GRAPHITE CONNECT
emphasises – ensuring current customers see Graphite as more than just a supplier management platform, but a partner in solving their procurement transformation.
‘ LinkedIn for procurement’: The genesis of Graphite The genesis of Graphite Connect came from an unexpected source – Conrad’ s reflection on missed opportunities in the social networking space.
“ Seeing Facebook and LinkedIn and these other social networks, I asked myself, why didn’ t I think about applying networks in these other unique ways?” he recalls.
This contemplation led him to a big idea – LinkedIn for procurement – a network of supplier-managed profiles that could easily be shared and drive significant efficiency for suppliers and procurement teams.“ I started clicking
“ These soft spots in your process and in your supplier data are just a wide open door to vendor fraud”
CONRAD SMITH, CO-FOUNDER AND CEO, GRAPHITE CONNECT through the greenfield opportunities to what other social networks don’ t exist. And as I did that, I thought, there’ s really no social network that connects businesses together.”
“ The opportunity to create a new social network and the problem of sharing in a really scalable way, the seller information with the buyer information, those kind of came together and it was almost like this major light bulb moment,” he explains.
That“ light bulb” was the initial idea for Graphite, which has grown significantly since its founding in 2018.
Breaking free from the analogue Conrad, who prior to founding Graphite worked as head of procurement at Adobe & Omniture, highlights how procurement continues to operate with outdated methodologies despite technological advances.“ One of my biggest disappointments in 30 years in procurement is how much of this stuff we’ re still doing the same way,” he shares.
The traditional approach to supplier information involves procurement teams collecting data point by point from suppliers – a process rife with inefficiencies. The explosion of risk and regulatory requirements in the last decade have exponentially increased these inefficiencies, bogging down procurement and risk teams and inhibiting their ability to add strategic value to their business partners. When obtaining documents like certificates of insurance, Conrad notes:“ I’ ve now got a monkey on my back – who’ s going to remember to go
58 May 2025