Cushman & Wakefield
Modernizing procurement for the world's largest privately held real estate services firm.
Cushman & Wakefield operates at the intersection of physical assets and professional services, managing and advising on commercial real estate across the globe. With operations spanning 60+ countries and a workforce of 50,000+, their procurement needs are as diverse as the properties they manage—from office supplies and facilities maintenance to specialized consulting and construction services.
The Challenge
Real estate services procurement presents unique complexities. Unlike manufacturing or retail, Cushman & Wakefield's purchasing patterns are project-driven, geographically dispersed, and often time-sensitive. Their procurement teams were wrestling with:
- Fragmented vendor databases across regional offices
- Manual procurement processes that created bottlenecks
- Difficulty maintaining preferred vendor pricing across distributed teams
- Limited visibility into spend patterns and compliance
The SourceSage Solution
Cushman & Wakefield partnered with SourceSage to create a connected procurement environment that could serve their distributed workforce without requiring a wholesale replacement of existing systems. The solution focused on three core capabilities:
Catalog Integration
Consolidating vendor catalogs into a unified search and purchasing experience, enabling employees to find approved vendors quickly.
Workflow Automation
Streamlining purchase requisition and approval processes while maintaining necessary controls and audit trails.
Data Visibility
Providing procurement leaders with real-time insights into spending patterns, vendor performance, and compliance metrics.
Business Impact
The implementation delivered measurable improvements across procurement operations:
- Reduced procurement cycle times through automated workflows and self-service vendor discovery
- Improved contract compliance by making preferred vendors easily accessible
- Enhanced spend visibility providing procurement leaders with actionable insights
- Lower integration costs compared to traditional ERP vendor onboarding approaches
A Model for Service Industries
Cushman & Wakefield's experience illustrates how service-oriented enterprises can achieve procurement modernization without the massive IT projects typically associated with ERP implementations. By focusing on connectivity rather than replacement, organizations can preserve existing investments while gaining modern procurement capabilities.
The partnership demonstrates that procurement transformation is not solely the domain of manufacturing and retail—professional services firms managing complex, geographically distributed operations can achieve similar benefits through strategic connectivity investments.