What is a Compania?
A persona is a common tool in software design used to represent a model of the people we are creating for. At Talegen, we are creating for both people and businesses. A “compania” is a take on “persona” and is a model of the companies we are creating for.
Company Attributes
Businesses grow organically, and the attributes that define their maturity can grow at different rates. The business attributes we identified are:
Number of Employees: The number of employees that are purchasing changes the behavior of an organization. A larger staff creates problems of scale.
Segmentation: How is the business organized? Many businesses have multiple hierarchies. Do they manage spend by location? By lines of business?
Structure: Where does Talegen’s customers sit within the company? How is the company organized? What about the company’s finances – are those handled in-house or through an external provider? Who’s involved with making financial decisions, from the company’s day-to-day needs to its long-term strategy?
Technology: Does the business invest in integration and technology? Do they have an e-procurement system? Do they rely on out-of-the-box or customized expense tracking?
Spend: What does the pie graph of their spend look like? How much rogue spend do they have versus planned and tail?
Company Motivators
Like the attributes that define the business, the motivations of the business inspire growth in different areas at different rates. Organizations that are governed by strict regulations mature more quickly in control to establish the processes and procedures they need to ensure compliance. Conversely, a fast-growing tech start-up is likely to mature much faster in speed with the goal of furthering their rapid growth. They may not spend resources establishing and enforcing strict guidelines until their growth slows.
Consider how these control versus speed motivators play out in two procurement practices: One company’s procurement team sees themselves as the “sheriff in town.” They exist to make sure people follow the rules, and adherence is their #1 motivator. Their finance team follows the same philosophy, enforcing strict policies with how expenses are tracked, recorded, and reconciled.
In contrast, the other company’s procurement team has constructed a purchasing workflow designed to get employees the supplies they need in less than a week. With the support of the financial team, the company has optimized for speed, using a system where a cart can be created and a PO cut on the same day. However, they are still optimizing on control because the system they created doesn’t allow them to buy anything that isn’t managed under a vendor contract. Having Talegen on the list of approved suppliers enables their employees to buy/use anything they need, eliminating rogue spend.
The business motivators that we identified include:
Speed: Are they motivated to increase efficiency? Are they interested in removing blockers from the ordering process?
Control: Governance.
Strategy: Businesses vary in how important they consider indirect, tail spend to their overall success. As companies mature, they begin to consider the impact on the overall financial health of the organization and use savings as a means of freeing up additional dollars for investment.
Innovation: Businesses begin by being tactical, replicate other best practices as they scale, and then innovate to best serve their unique needs.
Relationships: How are they managing their suppliers? Are they creating partnerships? Are they a part of a spending consortium?
Reputation: Businesses worry about their brand reputation and consequently the reputation of the supplier that they use. In some cases this is regulated, like mandates to use minority or women-owned businesses, in other cases, businesses want to behave ethically (or be perceived that way) and consider the environmental and human rights impact of different suppliers.