About the client
A global consumer goods enterprise operating across 190 countries, with 400+ brands and 148,000 employees, needed a more reliable way to manage indirect buying at scale.
Procurement activity was distributed across markets, suppliers, systems, and local buying practices. The challenge was not simply to launch another procurement catalog. It was to create a trusted, governed buying model that could standardize product data, consolidate demand, improve compliance, and remain current after go-live.
The challenge
Failed digitization attempt due to poor adoption
The client had already attempted to digitize indirect buying, but limitations in automation, usability, and demand aggregation led users to return to familiar, off-system buying methods.
What held the digitization program back
- Inconsistent product catalogs across markets
- Limited visibility into fragmented indirect spend
- A large and complex supplier base
- No common product or supplier data standards
- Quality-control gaps and recall risk
- No effective way to consolidate demand across countries
The real problem, underneath: the catalog data itself.
- Inconsistent global catalog – The same item looked different in every market.
- No repeatable-vs-bespoke visibility – Procurement couldn’t see what was catalogable.
- A sprawling supplier base – A large supplier base increased operational complexity and cost.
- Quality-control gaps – Non-compliant products increased compliance risk and contributed to product recalls.
The lesson was clear: a catalog cannot create control when the data beneath it is fragmented, inconsistent, or outdated.
The solution
Fix the data. Govern the buying. Keep it running.
ewiz procure rebuilt the program as a connected procurement operating model:
Data Foundation → Procurement Activation → Procurement Intelligence
All three were sustained through expert-led managed services.
The solution complemented the client’s existing procurement environment rather than replacing it. This allowed the organization to improve control and adoption without disrupting its core systems.
1. A trusted catalog foundation
ewiz procure consolidated 15,000+ fragmented SKUs into a curated, standardized catalog of 3,000+ products under Marketing & POSM categories: supplier-linked, verified, and enriched into consistent, searchable content. A customized procurement catalog handled bespoke and complex items like ice cream cabinets that don’t fit a standard catalog, so nothing had to fall back to off-system buying.
The work established the data foundation required for governed buying:
- Standardized SKUs and descriptions
- Consistent product attributes
- Supplier-linked content
- Structured category and taxonomy logic
- Verified product information
- Governed catalog maintenance
2. Governed buying users actually adopt
The buying experience was rebuilt to feel familiar: an intuitive, B2C-style interface that guides users to approved products and approved suppliers.
Procurement retained control through catalog rules, approval workflows, supplier validation, and quality gates.
The solution worked alongside the client’s existing technology:
- Coupa integration automated purchase-order processing
- Intertek integration supported product-quality and compliance controls
- Connections to 3+ supplier systems and a global marketplace enabled automated product-data updates
- Custom modules supported products that did not fit a standard catalog structure
Instead of competing with the existing procurement stack, ewiz procure became the governed layer connecting users, suppliers, product data, and purchasing workflows.
3. Visibility fed procurement intelligence
Once transactions moved through a consistent catalog model, procurement gained clearer visibility across products, suppliers, categories, markets, and spend.
Tailored dashboards and reports supported:
- Indirect-spend analysis
- Supplier-spend visibility
- Category-level reporting
- KPI tracking
- Savings reporting
- Cross-market decision support
Enterprise-grade security (ISO 27001:2022, SOC Type 1 & 2 certified) underpinned the whole environment. This gave business and procurement teams a more reliable basis for managing supplier relationships, identifying demand patterns, and making sourcing decisions.
4. Managed services that keep the catalog alive
Catalogs go stale the moment maintenance stops. ewiz procure therefore treated managed services as part of the operating model
A dedicated team:
- Trained and onboarded more than 5,000 verified suppliers
- Supported expansion into an additional 50+ countries
- Trained more than 1,000 enterprise users
- Managed supplier coordination and adoption
- Maintained product and supplier information
- Operated a centralized helpdesk and ticketing process
- Handled approximately 10,000 support conversations annually
This continuous service layer kept the catalog current, suppliers engaged, and users supported long after deployment.
The impact
Indirect buying moved from fragmented activity to governed procurement.
- $900M indirect spend managed over seven years
- 50+ countries deployed
- 5,000+ suppliers trained and onboarded
- 1,000+ enterprise users trained
- 3,000+ products active in the catalog
- 400+ purchase orders processed each month
- ~10,000 support conversations handled annually
The program accounted for approximately 60% of the client’s global long-tail procurement spend. This time, the catalog became part of how the business bought, not another system users worked around.
Why it worked
Data first, not interface first
The program addressed the information users depended on: SKUs, product descriptions, supplier content, taxonomy, attributes, and quality controls. Clean, consistent catalog data gave users a reason to trust the buying process.
Built to coexist, not replace
ewiz procure integrated with Coupa, Intertek, supplier systems, and marketplace infrastructure. The client improved procurement control without replacing its core S2P or ERP investments.
Sustained by managed services
Supplier onboarding, catalog maintenance, user training, country rollout support, and helpdesk operations continued after go-live. That ongoing governance is what kept the data current and adoption moving.
Connected data, workflows, and intelligence
The catalog was not treated as a standalone storefront. It became a control layer connecting product data, approved suppliers, purchasing workflows, quality gates, and procurement reporting.
