Author

Dan Brightmore

Published

1 August 2025

Estimated Read time

5Mins

Read in brochure format

FinTech Strategy meets Ishtiaq M Ahmed, Senior Product Manager – Emerging Tech, Innovation & Ventures at HSBC, to learn more about the future of payments – real-time, cross-border and beyond

Financial Transformation Summit 2025 EXCLUSIVE

At the Financial Transformation Summit 2025, Ishtiaq M Ahmed, HSBC’s Senior Product Manager, for Emerging Technology, Innovation & Ventures, joined a panel with J.P. Morgan, Revolut, Lloyds and EY to explore how real-time payments, embedded finance and global collaboration are shaping the future of financial services. How are real-time payments reshaping banking infrastructure? What are the regulatory challenges for cross-border payments? How can banks compete with FinTechs in the rapidly evolving payments space? How are digital wallets and mobile payment platforms changing consumer spending behaviours?

We spoke with Ishtiaq after the session to explore what drives HSBC’s approach to innovation, how customer expectations are evolving, and why trust remains at the core of transformation.

Hi Ishtiaq, tell us about your role at HSBC?

“I work on Global Product within HSBC’s Emerging Technology, Innovation & Ventures team. Our focus is to deliver next-generation propositions, particularly across payments, embedded finance and frontier technologies. We work on horizon 2 and 3 initiatives, with a view to turning emerging ideas into viable, scalable solutions. The goal isn’t just to experiment. It’s to test, validate and shape innovations that will help us serve customers better and redefine how financial services operate in the years ahead.”

It’s a transformational time for payments with the rise of open banking and a national vision for the UK. Give us your overview…

“Payments is possibly the most loved area by both FinTechs and banks. A lot of what is happening in payments, it’s where a lot of meaningful innovation is already landing. It’s no longer theory or ideation, its practical and accelerating. The UK’s National Payments Vision is ambitious, and rightly so. But ambition needs alignment. We need stronger collaboration between Banks, FinTechs, Regulators and infrastructure service providers. This journey will take time and coordination. It’s more a marathon than a sprint, and we’re only just getting started.”

Why is this an exciting time for HSBC?

“Simply because the way technology has penetrated our lives and the influence of technology on how banking is evolving are very closely knitted. Technology is no longer on the edges of banking; it’s embedded in every customer interaction.”

“The shift towards alternative payment methods is one I feel strongly about. For decades, the path was linear: cash to cheque to card. Now, we’re entering a new chapter. Pay by Bank, or direct account-to-account payment, is gaining traction. Some regions have already scaled it. In the UK, it’s about to accelerate. This trend will unlock lower costs, faster movement of money and better control for users. It’s not just about technology. It’s about user experience and future-ready infrastructure.”

What other pain points are your customers experiencing that you need to address? What are they asking you for help with? How are you meeting the challenge?

“I think for customers it’s very simple. As a customer myself, I look for speed, ease, and simplicity in everything that I do. That’s universal. But what makes it complex today is the influence of AI, automation and data. People want innovation, but not at the expense of trust. So, while we innovate, we keep trust as the anchor. The real test is whether customers can do more, faster and easier, while still feeling their money is protected and their experience is safe. That’s the balance we aim to strike.”

Tell us about a recent success story…

“We’re particularly proud of the work we’re doing on embedded payments. The goal is to make payments feel invisible – integrated into the environment the customer is already in. Whether that’s a retail website, a social app or a business platform, customers shouldn’t have to toggle across apps to complete a payment. We have already launched products in this space, and we’re continuing to build. It’s about making banking ambient – present where the customer is, not where the bank wants them to be.”

Why do you think the evolution of collaboration between banks and FinTechs is set to continue? What are you excited about?

“FinTechs bring urgency and imagination. Banks bring trust, infrastructure and scale. The opportunity is not in competing, but in co-creating. We have seen some encouraging partnerships, and we’re still working at the surface level. There’s a much deeper layer of value if we can move beyond tactical deals into genuine joint innovation.”

Why Financial Transformation Summit? What is it about this particular event that makes it the perfect place to embrace innovation? What’s the response been like for HSBC?

“Events like this are important because they bring together different voices with a shared interest in shaping the future. What stood out to me is how open the audience and panellists are to challenging ideas and exploring new perspectives. These are places where real conversations happen; where you meet regulators, banks, FinTechs and enablers all under one roof. It’s these intersections that move the industry forward.”

Learn more at ventures.hsbc.com

About HSBC Emerging Technology, Innovation & Ventures

HSBC Emerging Technology, Innovation & Ventures team is a global group of technologists, data scientists and venture specialist dedicated to shaping the banks future capabilities. Our goal is to deliver world class digital-first banking across HSBC’s global footprint.

Our mission is to drive meaningful innovation across the organisation by identifying and unlocking opportunities that enhance customer experience, improve operational efficiency and embrace disruptive technologies.

Our approach is rooted in experimentation, rapid prototyping, continuous iteration. By working closely with both internal and internal partners and external collaborators, we test and refine new ideas, prioritising solution that are scalable, impactful and aligned with the needs of our customers.

We actively partner with leading technology firms, FintTechs, academic institutions and policy makers to stay at the forefront of digital innovation and accelerate time to market.

By combining the scale, trust and resilience of HSBC with agility and mindset of a tech start-up, we aim to nurture transformative ideas, drive strategic innovation and shape the future of banking.

  • Digital Payments
  • Events
  • Together in Events

Author

Dan Brightmore

Published

31 July 2025

Estimated Read time

7Mins

Read in brochure format

FinTech Strategy speaks with Matt Bazley, Account Executive at Hyland, to explore how the content intelligence and process automation specialists are helping to drive operational efficiencies for their financial services clients

Financial Transformation Summit 2025 EXCLUSIVE

Hyland empowers organisations with unified content, process and applications intelligence solutions, unlocking the profound insights that fuel innovation. The Hyland team was at Financial Transformation Summit to reveal the ways organisations can transform their processes with the Hyland Content Innovation Cloud™. By combining AI-powered automation with built-in integrations to productivity tools and business applications, Hyland streamlines workflows across multiple channels, accelerating response times, boosting productivity and improving customer satisfaction.

At the event, Neil Rayment, Sales Solution Engineer, demonstrated the intuitive end-user experience and showed how easy it is to configure, tailor and deploy solutions that can empower key stakeholders across any business. We spoke to Hyland’s Matt Bazley, Account Executive for Financial Services, to find out more…

Hi Matt, tell us about your role at Hyland?

“I’m the Account Executive responsible for banking across the UK and Ireland. I’ve been with the company for just over 18 months. Across my career, I’ve been helping financial services institutions for over 15 years with digital transformations and various programmes.”

What are the key digital transformation solutions Hyland offers Financial Services organisations? How are they making a difference? What are some of the use cases you’re exploring?

“Hyland is at the cutting edge of the content space. We have what we call our Content Innovation Cloud, which is delivering content intelligence, process intelligence and application intelligence. What that means in reality is that we’re helping organisations get access to their content that they don’t currently have access to because it’s spread over many siloed systems and sat in an unstructured format. So, with our content and intelligence, we’re able to get access to that unstructured data, which is around about 80% of an organisation’s data in the financial services sector. And we’re able to then provide knowledge and insight on that content, which helps organisations to make better strategic decisions. Allied to that, with this process intelligence, we’re able to help automate processes across the business. Whether it be orchestrating use cases and workflows or integrating with other systems to deliver application intelligence, we’re able to manage that whole end-to-end life cycle of information across an organisation.”

Why is this an exciting time for the business?

“We’re excited because our strategy is really leading the way. We’re leveraging large language models (LLMs) and AI to be able to deliver these real-life use cases that solve actual challenges. A lot of the time AI projects fail because businesses are trying to implement AI that isn’t actually a solution solving a problem. Whereas the AI we’re using is to actually solve a real-life challenge that businesses face because they want to be hyper-personalised for customers and more customer-centric. And you can’t really do that if you’re only leveraging 20% of the data you hold about your customers. And that’s why getting access and insight around this unstructured data is really vital for financial services organisations right now. We are able to help them leverage that unstructured data and meet them where their data is at. So, it’s not a case of having to migrate all of that data into different platforms or into our platform. We confederate across your information wherever it’s held as a financial services organisation; and that’s really a game-changing position for us and for the industry.”

“AI is the big one. Although it is a bit of a buzzword that everyone’s mentioning nowadays, we’re actually delivering AI solutions to solve problems that businesses face. And that’s one of the real trends in the industries. Most AI projects fail, and companies want AI projects that succeed and deliver real value. The other thing we’re seeing is the rise of hyper-personalisation as part of being really customer-focused and customer-centric. Again, by helping businesses leverage that 80% of information around their customers that they don’t currently have access to, and provide insights on that information, we’re helping those organisations to become really specific and personalised in their dealings with their customers.

“The final piece is around data and governance. So, security around our data as customers, because we’re all consumers at heart and want to know that our information is secure. Using best-in-class processes around security and governance is what we’re really focused on. And that’s a real trend in the market as well. We’re making sure that while we’re leveraging that information about customers, we’re keeping it safe and only using it for what it’s intended for and making sure the processes and governance around that information are really robust.”

What other pain points are clients in the FS space experiencing that you need to address? What are they asking you for help with? How are you meeting the challenge?

“The one big one is the siloed information across multiple systems as part of digital transformation strategies. Over the years, I’ve seen many businesses implement point solutions. They might be best-in-class point solutions… But that means you end up with information and data and processes across 10, 15 or 20 systems. How do you then unify that data and leverage it to make the user journeys more effective? And also the customer journeys better, whatever channel those customers are using?

“What we see is that while trying to be omnichannel for their customers, organisations end up with multiple solutions. One for their mobile app, a solution for their website, a solution for in-branch banking… So, you end up with omnichannel processes that are actually siloed processes. What we are trying to help businesses do is to unify those processes. We can break down those silos and make it a really seamless, integrated journey internally and externally for colleagues and customers.”

Tell us about a recent success story …

“A great example is our work with ABN AMRO – a bank that is one of our longstanding and valued customers. They were looking for a solution because of this very challenge. The bank had multiple siloed systems holding a lot of information and a very complex architecture. They went to market and Hyland was able to prove our solution was able to manage the sheer volume and complexity of the information and content that they had. And most importantly we were able to help them integrate with their line-of-business systems very easily to create that seamless internal/external journey for both users and customers.”

What’s next for Hyland? What future launches and initiatives are you particularly excited about?

“It’s all about continuing to grow for us. With the Content Innovation Cloud, the reception we’ve received from the market, from our customers, has been absolutely tremendous. Businesses are so excited to see the ability and capability of what we’re able to do. And what we’re able to deliver for them in terms of real value through the Content Innovation Cloud. We’ve got customers onboarded already. It’s now about expanding that list of customers who are going to see real value from leveraging the cloud, our AI solutions and driving efficiencies with our content process and application intelligence across their businesses.”

Why do you think the evolution of collaboration between banks and FinTechs is set to continue? What are you excited about?

“Across the market over the last 15-20 years the banks are starting to see FinTechs more as allies than competitors. And they’re leveraging these technologies rather than trying to challenge them. I think that’s going to continue because FinTechs are far more agile. And as customer expectations continue to evolve and become more demanding, banks need to evolve and deal with these demands more effectively and more fluidly. And that’s why leveraging FinTechs is going to be a key differentiator over the next 10 years. That trend is going to continue where banks and FinTechs work together and collaborate rather than challenge each other.”

Why Financial Transformation Summit? What is it about this particular event that makes it the perfect place to embrace innovation? What’s the response been like for Hyland?

“It’s my fourth year coming here with a couple of different companies and I always find this event really valuable. Not only to obviously promote our products and our brand… But to speak to key decision-makers and peers across financial services. We aim to learn from them about whether the challenges we perceive as a vendor are seen by them as a customer. We will continue to learn and evolve our business around key market challenges. Hyland can then focus our solutions around the real-world problems our peers are seeing across financial services. Coming to this event is a great way to meet as many people as possible. And just really enjoy having those meaningful conversations with leaders in the financial services sector.”

Learn more at hyland.com

About Hyland

Hyland puts your content to work, making it smarter and more accessible in the moment of need.

Hyland’s content, process and application intelligence solutions empower customers to deliver exceptional experiences to those they serve. The solutions capture, process and manage high volumes of diverse content, helping you improve, accelerate and automate operational decisions and workflows.

3 Core enterprise content management solutions

20+ Distinct product offerings

1,000s of ways to transform the way you work

  • Artificial Intelligence in FinTech
  • Events
  • Together in Events

Author

Dan Brightmore

Published

24 April 2025

Estimated Read time

2Mins

HBX Group eWallet incorporates advanced features such as integrated financing, access to invoices and complete traceability of transactions

HBX Group, a leading independent B2B travel technology marketplace has launched the HBX Group eWallet. This innovative B2B payments platform is specifically designed for the travel industry. The product has been developed in collaboration with FinPay, an e-money institution regulated by the Bank of Spain. It will be initially available in Spain in April 2025, with plans to expand to OECD countries starting in June.

B2B eWallet

A B2B eWallet is a digital solution that allows companies to securely store and manage payments quickly, and efficiently. Operating similarly to a digital wallet for consumers, it is designed to facilitate instant, cross-border transactions between companies. HBX Group eWallet, developed specifically for the travel industry, goes a step further. It incorporates advanced features such as integrated financing, invoice access, and full transaction traceability. Its aim is to digitise and automate B2B payments, reduce transaction costs, and improve the operational scalability of the travel ecosystem.

“HBX Group eWallet represents a decisive step toward modernising B2B payments in the travel ecosystem,” says Daniel Nordholm, chief product and new business officer at HBX Group. “We want to set a new standard for efficiency and security in the sector. The partnership with FinPay allows us to achieve this with a solution tailored to the industry’s needs.”

“This collaboration with HBX Group leverages the full potential of financial technology applied to real-world business contexts,” says Juan Antonio Soriano, CEO of FinPay. “FinPay represents a breakthrough in the digitalisation of B2B payments and financing. And we are proud to be the technology partner making it possible.”

Registration on the platform implies acceptance of the terms and conditions of FinPay, the entity responsible for the payment and financing services integrated into the solution.

About HBX Group

HBX Group is a leading global independent B2B travel technology marketplace. It owns and operates Hotelbeds, Bedsonline, and Roiback. It offers a network of interconnected travel technology products and services to partners. These include online marketplaces, tour operators, travel advisors, airlines, loyalty programmes, destinations and travel suppliers.

The vision is to simplify the complex and fragmented travel industry through a combination of cloud-based technology solutions. This includes curated data and a broad portfolio of products designed to maximise revenue. HBX Group is present in 170 countries and employs more than 3,600 people worldwide. It is committed to making travel a force for good, creating a positive social and environmental impact.

  • Digital Payments

Author

Dan Brightmore

Published

15 October 2024

Estimated Read time

2Mins

SemFi by HSBC will deliver innovative embedded finance solutions for businesses

HSBC has launched its new jointly owned venture, SemFi by HSBC. It aims to deliver Seamless Embedded Finance solutions to business clients.

The new technology company is a joint venture between HSBC and B2B global trade network Tradeshift. Furthermore, SemFi will embed HSBC payment, trade and financing solutions across a range of e-commerce and marketplace venues, including Tradeshift’s own B2B network.

SemFi will deliver its solutions in the UK to begin with. Furthermore, it will enable SME suppliers on e-commerce venues to access digital invoice financing from HSBC. Via a seamless experience it also aims to offer SMEs greater flexibility and security in their spend management through the bank’s virtual card solutions.

SemFi by HSBC

“Businesses are increasingly looking for seamless financial solutions that are embedded within their e-commerce journeys. So they can access these when and where they need them.

“SemFi by HSBC aims to deliver such embedded capabilities to help businesses grow. It will seek to bring the best of both worlds to our business customers and e-commerce partners. A startup technology mindset coupled with the global scale and expertise, of an international bank.”

Vinay Mendonca, Chief Executive Officer

The new venture is led by senior leadership drawn from HSBC. This includes Vinay Mendonca as CEO and Shehan Silva as Chief Operating Officer (COO). Additionally, Jo Miyake, Interim CEO of Global Commercial Banking, joins the SemFi board.

HSBC has been steadily building its capabilities and presence in embedded finance. It is driven by business customers seeking connected financial journeys to e-commerce venues.

  • HSBC supports around 1.3 million businesses worldwide. Moreover, it is the world’s largest trade bank, facilitating over $800 billion of trade flows annually.
  • Tradeshift supports over $260 billion of annual gross merchandise value for a million business users on its platform.
  • The global embedded finance market is estimated to be worth USD 82.48 billion in 2023  It is predicted to grow by 35% on annual basis over the next five years.
  • SemFi is intended to be a technology company and will not operate as a banking entity. Clients will be onboarded by the bank and the bank’s balance sheet will be leveraged for financing.
  • Embedded Finance

Author

Sean Galea-Pace

Published

8 May 2024

Estimated Read time

8Mins

Anthony Payne, Chief Marketing Officer of HICX, tells us how working collaboratively with suppliers on sustainable procurement practices could act as an organisation’s competitive advantage.

Sustainability isn’t just a ‘nice to have’ anymore – businesses don’t have much of a choice in the world of 2024.

With ESG regulations now locked in place, organisations must comply or risk significant penalties. In order to achieve sustainability objectives more effectively and efficiently, collaborating with suppliers represents a real opportunity to get there faster.

When businesses work with suppliers to reach sustainability goals, they need access to the most accurate supplier data possible. However, obtaining this data isn’t necessarily straightforward. Ultimately, suppliers own it and need to provide it.

This means it is in a business’s interest to form and maintain a great working relationship with suppliers.

Anthony Payne, Chief Marketing Officer of HICX, the supplier experience platform, discusses the benefits of being supplier-centric and how giving brands a better experience adds value to organisations.

Anthony Payne: “There is a direct link. A good supplier experience makes it easier to communicate with suppliers because it allows for collaboration, whereas the opposite can harm communication efforts. For example, when businesses need ESG information, many will survey a broad group of suppliers even though the questions don’t apply to everyone. This is easier for the business. But it means every supplier who receives the survey must investigate whether it applies to them. The experience is more likely to frustrate suppliers than to help them offer the best information.

“Rather, we can help suppliers to help us by communicating better. The way forward is to segment suppliers into groups and send them only relevant requests. This creates a more positive experience in which suppliers are better able to provide helpful information.”

What about their motivation to help sustainability efforts – does this also rely on supplier experience?

Anthony Payne: “Yes, because if the culture of the business-supplier relationship is one in which each party looks out for themselves, then suppliers won’t be terribly motivated to offer the most helpful ESG information. It’s just human nature. Whereas if a business creates an environment in which suppliers can collaborate with them, then they’re more likely to become a customer-of-choice. This is a status worth having. A recent HICX survey showed that while 49% of suppliers would go the extra mile for their biggest customer, as many as 73% would make the effort if this was a customer-of-choice.

“Ultimately, if businesses give their suppliers a good experience, then more suppliers should be willing to provide helpful ESG information – even if it means spending a bit more effort.”

Anthony Payne, Chief Marketing Officer of HICX

What are some of your most effective strategies and best practices to building a future-proof ESG framework?

Anthony Payne: “Businesses can futureproof their ESG frameworks by viewing suppliers as value-adding partners. This principle suggests three ways to engage suppliers…

“First, have a corporate mindset in which every employee views every supplier as a valued partner. If COVID-19 taught us anything it’s how much we rely on suppliers. When the pandemic hit, non-strategic suppliers such as providers of IT equipment and protective personal equipment suddenly became as central to operations as those who supplied the main ingredients. If we take the view that ‘all suppliers matter’, then it becomes easier to treat them all as partners in the same eco-system and we can work together towards common goals.

“Then, through this lens, we can market to suppliers. In customer marketing, a business would require a certain action from customers – such as getting them to buy a product, read a newsletter or attend an event – and so would motivate this behaviour. Similarly, in procurement, we can appeal to suppliers in a way that encourages them to participate in ESG activities, for instance, by providing helpful carbon emission information. 

“One way to encourage the desired behaviour with suppliers is to segment them into the appropriate categories and send them only necessary messages. This is what a marketer would do with customers. By viewing suppliers as partners and introducing supplier marketing and segmentation, you can improve suppliers’ experience and get the most from them.”

What are the biggest barriers that organisations face to delivering more sustainable practices within their organisations?

Anthony Payne: “Once supplier data has been captured, however, the challenge continues because it must be maintained as a golden source of truth. Not having accurate supplier data is a major barrier to delivering sustainable practices because it means that businesses cannot see who all their suppliers are and what they’re doing. 

“Thankfully, with robust onboarding and data management in place, businesses can keep their supplier data up-to-date and accurate so that it can inform good sustainability decisions.”

What is the best way for procurement teams to assess and prioritise the suppliers they work with? How do you juggle environmental impact vs value to company?

Anthony Payne: “The best way to assess and prioritise suppliers is to have visibility. Businesses need to know who all their suppliers are and what they’re doing, at any given time. Only once leaders are informed, can they make the best environmental decisions.

“It’s imperative to manage environmental impact with suppliers, regardless of how much value they bring a company. Apart from the moral obligation to protect the environment, businesses also have their reputations to consider. An environmental infringement that gets exposed – no matter how deep in the supply chain it might occur – is very likely to cause reputational damage, which can have a knock-on effect on sales and share price. 

“In addition to brand reputation, businesses can also face expensive fines, if their suppliers are found to fall short of environmental regulations.”

Anthony Payne, Chief Marketing Officer of HICX

What are the challenges and opportunities when it comes to supplier diversity?

Anthony Payne: “The challenge is to source the right suppliers in the first instance and then be able to report on their activity. We know that finding diverse suppliers in the UK can be difficult. While the US market is more mature, supplier diversity is growing here. Considering this, many suppliers that could qualify as “diverse” are not yet certified. Additionally, when diverse suppliers are indeed certified, there is no guarantee that their skillsets will match your needs. 

“Thankfully there are ways in which businesses can proactively grow their networks of diverse suppliers. For starters, leaders can equip people within the organisation who work with suppliers, to find diverse suppliers by educating them and putting policies in place. Further, there are practical steps one can follow – such as defining the criteria for what qualifies a supplier as diverse in various territories and then finding the right businesses by searching online directories, desktop research and asking for recommendations.

“Once suppliers that are considered to be diverse are indeed found, they bring much value. Apart from being able to make a positive sustainability impact, the expectations of regulators, shareholders and consumers can be met. The by-product of this is a positive reputation which has economic benefits. 

“The opposite logic also applies, and failing to capture supplier diversity value becomes a missed opportunity. For instance, when third-party expectations to support supplier diversity are missed, this can damage brand reputation which hurts sales figures and share price. Also, the unique offerings that diverse suppliers can offer will be missed, and with it the chance to make an impact. Therefore, it’s sensible to make the most of the diverse suppliers that you worked so hard to find.”

Do you have any tips for readers who want to make the most of the diverse suppliers they have sourced?

Anthony Payne: “Yes, you can start by knowing that it’s possible to make the most of the diverse suppliers you find. You can do this by following a stepped approach. 

“Start by onboarding new suppliers who are considered ‘diverse’ with processes that reliably capture their information. This way, your diversity programmes can be well-informed. It’s hugely valuable to be able to tell, at the touch of a button, where a particular supplier might be based. Also, what qualifies them as ‘diverse’? And while they might hold diversity status today, how can we be sure it still applies tomorrow? 

“With all the right information collected at the start of each relationship, then it’s a good idea to instill processes that drive everyone who works with suppliers to spend more with those who are considered as diverse. As more diverse suppliers join the organisation, then you need to keep their data accurate. Do this by digitally transforming the procurement landscape to make master data a priority. With robust processes, it’s possible to maximise your relationships with all suppliers.”

How optimistic are you about the future of ESG within procurement?

Anthony Payne: “I am very optimistic about the future of ESG within procurement, because, we’re seeing the supplier experience movement grow in the UK and the US. For instance, we’re seeing new job roles come out in this area as the principle is popularised. And we know that having good Supplier Experience Management programmes in place sets up business to procure in the most ESG-friendly way possible. 

“And so, with Supplier Experience Management becoming increasingly popular, we believe that the future for sustainability is bright.”

Read the latest CPOstrategy here!

Author

Sean Galea-Pace

Published

7 February 2024

Estimated Read time

5Mins

Costas Xyloyiannis, CEO of HICX, discusses why it’s time for leaders to take a fresh view of the data problem, and plan to reduce emissions.

The start of the year is a good time for business leaders to consider their progress against net zero commitments. It also nudges us nearer to carbon-cutting milestones, the nearest of which is in 2030. By this time, businesses across the globe need to have halved their carbon emissions. So, if they haven’t already, now is the time to step up delivery.

But first, there’s a barrier to overcome. Behind every credible net zero win, is credible carbon data. The problem is it’s in very low supply. Good data relies on good emissions information from suppliers, and securing it is notoriously difficult.

As 2024 gets off to a start, it’s time for leaders to take a fresh view of the data problem, and plan to notably reduce emissions. To enable net zero success, we can assess supplier relations in three areas: the power play, digital processes, and a principle that works tremendously well in marketing.

Suppliers are in the power seat

Gone are the days when suppliers view their role as subservient. If the Covid-19 pandemic showed business leaders anything it’s just how much they depend on suppliers – and not just a strategically relevant few. In 2020, we saw non-strategic suppliers, such as PPE and IT providers, become crucial to operations overnight. Since then, businesses have continued to need a broader range of their supplier networks. When further supply chain disruptions brought continued uncertainty, that dependence deepened. Today, as businesses require increasing amounts of carbon information, the fact that we need suppliers is cemented.

Despite this, how big businesses work with their suppliers is often outdated and counter-productive to their goal of gathering good information.

Digital processes are in the Stone Age

Bringing supplier relations into the 2020s will take some serious shifts. First, it’s time to assess the digital processes for managing suppliers, which frankly are not up to the task. A hybrid setup of old and new technology, often poorly integrated, stops procurement teams and their suppliers from communicating well. It causes other friction too, like logging in and out of multiple tools just to perform simple tasks, a headache for both parties.

Additionally, the various tools are data traps. Every time a supplier uses a tool, it collects and stores their data. Siloed in this way, supplier data can quickly become duplicated and outdated, because it’s difficult to maintain. Unreliable master data is no good at fuelling automated workflows, and so procurement teams get stuck with manual processes.

These clunky manual processes together with the frustrating communication methods are not a recipe for successful relations. Given that businesses lean so heavily upon suppliers to receive data for carbon reporting, it’s fair to say that the approach to supplier relationships must change.

Friction is building

When starting a business relationship, most suppliers don’t sign up for this level of friction. What they expect is to put in their first purchase order, deliver their first product, send their first invoice, and repeat. In a perfect world, they will simply transact and renew.

In practice, however, the relationship is not so simple. Businesses need more from suppliers than just transacting – for one, they need a significant amount of information for compliance and innovation reasons and of course on carbon activity. So, businesses send their suppliers an abundance of information requests.

Suppliers, then, who simply want to transact, must field these requests. Further bugbears such as manual processes, disparate ProcureTech setups and poor communication practices, make it difficult to respond. A recent Supplier Experience survey found that over a third of suppliers are expected to login to 10 or more systems, nearly half struggle to resolve queries with their biggest customers, and 61% find it challenging to do their best work. Yet, while suppliers don’t find the situation productive, it continues. Why? Because businesses need their carbon information.

Suppliers want a partnership

An important consideration is that suppliers have agency. When they have limited stock or an idea, they can choose who gets it. When it comes to making the effort to dig up vital carbon information they have a choice. This isn’t to say that suppliers purposefully hold information back. This would be unlikely because they too want the relationship to work. But when they are swamped trying to fulfil their original mandates whilst figuring out complex tech and deciphering information requests, the little time and energy they do have to provide information might well go to a customer-of-choice.

It’s no different in the consumer world, where shoppers decide which brands to buy from. Businesses can’t force consumers to buy from them, so marketing teams get involved and work their magic. They encourage people to spend their hard-earned, limited money on products which they may or may not need, by showing them value, often in the form of an emotional appeal.

Similarly, businesses can’t force suppliers to spend their limited time giving carbon information. But they can sweeten the experience. There’s an opportunity, therefore, for Procurement teams who manage suppliers to change things up. Rather than bombarding suppliers with information requests that they will struggle to fulfil, they can borrow the principle of ‘encouragement’ from Marketing. Procurement can show value to suppliers, according to what’s important to them, with the view to receive value in return. 

So, as we start a new year, business leaders can take a fresh perspective on how suppliers are engaged. By understanding the dependence on suppliers, this relationship can be improved. Ultimately, by viewing suppliers as partners, simplifying digital processes and “marketing” to them, business leaders can lay the groundwork for net zero.

By Costas Xyloyiannis, CEO of HICX

Author

Sean Galea-Pace

Published

18 December 2023

Estimated Read time

2Mins

The HS2 rail project promises over 300 work packages, ranging from £1 million to £500 million for 2024.

The 2024 procurement pipeline for the HS2 rail project promises a £1 billion “boost” for British businesses, as the project administrators reveal details for a slew of contracts available over the coming year and a half.

The contract opportunities, collectively worth over £1 billion, give a heads up to potential suppliers looking to boost their order books and grow their business in the year ahead. So far, UK businesses have secured over £17 billion worth of work on HS2 and 2024 promises even more opportunities to get involved.

“Forward planning is absolutely crucial for businesses, so we’ve worked closely with our stations and civils contractors to develop a simple procurement pipeline setting out what we’ll need and when,” commented Robin Lapish, HS2’s supply chain lead.

HS2 – London with Manchester

HS2—a 140 mile high speed rail network project originally slated to connect London with Manchester—was first announced under the UK’s Labour government in 2009. In the 13 years since its announcement, the project has experienced delays, cost overruns, and controversies. Construction began in September of 2020.

According to the UK’s Institute for Government, while the project was initially estimated as “delivering £2.40 of benefit for each pound of public money spent, the government had revised the BCR down to 1.8 in 2013,” and “Lord Berkeley estimated that HS2 would only deliver £0.66 for each public pound spent, predicting both higher costs – at £22bn more than the 2019 Chairman’s stocktake – significantly reduced benefit from both passenger demand and train frequency, and less ambitious predictions of economic growth.”

As of February 2023, HS2’s total cost to date was calculated at £24.7 billion, and its BCR was calculated as having dropped to .80 following a reduction in rail use after the pandemic—prompting Prime Minister Rishi Sunak to announce the cancellation of the Birmingham to Manchester leg of the line.

Harry Menear

Author

Sean Galea-Pace

Published

5 December 2023

Estimated Read time

5Mins

Anthony Payne, chief marketing officer of HICX, tells us why we won’t reach net zero unless we fix data collection.

As we approach COP28, large manufacturing brands are in the net zero spotlight. It’s been a year since the UN Expert Group released Integrity Matters, a report clarifying the exact metrics brands must meet if they wish to claim net zero success. Those planning to do so, account for around half of the world’s largest listed companies, according to the latest Stocktake, a number which has doubled in the last two and a half years. Despite this momentum, however, brands are slow to implement.

Now, with the conference marking another year closer to the 2050 Paris Agreement and other deadlines, it’s time to step up delivery. What this means is that the strategies behind net zero pledges need a boost.

As a supplier experience evangelist and a marketer, I view this challenge through a different lens. The way in which we engage suppliers to get their data needs significant improvement. And the way forward is to market to suppliers.

A growing conundrum

Most of today’s major brands have expensive procurement technology with which to engage suppliers, technology that has often evolved to be complex, clunky, and hard to use. As a result, supplier adoption of these tools is low, and therefore supplier engagement in projects to cut carbon and provide quality information is low. Brands have the challenge therefore of getting suppliers to adopt their expensive tech and engage in net zero efforts.

Additionally, we’re seeing that what each party expects from the brand-supplier relationship, is misaligned.

Anthony Payne, chief marketing officer of HICX

Suppliers, at the start of the relationship, are highly incentivised to work with a brand and they want to get to three things: the first purchase order, delivery of that first service or product, and payment. From that point, they just want to continue transacting and renewing business. This is their “steady state.”

A brand’s steady state, on the other hand, is more complex. In addition to transactional work, brands need a continuous flow of information around compliance, quality, performance, tax, carbon footprint and an awful lot more. Nowadays, brands also want to be efficient and automated. This brings new technology, whether it’s extensions to established technology or new specialist tools. Of course, with new tools come new processes. 

Suppliers, as we’ve discussed, primarily want to receive orders, deliver on them and be paid. But now, they are also expected to respond to requests for a whole set of information, on a continuous basis. They’re also facing a lot of change in the form of ever-complex technology landscapes and evolving processes – and this isn’t just for one brand, it’s for all their customers and it’s leading to suppliers suffering from what we sometimes call, ‘initiative fatigue.’

The need for brands to collect data is here to stay and it’s time to deal with the thorny issue of how we can get suppliers to adopt the necessary tools and engage in net zero requests.

We need suppliers

Further to this conundrum, brands face something of a basic and rather obvious truth; they need suppliers. For example, brands need suppliers to provide carbon information, ideally using the tech setups that already exist, and they need them to engage in this activity over and above “business as usual”.

Why then, don’t more brands make their suppliers’ lives easier? We’re missing a trick. Let’s flip the way in which we work with suppliers – rather than bombarding suppliers with information requests, let’s encourage them to do what we need.

We can learn from marketing

Let’s turn our attention to another department, one that has had to apply the principle of encouragement rather than force. Marketing cannot force potential customers to buy or adopt a product or service, instead, it engages customers, encouraging them to adopt or buy. This is usually by appealing to a need or emotion.

What’s obvious in the customer-facing world is customers have a choice. For example, as much as I would love to be able to require an audience to buy what we’re selling, to come to our events and read our content, I obviously can’t insist.

This is now, more than ever, the same with suppliers. Like potential customer, suppliers have a choice. The fact that brands need suppliers in order to collect net zero data, gives suppliers more agency. Suppliers now get to exercise choice through their behaviour, and it’s this choice that is absolutely central.

Now don’t get me wrong. It’s not that suppliers want to veto what brands need from them, it’s more that they’re facing too much noise in the form of new technology, information requests and the resulting processes. They’re overwhelmed.

If you want suppliers to engage in your net zero efforts, think differently. Simply piling on more pressure won’t get the best of them. Rather, let’s think more about persuasion and encouragement, and how to show them value. The marketing process involves engaging customers, building strong relationships with them and offering them value, with the purpose of capturing value in return. You’ll see three-quarters of this process is about how we appeal to customers, not the other way around.

If we apply this concept to suppliers, we get a useful way of thinking about the relationship. Why don’t we engage suppliers more, build stronger supplier relationships and create value for them? If marketing is anything to go by, the result will be that we capture value from suppliers – like getting them to complete compliance questionnaires, do forecasts, take part in quality programs and log into (and actually use) those expensive systems.

Rather than trying, in vain, to force suppliers to engage in net zero activity, let’s market to them.

Now, as net zero delivery dates creep closer, brands can empower themselves to step up by stepping into the shoes of suppliers and appealing to them. As we explore new ways of working with suppliers, who knows what solutions could be inspired?

By Anthony Payne, chief marketing officer of HICX, the supplier experience platform

Author

Sean Galea-Pace

Published

4 December 2023

Estimated Read time

4Mins

Costas Xyloyiannis, CEO at HICX, discusses why the time is now for supplier experience in supply chain and procurement and its rise to the top of conversations in the space.

“I feel like the focus is shifting.”

Gone are the days of supplier experience being hidden away in the background. Today, it sits as an increasingly important target area within the procurement and supply chain space. But it hasn’t always been this way.

For Costas Xyloyiannis, CEO at HICX, he is pleased to see supplier experience’s conversation grow. “I’ve been in this space for 23 years and even if we go back three or four years ago, no one was talking about it,” he tells us. “It’s great to see a movement beginning to happen.”

Speaking with CPOstrategy at HICX Supplier Experience Live in Amsterdam, a day before DPW Amsterdam kicked off, he revealed how satisfying it was to see its evolution take place. And clearly there’s a market for it. Scores of people filled the Tobacco Theatre in Amsterdam all eager to listen to the many discussions and speakers attending the half-day event. “It is very satisfying because you see people’s minds changing in the same way that it did for the customer and employee experience,” he explains. “What you have to think about is that almost every company is also a supplier so it’s in your interest to focus on the supplier experience side. In another context, you’re also a supplier and people should understand that we’re all in it together. If you don’t think about solving it, then you’re going to have that pain yourself.”

Driving Supplier Experience

Indeed, it’s an issue that needs solving. Xyloyiannis explains that not understanding the necessity of supplier experience is a common misconception because it affects everyone in different ways. “Sales and marketing are the ones likely to understand what it means to be a supplier but they’re detached from the problem,” he says. “They are probably going into a portal and filling things in many times, it’s just not procurement doing it so that’s why they can’t make the connection. What we all need to realise is that focusing on supplier experience is in all of our interest. Ultimately, you have to think it’s just the right way of solving a problem because I create efficiency for myself and I’m also a supplier.”

HICX Supplier Experience Live in Amsterdam in October 2023

Xyloyiannis goes on to explain that if the focus is on supplier experience, an opportunity has been presented to create net efficiency – which is a massive win for all. “This benefits everyone because it’s not a zero-sum game,” he says. “If you think about business cases of other solutions, it’s we’re going to fire people and cut headcount. If I take the US government example of 150 million a year to DNB, this would’ve been a saving they would make without impacting any other functions internally. No heads would have to be cut; nothing would have to be outsourced. In a way, it’s free money for everyone when you can create net efficiency.”

Moving forward

Today’s Chief Procurement Officer has a lot on their plate. Amid navigating continuous innovation and transformation, ESG’s ever-increasing influence and battling inflation concerns all on the back of an already disruptive few years, procurement finds itself at an interesting moment. But looking ahead to 2024, supplier experience has its seat at the table and will only become a hotter topic in the years to come, according to Xyloyiannis.

“A lot of leading companies are putting huge amounts of focus on it,” he tells us. “Henkel posted on LinkedIn last year that they were driving their whole strategy around supplier experience. Then you’ve got Heineken and Unilever who are getting more involved in the space too. I think it is very much at the forefront, particularly in companies which produce goods and services. Supply chain has become very global and there’s a benefit to outsourcing and all these things, but it does make it very fragile. That’s why now it’s become important to focus on supplier experience because we have such a high dependency on one another.”

Author

Sean Galea-Pace

Published

23 October 2023

Estimated Read time

4Mins

CPOstrategy visits HICX’s first Supplier Experience Live as organisations gear up to remove friction and become a customer of choice.

Supplier experience has never been such a hot topic.

After decades in the darkness, the importance of supplier experience is finally on the agenda.

Truthfully, success can’t be achieved alone. Without happy, committed and strategic supplier relationships, a business will stagnate. And now, organisations are waking up to the potential a robust supplier base could unlock.

The rise of Supplier Experience

Earlier this month, HICX launched its first-ever Supplier Experience Live the day before DPW Amsterdam. Hosted at the Tobacco Theatre in Amsterdam, it was recognised as an official DPW Amsterdam side event. The event’s vision was to help organisations use supplier experience to remove friction and become a customer-of-choice.

The half-day event began with a welcome from Ragnar Lorentzen, Chief Commercial Officer at HICX, who opened the door to the world of supplier experience and the market developments that have led the way. Lorentzen handed over to the first keynote speech from Dr. Elouise Epstein who explained that the ERP system was dead. Epstein suggested that the solution could be how well you exchange data with third parties.

Following Epstein was a panel discussion that featured Ruth Bromley, Director of Procurement Enablement at Heineken, Adam Hubbard, Senior Manager of Supply Chain, Governance and Performance at EDF which was moderated by Tommy Benston, VP of Global Client Management at HICX. The conversation advised of ways to gain a competitive advantage in procurement and supply chain through supplier experience management. Bromley highlighted three key learnings: speed, standardisation and simplicity, believing in a “single source of truth”.

Dr. Elouise Epstein
Dr. Elouise Epstein

Driving supplier adoption

Later, Anthony Payne, CMO at HICX, discussed how to drive supplier adoption and engagement through supplier marketing. Payne explained the value of segmentation which is the process of dividing the market into subsets of customers who share similar characteristics. Payne equipped the audience with six recommendations to take forward and advised them to use caution with the language they use with suppliers. Following the coffee break was Duncan Jones, former Vice President and Principal Analyst at Forrester Research, who unpacked the reality of how to decide on the correct types of solutions in the new best-of-breed era amidst a transition away from the traditional database-centric approach.

The afternoon continued with a panel discussion involving Marc Bengio, Senior Director and Head of Technology Enterprise Procurement at Johnson & Johnson, Lance Younger, CEO at ProcureTech and Jacy Bassett, VP of Professional Services, to explore the topic “Demystifying the technology landscape: How do you architect for Supplier Experience?” Each speaker gave their viewpoint on how to arm the procurement function of tomorrow to meet the challenge of an ever-changing digital world. The conversation offered guidance and counsel amid an explosion of transformative solutions in the space.

Costas Xyloyiannis, CEO at HICX
Costas Xyloyiannis, CEO at HICX

Bright future

Finally, Costas Xyloyiannis, CEO at HICX, took to the stage to announce the launch of IUBN which he explained was a streamlined way to identify legal entities in a bid to create net efficiency within the supply chain. One system, one time, everywhere.

Speaking exclusively to CPOstrategy at the event, Xyloyiannis told us, “It’s pretty significant running an event like this. I’ve been in the space 23 years, and finally, I feel like the focus is shifting. Two or three years ago no one was talking about supplier experience so it’s great to see a movement starting to happen. It is very satisfying because you see people’s minds changing in the same way that it did for the customer and employee experience.

“What you have to think about is that almost every company is also a supplier so it’s in your interest to focus on the supplier experience side. In another context, you’re also a supplier and people should understand that we’re all in it together. If you don’t think about solving it, then you’re going to have that pain yourself.”

Supplier experience is just getting started. Reimagine the possible.