Reshape Recap: The Art of Possible, Delivering End-to-End Supply Chain Transformation

During the Amazon Business Reshape event, procurement professionals gathered to discuss end-to-end supply chain innovation with Alyssa Madwed, Sr. Program Manager of Amazon Business joined Brett McMillen, Director of Strategic Partners at Amazon Distribution and Fulfillment Services, and Brian Reed, Head of Strategic and Pan-Amazon Supply Chain BD.

This group discussed the multitude of challenges global supply chains have faced over the past few years. Many organizations are turning to digital procurement solutions, while being forced to evolve supply chain operations to achieve goals in the face of these new realities.

"While reducing cost continues to be top of mind, leaders are prioritizing growth, operational agility and digital optimization," said McMillen.

As a result, the strategic importance and organizational accountability of procurement teams has seen an incredible transformation in the past few years. Responsibilities in the procurement industry continue to grow and procurement teams are being asked to drive broader organizational impact.

Prioritizing Growth

According to research by Harvard Business Review Analytic Services, 73% of procurement leaders say reducing costs is a top priority for (their) organizational supplier management and procurement operations over the next year. McMillen noted that there are now more opportunities than ever for Amazon partners to reduce costs by combining the purchasing and procurement flexibility of Amazon Business, the logistics and fulfillment capabilities of Amazon Supply Chain (ASC), and the powerful cloud of Amazon Web Services (AWS).

As Amazon Business partners know, competitive pricing, intuitive user experience, and broad selection of certified diverse and local businesses allows purchasers to reduce costs and choose flexible payment options. This allows procurement leaders to identify opportunities to create new value in the form of cost savings. Combining Amazon Business with ASC and AWS can empower organizations with an integrated and automated supply chain that reduces total cost of ownership and drives growth faster.

Digital Optimization

"Future-ready supply chains must be resilient to absorb, adapt to, and recover from unforeseen disruptions along with creating a path to a sustainable circular economy. This requires real-time end-to-end visibility, with the ability to predict and adjust for sudden changes in supply and customer demand," said Madwed. Referencing the research from Harvard Business Review, Madwed noted that 72% of leaders say digitizing more processes and technologies will increase operational efficiency.

While Amazon Business allows leaders to manage more organizational spend and optimize purchasing, "ASC externalizes access to Amazon’s physical supply chain and logistics solutions for customers so they can deliver an Amazon-like experience to support their unique missions," explained Reed. This includes delivery of customer orders as fast as one day, with a greater than 97% on-time delivery rate and low, predictable pricing.

"AWS helps transform supply chain operations with comprehensive and advanced cloud solutions, while taking advantage of the highest level of security — including offerings sufficient to handle protected information," said Reed.

This technology simplifies supply chain operations and empowers teams with real-time analytics and actionable, data-driven insights to improve spend visibility and inform strategic purchasing decisions. Further, it allows teams to avoid bottlenecks across the entire organization with streamlined purchasing between departments, centralized policy management, and easy integration with current procurement systems.
 

Operational Agility

According to the 2021 Annual CPO Study by Amazon Business, 97% of purchasing leaders say the importance of procurement speed has changed, with 73% saying it has increased. However, 54% of procurement leaders say their greatest supplier management challenge is the ability to quickly switch suppliers in response to disruption.

Amazon Business supports this need by empowering partners to direct spend toward preferred products, certified diverse sellers and more sustainable products, which help support organizational purchasing goals. Out-of-the-box polices help guide opportunities for cost savings, where procurement teams do not have to spend time finding, validating, and nurturing suppliers.

Together with AWS and ASC, integrations across Amazon allow Amazon Business partners to centralize their data and cloud processes across all tiers of the supply chain and assess the potential impact of disruptions — and automate reactions and course correction to delight their customers with the speed and scale of Amazon. This digital dexterity results is an agile, simplified supply chain that helps elevate the role of procurement as a driver of strategic impact across the organization.