ProcureTechSTARS with Jag Lamba, Founder & CEO of Certa, an organisation that is helping businesses to reimagine the interconnected global third-party ecosystem.

Certa is facilitating more sophisticated, flexible, resilient and sustainable third-party relationships. During the conversation, Jag shared his thoughts on risk compliance, components of ‘trust’, GenAI in procurement, and hiking in San Francisco.

1. What is Certa’s mission?

The change that we want to bring about in the world is that companies should be able to work globally with their third parties safely, with ease, and quickly.  

Most of us have seen that organisations now have evolved to a global interconnected ecosystem of third parties. But, there are so many compliance requirements globally, there are so many risks globally and then, there are all these very beneficial ESG needs, and their related compliance.  

So, what we noticed is that companies are having to add more and more people to solve this problem - as these third-party ecosystems become more complex - and maybe what’s even more concerning is that this was slowing down businesses, because it was taking three to six months to onboard a new third party, just to be safe. But it was just mind boggling to me, how inefficient this whole system was, given how important it is to accomplish success.  

So, that's the problem that we want to solve and the change that we want to bring about.

2. What do you think differentiates Certa in the market?

Three things. Firstly, be comprehensive, so that we cover all risks, all compliance requirements, and all ESG requirements, globally.  

And, at multiple Fortune 100s and Fortune 500s, we've proven that we are global native, in the way that we support 42 languages, and all the nuances of compliance in every part of the world. We just haven't seen another solution be as comprehensive as Certa.  

Number two, we serve some of the largest firms. So what that means is, we need to be extremely personalised to those firms. So we've created a complete no-code studio - a lot of firms claim that but, for us, it is extremely robust and all our solutions are built on the no-code studios. It is extremely configurable; hyper-configurable. And, especially for large companies, when they deploy Certa, they don't run into challenges during implementation, simply because it's so flexible.

Lastly, we've taken a very open approach to solving this problem. We already have 120 integrations and we’ve built a full middleware layer, which means that companies can add new integrations without code. Our mindset is, ‘We're going to coordinate and orchestrate not only all the stakeholders and all the global vendors and third parties, but also all the systems and data sources that are needed to facilitate safe, efficient and fast collaboration with third parties.’

3. What have been the most significant milestones in the Certa journey so far?

Every Certa solution, including our ready-made solutions, is built on the Certa platform, which basically serves as the digital backbone for companies in working with all third parties.  

We actually enable companies to work with, not just vendors, but also partners, and often clients now. Everybody that a company works with, our software enables our clients to manage those interactions in a very automated manner.  

So the big differentiation is that everything is built on Certa OS, which means that everything fits together really well, and if you integrate it once it integrates with all modules. It really makes life tremendously easier. It's a beautiful, simple user interface, with all the risk compliance and ESG built in.  

4. What do you look for in the perfect customer?

Currently we focus on the Global 2000. Unlike most startups, we started serving large enterprises. So, the platform is an incredible fit for large companies with bespoke needs and processes, and the sheer global nature of these large firms.  

So, a Global 2000 that is trying to solve an immediate pain point has a vision and recognises that this problem needs to be addressed holistically. That becomes our absolute perfect customer profile. I think folks who are innovators, but are looking for something that's proven at multiple Fortune 500 firms.

5. What are the foundations of growing a great team?

I think it ultimately boils down to trust. But, trust has many components. Beyond trusting their competence, you need to trust that they are aligned with the overall company vision and mission, and you need to trust that they have the company's interests at heart, above their self interest. It really has to be in that order, for their self interest to come to fruition as well. It just doesn't work any other way.  

For us, we focus a lot on ensuring that we're finding not just the most competent people, but the folks who can see the broader vision, and who will see the interests of the whole as not different from their self interests.

6. How are you innovating, and how will you incorporate Generative AI into your platform?  

We're going to be one of the leading GenAI players in the procurement and compliance space. There is no question about it.  

There are a few reasons for that. Our architecture is completely suited, not just for GenAI innovation, but innovation in general.  

What I mean by that is, once you help companies establish a digital backbone, using GenAI in one application area helps us enable it in every part of the application, whether it's compliance, risk, ESG, the SRM, it just makes it so much easier.  

So because of our architecture and, I would also argue, because of the very engineering-focused DNA of our firm, I personally have zero doubts in my head that we are going to be the leading GenAI player in the procurement and compliance space.

7. What is the vision for Certa? What does great look like in five years?

For me, the mission is clear. If companies are able to work across borders - at equal ease with smaller firms as larger well-known firms - efficiently and quickly, that is the vision we want to achieve.  

We want this to be a strategic advantage for companies. We want to create a strategic advantage in the agility and the ease of the way they work with third parties. There has to be a system in place to keep the company safe, but there also has to be a system that enables companies to really convert these relationships into a lot more than transactional relationships.

8. How are you doing good for the planet?

70% of an average organisation's ESG impact depends on third parties. And that's actually one of the things that keeps me going. As you know, entrepreneurship is really hard, building a business is really hard, but that's what just keeps me going.  

With this third-party management, firstly, this can be the most significant lever of impact for companies. Then secondly, on a personal note, when I moved to the United States from India, I noticed that the companies and the businesses here were just more ethical, more humane and I wanted to spread this to the rest of the world. Using these ESG policies, codes of conduct, human rights, labour rights, anti-corruption and anti-bribery, I think, is so good for the world. This is the way we can spread the goodness of what I have seen here to the rest of the world.  

INSTANT INSPIRATION  

1. What is your favourite book or blog?  

The book that's been the most impactful for me was Steve Job’s biography by Walter Isaacson. I absolutely could not put that down.  
But, I also really loved Bill Browder's book Freezing Order. I was blown away by that book, and the courage displayed was very inspiring to me.

2. Who is your favourite inspirational leader?

Satya Nadella.  

We run relatively small firms, and it's hard enough to change things in a small firm. How does he change things at such a fundamental level - the culture, the security, the innovation - for a trillion dollar business? It blows my mind.  

3. What is your favourite piece of technology?

I really like my Apple watch (I use the Apple Watch Ultra). I'm a huge hiker, and it's just given me peace of mind. With all the safety features, it just helps me go further.  

4. What is your favourite cocktail or guilty pleasure?

Japanese whiskey.

5. What’s your favourite way to celebrate success?

To go on a hike with my colleague. We're very blessed in San Francisco.

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Key Takeaways  

1. Companies should be able to work with their global third parties safely and efficiently, with ease.  

2. Modern organisations have evolved to a global interconnected ecosystem of third parties. While this offers many advantages, this markedly expands the associated compliance requirements, and the risk landscape.  

3. If companies aren’t careful, navigating the complexities of these third-party ecosystems can significantly slow down businesses, due to extended onboarding of new third parties.

4. This is a problem that needs to be addressed holistically, especially for large organisations.

5. Working with third parties with ease and agility can prove to be a major strategic advantage for companies. Companies should work to implement a system that enables these relationships to become a lot more than purely transactional.

6. Another key advantage to this approach is sustainability, as 70% of an average organisation's ESG impact depends on third parties.  

7. In parallel, as companies expand their teams, they need to not only select the most competent people, but the candidates who can see the company’s broader vision, and those who you can trust to have the company's interests at heart.

About Certa

Certa helps Fortune 500 firms with global third-party compliance, risk management, and ESG. Certa is a comprehensive platform, which allows users to manage all their global third parties. It can be personalised through a no-code studio and an open architecture with 120+ ready-made integrations.  

Certa has been recognised as a Top 50 Procurement Providers to Watch in 2022 by Spend Matters, and a Representative Vendor in Gartner’s 2022 Market Guide for Third-Party Risk Management Solutions and IT Vendor Risk Management Solutions.  

About ProcureTechSTARS

ProcureTechSTARS are the digital Procurement CEOs and Founders who are transforming Procurement and the enterprise.  
In an open conversation with these leaders, Lance Younger discusses the highs and lows of building the future, the challenges they’ve faced, their perspective on the latest developments, and what motivates them.  

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