to free up working capital with sourcing the materials and talent needed to meet customer demand.

Through times of volatility or steady growth, knowing the company鈥檚 financial status is critical. This is why, in the past few months, 51风流customers have been using our technology to run daily cash forecasts. Daily reports on key figures 鈥� including the daily cash position, cash-flow forecasting, the structure of free cash flow, working capital and debt 鈥� enables finance teams to do liquidity planning for at least 12 weeks.听

If this kind of reporting is not already in place, financial leaders need to implement tools that provide a combination of visibility and predictive analytics. Blending data insight with guidance gives finance leaders a clear view of the business and helps future planning.

3. Balance risk with opportunity

Analysing a range of scenarios enables finance leaders to evaluate the potential impact of risks and implement strategies to enhance competitive advantage. It also means they can finetune product and capacity plans by rethinking the implications of commodity risk and monitoring external markets.

Tapping into insights from cash-flow planning analysis, finance teams can adjust their hedging strategies by:

• Addressing foreign exchange risks
• Shifting limit management practices for ad hoc tasks
• Mitigating credit risk within the supply chain
• Reshaping the funding strategy with extended credit lines and new sources of liquidity
• Adjusting the ongoing operating model and updating the existing business continuity plan

4. Respond to the challenge and get ready for what鈥檚 next

Whether running in good financial shape, struggling for profitability, or facing low cash reserves, all mid-sized businesses can become vulnerable to cash-flow instability. It doesn鈥檛 require a global pandemic to experience it.

In the short term, state and federal governments are supporting businesses with emergency loans and payments. But as these forms of business life-support are withdrawn in coming months, organisations will need to find new ways to manage risk, increase resiliency and maintain profitability.

So, how do high-performing finance leaders help their business navigate through times of volatility and financial opportunity? It all comes down to a foundation of timely, meaningful and predictive insight with guidance on the potential implications for financial status, performance and viability.

To find out more about how 51风流can help small and mid-sized businesses, visit .听

The post How SMEs can avoid the cash-flow crunch appeared first on 51风流Australia & New Zealand News Center.

To watch the Procurement Reimagined session with BHP’s Chief Procurement Officer, Sundeep Singh, you can .

The post BHP uses 51风流Ariba to drive deeper into its $20bn spend appeared first on 51风流Australia & New Zealand News Center.

today announced 5 & 5 by 鈥�25, a corporate initiative targeting five per cent of addressable spend[1] with social enterprises and five per cent with diverse businesses by 2025. In setting this target, 51风流aims to inspire organisations around the world to buy more goods and services from purposeful suppliers, making a positive collective impact on the societies they operate in.

Social enterprises are businesses culturally and operationally focused on changing the world. They are similar to other commercially viable businesses, but with three crucial differences: They are founded and governed on the basis of a clear social or environmental mission; they reinvest the majority of their profit back into this mission; and they are majority controlled solely in the interest of this mission. A diverse supplier is a business that is at least 51% owned and operated by an individual or group that is part of a traditionally underrepresented or underserved demographic; such as women-owned businesses, minority-owned business, and indigenous-owned businesses, among others.

Global commitment, Australia leading

The commitment will impact all SAP鈥檚 global markets,听but will initially be focused on听Australia,听the UK and Canada.听Commenting on the announcement,听Victorian Parliamentary Secretary for Jobs and champion of the Victorian Government鈥檚 Social Enterprise Strategy, the Hon Jane Garrett said: 鈥淚t is incredibly exciting to have a leading global company like 51风流helping to transform lives by growing this important sector. We hope to see more partnerships of this kind in future, to further boost Australian social enterprises and Indigenous businesses.鈥�听

According to , an organisation that certifies Australian social enterprises and connects them with business buyers, Australian corporate procurement spend is estimated at more than AUD$600 billion. The World Bank estimates global procurement spend in 2019 was at least AUD$19.85 trillion. By directing even just a small fraction of this spend to certified social enterprises and diverse businesses, organisations have the power to tackle some of the world鈥檚 most pressing social and environmental problems.

Based on early pilots in select markets, 51风流estimates it could direct up to AUD$82.5 million (EUR鈧�50 million) of its global addressable spend per year to social enterprises and diverse suppliers by 2025. In Australia, meeting the commitment would equate to roughly AUD$1.01 million per year directed to local social enterprises and diverse suppliers.

51风流Executive Board member for Customer Success, and recently appointed Global Buy Social Ambassador for Social Enterprise UK, Adaire Fox-Martin announced the 5 & 5 by 鈥�25 initiative at SAP鈥檚 Procurement Reimagined event. 鈥淓very company in every industry needs to procure,鈥� Fox-Martin said. 鈥淲e all need soap in our washrooms, landscaping for our offices, food and drink in our cafeterias, marketing services, office supplies, and even pest control. These and many more are all products and services provided by social enterprises and diverse businesses. This is money we are spending anyway. Why not spend it with suppliers who are delivering social impact as well?鈥�

Procurement with social enterprises

Recent efforts have shown promise. In a pilot in the United Kingdom, 51风流teamed up with Social Enterprise UK in 2019 to define and execute on a social-procurement strategy. Within nine months, 51风流had identified addressable spend of approximately GBP 拢30 million and directed more than 2 per cent of this to over 20 different UK social enterprises.

51风流has since expanded relationships with social enterprise interest organisations in other markets, including a partnership with Social Traders in Australia, to introduce similar programs and further globalise and scale its social procurement efforts.

Mark Daniels, Executive Director, Social Traders says, 鈥淭his pledge is one of the largest of its kind in the world and demonstrates a huge public commitment to social procurement. Our research estimates that for every AUD$1,000,000 spent on social procurement, 7.5 jobs are created for disadvantaged Australians. By encouraging other organisations to participate in this initiative, 51风流Australia will help drive enormous change.鈥�

51风流is also growing its support of potential suppliers through capacity building programs like MovingWorlds鈥� S-GRID (Sustainable Growth of Revenues in International Development}. 鈥淲hat makes this moment in time so pivotal is that inequities and environmental degradation tend to increase after recessions,鈥� said Mark Horoszowski, CEO and co-founder of MovingWorlds, SPC. 鈥淏y investing in social enterprises today, we can help them integrate into the post-COVID recovery to build a more equitable society, while using regenerative business models to address the ongoing environmental crisis.鈥�

Procurement with diverse businesses

51风流Australia already works with a diverse range of social enterprises and indigenous businesses, including:

• Elise Perpetua, Managing Director of organic and sustainable tea supplier The Good Good says, 鈥淲e use business as a force for good by donating 50 per cent of our profits to programs that help disadvantaged kids get access to education. We also partner with the Cerebral Palsy Alliance supported employment division, , to employ Australian workers with disabilities. Our tea is better not only for the employees but for the planet and the community. Our partnership with 51风流represents a great opportunity to create impact at scale in Australia. We hope that more organisations will be inspired to join us on the exciting journey of purposeful procurement, so we drive fast, positive and systemic change together.鈥�

https://youtu.be/PzFOf7Jrr-4

• David Laity, Founder and CEO of online wine retailer Goodwill Wine says, 鈥淔ollowing the Black Saturday bushfires, I lost almost everything. After the humbling support offered by my community, I wanted to start a social enterprise that would allow me to give back. Since our inception we鈥檝e contributed $360,000 to a wide range of charities that support everything from those living in poverty to environmental sustainability, and we’ve done this just by selling great quality听wine. Quite frankly, I鈥檓 amazed by this step from SAP, which is an incredible signal of intent from one of the world鈥檚 biggest companies. If it can inspire even a small proportion of businesses to follow its lead, this commitment will help accelerate a huge number of meaningful social initiatives鈥�.
• Mitchell Ross, Founder and CEO of Indigenous-owned office supplies provider Muru Office Supplies (MOS) says, 鈥淎s a business certified by Supply Nation, we have a strong commitment to supporting Indigenous community projects in the areas of education and employment. 51风流has already placed orders with MOS, which will allow our community programs with partners like IndigiGrow and Mudgin-Gal to deliver even greater social impact. We hope this initiative leads to a step-change in how big businesses think about using procurement as a force for good.鈥�

Procurement with purpose with 51风流Ariba

SAP鈥檚 Ariba Network is the largest business-to-business marketplace in the world, supporting nearly AUD$5 trillion in transactions each year. In partnership with leading social-enterprise and diverse-business interest organisations, the company is opening this network up and connecting corporate-ready purposeful suppliers with more organisations who want to make a difference with their spend.

As part of the 5 & 5 by 鈥�25 initiative, 51风流invites other organisations to begin or accelerate their social-procurement journey based on a simple framework of discovering the right partners, adopting a social procurement strategy, consuming the products and services they procure, and then continuously expanding their base of social enterprises and diverse suppliers.

鈥淭ogether with our customers, partners, diverse suppliers and social enterprises, we have set out to expand social procurement where infrastructure exists and intend to establish the infrastructure and build capacity where it doesn鈥檛,鈥� Fox-Martin added. 鈥淲e invite our entire ecosystem to learn more and take part, join us in this pledge, and help build the pathways and the momentum to realise this ambition and find a better way to grow.鈥�

[1] *Addressable spend (as opposed to total spend) includes only a company鈥檚 orders for goods and services that can be fulfilled by a social enterprise or diverse business. For specific goods and services such as rent, energy, labor, and some professional services, often neither social enterprises nor diverse businesses yet exist that provide them. Estimates based on assessments of SAP鈥檚 own spend suggest that between 10% and 30% of total spend could be designated as addressable spend, depending on country.

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We still face all the same challenges and risks that we did before 鈥� and these cannot be overlooked, pandemic notwithstanding. Case in point: modern slavery.

In August, the Australian government took a big step in reminding us of this. It marked 鈥榃orld Day Against Trafficking in Persons鈥� by launching its much-anticipated online Modern Slavery Statements Register and a new Government Procurement Toolkit.

Assistant Minister for Customs, Community Safety and Multicultural Affairs Jason Wood MP said that the register will provide 鈥淎ustralian consumers, investors and civil society with an unprecedented window into the global supply chains that produce the goods and services we use every day鈥�. Anyone can go online and scrutinise the statements submitted to the register by government agencies and Australian businesses.

The launch of the registry comes one and a half years after The Commonwealth听Modern Slavery Act 2018听entered into force on 1听January 2019, establishing a national Modern Slavery Reporting Requirement. Reporting entities, such as large entities with an annual consolidated revenue of $100 million, the Australian government itself and corporate Commonwealth entities, are expected to use the centralised portal to submit their modern slavery statements.

The annual Modern Slavery Statements called for are designed to encourage the Australian business community to identify and address their modern slavery risks and maintain responsible and transparent supply chains.

A new solution to an old problem

While for some, talk of slavery may feel like an anachronism, this is far from accurate. By the government鈥檚 own estimates, between 2015 and 2017, there were up to 1,900 modern slavery victims in Australia.听听has put the figure at more than 40 million worldwide.

Modern slavery includes human trafficking, slavery, servitude, forced labour, debt bondage and worst forms of child labour. It disproportionately impacts women and girls. More than 70 per cent of modern slavery victims are female. Modern slavery can occur in every industry and sector but some are considered more at risk than others.

Nowhere to hide

Whether you鈥檙e a government agency or a business, getting started on the path to greater transparency and compliance involves a few steps. Review your forced labour policy, segment your supply chain by category and geography, monitor continuously for risk signals, design a risk assessment and controls framework, remediate identified risks and automate assessment processes.

The reality is that many government agencies and businesses don鈥檛 have the tools required to keep track of the risks in their extended supply chains due to the herculean task of data aggregation.

Transparency through tech

To effectively meet the mandatory reporting criteria under the Modern Slavery Act, executives must adopt a technology-led approach in order to accurately monitor and track their supply chains. This is critical to ensuring that unfair and abusive practices haven鈥檛 crept into second and third-tier suppliers in the supply chain.

Technology platforms like digital business networks provide newfound visibility into supply chains, enabling organisations to quickly and easily evaluate trading partners against huge volumes of data points, determine their exposure to risk and make more informed decisions. This provides buyers the opportunity to proactively, instead of reactively, manage these risks.

For example, SAP鈥檚 cloud-based Ariba Network, where more than 3.46 trillion US dollars-worth of business-to-business transactions happen annually, currently gathers third-party data from over half a million data sources. This includes whether a potential trading partner keeps its supply chain clear of forced labour and has a record of responsible environmental stewardship.

With these data points in hand, how businesses and government agencies interpret the data to mitigate their reputational, financial and environmental risks will be critical. Organisations must make sure they are making way for staff charged to turn these insights into meaningful action.

The same technology can give organisations both the supply chain visibility needed to become compliant, and much needed awareness and flexibility at a time when supply chain resilience is more important than ever. The outcome from acting on these insights is not just a legal and ethical requirement, but it is also proven that doing good is great for business as consumer demands are rising. With government spending always under extra scrutiny, it is vital for government agencies to lead the way.

A reputational chain reaction

While it may have been unspoken, there has been a view that 鈥榳hat happens in the supply chain stays in the supply chain鈥�. But this simply will not do in today鈥檚 environment. Those that fail to recognise this can expect to pay the price for complacency through lost reputation, revenue, challenges retaining talent and legal action. However, acting on this, taking a stand and driving change in everyday people鈥檚 lives will be rewarded by consumers.

Expect the 鈥渨indow鈥� that the Modern Slavery Act and register provide to create a technology-fuelled 鈥渞ace to reputation鈥� that will not only drive compliance but also broader organisational resilience and a more equitable society.

To hear more about how to use technology to improve your supply chain, register for 51风流Ariba’s , featuring BHP, Woolworths, ANZ Bank and more.

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