Today I’m joined by a company that wants to free you from the chaos of bad supplier data: Graphite.
Graphite make it simple and secure for buyers and sellers to connect and do business, saving them from endless onboarding and inaccurate data, and helping them to move faster, collaborate smarter, and make better decisions.
Today Conrad Smith, co-founder and CEO at Graphite, joins me to talk all about Graphite and what they do; building a network to create efficiency on a global scale; speeding up communication amidst tariff turmoil; and bringing you data you can trust.
Guest Bio:
Conrad Smith is the co-founder and CEO of Graphite, a network-based solution for onboarding and supplier management. He has over 30 years of experience in enterprise procurement and has led several global transformations in Procurement, IT, and HR. Conrad began his procurement career at Intel, where he played a key role in the development of Intel’s early purchasing automation and web tools, including first-generation CLM, savings reporting, spend analytics, and automated PR forms and workflow. He joined Omniture shortly before the company was acquired by Adobe; after the acquisition, Conrad became Senior Director of Global Procurement at Adobe, where he led Adobe’s Global Procurement transformation to dramatically reduce PR-PO-Contract resources and delays. Conrad earned his BS Degree in Biochemistry from Brigham Young University and later his MBA from the Marriott School of Management at BYU.
IN THIS EPISODE WE DISCUSS:
[03.42] Conrad’s background and career journey.
“I got to Intel and they were doing procurement with paper – white, pink, yellow triplicate requisitions… it blew my mind! Intel in the 90s was THE powerhouse tech company… I showed up, and they were doing paper. That started my career into: ‘Let’s figure out how to make it better.’”
[06.15] How and why Conrad established Graphite.
“What’s the difference between a fax machine and email? It isn’t the same magnitude of improvement as snail mail to fax machine. It’s not a printed piece of paper, it shows up in an inbox electronic, but it’s kind of the same thing. And we’ve got to figure out how to move past that one-to-one sharing of information. We’re stuck.”
[14.19] An overview of Graphite – who they are, what they do, and how they help their customers.
“Supplier management starts with onboarding. And that step is what everyone is struggling the most with.”
[18.50] The ideal client for Graphite.
[22.01] The biggest challenges impacting Graphite customers, whether procurement can keep up with the pace of modern business, and why supplier risk and data is the ‘biggest hairball’ in procurement.
“Business friction is a real problem. But you can’t just evaporate it, because there are suppliers and situations where risk is a significant concern. You do need friction in some places.”
[27.18] Why paperwork, legal, and compliance can make it almost impossible to establish new relationships and do business, and how Graphite can help ease that pressure.
[34.11] Graphite’s Rapid Response feature, how it helps to speed up communication, and why that’s so crucial.
“Things happen: most recently, tariffs. And the first thing that happened was that executive teams said: ‘Which of our suppliers are most impacted by tariffs, and what does that look like?’ The answer is: ‘I don’t know, call procurement.’”
[38.10] A case study exploring how Graphite helped a grocery store chain cut down time spent on their supplier management process by 75%, reduce labor, and improve data quality.
[41.26] The big AI misconception, and the best way to prepare for the future of AI now.
“AI eats data, it lives on it. Data is what makes it work. And I think there’s a false belief that AI is going to fix it, like: ‘I have an AI magic wand and all of a sudden I’ll have clean supplier data.’ But it’s not going to work that way.”
RESOURCES AND LINKS MENTIONED:
Head over to Graphite’s website now to find out more and discover how they could help you too. You can also connect with Graphite and keep up to date with the latest over on LinkedIn, or you can connect with Conrad on LinkedIn.
If you enjoyed this episode and want to hear more about procurement, check out 468: Make Intelligent Purchases Driven by Data, with ProcurementIQ, 462: Procurement Unlocked: Sourcing Best Practices in a Tariff-Driven World, with ProcureAbility or 243: Reinventing Freight Procurement with Emerge.
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