ivoflow is an intelligent procurement software, which empowers industrial companies to manage their processes efficiently, by enriching all internal data with external market intelligence data, through the power of AI.  

During the conversation, Nick and Daniel discussed competitive tension, mindset alignment, Elon Musk and go-karting.

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1. What’s ivoflow’s mission?

Nick  

Our mission is that we want to be the central and intelligent spend management platform that teams are using. We keep on expanding our roadmap to strengthen our position as the intelligence layer sitting on top of the slightly outdated legacy systems that a lot of companies are using.  

We also want to double down on procurement intelligence. That means we want to continue to train our platform to think like a strategic buyer, in order to identify new cost reduction and mitigation opportunities. Besides the commercial aspect, we are also generating opportunities to support challenges surrounding ESG and CO2 emission reduction.  

So, that's really our mission: to be a very intuitive, simple platform, which users can use to get a holistic overview of what they are in charge of, while also gaining proactive insights into what they should execute, in order to improve the overall Procurement performance.  

2. What makes ivoflow different from the other spend intelligence tools that exist?

Daniel  

We bring the procurement intelligence portion. So, not just the visualisation portion, but the insights into finding cost reduction and value delivery opportunities. We want to create real value for our customers, which they can use to impact bottom-line savings and value delivery opportunities automatically.  

Nick  

Together, we have been working for over 30 years in large corporations, in times when competitive tension was everywhere. So for our entire career, we have been pushed to get the best out of the suppliers and categories we were responsible for. This thinking is exactly what we have now brought to the digital world. We digitise for Procurement.  

“For our entire career, we have been pushed to get the best out of the suppliers and categories we were responsible for. And this thinking is exactly what we have now brought to the digital world. We digitise for Procurement.”

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

Nick

Following the strategy we have, I am sure that we will continue this roadmap, which is integration and ecosystem. We want to have a pretty open architecture, and we want to keep the ability to integrate with internal data and provide our customers with access to external market intelligence data, because companies still operate in silos, and analyse data in silos, without reflecting on the other useful information which is out there. That has been our very early strategy and what we will continue, because that was definitely the right direction.  

I think another key milestone is to engage more with ProcureTech, because that helps us understand a lot better what corporations are really looking for, what's trending on the market, and which direction we could head towards. So, I think that's another milestone.  

“Companies still operate in silos, and analyse data in silos, without reflecting on the other useful information which is out there.”

I think we were also lucky with some of our recent hirings. Both Daniel and I had an idea, but we needed to turn it into a product, and then bring this product to the market. This is, obviously, a team’s work, and we were lucky with our hirings. So, I would also name this as one of our key milestones - getting the right people on board at the right time, with the right mindset, to help us follow our mission and vision.

4. What are the foundations of a great team?

Daniel

I think one is the experience that each person brings in. Also, leadership skills and a knowledge of how to manage teams. But, I also think that it is very important that people always have an eye on what's happening in the market, and keep innovating. To not sit still, and to have this mindset of wanting to be the market leaders, and be one step ahead of the competition.  

So, you need people who have an innovative mindset. And that's what we're looking for. We're happy that we have those people in our team.  

Nick  

I think as leaders of a team, it's important that we contribute to it. We are following a little bit of a ‘work hard-play hard’ mentality here. So, we want to make sure that everybody in the team is working hard towards the same goals, but we also want to give the team a modern workspace and flexibility. The working model is different to what it was five years ago. We need to make sure we give this flexibility to our teams, and also celebrate the milestones we set once we achieve them. To give back appreciation and to make the team feel like a team. Not like, ‘these are the leaders’, ‘this is the workforce’, but like we have one entire team and we have the same vision.  

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

Nick    

What's important for us is that our customers have a solid roadmap, or at least the motivation to change things. It should come from the customer to say, ‘Ok, I have a challenge here, I have an issue, and I want to address that one.’ Then trust the solutions out there in supporting them to overcome those challenges.  

Then on top of that, I think it's very important that the stakeholders are aligned. So that, when you do deploy a product, yes you need to be the right solution for the challenge and you need the Procurement teams to appreciate what you do, but you are also engaging with IT and Finance departments. If those stakeholders are aligned from a very early stage, I think it helps a lot to speed up the process, to get a product launched and to support the Procurement community, and avoid making it a process over multiple months with multiple iterations, because the stakeholders are not fully aligned.  

I think that's one thing where I always see that there's a circular, common mindset motivation alignment, which helps us, as a solution provider, to speed things up.  

“If those stakeholders are aligned from a very early stage, I think it helps a lot to speed up the process, to get a product launched and to support the Procurement community, and avoid making it a process over multiple months with multiple iterations.”

Daniel  

I think another is when the customer is as excited as us about this movement and about the product. That's the most fun, that's a perfect customer. When we get feedback, ‘Great job on this, can you improve this?’. I want the feedback loops, and it’s great when they get as excited as us about driving digital innovation. That's the most important mindset, and the best feedback we can get from our customers.  

6. What's the mid-long term vision for ivoflow?  

Daniel    

Initially, we want to double-down on procurement intelligence, and how best to drive new insights. And with every customer project, it's quite exciting. There are these challenges that are coming up, which we're very excited to get stuck into and solve together, while cooperating with our customers.  

We also have our own roadmap, which covers a lot of these driving things in the industry right now, like Carbon Emissions, and ESG which we will fully integrate into our platform as we speak. And then, just doubling down on the indirect procurement and generating additional insights and cost opportunities for customers.  

Alongside this, there are big topics like GenAI, and designing the GenAI ChatGPT integration. These are all the things that are on the near-term roadmap to implement.  

Nick  

For us, ‘great’ looks like building a solid, empowered customer base, who appreciate the work we're doing, and who appreciate our impact on the digital procurement world.  

I think being very close to customers is one of our core strategies, and creating the future looks like that. We have a lot of exciting customers on board, and we’re developing new innovations, together with our customers. So that's what great looks like to me because, if you have customers who enjoy and appreciate what you do, I think everything else that is impacting your business is basically driven by that, too.  

“For us, ‘great’ looks like building a solid, empowered customer base, who appreciate the work we're doing, and who appreciate our impact on the digital procurement world.”

7. What needs to be put in place in order to realise that vision?

Nick  

I think it starts with being innovative. But, I think that becomes more of a problem as the company grows and becomes more mature. I think the larger a company gets, usually, the less innovative they get. So, it's very important to keep pushing the boundaries, to stay innovative, to leverage big data, and to leverage whatever new technologies come to the market. That you immediately touch base on them, and see how you could leverage those new technologies for your purpose. I think that's important.  

8. What is ivoflow doing for the planet?

Nick  

What we are now developing together with our customers and technology partners is developing a CO2 tool that follows the same logic that we apply for the commercial side of things. That means, show me the status quo, but also give me insights into how I can improve the status quo, right.  

So that means that, in the future, our platform should help organisations choose the right sourcing strategies, the right procurement strategies, and make the right sourcing decisions, reflecting both the commercial but also the environmental flip side of the decisions.

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INSTANT INSPIRATION

1. What is your favourite book or blog?

Daniel    

One of the most recent books I read was They Ask, You Answer. It's about learning about marketing content: how to not talk about yourself, but also how to create content that's valuable for potential customers or the market. I think that's how you build trust with your customer base.  

Nick

I think my favourite book is The Art of War. It's a pretty old book, but it basically teaches the fundamental strategies for a leader to achieve certain goals you set for yourself.

2. Who is your favourite inspirational business leader?

Nick    

For me, it's Elon Musk, because he is really thinking years ahead and outside the box.  

What I like about him is that he executes his plans, even though he has failures and strong pushback on the way. I know there's a video online from 2012, where he's talking about the product development roadmap of Tesla. How he will bring Model S to market, to finance the mass production then build a car called Model 3 which is more competitive, and so on. If you now look, 10 years later, he 100% executed this plan and delivered it on target. I like his ability to think outside the box, as well as his accepting pushbacks and failures.  

Daniel    

If I go by gut feeling, I would say the person I was really impressed by was Barack Obama. Particularly how he became President, and I always admired his speeches.

3. What is your favourite piece of technology (other than your own)?

Nick

I love all my Apple products - I’m a big fan of Apple.  

What I like about these products is that they are super simple, intuitive, and robust - the same things we want to apply to our products.  

For us, it has always been our aim that people who are using our product don't need to read a 100-page manual, or need to participate in 50 hours of training, but get on it and get the insights they need out of it.  

Daniel  

I work with technology all day, so in my free time, I actually like to disconnect a lot from technology.  

But I think the technology that I use most is probably my Garmin watch.  

4. How do you celebrate success?

Daniel  

We have some go-kart racers here on our team. So as a team, whenever we win a new order, we go go-karting. So it's been quite a lot recently.  

And we have a little bit of a competition going on, and usually afterwards, we go for some burgers and beer. Now we're trying to mix it up a bit. There's also one guy that plays baseball, or we'll do a round of golf next time, and then we have some cool locations here, where you can barbecue and have some drinks together.  

5. What is your favourite cocktail?

Nick

We're from Germany, so we like to drink beer. But when it comes to cocktails, I usually like it simple and traditional. So I’d probably go for a whiskey old-fashioned.  

Daniel

I’m a big fan of mojitos.  

Key Takeaways

1. Companies still largely operate in silos, and analyse data in silos, without reflecting on the other useful information which is out there.

2. The working model is different to what it was five years ago. So, you need to ensure that you provide your teams with a modern workspace and flexibility, in order to remain competitive.  

3. As leaders, celebrate the milestones that you set, once they are achieved. Show your appreciation, and make the team feel like a team.  

4. What’s key to a ‘good’ customer is that they have a solid roadmap, and a real motivation to change things.  

5. It's very important that stakeholders are aligned. And, if you achieve this at an early stage, this is a great way to ensure project efficiency and success.  

6. Work to build a circular, common mindset motivation alignment, both across your teams, and the stakeholders and customers that you work with.  

About ivoflow

With its global team of creative software developers, ivoflow’s mission is to help solve global manufacturing companies' common pain points.

Based on its extensive global Procurement experience, ivoflow understands unstructured and disrupted data sets, ambitious cost-saving-targets and complex global markets.

Using ivoflow’s software solution, customers can manage their spend strategically to gain full transparency, insights into new value-delivery-opportunities, and stay on top of ever-changing markets.

About ProcureTechSTARS  

ProcureTechSTARS are the digital 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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