Case Study: Bertelsmann unifies procurement strategy across 7 divisions with akirolabs

Bertelsmann - Customer Case Study

Bertelsmann, a diversified international media and services group, faced significant challenges with its decentralized procurement process. Their reliance on manual tools like Excel and email led to a lack of transparency, inefficient collaboration across its seven divisions, and an inability to develop professional, strategic category plans, especially for its €250M+ IT spend. To address this, they partnered with akirolabs to transform their approach.

The akiro platform provided a unified, central system for strategy creation, introducing structured workflows, stakeholder collaboration tools, and advanced features like scenario modeling. This solution standardized and professionalized procurement across the group. As a result, Bertelsmann achieved greater transparency, faster and more rigorous strategy development, and a cultural shift where procurement is now viewed as a strategic business partner focused on value, resilience, and sustainability, rather than just cost savings.

Bertelsmann

Dirk Kunz

SVP Group IT Sourcing