Based in Bellevue, Washington, Smartsheet provides a cloud-based platform that enables enterprises to transform work, unifying collaboration, workflows, and content management on one flexible, secure platform. The goal is to help companies fulfill strategic goals, whether around the bottom line or the creation of a positive culture, helping to give purpose to the workplace.

Since 2019, Smartsheet has been utilizing Amazon Business as part of its procurement ecosystem, focused on bringing greater transparency and cost savings to its direct spending—including tech equipment, office furniture, peripherals like headsets and keyboards, and a full range of office supplies and consumables. But like a growing number of enterprises, procurement at Smartsheet is also designed to reflect its own culture and priorities, one of the most important being sustainability. Inside its offices, the tech company has undertaken a range of initiatives aimed at operating with greater care for the resources it uses, from partnering with a composting service to help reduce food waste at two locations to switching their office furniture vendor to one with a robust and transparent sustainability process.

Finding like-minded partners

Additionally, Smartsheet is a signatory to Amazon’s Climate Pledge, committing to reaching net zero carbon emissions by 2040. Through its partnership with Amazon Business, Smartsheet is bringing that same commitment to sustainability to procurement. “We’re continually looking at ways to include more sustainable practices in our everyday work,” says Julia Braun, senior director of strategic vendor operations at Smartsheet. “We will be able to point internal buyers to products that are Climate Pledge friendly—and certified as such.”

With its Guided Buying tools, Amazon Business can point companies like Smartsheet to over 25,000 products holding one of more than 19 sustainability certifications, helping guarantee its purchasing choices match its commitment. The ability to partner with like-minded companies through the Climate Pledge has significant value for Smartsheet, both ethically and as a matter of business strategy.

“Whomever we select as vendors for any services or goods we procure, we’re reliant on them to both deliver value and to share our values. We are committed to partnering with vendors who have strong environment, social and governance programs and a shared focus on supplier diversity,” Braun says. “We align with third parties that share our corporate values, sometimes as an extension of ourselves. Those vendor relationships are critical to our success.”

Harnessing the store

Smartsheet has also used the Guided Buying feature from Amazon Business to meet goals around supplier diversity, pointing the company to supplier options it might otherwise miss. Now, Braun says, Smartsheet can use the same power of Amazon Business to provide comprehensive data on sustainability and diversity it can’t otherwise create. And by curating product options and displaying this information prominently, employees are empowered to confidently make purchasing choices that don’t conflict with cultural values important to them, not just to members of the C-suite.

“We curate it, set it and then employees can forget it,” Braun says. “The structures are in place, and anything they buy ticks all the boxes for our priorities and values—and is compliant with our policies and our standards.”

Smartsheet’s ability to extend the capabilities of procurement is predicated on its ability to simultaneously accomplish more traditional goals in buying centered on price, transparency and visibility. User experience is a key component as well. By integrating Amazon Business into its Coupa Spend Management platform, employees are presented with a seamless, end-to-end purchasing experience. Meanwhile, Braun’s team is provided a full view of where money is going, helping drive efficiency and savings while revealing rogue spending.

“The information available to us via the Amazon Business platform is detailed. It gives me insight into buying habits, costs, savings, and policy compliance, which was not previously available,” Braun says. “That visibility has enabled us to make decisions in advance of purchasing activity. To be proactive rather than reactive.”

It’s also a tangible opportunity to let employees know the company practices what it preaches.

“A partnership like this allows us to answer questions employees have around our procurement process and how it’s run in a way that supports environmental, social and corporate governance,” she says. “Colleagues across the company appreciate knowing that even in this arm of the business we have found ways to honor our values.”