Turning fragmented procurement into group-wide control

CV is a multi-disciplinary services provider that delivers integrated solutions across infrastructure, construction, asset maintenance, power and signage on Australia’s east coast, also supporting clients in the Asia-Pacific region. Its teams combine specialist expertise in electrical systems, energy and renewables, data and communications, building services, fire protection, HVAC and mechanical, plumbing, security and signage.

The business has expanded through the acquisition of multiple independently-operating companies – each with its own business systems and its own processes for onboarding and supplier management. CV needed a way to bring this information together under one team, gaining a consolidated view of spend, supplier performance and risk. Felix provided a clear path to do that.

Image courtesy of CV 

Leading the procurement transformation is Kyle Morley, Group Manager – Procurement and Assets. Kyle is responsible for procurement across CV, overseeing group expenditure to ensure value is achieved through group purchasing activities, establishing efficient source-to-pay processes and mitigating supply chain risk.

Kyle identified the need to bring CV’s fragmented systems and businesses together as the company grew, to enable better procurement and business decisions.

Challenges prior to Felix: Fragmentation, duplication and limited visibility 

Before implementing Felix, CV faced a range of challenges:

• Limited group-wide visibility of suppliers and spend: A single vendor could exist as separate records across multiple business systems instead of one, making it difficult to see where spend was concentrated – and harder to identify opportunities to consolidate spend and negotiate more strategically with key vendors. It also meant compliance had to be managed individually across each duplicate record, multiplying the effort for no added benefit.
  
  
• Onboarding that couldn’t capture value: Vendor prequalification was largely manual, conducted over email, with no consistent mechanism to capture Indigenous business status, ESG credentials or modern slavery compliance. This information was compiled manually every reporting cycle, adding extra work and making it harder to demonstrate procurement performance to corporate and government clients.
  
  
• Missed opportunities to leverage existing agreements: Contracts and framework agreements were saved in shared folders, with no easy way to make them visible to stakeholders across the business. This limited the ability of business units to identify and act what they could be leveraging – leading to missed opportunities for cost savings across the group.

“As the business grew, we ended up with multiple systems, different supplier processes and limited visibility across the group. We needed a practical way to bring everything together, improve governance and get a clear view of our suppliers and spend. Felix helped us do that.” 

The solution: One record, one platform, full visibility

Implementing Felix allowed CV to consolidate and centralise vendor management to have one central source of truth – improving governance, standardising onboarding, and unlocking value that had previously gone uncaptured.

• Consolidation of vendor records: Duplicate vendor records across the business and its systems became one, improving visibility into organisation-wide spend and simplifying compliance management down to a single record per vendor.
  
  
• Self-service onboarding: Felix’s onboarding workflow puts vendors in charge of their own data, taking away the administrative load of onboarding and keeping compliance information up to date.
  
  
• Value captured at onboarding: Felix’s Tagging feature allows CV to tag vendors at the point of onboarding – providing an easy way to capture Indigenous businesses, ESG credentials and other compliance data at the point of onboarding – rather than compiling it manually after the fact.
  
  
• Greater visibility of preferred suppliers and services: Felix’s Services feature lets users across the business quickly see what services a given vendor provides – visibility that other business systems don't share.
  
  
• Agreements made visible: Contracts and supporting documents like framework agreements are now stored in Felix and shared across the business without needing to distribute links or files.
  
  
• Cleaner data, better decisions: Small changes – like capturing entity type and service categories at onboarding – resolved data issues that CV hadn’t anticipated Felix would solve, strengthening procurement decision making.

“One of the biggest benefits has been visibility. We can now see our suppliers, compliance information and activity in one place, which puts us in a much better position to manage risk, make decisions and support the business." 

The results: A leaner, more strategic supplier base

CV’s strategy has been to spend more with fewer, more strategic vendors – and Felix gives them the data to prove it and the ability to track progress.

• Fewer vendors, more value: A reduction in the number of vendors being engaged is part of a strategic supplier consolidation initiative.
  
  
• Higher supplier concentration: A majority of spend now flows through a smaller, more strategic pool of suppliers.
  
  
• Estimated annual savings of up to $2 million: To be achieved through supplier aggregation and strategic sourcing.

“A big part of our strategy is consolidating spend with fewer, more strategic suppliers. Having better data and visibility has helped us identify opportunities to aggregate spend, strengthen supplier relationships and deliver meaningful commercial value across the group."  

Integrations: One portal, seamless sync

Felix's integrations removed more layers of manual admin for CV:

• One portal for vendors: Felix's integration with Eftsure means vendors log into one platform for onboarding and payment detail verification, removing what would otherwise be a friction point in the onboarding process.
  
  
• Vendor records synced across business systems: Using Felix's API, once a vendor is approved in Felix, the record is automatically made available across CV business systems – removing the need to manually re-create vendor records in each one.
  
  

Image courtesy of CV 

Final thoughts and recommendation

For CV, Felix has become a critical foundation for procurement governance across a decentralised business.

By centralising supplier management, standardising onboarding and improving visibility into supplier data, the platform has given Kyle stronger control over compliance, spend and supplier consolidation – while supporting the business's broader objectives.

Kyle believes Felix's value extends well beyond procurement efficiency:

“In a decentralised business, governance can be difficult without the right systems and processes. Felix has given us a consistent framework for supplier management and compliance while still allowing the business units to operate effectively."

When asked if Kyle would recommend Felix to other organisations:

“Yes - the value isn't just in onboarding suppliers. The real benefit is having a single source of truth for supplier information, compliance and governance across the entire business.”

Image courtesy of CV