Efficio
Broadening the Scope and Benefits of Procurement

Despite being a core business function, many enterprises lack comprehensive attention and support for procurement, be it in terms of the talent, understanding of the success drivers, or investment in tools. There is an intensive need for collaboration and cross-functional alignment for procurement to thrive. Getting the most out of procurement entails evaluating the time- and money-based value proposition that it delivers. One question should always lurk in the minds of CFOs, CIOs and purchasing department managers: “Am I getting enough out of procurement?” And arriving at the right answers involves going beyond renegotiations to looking at total cost elements, business case driven decisions, insights into the business trends and supplier landscape, and correlating these to the maturity of the organization in questions. These are easier said than done, yet better demonstrated by Efficio.

As a sought-after multinational procurement consultancy, Efficio caters to various clients, including blue-chip multinationals, private equity, and SMEs, through offices across North America, Europe, and the Middle East. The company's procurement competencies entail multi-pronged cost-optimization, organization and process transformation, and risk reduction, as well as special expertise in context to M&As. What distinguishes them in the marketplace is their global team of procurement experts delivering not only the strategy, but hands-on negotiations in their client’s most critical spend areas.

“Many companies struggle to articulate their needs and expectations properly. We bring in this expertise by carrying out structured communications with suppliers based on a thorough understanding of the services and products that clients are buying. We address the gap we see between business functions through our fact-based approach with market- and supplier-driven insights and constantly aligning with the business stakeholders.,” says Fabian Bodoky, Principal, Efficio.

Efficio's comprehensive procurement services revolve around identification, delivery, and sustenance. Upon partnering with a client, the company defines, identifies, and seizes ideal procurement opportunities while helping clients with the implementations, ensuring that any transition or change is running smoothly and that it delivers the savings as expected. Efficio then embraces a systematic approach around savings tracking while working around aspects such as contract management, streamlined renewals, and supplier relationship management. The company works closely with clients, almost embedding within their procurement teams, broader stakeholders, and management, the procurement transformation that translates to savings.

“We've also invested a lot of time developing tools that increase productivity, facilitates decision making by helping find answers quicker, and running bids to ultimately make the whole procurement process faster and efficient,” says Jose Oliveira, Vice President, Efficio. The company’s modular platform offering, eFlow, can be customized in tune to specific procurement requirements depending on the clients’ procurement workflows.

Addressing the gap that exist within business functions through market insights, we bring clarity into how spend works, while exploring different deal-closing options by being proactive in the communications that we hold with the suppliers

Oliveira highlights the success story of a multinational SaaS provider whose faulty procurement function lagged the pace of their dynamic business, a shortcoming which they didn't even realize they had. Procurement focused on some OEMs and IT infrastructure providers, while business functions— be it back-end or customer-facing affairs—did their own purchasing. Efficio came in and identified an upfront savings opportunity that amounted to a whopping 30 million dollars – but then delivering savings of more than $40m amounting to more than 10% of the client’s 3rd party spend.

“We agreed to start with a mix of categories, some of which were customer-facing, such as data center infrastructure, for example. There were some internal aspects as well, like procurement related to labor and travel,” recalls Oliveira. The first phase of Efficio’s engagement with the client saw them exceeding the projected savings targets. they subsequently allowed Efficio to look into more complicated categories such as employee benefits or how benefit claims could be handled without compromising on employee experience. Efficio even analyzed their public cloud purchasing and renegotiated a deal with the service provider, generating a win-win situation, which resulted in a lot of savings. Overall, Efficio exceeded the initial savings’ expectation by 60-70 percent while maintaining credibility with the stakeholders. In parallel, Efficio empowered the client's internal procurement team by helping them up their procurement process in a more sustainable and value-bound manner.

What gives Efficio a competitive edge in the market is that they’ve become a procurement consulting all-rounder over the years. While many other companies work in an outsourced model, Efficio helps businesses adopt a strategic procurement culture, unlike most players in the market. The company's efficient workforce, whom they've grown over the years, gives them yet another advantage.

Having carved a niche in the procurement landscape, Efficio envisions expanding geographically while increasing its local market share. Bodoky describes the company’s growth as a consequence of their clients’ success. “The more we can advise our clients with the look of their strategic spend, the more we can get a look at every level that they have to create savings opportunities. The more we can be persuasive of the supplier market, the more value it creates for clients, while simultaneously helping us expanding our knowledge base,” concludes Bodoky.