Simfoni takes great pride in announcing its collaboration with a UAE government organization was recognized as a finalist for the esteemed title of 'Best Initiative to Deliver Social Value Through Procurement' at the 2023 CIPS MENA Conference.
This award recognizes an outstanding and impactful initiative launched by an organization that delivers significant social value outputs. The category includes both public and private sector organizations that use innovative sourcing and contracting initiatives to deliver social value.
The recognized project is a partnership between Simfoni and a K-12 school recently established in the UAE as a pilot project to prove the viability of schools with an Arabic curriculum combined with a westernized approach to learning. The school’s one-of-a-kind education program in the UAE provides students with all the materials they need for academic study in a westernized environment. From bookbags to laptops, all materials needed are sourced and paid for by the school which is funded through the government agency.
With Simfoni as their technology partner, the school achieved alignment of their sourcing needs with the implementation of the new procurement technology, ensuring a sustainable reconfiguration and optimization of their procurement process. Simfoni’s technology gives the school’s leadership team insights into their spend by supplier, business unit, categories, and manages all vendors and payments through a single invoice.
Prior to partnering with Simfoni, the school faced a steep challenge in understanding their existing procurement landscape due to poor spend visibility and engaged Simfoni to install its sophisticated spend analytics platform. Due to the sheer volume of sourcing needed to keep the school fully operational, there was an urgent need to implement the Simfoni BuyDesk platform, which includes training and supplier onboarding— typically a 6–8-week process. Simfoni’s team of sourcing experts immediately stepped in to support the school’s procurement team with pre-established supplier relationships and fixed procurement processes to optimize sourcing during the platform’s implementation.
Ultimately, the insights derived from the use of analytics led to the elimination of manual processes and the implementation of core technology like contract management and supplier on-boarding, representing a complete overhaul of the school’s procurement process.
Additionally, the school has transitioned to a one-vendor model with Simfoni as an ongoing technology partner handling procurement activity, delivery, as well as the supplier payments as an extension of their procurement team. This has significantly reduced the workload of AP and AR, meaning the school does not need to deploy or hire additional finance employees, resulting in significant additional cost savings that can be re-allocated to further benefit the school and its students.
The award ceremony took place on May 11 at W, The Palm, Dubai, and was attended by Chirag Shah, Simfoni Chairman and Zoya Ali Khan, Simfoni’s Commerical Director for the Middle East region.
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