How Invesco is Helping Procurement to Cut red Tape
Working as a global independent investment management firm, Invesco is known for offering a wide range of financial products and services.
Founded in 1935, Invesco operates in more than 20 countries, providing asset management services to institutional and retail clients. The company manages various investment strategies, including equities, fixed income, real estate, private equity and alternatives, with a focus on delivering long-term returns.
Invesco has a pure focus on investing, believing the best investment insights come from specialised investment teams with discrete investment perspectives, operating under a disciplined philosophy and process with strong risk oversight.
Al Williams is Invesco’s Global Chief Procurement Officer and Corporate Services. Joining Invesco nearly 18 months ago to lead its transformation to best-in-class procurement and drive efficiencies across our third party spend.
Clare Cassano drives the strategic planning and execution associated with Invesco’s Global Procurement transformation and ongoing operations, leveraging best practices, technology, analytics and best-in-class capabilities and processes to drive high performance procurement across the enterprise.
The pair spoke to Procurement Magazine about how Invesco is helping procurement teams to cut the red tape.
What would you say is the number one issue people raise when they come to you for help with their sourcing?
Al: Historically the end-to-end source to pay process has not been as intuitive as it could be which has resulted in lost opportunities in driving spend under management and competitive sourcing.
At Invesco, we have embarked on a procurement transformation programme to deliver improved outcomes through an improved user experience, streamlined workflow and best-fit digital capabilities to augmenting our existing technologies. Creating a ‘front door’ for users to access what they need and when they need it is central to our transformation.
Beyond that, it will need to ensure we have the capability and capacity in Procurement to meet the resulting demand. Leveraging procurement technologies that deliver a force-multiplier effect – enabling procurement teams to cover more spend more efficiently, will enable us to create that capacity.
This strategic initiative seeks to optimise supplier interactions, enhance sourcing strategies and streamline procurement activities, resulting in improved cost-efficiency, reduced risks and accelerated project timelines.
How is AI helping when it comes to procurement teams when it comes to elevating their sourcing operations?
Clare: One of the ways that AI is transforming procurement teams is by significantly elevating their sourcing operations. It automates time-consuming, manual tasks like supplier identification, qualification and bid analysis, allowing procurement professionals to focus on more strategic activities. AI-driven platforms use advanced algorithms to analyse vast amounts of data, providing real-time insights into market trends, supplier performance and cost-saving opportunities.
This empowers teams to make faster, more informed decisions, while reducing risks associated with supplier selection and contract management.
Additionally, AI enhances user experience by delivering more intuitive, personalised solutions. It learns from previous sourcing activities to suggest best practices, recommend optimal suppliers and streamline workflows. By integrating with existing procurement systems, AI creates a seamless process that minimises human error, accelerates decision-making and boosts efficiency.
How is Invesco helping procurement teams to cut costs and streamline the red tape?
Al: By providing the Invesco procurement team with leading-edge AI powered technology, including Globality for sourcing, Invesco is concurrently simplifying whilst adding an augmented intelligence to procurement operations.
This means that Invesco can more holistically optimise our third party spend, in a much more time and cost-efficient way. Looking forward, our technology enables Invesco to democratise procurement processes across the business and build a sourcing and procurement excellence culture throughout our operations with the guidance and efficiency that AI and gen AI delivers.
What do you hope to achieve both personally and professionally over the next 18 months?
Al: Personally, I’m focused on building out my own knowledge base as it relates to Gen-AI tools and use of LLM’s to drive innovative solutions across the enterprise (including procurement).
It is such a new space, which brings with it risks and rewards which need to be properly understood to maximise the opportunities. Professionally, I want our Procurement and Corporate Services team to be seen as the go-to partner for our business in helping them achieve their profitable growth objectives.
Clare: I’m really excited for completing implementation and integration of our new digital procurement capabilities and leveraging the visibility and efficiency gains to further drive category, spend and supplier strategy.
Beyond this, there are further opportunities to integrate existing, specialised technologies within our existing eco-system with our upstream procurement process.
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