How can organizations scale indirect procurement without losing control, transparency, or efficiency? In a conversation with procurement expert James Meads, Röhm and Crowdfox shared a candid look at how indirect procurement can be executed at scale in a complex enterprise environment.
Joining the discussion were Dr. Benjamin Wenn, responsible for technical and indirect procurement at Röhm, and Christoph Kunel, Chief Product Officer at Crowdfox. The conversation explored the operational reality of indirect procurement: thousands of transactions, fragmented spend, and systems that often struggle to support the people who actually need to buy something. As moderator James Meads put it: “Procurement is inherently complex. Success comes from making that complexity executable.”
From Fragmentation to Execution
Röhm’s journey began with a familiar situation for many large organizations. After being carved out of a larger corporation, the company inherited legacy systems and processes that were difficult to maintain and frustrating for users. “We had a classic procurement suite in place,” explains Benjamin Wenn. “Procurement was not happy. Requesters were not happy. And for IT it meant running parallel systems and workflows.”
The turning point came when Röhm decided to rethink how indirect procurement should work operationally. Instead of adding another layer of process complexity, the goal was to simplify the architecture and embed procurement execution directly into the ERP environment. Within a few months, the company implemented Crowdfox as a central execution layer integrated into SAP standard processes.
The results were immediate, as Benjamin Wenn says: “From day one we achieved cost reductions of more than 20% on spend where competition exists in the marketplace.” At the same time, procurement dramatically reduced manual intervention in operational purchasing. “Today we reach a self-service rate of 94% in indirect procurement without any interaction from procurement.”
Designing procurement for real users
A key focus of the project was usability. Most requisitioners in large organizations are not procurement professionals. They interact with procurement systems only occasionally – which often leads to frustration and process inefficiencies.
James Meads highlighted this common challenge: “You can’t just implement software and expect it to work. You need the people, the processes and the behavior around it.”
Röhm therefore designed an internal marketplace that mirrors the experience employees know from consumer platforms. Users can search for products, compare offers from multiple suppliers, and create a purchase requisition in seconds – directly within SAP. The result is a procurement process that feels less like navigating enterprise software and more like everyday online shopping.
Automation where it actually matters
Beyond catalog buying, Röhm also automated parts of the procurement process that previously consumed significant resources. One example is automated replenishment for inventory-managed materials. When stock levels fall below a predefined threshold, an AI agent determines the best available price via Crowdfox and triggers the order independently.
“It ensures we always buy at the best price without any manual effort from procurement or warehouse staff” explains Wenn. The automation not only increases efficiency but also allows procurement professionals to focus on higher-value activities. As Wenn summarizes: “The item price is often not the problem. The process is the real cost.”
Better data, better decisions
Another major benefit of the new approach is data transparency. With harmonized product data and centralized price comparisons, procurement can finally analyze spend patterns in detail. This makes it easier to identify savings opportunities and drive category management based on actual purchasing behavior.
One example Röhm experienced shortly after go-live: A supplier noticed that their spend with the company had dropped significantly. “When we looked at the data, the reason was simple,” says Wenn. “Their prices were higher than the competition.” After recalculating their price list, the supplier returned with better pricing – and regained business. “That’s the power of comparison combined with clean data.”
Procurement is changing
For Christoph Kunel, the case illustrates a broader shift in procurement. “Procurement is moving toward making it extremely easy for users to get what they need,” he explains. “Especially for employees who only buy something once or twice a quarter.”
Instead of forcing occasional users through complex procurement systems, modern procurement environments need to guide them through simple, intuitive workflows. This shift is not only about technology. It is about designing procurement systems that align with real user behavior.
A new perception of procurement
Perhaps the most telling indicator of success came from inside Röhm. For the first time in years, procurement started receiving positive feedback from across the organization. “It’s the first time in a long time that procurement receives positive feedback from the business,” says Wenn. “People tell us the new process is much better than what we had before.”
For procurement teams, that may be the most valuable KPI of all.