Transforming Supplier Relationships Across APAC
A global leader in industrial goods and services had been undergoing a significant procurement transformation across the APAC region. Their ambition was clear: move beyond transactional supplier relationships to build strategic partnerships that could drive innovation, efficiency, and long-term value creation.
A new regional procurement organization was established to strengthen Procurement’s mandate, embed category management, and roll out a structured supplier relationship management (SRM) program. However, to make this transformation successful, the organization needed to understand how its suppliers were experiencing the changes, where the pain points remained, and how trust and collaboration could be deepened.
The organization engaged with our team to design and deliver a structured supplier program, creating a direct channel to capture supplier perceptions and translate them into actionable insights.
Approach
A methodology was designed to combine breadth and depth, ensuring the organization received a holistic picture of supplier sentiment and SRM maturity.
- Structured framework -The program was built around six pillars of world-class SRM: strategy, policy and process, relationships, commercial value, communication, technology, and innovation.
- Wide supplier participation – Over 130 suppliers across APAC engaged in the survey, with a series of in-depth interviews conducted to capture richer perspectives and context.
- Internal self-assessment – The organization’s procurement team completed a structured evaluation of their supplier management practices, supported by interviews with stakeholders across the business.
- Holistic analysis – By combining supplier voices with internal views, we created a rounded, evidence-based picture of the organization’s SRM landscape.
This blended approach not only highlighted where improvements were needed but also uncovered what suppliers most valued and where the organization was already performing strongly.
Results
From the findings, a clear set of recommendations was developed, structured around four key workstreams:
- Enhancing the SRM program – strengthen the SRM framework by improving communication, fostering collaboration, and building deeper strategic relationships.
- Addressing procurement process pain points – streamline and simplify workflows to reduce inefficiencies and friction across supplier interactions.
- Improving payment performance – implement measures to improve the timeliness and accuracy of supplier payments, directly boosting satisfaction and trust.
- Enhancing digital procurement tools – upgrade platforms and tools to provide a more intuitive, user friendly experience for both suppliers and internal teams.
To ensure change was delivered in a structured and sustainable way, a 12-month implementation roadmap was created, breaking down each workstream into actionable phases with clear milestones. This gave the organization a tangible plan to follow, ensuring sustained momentum across the transformation journey.
The supplier program gave the organization unprecedented insight into how its suppliers viewed the transformation and, crucially, where further improvements were required.
By acting on the recommendations, the organization is now equipped to:
- Build stronger, more collaborative partnerships with suppliers.
- Eliminate inefficiencies and streamline procurement processes.
- Improve supplier trust through better payment performance.
- Unlock greater value from digital procurement tools.
The result is not just an uplift in SRM capability, but a foundation for sustained innovation, resilience, and growth. The organization is now better positioned to deliver on its transformation goals and cement itself as a trusted partner of choice in the industrial goods and services sector.
This project was delivered by Proxima’s APAC team, under the former brand name, ArcBlue.
