“ One of the transformations that I brought about at GfK was to look at their procurement processes and deliverables , regardless of the system that was being used ”
SUKI BECKER VP PROCUREMENT
& REAL ESTATE , GfK
“ A lot of times , what a customer does has an impact on supplier costs , and rather than just squeezing the supplier it ’ s a better and more effective strategy to work together towards reducing the inefficiencies and overall costs for the business .”
Becker explains that the advantage of segmenting the supply base is that it ensures GfK doesn ' t need to tender each and every time they buy goods or services .
But one thing is for certain , and that ’ s that , once again , supplier relationships are key .
“ We have partners such as Cognizant that we have been working with for 4 years ”, says Becker . “ Cognizant are a strategic partner for IT ; they support our Enterprise Applications Teams and take care of SAP , Salesforce and many other projects .”
Explaining this further , Becker states that GfK chose Cognizant because they have the right technical skills , knowledge and credentials in the Information Management space – and because Cognizant are committed to sustainability .
“ We had a very consultative process with them during the tender phase , where they ’ d proven themselves cost-effective by leveraging a global delivery model . They ’ re also flexible and not always pointing to the contract – plus , they also know how to take ownership , and supported us well throughout the pandemic ,
sustainabilitymag . com 139