Transforming procurement for a global healthcare leader with ServiceNow

For this leading medical technology company – with over 40,000 products, 6,000 delivery locations, and 4,000 suppliers – procurement was problematic.

Whenever customer equipment needed maintenance or repairs, field technicians were racing against time to order the necessary parts or services. First, they had to place an order with a procurement agent over the phone. In the back office, procurement agents had to access multiple disconnected legacy systems to create and send purchase orders (POs) to suppliers. For some purchases, agents also had to go through a series of approvals via email. And once agents finally placed orders, they lacked the visibility to track them and monitor spending.

The result? Frustrated employees, rising costs, slow procurement cycles, and unhappy customers. The company knew it needed a new system for procurement and selected ServiceNow's Sourcing and Procurement Operations platform.

But the company wasn't just looking for an IT implementation. It also needed a blend of business, industry, and technology expertise to turn procurement processes into a competitive advantage.

The company selected Genpact as its ServiceNow business integration partner. We assessed the company's existing processes and IT environment, recommending best practices to bake into the procurement solution.

Since the company already used ServiceNow for IT support, we knew we needed to unify the architecture between the IT and procurement deployments. Otherwise, future updates would create technical debt – in other words, they would be deploying a short-term solution that would create new problems in the future.

We began by creating a self-service shopping portal for field technicians to order parts and services on the move – no more wasting time on the phone with the helpdesk. Plus, making this process digital gave procurement newfound end-to-end visibility.

We then implemented a purchase requisition workflow to streamline and automate the approval process. This prevented rogue purchases from slipping through. When employees place orders, the platform automates PO creation for a clean paper trail. Then, the system automatically submits orders to suppliers, streamlining supply chain operations. When orders ship, integration with carriers brings all delivery notifications and updates into one dashboard. Compared to hopping between complicated legacy systems, the user experience is now unrecognizable as a seamless, user-friendly procurement process.

Finally, we introduced real-time procurement and spend analytics to uncover insights from the treasure trove of data collected by the platform. This data opens the door for continuously improving procurement processes.

The benefits speak for themselves through a unique combination of ServiceNow's Sourcing and Procurement Operations platform capabilities and Genpact's business expertise.

• Accelerated procurement: The company has seen a 67% reduction in procurement cycle times. Procurement teams get visibility and control without having to step in, and customers enjoy better and faster service
• Better employee experiences: Employee productivity and satisfaction have skyrocketed. Field technicians and procurement agents are now able to focus on higher-value work
• Greater governance: With the digital system, procurement managers have greater visibility and control. They can ensure compliance and eliminate rogue purchases, ultimately reducing procurement costs
• Continuous improvement: With real-time visibility and data-driven insights, management can make smarter decisions to continuously improve procurement processes

With all these standardized, streamlined, and scalable procurement processes, the company now has a scalable platform for future growth. Better still, the unified ServiceNow architecture will serve as a strong foundation for workflow transformation throughout other areas of the enterprise.