Amazon Business announces the winners of the second annual Amazon Business Exchange Awards: Zalando, HC-One, Airbus, and Telefónica. The awards honour leaders and organizations that are driving change in procurement and embracing digital transformation – from simplifying purchasing and helping teams enable more modern ways of working to save costs, to removing barriers and creating inclusive environments within procurement.
“We are excited to see that so many teams across small businesses, schools and universities, as well as large enterprises with tens of thousands of employees, were able to accelerate the digital shift in procurement to help their organizations focus more on their core missions and pivot quickly to new conditions,” said Nabil De Marco, Director, Amazon Business Europe. “With the Amazon Business Exchange Awards, we want to recognize our winners HC-One, Airbus, Telefónica and Zalando for showcasing their best practices in creating more agile workforces and streamlined procurement processes – to share with the broader procurement community.”
The award ceremony took place online on October 7th, during the Amazon Business Exchange (ABX) 2020, the company’s cross-sector business customer conference in Europe.
The 2020 ABX Awards winners
The Bringing People Together Award
This award showcases an organization that is leading actions to remove barriers and create inclusive environments, especially important during this unprecedented time.
The winner: HC-One
“Our objective is to make procurement simple, agile and efficient, while focusing on the needs and experiences of our residents and colleagues. By integrating Amazon Business, we were able to automate the end-to-end process and move quickly. For example, we purchased Amazon Fire Tablets for our care homes to support the connection between residents and their loved ones, while visiting has been restricted due to the Coronavirus pandemic,” said Michael Robson, Head of Procurement at HC-One.
The Innovating with Intent Award
This award gives recognition to organizations that are pushing the boundaries in procurement, to not only innovate purchasing processes but also contribute to the advancement of the entire organization.
The winner: Airbus
“We’re delighted to accept the Innovating with Intent Award from Amazon Business. Here at Airbus we innovate in different ways – whether that’s through our extensive ecosystem of technology scouts, through our global innovation centres, or in partnership with research institutes. Our role in the procurement division is to support and accelerate the Airbus innovation projects with their sourcing needs and to deliver these goods as fast as possible. We’re partnering with Amazon Business to source the diverse range of items needed to build prototypes for our innovation projects. Amazon Business has given innovators at Airbus an efficient and familiar route to purchase with easy adoption. The key outcomes we have seen are a reduction in the number of suppliers, shorter delivery times with next day delivery, and, crucially, a significant reduction in project duration as prototype parts are now easily accessible,” said Alec Dent, Category Manager, Innovation Procurement at Airbus.
The Sustainable Procurement Award
This award highlights organizations that are making a measurable difference in creating sustainable supply chains to drive excellence and best practice.
The winner: Telefónica
“In 2020, we launched our new global Sustainability Policy in our supply chain to reinforce respect for human rights and the environment. As part of this, we started working with Amazon Business in July 2020 to gain an understanding of how we can make the most out of their sustainable products. We’re absolutely thrilled to win this award and hope for much more success as the partnership develops over the months and years to come,” said Maya Ormazabal, Head Environment and Human Rights at Telefónica.
The Procurement Hero Award
This award is sponsored by American Express. It recognizes an individual who is the driving force of change in a procurement team and is paving the path to an easier purchasing process.
The winner: Alejandro Basterrechea, Zalando
“It’s an honor to win the first ABX Procurement Hero Award. There are so many great procurement professionals in our industry, that to even be nominated, feels like an award in itself, but to win is something I never expected. While this is a personal award, it would never have been possible without the support, engagement and drive from the Indirect Procurement team at Zalando. I’m passionate about procurement and I can’t wait to see what the next 12 months hold,” said Alejandro Basterrechea, Head of Procurement Operations at Zalando.
Check out our exclusive feature with Zalando:
About the winners:
HC-One
HC-One, The Kind Care Company, provides residential, nursing and dementia care services, with 328 care homes across England, Scotland and Wales, and a mission to deliver the kindest possible care.
Airbus
Airbus is an international pioneer in the aerospace industry and a leader in designing, manufacturing and delivering aerospace products, services and solutions to customers on a global scale.
Telefónica
Telefónica is today one of the largest telecommunications companies in the world in terms of number of customers. Its vision is focused on technology making people’s lives easier and its aim is to promote progress in that direction, so that technology can make a positive impact on the world both socially and environmentally, and, ultimately, to provide value and trust in an ever-changing and accelerating world.
Zalando
Zalando is Europe’s leading online platform for fashion and lifestyle. Founded in Berlin in 2008, they bring head-to-toe fashion to over 34 million active customers in 17 markets, offering clothing, footwear, accessories, and beauty.
ABX caters for procurement, finance and supply chain leaders who want to discover how to innovate quickly and build more efficient processes and organizations. The conference partnered with the procurement community this year to feature a series of sessions including inspiring ‘ABX Changemakers’ who are driving transformation in their sectors.
