Visa: The Future of Spend Management

Procurement teams have been facing a great deal of uncertainty in recent years, with global volatility driving businesses around the world. 

To ensure their businesses remain strong, procurement leaders have been shifting their strategy, from efficiency to resilience.

This means there has been a larger focus on directing spend to align platforms and data in a way which reduces risk and increases agility.

Being able to have business transparency and the ability to move alongside the turbulence has become a vital factor for procurement leaders.

If you are interested in learning more on the future of finance & spend management, a panel will be held with leaders during the Procurement & Supply Chain LIVE: The Middle East Summit, with free tickets available. 

Spend management strategies

Spend management is a vital part of procurement, optimising decisions to ensure profitability and efficiency. It is a strategy which maximises value, reduces business costs, mitigates financial risk and ensures compliance.

A major part of spend management is the visibility factor, as it enables businesses to ensure their money is going to credible suppliers or partners. It helps businesses understand where their money is going to and allows procurement teams to create new strategies to optimise company spend. 

In recent years, we have seen the procurement focus shift from profit only, to blending profit with resilience. To do so, more procurement teams are focusing on the shift into technology and sustainability-based solutions. 

As part of this, many procurement teams are investing in small businesses, generating real economic impact, according to Supplier.io. Other teams are focusing on investing into suppliers with clear sustainability strategies within their operations.

Visa's procurement focus

Visa has been helping procurement teams make smarter and faster financial decisions, as well as creating "the next-generation of finance' alongside its various partners. It has been helping freight companies transform their procurement systems, creating solutions to help automate payments and cut operational costs.

In a recent venture with Transcard, Visa has created a platform to help the freight and logistics industry reduce manual effort and errors, by automating payment processes. There is improved working capital management as a result of implementing extended and flexible credit terms. 

Another partnership it had was with Paysend, in a move to bring faster cross-border payments to businesses. Visa is creating solutions to help procurement teams face easier and more efficient decision making and spend. 

As procurement strategy turns to technology and sustainability, Visa is moving with the tide, working to eliminate bottlenecks and increase operational transparency within spend.

An expert in procurement transformation

Anna Konoplianikova, Head of the CEMEA Global Sourcing team at Visa, will take part in The Future of Finance & Spend Management panel at Procurement and Supply Chain LIVE: The Middle East Summit.

Anna leads procurement across high-value spend categories in Central Europe, the Middle East and Africa, bringing more than 20 years in procurement and finance to her role. At Visa, Anna accelerates innovation, value and compliant growth across a multi-market footprint. To ensure success, Anna is adept championing risk-resilient sourcing, supplier partnerships and category strategy. In particular, she champions automation and advanced analytics to elevate what procurement is capable of.

When looking ahead to the event, Anna says: “I’m excited to talk about the Future of Finance and Spend Management because procurement’s power move is partnering with finance. When we align on shared data, KPIs and workflows, procurement proves value—turning savings, cash and risk insights into outcomes the business can see and trust. I’ll share practical plays to build that bridge and show impact fast.”

Anna's robust history working with procurement and finance has enabled her to lead teams to success, demonstrating her understanding of how to drive business transformation. In her role as Group Head of Procurement & Finance at Chalhoub Group, her transformation strategy enabled her team to earn the CIPS “Best Procurement Team” award in the MENA region. 

Not only has her leadership been award-winning, but it has offered real operational success within the business. Within her roles at Coca‑Cola Hellenic and Amazon, she has built high-performing teams, standardised processed and embedded data-driven decision making. 

Anna is an alumna of the London School of Economics and holds MCIPS as well as Fellow Chartered Accountant (FCA) credentials.

Procurement & Supply Chain LIVE: The Middle East Summit

With a packed agenda and stand-out speakers, the Procurement & Supply Chain LIVE: The Middle East Summit stands out for its breadth of coverage – CSCOs, CPOs and CSOs alike will all take something valuable away with them. 

Whether you are refining supplier networks, developing digital tools or embedding ESG priorities, the event offers direct, practical guidance.

Registration is open through the event agenda page, where attendees can also customise their experience. Plus, there’s no travel needed – just insight streamed straight to your screen.

Procurement & Supply Chain LIVE: The Middle East Summit
Dates: 3–4 February 2026
Format: Virtual
Location: Online
Register for free: https://next.brella.io/join/SPSCDUBAI