Wherever you’re on the earth, it’s extremely probably that you simply’ve both heard of, or been a buyer of, Walgreens Boots Alliance (WBA).
An built-in healthcare, pharmacy and retail chief that serves clients throughout the US, Europe and Latin America, WBA operates a plethora of shopper manufacturers, of which one or two (on the very least) might already be acquainted: Walgreens, Boots, Duane Reade, the No7 Magnificence Firm, Benavides (Mexico), and Ahumada (Chile). This model portfolio is additional bolstered by WBA’s healthcare-focused investments in a number of nations, together with main markets comparable to China and the U.S.
In his position of chief procurement officer (CPO) for Walgreens Boots Alliance, Jim Townsend is an integral chief inside WBA. Armed with appreciable expertise that he has amassed in the midst of assorted roles, Townsend is ripe with information – whether or not technical, business-focused, historic or about constructing self-belief for fulfillment.
“Each procurement skilled needs to be daring, courageous, and able to take the fitting highway fairly than the simple highway,” Townsend asserts, establishing his model of management and method to conducting enterprise.
His sincere, easy nature lends itself properly to the position of CPO and has fed into the corporate’s digital procurement transformation, in addition to its total large-scale transformation course of, repositioning and renewing procurement, and guaranteeing success for the corporate.
WBA’s procurement course of underscored by firm values
Although the fashionable iteration of the corporate shaped again in 2014 when Walgreens joined forces with Alliance Boots, the cumulative historical past of WBA provides as much as over 170 years.
The journey started in 1849 with John Boot opening the primary Boots drugstore in Nottingham, UK. This was adopted over 50 years later in 1901 by Charles R. Walgreen Sr buying the Chicago, US, drugstore wherein he labored as a pharmacist. By 1909, this drugstore had developed into Walgreens Co, kickstarting the pharmacy chain growth with the opening of a second retailer. A number of mergers and developments adopted over the subsequent century, and the remaining is, as they are saying, historical past.
And with such a formidable historical past to its identify, WBA has what Townsend refers to as “a extremely sturdy heritage in well being, pharmacy, magnificence, and retail”, which makes it a model that customers know they’ll belief. Proper now, although, the corporate is extra targeted on the long run forward.
“We have a extremely thrilling future when it comes to the place we’re heading and one which can be immersed in omnichannel, increasing our well being options and doing the whole lot we are able to to make healthcare reasonably priced,” says Townsend.
Establishing its procurement arm as a disrupter, Townsend describes WBA as “difficult in a very constructive method, when it comes to the assumptions which might be being made and the route that is being taken” in procurement, whereas additionally constructing connections amongst colleagues and throughout the communities it serves.
“That is about being related with the place we’re heading, with what’s occurring throughout the communities that we serve, understanding our clients and sufferers, and, equally as importantly, our fellow group members,” he says, a sentiment that additionally extends to the important thing gamers across the organisation.
“It’s actually about the way you flip up, about performing with integrity, bravely stepping ahead into the long run, about having the need to repeatedly study and use this to create new alternatives,” Townsend continues. “If I have a look at the procurement aspect, our groups have needed to study new issues and actually develop as professionals to seek out options that match this new setting that we’re in. Curiosity is extremely sturdy, anyone inside procurement ought to have that – the easiest procurement individuals are extremely curious.”
It’s precisely this curiosity and integrity which have led to WBA being an indispensable assist and connection to the skin world throughout what has been a bumpy few years. The onset of the pandemic shut down the overwhelming majority of society, with solely these companies deemed important nonetheless operating; WBA, based mostly predominantly throughout the remit of healthcare, was one such enterprise.
Nonetheless, whereas “COVID was unquestionably probably the most difficult intervals in all of our careers”, Townsend additionally feels that he has been fortunate that WBA had “the unbelievable alternative to serve sufferers and clients in maybe the best period of collective want”.
“We have administered practically 65 million vaccines, greater than 12 million boosters, and greater than 30 million exams. In parallel with that, we have witnessed large development in our digital gross sales. We have additionally developed some really progressive well being and retail options as we have navigated via this era.
“Once more, on prime of that, not solely have we labored all of that house, however we have additionally targeted extensively on our ESG agenda and methods to develop our position in the neighborhood,” Townsend says.
This concentrate on ESG led to the corporate creating a stable set of values to mannequin and aspire to: Braveness, Connectivity, Dedication and Curiosity.
Regardless of the alternatives introduced to WBA, for Townsend himself – used to networking and negotiating with different professionals every day – isolation and social distancing has been troublesome.
“Personally, I’ve missed the face-to-face human interplay during the last couple of years that many people derive plenty of private vitality from,” he says. “And people conversations that generate new alternatives and new methods of considering, inspiring us all to do one thing completely different – that is undoubtedly harder within the digital world.
Townsend provides: “I am not suggesting it will possibly’t be carried out, however the entire thing a few digital assembly is that it’s sometimes very structural, focused with a selected final result. It is about, ‘let’s take into consideration the place we’ll go tomorrow’; it is hardly ever that sort of broad dialog you’d have in individual the place you strengthen connectivity and develop your left-field considering.”
Whatever the rigidity that may halt creativity in digital conferences, Townsend has a extra ebullient angle about know-how on the whole, recognising its position in WBA’s technique and transformation over the previous couple of years.
The procurement evolution and digital technique
“WBA’s been very progressive with its large-scale transformations when it comes to the core components of enterprise and its digital transformation, but in addition in procurement,” Townsend says.
That a lot is definitely evident, however what precisely instigated this and the way has it added enterprise worth to clients?
“Retail and healthcare has revolutionised over the previous 5 years, and the pandemic has additional accelerated improvement inside these sectors. Clients and sufferers anticipate elevated comfort via digital omnichannel experiences, in addition to larger worth, transparency, sustainability, and variety,” Townsend outlines.
Change has been a prevalent theme all through the final decade, with a lot of society opting to buy via a number of channels and maximising the chance of the web areas to match the wants and expectations of generations introduced up in a technological world; the pandemic merely illuminated and sped up this shift.
Explaining the method additional, Townsend says: “We recognised that strategic provide partnerships had been essential to delivering a brand new sustainable buyer providing and that the investments wanted to be funded via working efficiencies. We had been charged with collectively figuring out, structuring and creating these partnerships.”
“To realize this, we needed to remodel our organisation. We needed to entice, develop and retain expertise and reposition ourselves throughout the organisation, in addition to develop our ambition to ranges previous regarded as unthinkable.”
The primary stage of this transformation started again in 2017 and targeted on a ‘again to fundamentals’ method: getting the core procurement working mannequin firing on all cylinders and delivering what the enterprise wanted – and never what procurement thought it wanted. They made a small variety of devoted digital investments throughout this preliminary section, preferring to choose the fitting second in time for a extra complete digital transformation.
Growing the core 4 strategic themes to innovate procurement
In 2017, WBA’s procurement group developed 4 strategic themes for its digital innovation and company-wide evolution.
The primary of those strategic themes targeted on development partnerships and the corporate repositioning itself inside its present markets; the second was based mostly round a relentless concentrate on ESG and effectivity for sustainability functions; the third was dedicated to constructing procurement’s government affect and useful centrality; the fourth and last theme detailed the transformation of the procurement working and partnering fashions, along with its functionality, setting, provider relationships and group engagement.
“The chief management group supported and sponsored the brand new procurement mannequin, which in flip aligned with the broader organisation. Insurance policies had been overhauled and embedded,” Townsend says of the method.
“We outlined new practices and located a method to drive end-to-end procurement engagement differently. Success was basically enabled via an progressive enterprise partnering mannequin that constructed on enterprise partnering with useful groups.”
“To drive the strategic agenda and leverage sustainable development alternatives, we put in place collaborative, cross-functional groups that recognized a pipeline of potential partnerships and entrepreneurship. Moreover, this was supported by a group-wide Procurement Effectivity Programme enabling the broader ‘Complete Value Administration’ programme.
“We ensured that this landed throughout the respective budgets by making these vital changes and, equally, we made some important steadiness sheet enhancements that we tracked to validate money launch as we executed on every of our initiatives.”
The Procurement Effectivity Programme was shaped in collaboration with these cross-functional groups and has since delivered roughly 600 initiatives every year.
“Supply of those outcomes rested on the potential transformation inside Procurement, enabled via adjustments to the working mannequin, investing within the group by way of the Procurement Academy, and disciplined execution,” says Townsend.
However what in regards to the know-how aiding this transformation?
“At present, we use a collection of various procurement tech instruments; on the coronary heart of that is GEP’s Good Suite,” he says. “This allows us to concentrate on our position, the partnering and commerciality of what we do. We closely utilise the programme administration module for, amongst different issues, monitoring advantages, the e-sourcing device and the contracts repository. How we drive our programme is essential to our success, our day-to-day operations, in addition to our strategic initiatives.
“By design, enterprise processes, necessities and partnerships, in addition to know-how development partnerships – via optimising for sustainability influence, for instance – facilitated Walgreens to significantly better attain the socially susceptible, which has been vital throughout the pandemic,” Townsend explains, the notion of supporting the socially susceptible having helped form the corporate’s total ethos of creating healthcare extra reasonably priced.
“This actually units the drum beat of the organisation.”
Speaking of the near-future, Townsend excitedly tells us: “We’re constructing out the long run digital setting for our group members, this can concentrate on delivering materials worth development and retention to WBA.
“The following section will see us optimising our present Ariba platform, implementing a complete finish to finish contract lifecycle administration answer, optimised shopping for channels and an intuitive low worth sourcing answer. The true prize right here is determining methods to sew this ecosphere collectively to make the method of procurement seamless and related.”
A concentrate on ESG and planning for the long run
As already established, the onset of the pandemic provided the chance for the world to pause and reassess. It uncovered the overwhelmingly adverse influence of human exercise on the setting, in addition to the huge racial, gender, and social inequalities plaguing the world, in ways in which individuals may now not ignore. Quickly, demand for far more accountability and transparency from manufacturers throughout the spectrum of business started to swell – and companies had no selection however to conform.
WBA wasn’t exempt from this turning of the tide and swiftly acquired all the way down to enterprise figuring out ESG initiatives, focusing its forward-facing company-wide technique on environmental and social points, whereas overhauling its administration technique.
“We made a dedication to develop our understanding of climate-related danger and the alternatives round that. And we’re on monitor to scale back our absolute scope two emissions via a few of our initiatives,” Townsend states proudly. “60% of WBA waste is recycled – we have elevated that by 6% since 2019, whereas additionally decreasing our carbon emissions by nearly 15% in comparison with 2019.
“Throughout the Boots UK arm of the enterprise, lower than 1% of our waste went to landfill for the third yr in a row. About 6.3% of vitality consumed throughout the organisations comes from renewable sources. We’ve got a powerful focus on this house and a really clear clue round the place we’re heading, from an ESG perspective.”
This angle of continually doing higher and dedicating your self to the betterment of others is core to Townsend’s private method. He feels that, whereas a very good chief needs to be pushed, targeted and brave, it’s extra vital to be genuine, grounded, enjoyable to work with and, above all, genuinely caring – attributes which have had a big hand in WBA’s transformation and future focus.
“Why would anyone need to work for any individual that is not genuine?” Townsend questions, hitting the nail on the pinnacle when it comes to figuring out the corporate tradition that potential staff and clients are on the lookout for as of late.
So what’s in retailer for WBA’s procurement group within the subsequent couple of years? Nicely, it’s assured that ESG initiatives and methods can be central within the firm’s future plans.
In line with Townsend, this can be joined by a dedication to being “customer- targeted”, “socially accountable” and, to a point, “technology-led”.
He concludes: “We thought via the place we need to be, and it was round end-to-end digitalisation and being insights pushed. We’ll proceed to construct out our new working mannequin to increase the worth cycle and broaden the scope of what procurement is about inside our organisation, whereas constructing a fair stronger group with specialised expertise.
“As a part of that, we’ll proceed making WBA a fair higher place to work.”
