The supplier diversity challenge
The procurement team of a prestigious national university, ranked among the top 50 in the United States, was facing the challenge of diversifying their vendor relationships. Historically, the team relied on personal and professional relationships in order to determine which suppliers they could and should work with. They had a “do business with those we’ve always done business with” type of mindset.
The institution’s primary challenge was meeting the diverse vendor percentages mandated by federal, state, and university regulations. Without an effective supplier data management tool, the process of vetting new and diverse suppliers was daunting. They needed a way to enhance their vendor master and strengthen the information they had from current suppliers.
A trusted solution
The university’s procurement leader first heard about TealBook from other higher education peers and was also introduced to it by JAGGAER. It didn’t take long to realize they’d found the solution they needed.
From the very start, the TealBook team listened to the concerns that the university’s procurement leader had, and demonstrated solutions for her team’s specific needs. “Everything they showed us… [and] was demoed on that day has come to fruition, and I really appreciate that with TealBook,” said the leader.
The university was able to finalize a contract with TealBook within two months, thanks to an existing master services agreement from another public university. Moreover, TealBook’s platform security received approval from the institution’s IT department, further solidifying the procurement team’s trust in the solution.
“Everything they showed us… [and] was demoed on that day has come to fruition, and I really appreciate that with TealBook.”
– Director of Procurement, National University
Results with immediate impact
Post-TealBook implementation, the university started experiencing positive results immediately. On the first pass of data enrichment, 70% of suppliers matched with real-time diversity certifications and other crucial data points. Consequently, the institution could now supply large schools and other departments with the diverse suppliers they were struggling to find.
“When we challenged the College of Engineering to increase their diverse spend, their response was ‘Well, you have to tell us who the competitors are for the diverse vendors that we have always used.’ That was on procurement, and we’ve used TealBook for that,” said the procurement leader.
Improved diversity reporting
The procurement team can now encourage their vendors to pursue diverse certifications relevant to their state. The leader notes, “We can identify companies we’re doing business with that have a federal diverse certification but are not registered with our state as a certified diverse vendor. We can now outreach [to ask them to] go through our state certification process, so we can recognize them as a diverse vendor.” This has enhanced their relationships and opportunities with current suppliers.
State-of-the-art data management
TealBook’s supplier data accuracy and quality was significantly higher than the supplier data that was either self-reported or manually collected. Unlike other solutions dependent on manual input or supplier self-reporting, TealBook automates the collection, verification, and enrichment of supplier data across any data lake or enterprise system, using AI and machine learning to gather and refine the supplier data. With TealBook, the educational institution now has immediate access to the data they need, which has significantly improved their procurement processes, and helped them meet their diversity goals.