Navigating Tariffs: SpendHQ CEO on Smarter Procurement

As CEO, Scott Macfee leads SpendHQ's mission to empower procurement teams with the insights and tools they need to make faster, smarter decisions that drive measurable business impact. 

Scott’s background is in private equity and management consulting, where he specialised in helping companies scale, navigate complexity and unlock value through operational transformation. 

That experience shapes how Scott has led SpendHQ: with a focus on aligning procurement with broader financial goals, building intuitive technology that solves real-world challenges and helping organisations turn data into a competitive advantage. Ultimately, his role is to ensure that customers can confidently respond to today’s challenges, whether that’s trade disruption, supplier risk or cost pressures.

Drawing on his background in private equity and operational transformation, Scott spoke to Procurement Magazine to discuss the critical role of data-driven decision-making in managing tariff risks, optimising indirect spend and driving measurable business impact. 

He also highlights how SpendHQ’s innovative tools—such as the tariff impact dashboard — are empowering organisations to move quickly from insight to action, ensuring procurement leaders have the visibility and agility needed to thrive amid global trade disruptions and cost pressures.

How are companies leveraging tariff-specific insights and stricter spend policies to adapt their sourcing strategies?

We’re seeing a clear shift in urgency. While most companies aren’t overhauling their entire sourcing strategy, they are under pressure to move faster and smarter. Tariffs are squeezing margins and procurement teams need to understand where they’re exposed before those costs hit the bottom line.

That’s where tariff-specific insights come in. Instead of relying on static reports, leading teams are consolidating supplier, category and country-of-origin data into unified views that let them spot risks early and act decisively. We’ve seen clients model sourcing scenarios in days, not weeks and adjust plans based on actual tariff exposure. It's not just about enforcement; it's about speed, visibility and execution.

Why are so many organisations shifting sourcing from China to Southeast Asia and India, rather than reshoring to the US?

The economics of reshoring to the US often don’t hold up. Labour and infrastructure costs are simply too high. Even with tariffs, Southeast Asia and India remain more cost-effective for many categories. But this isn’t just about geography; it’s about data.

Too often, companies assume that, if a supplier is US-based, they’re insulated from tariffs. In reality, they could be sourcing materials from countries that trigger unexpected duties. That’s why we emphasise true landed cost analysis, factoring in origin, classification codes, freight and tariffs. The companies that get this right aren’t the ones guessing—they’re the ones working off accurate, connected data.

What practical frameworks can procurement leaders use to quickly assess tariff impacts?

Start with data you can trust. That means aligning supplier, spend and tariff classification data – ideally in one system. Then, look at your exposure by business unit, category or geography to understand where the biggest risks sit.

From there, the goal is speed. Can you run a what-if scenario in hours? Can you simulate the financial impact of shifting to a different supplier or origin country?

That’s the kind of agility procurement needs right now. We built our Tariff Impact Dashboard to make this possible, giving teams the ability to model changes, quantify exposure and make decisions that are both fast and defensible.

How has increased urgency around workforce optimisation and lean budgeting changed the way companies approach indirect cost containment?

Procurement teams are being asked to do more with less and indirect spend is often the first place leadership looks for savings. What’s changed is the level of discipline required. You can’t just cut costs; you have to do it strategically, in a way that doesn’t disrupt the business.

That’s where visibility and performance management come in. It’s not enough to identify savings opportunities: you need to track progress, enforce policies and ensure follow-through. We’re seeing more teams move away from static spreadsheets and toward dynamic tools that automate tracking and hold projects accountable.

That shift isn’t just about tools, it’s about mindset. Procurement is operating more like finance: data-driven, outcome-focused and performance-led.

How are SpendHQ's Procurement Action Plan for Tariff Turbulence and Tariff Impact Dashboard helping clients respond to tariff-driven cost changes?

We recently came out with a US$71m figure from a scenario modelling exercise that was designed to show the visibility to tariff exposure that’s possible when you have the data needed to analyse the financial impact of supplier origin changes and newly-reclassified tariff codes.

This number illustrates a specific company's tariff exposure, with the ability to drill down to investigate and mitigate the highest exposure areas and suppliers. It is a powerful example of what’s possible when procurement has the right level of visibility.  

What makes the difference isn’t just identifying the exposure—it’s having the clarity and speed to respond. The dashboard gives procurement teams visibility into tariff risk by supplier, category and business unit, all tied directly to actual spend.

That level of granularity is critical. Many teams still rely on surface-level data that doesn’t capture the full picture, leading to surprises when costs spike. Our tools close that gap, enabling companies to move from guesswork to confident action and build sourcing strategies grounded in real-time financial impact.

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