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Intelligent Spend Management Award

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Intelligent Spend Management Award

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September 14, 2021

Presented by Roland Berger and SAP, the Intelligent Spend Management (ISM) Award recognizes innovative, digital best use cases in procurement.

How to apply
Award categories
Award process
Prizes for selected winners
Jury members

Today, it is evident that procurement and spend management deliver value far beyond just cost savings. They also achieve e.g., sustainability goals, promote ethical sourcing and enhance decision making through digitalization and visualization. Many companies are already industry and technology leaders in these fields, and they regularly implement innovative projects that radically change the areas of procurement and adjacent functions like supply chain management, engineering and logistics. The goal of the ISM Award - as THE digitalization award in procurement - is to identify the most innovative, digital solutions.

The ISM Award is aimed at companies from the DACH region. Prizes are given in five categories and an overall winner is chosen by the high-profile jury. The goal of the award is to further develop the use cases submitted, fuel marketing, provide far-reaching visibility in the industry and procurement community, and strengthen the reputation of the winners.

How to apply

The use case that an applicant submits should be innovative real-live examples of digital procurement solutions that generate a relevant impact in procurement.

Please note, applicants cannot apply to a specific category. Categories will be chosen based on the submitted use case.

Applications should highlight:

  • Thought leadership ("newness")
  • Innovative, digital solution
  • Real-life and scale implementation
  • Cross-functional exchange of knowledge and experience

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Award categories
Award categories
Business insights & foresights

There are many challenges for a company to generate valuable business insights and derive forecasts: 1) The environment is constantly changing, volatile and uncertain; 2) Data is often complex and ambiguous leading to unclear analysis results; 3) The full know-how of all company stakeholders is hard to leverage given the current processes and IT infrastructure.

Business network

Challenges present in supply networks include limited intelligence on end-to-end supply chain and 'silo-optimization' of each supply chain participant.

Sustainability & integrity

Sustainability is no longer a nice side project; it's a prerequisite of business and business relationships. Companies need an increased awareness for holistic, sustainable development in the environment, as well as social relations, and company governance.

Operational excellence

Operational excellence is inhibited when key processes are not fully supported by state-of-the-art IT-solutions. A non-integrated purchasing IT-landscape with stand-alone solutions and multiple interfaces can also create many complications.

Organizational agility & 21st century skills

The needs and requirements of the workforce are constantly changing due to digitalization. There are higher requirements for proximity and exchange within both the internal and external workforces, and a growing external workforce is forcing companies to adapt and manage new end-to-end people processes.

What we're looking for in each category

Business insights & foresights

  • Enhanced systems for data processing and preparation
  • Automated decision support for spend management and negotiations
  • Intelligent solutions to identify additional value generators
  • Supply market intelligence

Business network

  • Collaborative, digitally connected and intelligent supply network
  • Visibility on full supply chain

Sustainability & integrity

  • Holistic concepts and digital systems to manage a sustainable supply chain
  • Equitable sourcing and procurement processes

Operational excellence

  • Digitization and automation of key processes
  • Integrated IT-landscape with seamless end-to-end processes
  • Solutions for efficient ways to leverage up-to-date procurement data

Organizational agility & 21st century skills

  • New, innovative digital skillsets
  • Different leadership requirements
  • Flexibility between internal and external workforce
  • Innovative training solutions

Award process
Prizes for selected winners

Winners will receive attractive packages that will make their use case visible and boost their company to the next level of procurement and spend management:

  • Use Case Acceleration Workshop: A full-day workshop that focuses on business development and technical advancement.
  • Marketing Video: Production of a short video to support the marketing measures for the use case and the company.
  • Spend Management Leaders League: An exclusive, expert network for finalists and winners that includes webinars, roundtables and best-practice sharing.

Additionally, the visibility of each winner's use case will be promoted via our website, LinkedIn and other digital platforms.

Further reading
Intelligent Spend Management Award: The jury