Without a centralized process and universal visibility, tracking spend across very large companies is a challenging task.

Often the solution lies in changing management systems, but getting consensus on change across 30 countries and over a quarter of a million employees was a daunting prospect that worldwide manufacturing services company Jabil Inc. faced. But, with a cumulative $2 billion in indirect spend, a shift was needed, according to Heidi Banks (pictured), senior director of global procurement at Jabil.

“From an ROI perspective, we were able to deliver 3X our ROI by the end of year two and 7X by year four,” Banks said. “We had a very conservative and achievable ROI that got the buy-in, and then we were able to accelerate it by being aggressive with a great solution.”

Banks spoke with industry analyst Lisa Martin during the Coupa Inspire event, an exclusive broadcast on theCUBE, SiliconANGLE Media’s livestreaming studio. They discussed gaining internal buy-in and their rapid transition to Coupa Software Inc.’s business spend management platform. (* Disclosure below.)

Smooth transition and a speedy rollout through internal buy-in

With siloes existing along regions, industries and roles, analyzing and mitigating extraneous spend is challenging in larger companies. Jabil started its journey to a new BSM system by gaining buy-in across all functions.

“We got our executives IT, legal, users, procurement together and did a balanced scorecard approach to say these were the important factors, and we picked a solution. We could all look at each other and say it was the right decision for us as a company,” Banks said.

Jabil began its transition with Coupa’s Procure-to-Pay system, with a focus on transitioning from its old system as quickly as possible, as well as getting team members on the same policy controls approval process. The company also transitioned its analytics process using Coupa AI Classification.

“In the last year and a half, I’ve also deployed strategic and tactical sourcing through Coupa as well, and Spend Guard from an audit control and compliance perspective,” Banks stated. 

Starting with its most challenging sites instead of starting with low-hanging fruit was a key to Jabil’s strategic rollout.

“I say, ‘Go bold.’ I hear a lot of people that start small and then grow, but if you want to deliver that ROI and get your money out of that system as soon as possible, go big or go home,” Banks said.

Here’s the complete video interview, part of SiliconANGLE’s and theCUBE’s coverage of the Coupa Inspire event.

(* Disclosure: TheCUBE is a paid media partner for the Coupa Inspire event. Neither Coupa Software Inc., the sponsor for theCUBE’s event coverage, nor other sponsors have editorial control over content on theCUBE or SiliconANGLE.)

Photo: SiliconANGLE