Better procurement supplier management tools, better supplier relationship management in New Zealand

"Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication". Steve Jobs’s classic philosophy has become a fundamental truth of success in the technology sector and has spread across many other industries. In a reality where government agencies must also keep pace with digital transformation, leaders and administrators across all organisations are focused on improving operational efficiency and expenditure control through the simplification of processes and systems.

However, procurement management remains a challenging field, with many manual processes, a lack of transparency, and difficulties in managing suppliers effectively when systems are fragmented and complex. That impacts negatively procurement supplier management.

This article will analyse common bottlenecks and introduce ServiceNow Supplier Lifecycle Operations – a solution that helps modernise procurement, improve efficiency, and enhance supplier relationship management in New Zealand.

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Understanding the challenges of procurement supplier management in New Zealand

Procurement supplier management operations may seem deceptively simple: vet suppliers, engage them, monitor performance, ensure compliance, and maintain healthy relationships. However, in reality, it's far more complex.

Over the past three years, pressure for administrative reform and digital transformation in procurement management has been mounting. The COVID-19 pandemic required large-scale emergency public spending, inadvertently exposing limitations that no one had previously considered. According to the Auditor-General of New Zealand, post-pandemic, whilst these limitations were thought to have been resolved, challenges persist and have even become more severe, placing significant pressure on procurement professionals in New Zealand.

Lack of transparency in processes

The lack of transparency between finance departments, procurement teams, and suppliers poses significant risks to organisational reputation. A research by Victoria MacLennan (NZ Rise) and Laurence Miller (Transparency International) shows that only 2% of the New Zealand Government's information technology spending in 2020 was transparently disclosed. Expanding to all government procurement, the total value of contracts announced in 2020 was only $1.016 billion NZD, equivalent to 2.5% of total government expenditure. This lack of transparency equates to serious "blind procurement", here leaders and citizens don't know how the $51.5 billion annual procurement budget is being spent.

Inefficient manual processes and legacy systems

According to IDC's Digital Agility 2021 research, 44% of organisations in New Zealand report still using predominantly manual tasks, whilst only 13.5% claim their core processes have been automated and standardised. 50% of procurement departments still operate on static spreadsheets like Excel (LevaData 2019 research). Organisations slow to embrace digital transformation in New Zealand are spending up to 82% of their IT budgets on maintaining and customising existing systems, leaving only 18% for innovation and development.

Manual data entry is not only time-consuming but also prone to errors, slowing decision-making processes and consuming valuable resources. Paper approval processes and fragmented email exchanges create serious delays in procurement, reducing government agencies' ability to respond quickly to their needs.

Difficulties in Procurement Supplier Management

According to New Zealand Government Procurement, the government currently lacks a centralised view of supply risk, making it difficult to understand how suppliers are prioritising critical services to the government.

In line with global trends, 24% of leaders admit they haven't effectively evaluated supplier business practices due to fragmented, manual data; whilst 23% report their suppliers aren't connected to internal electronic procurement systems (Basware-HBR research).

In New Zealand, this issue is compounded by geographic isolation which is a significant challenge for agencies actively collaborating with international supply chain partners. This lack of integration leads to fragmented information, with agencies unable to timely capture the capabilities, risks, or compliance levels of each supplier.

Fragmented systems and lack of effective oversight framework

Many New Zealand government agencies use different management systems for each stage, similar to the situation in Australia. This lack of integration means leaders don't have a comprehensive view of processes, with data fragmented across "data silos".

According to the Auditor-General of New Zealand, there's a need for an appropriate framework to achieve transparency and accountability for procurement functional leadership. New Zealand Government Procurement needs to clearly define leadership roles and responsibilities for improving government procurement to address the lack of real-time, cross-functional data.

Fortunately, the New Zealand Government has begun positive steps with Cloud First policies, Strategy for a Digital Public Service, and the development of Supplier Relationship Management (SRM) tools. However, more comprehensive solutions are needed to untangle the "bottlenecks" in procurement systems and leverage technology to modernise supplier management.

Let’s dive into the disarray that Procurement Professionals face

Procurement professionals in New Zealand are still overwhelmed with having to simultaneously play the roles of risk managers, negotiators, data clerks, and relationship builders. The logic behind procurement supplier management sounds simple: screen, engage, monitor, and maintain relationships. But in practice, this is a function fragmented across multiple systems, inboxes, and spreadsheets, creating serious challenges.

They must navigate these time-wasting and inefficient daily tasks:

• Onboarding lasts weeks instead of hours due to a lack of digitised processes
• Fragmented risk reviews require email exchanges with three different departments before obtaining complete assessments
• Non-standardised documentation with certificates in PDF, risk assessments in Word, and performance scorecards in Excel – all stored separately without connected systems
• Missed alerts about compliance gaps and expiring certificates due to lack of automated systems
• Retrospective or non-existent performance reviews due to lack of real-time data

The consequence of this chaos is that leaders cannot answer critical business questions: Which suppliers are compliant today? How many contracts are expiring next quarter? Which suppliers are underperforming and why? Where is the next risk likely to emerge?

It’s time to transform with ServiceNow solutions!

Supplier Lifecycle Operations – Reshaping entire Procurement Supplier Management Operations

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Supplier Lifecycle Operations (SLO) is ServiceNow's comprehensive approach designed to help organisations manage every stage of the supplier lifecycle, from initial assessment to performance, compliance, and partnership termination. In modern procurement supplier management ecosystems, SLO serves as the backbone, closely connecting critical functions such as:

• Supplier onboarding and qualification: Verify, approve, and manage new suppliers based on appropriate criteria.
• Contract & compliance management: Track contracts, terms, and compliance status in real-time.
• Supplier relationship and performance management (SRPM): Evaluate KPIs, provide regular feedback, and build improvement plans with suppliers.
• Supplier offboarding: Controlled partnership termination, transaction history storage, and transition risk assessment.

ServiceNow's differentiator is that all these steps are structured into a seamless automation cycle, directly integrated with existing ERP and financial systems. This enables New Zealand government organisations to eliminate data silos, increase transparency, and gain a 360-degree view of each supplier.

SLO also supports the establishment of strict authorisation, compliance, and risk control policies – particularly necessary in the public sector. When fully deployed, SLO not only helps increase performance and reduce risk but also promotes proactive, flexible, and measurable supplier relationship management strategies.

SRPM – Specialised Module Strengthening Supplier Relationship Management

Prominent within the SLO system, ServiceNow Supplier Relationship and Performance Management (SRPM) is a crucial module helping organisations build effective and sustainable supplier relationship management foundations. SRPM doesn't operate independently – it deepens SLO's core functions through:

• Building transparent, standardised supplier evaluation criteria
• Real-time supplier performance monitoring (KPIs, SLAs)
• Managing feedback flows, assessments, improvements, or contract violation handling
• Providing input data for strategic decisions like renewals, replacements, or partnership upgrades

SRPM transforms data collected from the entire SLO journey into a foundation for evaluating and substantially improving supplier relationships – something inherently difficult when systems operate in isolation. This is the key factor helping SLO not only operate technically efficiently but also nurture trust, collaboration, and innovation throughout the supply chain.

Measurable benefits with ServiceNow Supplier Lifecycle Operations

With ServiceNow Supplier Lifecycle Operations, the challenges you face today can become tomorrow's competitive advantages:

• Cost savings of 9% to 20% through reduced quality errors, delays, and off-budget spending
• Procurement processing time reduced by up to 50%, as demonstrated in case studies like Dropbox, through automated approval processes and information transparency
• Contract and policy compliance increased to over 85% through real-time performance monitoring and early warning systems
• Improved supplier and procurement staff satisfaction, with positive feedback rates increasing 30–40% after system implementation
• Strengthened strategic relationships with key suppliers through two-way feedback mechanisms and continuous improvement collaboration

These figures not only reflect performance but also demonstrate the power of transitioning from fragmented systems to an integrated procurement supplier management platform, which ServiceNow SLO is designed to realise.

Novabridge – Trusted ServiceNow partner for Supplier Lifecycle Operations implementation in ANZ

Novabridge is ServiceNow's strategic partner in Australia and New Zealand, with proven capabilities in implementing Source-to-Pay and Supplier Lifecycle Operations solutions for government agencies and critical infrastructure enterprises.

Novabridge particularly understands the regulatory frameworks, data policies, and operational characteristics of the ANZ public sector. Novabridge's ServiceNow expert team has the capability to:

• Consult on implementing complete Supplier Lifecycle Operations (SLO) solutions, including modules such as Supplier Relationship and Performance Management (SRPM), Supplier Common Architecture, Source-to-Pay Workspace, and Supplier Collaboration Portal
• Guide agencies in building supplier evaluation, feedback, and improvement criteria sets
• Train and transfer data-driven procurement supplier management modernisation processes

Particularly, we also own a proprietary product – Strategic Sourcing App, developed to expand ServiceNow S2P's unlimited potential. This application suits organisations with complex procurement operations.

Novabridge has been and continues to support public and private sector organisations in implementing procurement supplier management solutions across ANZ.

‍To view more specific case studies, explore here!

Conclusion

Digital transformation in procurement supplier management is no longer a luxury option – it's a business imperative. Each day of delay is another day of increasing supplier frustration and unmanaged enterprise risks.

ServiceNow's Supplier Lifecycle Operations solution suite is the answer to this challenge: integrated, scalable, and focused on actual performance.

Are you ready to transform procurement supplier management from a daily challenge into a competitive advantage?

Contact us – Novabridge is ready to partner with you to create personalised solutions according to each organisation's specific needs and objectives.