Aylin Basom: 0:03

These leaders are actually capitalizing on that and bringing diverse suppliers in at the product design phase to collaborate and discuss how best to achieve a shared vision for the final product. So they're, they're not, again, just looking for dollars and cents, they're just looking at what are some of the ways that we can, drive really the business outcomes that we need through, you know, diversifying our supply chain.

Tom Raftery: 0:28

Good morning, good afternoon, or good evening, wherever you are in the world. This is the Digital Supply Chain Podcast, the number one podcast focusing on the digitization of supply chain, and I'm your host, Tom Raftery. Hi everyone and welcome to episode 373 of the Digital Supply Chain Podcast. My name is Tom Raftery and it's fantastic to have you join me today as we dive into the most current and exciting developments in the supply chain world. To all of this podcast's wonderful supporters, I can't express my gratitude enough. Your involvement and backing are the lifelines that keep this podcast thriving. And for those of you who haven't yet joined our supporter community, Here's your chance to be part of something special. Supporting the Digital Supply Chain Podcast is straightforward and budget friendly with options starting from just 3 Euros or Dollars a month. Less than the cost of a cup of coffee. This modest contribution can significantly impact my ability to continue delivering top quality content. To join, simply click on the support link in the show notes of this or any episode. Or head over to tinyurl. com slash dscpod. Without further ado, I'd like to introduce my special guest today, Eileen. Eileen, welcome to the podcast. Would you like to introduce yourself?

Aylin Basom: 1:51

Yes, absolutely. Thanks Tom for having me. Again, my name is Aylin Basom. I am the CEO of Supplier.io which is a market leading SaaS provider of supplier diversity and ESG data and management solutions. And, we help organizations to track and manage responsible sourcing providing them valuable data and insights to really drive their business growth. So really excited to be here with you, today. Tom.

Tom Raftery: 2:17

So Aylin, tell me a little more about the genesis of Supplier.io. How old is the organization, when and why was it started? And who are your kind of typical customers?

Aylin Basom: 2:28

Yeah, absolutely. Well first of all, we have been in business for about 20 years and our mission as a organization is really to become a world leader in providing innovative SaaS solutions for transparent and responsible sourcing within the global supply chain. And at the core of our mission is to really aim of connecting buyers to diverse and sustainable suppliers and empowering businesses. With that, you know, insights into supplier diversity and ESG data. We've, you know learned this very quickly that data fragmentation really exists in ESG as a whole and we're certainly helping with that. We are the leading provider, like, like I mentioned, the diversity in ESG data. And one of the big things that are different about us is the fact that we have the largest database of diverse, sustainable and social suppliers which includes about 4 million suppliers with over 5 million certifications. And we work with really customers across industries really. But mostly fortune thousand companies currently utilizes Supplier.io solutions. And from the perspective of for, you know, the audience that have been doing the supplier diversity for a long time, there is a group called Billion Dollar Round Table. So over 50% of the Billion dollar Round Table companies utilizes us today. Who are they? They're mostly Fortune, you know, 100 companies that spend $1 billion or more annually with diverse suppliers to really, you know, they're committed and, and we're helping them to establish and advance their supplier diversity and ESG initiatives effectively and strategically.

Tom Raftery: 4:13

Okay. And why, as in, why is it important for them, particularly, I guess, to invest in programs like this?

Aylin Basom: 4:24

Yeah, great question. We've actually have been doing research for a long time. That's part of us giving back to communities and really giving back to us also our industry. So we have been doing the State of Supplier Diversity reports six years in a row now. And one of the questions we ask there is actually that, right?. Why companies are doing supplier diversity, you know, programs and investing in in the first place. The good news is we've been seeing six years in a row that companies are actually doing this because it's really driving business benefits. This year we've actually seen 81% of the companies said, because it's also aligned with our corporate culture and you know, workforce, you know, inclusiveness and you know, it's aligned with their values, which is great to hear. They've also been seeing really strong business results. Actually almost 70% of them said supplier diversity programs and responsible sourcing as a whole, improving their supply chain competitiveness, which, you know, Tom, you know, after everything happened with Covid you know, supply chain competitiveness as well as stability makes a big difference in for, you know, for companies. And then, then another interesting thing was over 50% of the companies said it also enhances their brand image, which I thought was, you know, interesting. We also look at some data around the mandatory, like is it mandatory? Are they doing this because they have to, and that has been something that we also track last six years. And, it has been continuously going down. The reason that they're doing it because their customers are requiring it or because of the government compliance. Those are the ones that are keep going down, which is again, what we would like to see. Right. They're doing it because they're seeing business benefits and results. It's not checking the box anymore. And, and again, more and more companies every year coming back and saying that it is one more thing, right? that is impacting their businesses in a positive way.

Tom Raftery: 6:31

And is this just something for the, the big organizations are in the billard billion dollar club, or is it trickling down or you know, where, where does that kind of cut off? Or does it?

Aylin Basom: 6:42

Yeah, that's a great question. Actually we have looked at that as well. No. Any company that is have a supply chain, that are actually looking to diversify their supply chains. They're actually investing in supplier diversity. And the good news is although we've looked at even companies, you know, let's say a hundred million and above, right, revenue companies of course, you know, companies that have 1 billion or $10 billion revenue have larger supply chains per se. But regardless. It doesn't matter how small the company is from the revenue perspective, if they have a supply chain and they, that is driving their business, again, growth and stability they're seeing benefits for for investing in supplier diversity programs for sure.

Tom Raftery: 7:31

Okay. And do the programs or the benefits, do they differ across industries and regions?

Aylin Basom: 7:40

Yeah, that's so what we've done there's two studies that we've actually done from the perspective of business benefits per se is not that much different from the US versus out of US, but what supplier diversity means and some of the rules around that might be different, of course, country by country. For example, supplier diversity does not only mean that investing in suppliers that are of course, minority owned and you know, woman owned, veteran owned, maybe disabled owned companies, but also it is, you know, spending money with small companies or local companies, right. And in Europe, in certain, you know, countries you have to especially in Europe as well as the outside of Europe diversity might mean different things. What you can ask about the business the questions that you can ask, the data that you can collect is different. But again, from the perspective of holistically, if you're looking at that, you know, women versus, you know, or small business is gonna be actually translating in any country. So we've looked at that from the business benefits perspective, and we've seen again, similar results regardless of which country that is doing this. Even though the supplier diversity as a whole might have different meanings per se.

Tom Raftery: 9:02

Okay. And what would be some of the best practices that you've observed in successful supplier diversity and sustainability initiatives?

Aylin Basom: 9:10

Yeah, so we have actually done another research and that one was about best practices research as we said it, and we wanted to look at what are some of the most successful supplier diversity programs and leaders are doing maybe different? Right. And best, you know, based on our best practices research, we've had some really key findings. One of them was around the fact that the leaders don't really chase RFPs or focusing on quotas, like we have to have one diverse supplier on each RFP. Instead, leaders are really taking more proactive approach. That starts with being very clear about what the value supplier diversity can offer to the company. And in addition, they're not doing this in a vacuum. They're actually partnering with business units', you know, leaders. Right. They're not just doing it as a, this is a supplier diversity program or a manager's initiative? No, it's actually a company initiative. And they're really speaking the language of business, which is usually dollars and cents. You know that Tom, right? They also regularly report on the impact of their program at the company and the business unit level. And they're really influencing, right? They're actually, you know, looking at kind of the specific purposes. Maybe identifying ways to innovate together or planning out the future opportunities more. One of the things that I've also seen a lot I can give many, many examples from companies again globally across industries. The leaders are really actually also looking at their upcoming renewables for contracts. They're not just waiting to last minute and say, you know what? We have a contract, you know, is now needs to be renewed and we need to find some kind of a diverse supplier. No, they're actually so much more proactive looking at it one to two years out. So they have plenty of time to plan and find those either diverse or local, small, you know, suppliers to really, again, you know diversify their supply chain. Another one was we've been looking more and more at kind of interesting data around what company's core key success metrics looks like. It's not always just revenue, right? You know, we have a company that is a car company as well as one of the software companies. They say innovation is the core to who, who we are. It is very important for us. And these leaders are actually capitalizing on that and bringing diverse suppliers in at the product design phase to collaborate and discuss how best to achieve a shared vision for the final product. So they're, they're not, again, just looking for dollars and cents, they're just looking at what are some of the ways that we can, drive really the business outcomes that we need through, you know, diversifying our supplier supply chain. Another thing that we found, we've been also partnering with other organizations that does, you know, different research and, we all know by 2045, more than half of the US population is expected to be diverse. That's a fact, right? You know, a US census everybody can find that. Well, what we've realized, targeting, fast growing demographic is critical for business growth. Think about a retailer, right? We've actually had a meeting with Container Store, right? The, it wasn't a supplier diversity leader that is driving this. It's actually the Chief Merchandising officer is the one that who's driving this because diverse suppliers play strategic role in supply chains to help companies attract diverse consumers with that innovative assortment of either services or products that speaks to them. So if a company is looking to grow, and we know that by 2045, more than half of the US population is expected to be diverse that's kind of a key component that companies start actually seeing. Another fact that I will give, according to Nielsen Global Corporate Sustainability Report 66% of consumers are willing to pay a premium for products and services from companies that are committed to social and environmental responsibility. And that's really big, right? So this is kind of the new set of buyers that are coming in and saying, we would rather to pay more, you know, because this is that important to us. And then the last, but not least Bain and company report. They actually reported that diverse suppliers have an annual retention rate that is 20% higher on average than non-diverse suppliers. Well, guess what? If you know, you're looking to ensure that your supply chain again, you know, stable, that you can actually have you know, the retention, stability and, you know, of course visibility in your supply chain, you really wanna ensure that you utilize a solution like ours also diversify your supply chain. And then one other comment that I'll make. With ESG what we're seeing, one of the drivers, Tom, is there are multiple and growing regulations and guidelines for ESG. You know this, right? With EUs, you know, CSRD and you know, California just came out with new legislation to disclose sustainability disclosures and these are all requiring companies to have robust solution and accurate data. And this is, you know, part of, they have to do this right. And and we also know supply chains have gotten more complex and more critical and making visibility into them and even more challenging. So, those are some of the kind of the key things that we're seeing, not just about it's, you know, we need to do our ESG reporting and do you know, supplier diversity programs because it's good for you, but there are other things at play here, right? That the companies are definitely keep in mind. And that's where we see the growth coming from.

Tom Raftery: 15:10

Sure. And you guys in Supplier.io, you are now expanding very much into ESG. What was it that prompted this decision?

Aylin Basom: 15:21

Listen, we've been big on really listening our customers. And I've mentioned to you, we work with most for Fortune Thousand companies global. And we have customer advisory board and I, I'm always on the road, our head of product. You know, we constantly hear from our customers and saying, what are some of the challenges that we can help them solve? And some of the ESG challenges are real and things that we've sold previously on supplier diversity. And they were asking us and saying, Hey, there's a fragmented data on certifications and ratings and scores in ESG, right? They're having to go to so many places and there's, you know, these sustainability certifications, ratings, and scores and other data that is so fragmented across various providers and data sources. It is very hard for them to do the reporting, and they come to us for that problem for supplier diversity, right? There's all these certifying agencies, over 300 of them in US. They can't go to each of them to get that. So when they came to us and said, well, you are already doing supplier diversity, which is helping us really under ESG, which is under S right. You know, social and reporting. Why are you gonna do, why are you not doing more? And that was one of the, kind of the catalyst. And we said, Hmm, we really can invest in this and grow. The second problem was, you know, really around again, supply chain visibility. Right? I've mentioned that it is really challenging. Well, for us, what we said was, for ESG, same thing. For them to be really successful in having a good ESG program, they have to assess the sustainability of their supply chain, and they need to have strong data and tools. And as part of that, you know again, we can help them you know, using multiple data points, which includes identifying their suppliers with existing certifications and ratings. And then they need to have a way to supplement this data and solicit suppliers to give them information. Well, we already have a supplier registration platform, right? And so we said, we've been collecting this diversity data, why don't we do collect more, you know, from them? And so we've kind of opened the doors, which was a very natural right expansion of what we do. And, you know, that was kind of a big thing for us. The third one was companies came to us and said, really, we need to identify our high risk suppliers. Regulations are coming down. You know, we, we definitely need to ensure that our brand image, our reputation is, you know, is at risk and we really need to make sure that we don't assess ourselves in a vacuum, but also again, you know, ensure that we can look at our supply chain, identify who are high risk suppliers, and then see how we compare to our peers. Well, we were already doing this, Tom, again, on the supplier diversity side, so we just kinda invested in and said, okay, we certainly can help you with that. And now this is something that we're very excited and proud about. For CDP data, right? That's one of the most recognized, you know, ratings for suppliers. Now we have all the CDP data in our database. You know, B Corp certification that's for social suppliers. We've actually signed a you know, partnership. Now we have all the social suppliers in our database. So, now companies can come in and say, okay, I want to first know and get a visibility in my supply chain. Figure out who's diverse, sustainable, and social suppliers. Hey, I wanna spend more with these suppliers. I wanna know more, you know about them. They use our database almost like Google Analytics. They can find more, they can also figure out what their spend looks like, right in each of these categories. But they now have an ability to also identify who are some of their high risk suppliers are. Tom, you've probably heard companies says it's everywhere. I, I get a you know, a package from anywhere that says our net zero goal is x date. Right. Well, for them to be able to really meet these, you know, net zero goals, they're gonna have to know their supplier carbon analytics. So that's another that our latest investment was around, okay, we know for any company to be able to reach their net zero goals they need to be able to assess, track and report the impact of their suppliers GHG emissions. They need to be able to identify who are the suppliers that are biggest emitters and track that scope 3 GHG emissions, and have the capability to compare year over year trends and have the visibility to see it, either by business unit or region or industry. But that was also a customer ask and demand and that was the latest thing that we've invested in. So again, as I tell all my team, we're not apple today and then orange tomorrow, but we are going to expand of our offerings. We're gonna do more good in the world. We were already able to do measure economic impact of companies investing in diverse suppliers. We were already helping them see what their impact is in communities, GDP, taxes, wages, how many jobs they've created. Now we also have the capability to show their impact in environment. Right? And so these are all very important things and that's, that's what we've been working on so far.

Tom Raftery: 21:30

Nice, nice, nice. And something I've been saying for a long time. I think I was at an event back in 2013 or 2014, and I remember the organization at the time, uh, it was Ariba, it was at Ariba live in in 2013 or 2014 in Rome. And I remember at the time they were, uh, talking about how they launched this, way to make sure that you had no forced labor in your supply chain and I asked them, that's, you know, I said, that's all very nice, but what about the impact of carbon? Is there any way that I can look down through my supplier base and see the implications of choosing supplier A over supplier B from my carbon impact? So is that what you're saying you can do now?

Aylin Basom: 22:22

Yes, a hundred percent. We can do it exactly what you just said. Beautifully said. And we take it even one step further. So when I mentioned, you know, you wanna assess first, right? Within your supply chain, within your existing suppliers, you wanna know, you know, who are the highest emitters are. And often companies wanna not only identify them, but then go to that whatever a, b, c supplier to say, we spend money with you, we realize that we don't have any information inside about your sustainability, right. Initiatives, processes in place. And you are one of our companies that we identified as, you know, biggest emitters and we really wanna make sure that we work with you against our net zero goals because we won't be able to achieve that without working together. So that's big part of it, but the second piece is, if that supplier did not actually change the way that they were doing it, then that company is really in a place where they have to find an alternative solution, alternative supplier. And that's the kind of the second challenge I would say, that we're solving for. Right. You know, being able to actually provide them that alternative. Often I say, you know, wait. People are asking me what are some of the reasons that companies come to us for, and I say, oh, well, you know, we help companies increase supply chain competitiveness and reduce risk and ensure continuity. And then that was, that is follow up question uh, regarding the, you know, net zero always, and then we just say, yes, we certainly help them meet net zero and diverse spend goals. You know, through not just giving them the calculations, but really the visibility and actionable insight. That's kind of the key word so they can do something with it, right? It's one thing to have the visibility, but the other is really being able to do something about it.

Tom Raftery: 24:16

Fantastic. And what role does technology play in all this?

Aylin Basom: 24:21

Huge. So there are a couple of things. One is, I would say data piece, right? I mentioned the data fragmentation being a big issue, you know, in this industry. And that's one of our biggest differentiators that no company out there, no competitors can come close to. It is the fact that we're powering our solutions I mentioned with the world's largest and most comprehensive database of certified suppliers. And what we realized through our research, supplier diversity and sustainability data isn't stagnant. So it's not something that the companies can just have this on an Excel sheet. And I hate to say this, we've done all these research and there are companies still trying to fix this with a you know, Excel sheet and it's just not possible. These information constantly being updated with new ratings and scores and certifications and, suppliers need to be regularly engaged to report on their progress. And and, and just think about it like how many of those potentially suppliers are either ownership changes, certifications, expires. There are all these things that are happening. So again, there needs to be a centralized solution. You have to make that easy for any company. I'm not the one who says this, you know, our customers actually told us this, and I love this saying. They say, here are the Google of supplier diversity and ESG solutions. It has to be so easy. Like Google, right? You can, you have to go in there and say, I'm looking for a, I don't know, woman owned marketing company in San Diego, you know, California, wherever it might be, right? All the way down to zip code. It has to be just easy, you know, to find it. And then the other piece that I would, you know, make a comment about not just the solution itself, but the data. We built our database through over 400 sources, you know, includes government agencies, certifying agencies, corporations, our AI capabilities, and some of the largest companies are using our registration platform for their suppliers. That also continues to feed our database as well. And, that's a big piece of it. But the second piece of it, the accuracy of that data, as I was mentioning, right? You know, these companies are actually making some public announcements, commitments about, you know, and they do, there's reporting, right? They, they have to be able to rely on a accurate data. So we do a lot around data and certification validation making sure that we do regular updates, right? Based on our research and think about, we have millions and millions of data. 25% of the data gets you know, like I said, changes, minimum a year. So, it's really, really important problem that we're solving for, and you have to have a solution for that. Again, I wish I could say that you can just do it. No, you, you really need to have the right kind of a solution as well as the database to be able to count on that. And then the last, but not least, I will say. The organizations that we work with, they don't wanna go to CDP for sustainability rating then B Corp, like we were just talking about, right? To see if their supplier's social and they don't wanna go to, again, I don't know, N-M-S-D-C or WeBank, to see if their supplier's diverse. They don't wanna go to all these. It's not also easy to manage, right? So through our solution, they utilize one right, platform, which brings the visibility that they need for their supply chain as well as to be able to really scale right their programs and reporting capabilities. So those are the reasons I would say that they need it.

Tom Raftery: 27:50

Okay. Sure. And I mean, you mentioned AI there and there's been a huge uptick in interest in AI since ChatgPT was launched, this time last year. It was the 30th of November last year. Do you see that playing a role? Because I can imagine if you trained ChatGPT or you know, a, a large language model on your data. The search that you talked about there, looking for a, a small business woman owned in San Diego at x zip code, you know, that would be trivial for, for something like that. Is that something you're looking at as well?

Aylin Basom: 28:21

We do, so we have a very strong and scalable technology platform that is multi-tenant. It's API enabled for ease integration with, you know, both partners and customer ecosystems. But our also that was one of the things that our solution had to have some AI capabilities, not from the perspective of you know, where we have to ensure that the data is correct, right? Like that, that has to have the certification. So when company says I'm certified in X, we actually have that certification, a copy of it in it, right? So it's very, that's something that. It's black or white, right? Like it's there. But to your point, the search engine capabilities right. That's really nice to be able to have those, you know, making it easy. And be able to utilize that AI capabilities, you know to ensure that makes it... we take the excuses away, right? Like we, we make it so easy that this, that, that's why our customer says it's the Google of it. It, it just needs to be very easy to be able to reach that data. And that's some of the things that we use our AI capabilities on. The other thing that we use I have been hearing constantly from our customers and they say. You know, Aylin, it, there is a, the supplier fatigue about giving information, right? There, there's so many platforms there, there's so many places that they're having to go and often saying the same thing. So one of the things that we also use is our capability to, if they've already had it somewhere that they've actually on their website, let's say and they have it on their certification. And if we can actually kind of take that or some of the information that we can gather about them and we can pre-populate it about them. Of course they check it, but it just makes it easier, you know, for them. So we also kind of worked around that as well. Not just make it easier for customers, but how can we make it also easier for suppliers? And then, you know, that has been obviously a big piece us to be able to kind of solve for.

Tom Raftery: 30:24

Nice, nice. And I, I, I should throw in at this point for any listeners who are interested, the fact that I am a small business minority, owned minority, as in I'm an immigrant. So if anyone is looking for , any services, feel free to, to jump on board. But tell me some, do you have any, customer success stories you can speak to?

Aylin Basom: 30:45

Absolutely. One comment I make, Tom, so if the company is, sustainable, or, you know, social or small or diverse, and any of these categories they can go to our website ww.supplier.io. Because, you know, our name is supplier.io and it's, you know, the URL is that too. Super easy. They can go to our website and register. We do not charge suppliers. That's not our business model. We collect that data and the way that we think of ourselves is we're the bridge opening doors more for them, hopefully for more business, right? And so our business model is all based on that. So if there is any way that, again, they can come, you know, fill out their information and then after that, all we're doing is making them visible to any companies that are searching potentially for their services. And again, we, we don't charge them. That's not our business model. So I, I just wanted to be clear about that. And, you know, for anyone that is listening and interested in just, you know, coming to our site, you will have a a place where it says for suppliers and, you know, it's just quick and you certainly can you know, fill out that information.

Tom Raftery: 31:57

Noted. Thank you,

Aylin Basom: 31:59

Yeah.

Tom Raftery: 32:00

cus customer success stories?

Aylin Basom: 32:03

Oh, yes, yes, absolutely. I, I wanted to make that easy for them. So yes, we have so many customer success stories. Couple of them that I will say. One is around, I've kind of mentioned kind of the innovations, right? That they're they have done you know, so much both the car company as well as I think it's okay for me to kind of say, because it was part of our best practice search that Facebook, you know, Meta now, right? Talked about how they utilize actually supplier diversity as part of them achieving those business outcomes, including actually innovation, you know, as part of that. I've also, you know, mentioned a little bit about of course, Container Store. That's a, you know, important definitely story, you know, as well. Other uh, ones that I can mention is we actually have a this is one that was at Wall Street Journal, so it's okay for me to share. Apollo which is one of the you know, big PE right companies. And their company goal was around leveraging supplier diversity to unlock innovation and grow in new markets. And they also wanted to grow their diverse spend. And the solution that they were looking for was how can we have supply chain visibility and understand our current diverse spend, but also identify more of those sustainable diverse, you know, suppliers as well. And they had a goal to hit $1 billion. And they hit that goal in just one year. And already committed to doubling their goal. And this was a big deal. And it was on the Wall Street Journal and they had an article about that. And to me that's a really fantastic kind of use case. I'll give a completely different, example. M&T Bank their company goal was, Hey, we really need to report on ESG progress. We need to grow as a supportive member of communities that we serve. You know, again, they were, they had not that much visibility into their supply chain, and they really needed to understand their current purchase activities and they went from no program in place to industry leading in just three years. And they helped a lot of local banks get even more connected to the community. And I love the story because it was more, again you know, about, not just about, of course, yes, we need to report and we need to have a tool and data and so forth, but it was about also really kind of connecting with the communities that they served and they were able to do that. And I love, you know, that piece. And then we have other customers that actually won, these amazing awards. One of them being Hyatt Hotels. They, you know, won the top, top supply chain projects for 2023 which is fantastic. And they've also, again invested in supplier diversity, doubled down on and, and truly seen the result s of, you know, how they, their business can actually benefit and, and really see the business results that they were hoping for. So, there's million, millions of these. Of course, we talk with our customers, like I said all the time, and just hearing these stories in different industries. You asked me that earlier and said do you see differences maybe, you know, either industries or regions, and no. I mean, they're what the business outcome they might be looking for might change a little bit. But the fact that, you know, they're all getting the really the business growth and the results and the KPIs that they've actually identified. You know, winning it through supplier diversity and responsible sourcing are great to see and across industries for sure.

Tom Raftery: 35:40

Fantastic. Fantastic. We're coming towards the end of the podcast now, Aylin, is there any question I haven't asked that you wish I had or any aspect of this we haven't touched on that you think it's important for people to be aware of?

Aylin Basom: 35:53

Yes. Only thing that I would say you know, we've talked about importance of finding alternative sourcing options and, you know, getting insights. And one thing that I didn't mention so much about there's a new thing that we're actually invested in because of the fact that, companies also is asking for detailed risk assessment. They want to have a 360 view on their top suppliers. And this is something that I would say I'm seeing more and more of. In-depth assessment, especially in, all aspects of ESG against 17 UN Sustainable Development Goals and you know, making sure that it's aligned with the, you know, SFDR regulation best practices. This is more and more coming in the picture. And again, companies have been asking for that. One thing that I would say is they're not gonna do ESG risk assessment on all their suppliers, but companies that are looking to really get a 360 view on their top suppliers, right? That can be top 50, top hundred. That is, really consists of their 85% of their spend, right? Really need that next level tier of insight per se. And that is another thing that we had to invest in. So the companies need to really think about of you know, do we have, of course the supply chain visibility, identify where our gaps are, where we should be investing next, and so forth. But then also those, the higher spend it is. Those are, you know, more obviously risky, right? And so they're just asking for that additional, more detailed insight. And that's the the new thing that we've actually kind of invested through a partnership that have a capability on. So just wanted to bring that up and that's something that the companies should be thinking about.

Tom Raftery: 37:46

Okay. Interesting. Cool. Aylin, if people would like to know more about yourself or any of the things we discussed in the podcast today, where would you have me direct them?

Aylin Basom: 37:56

Yeah, I mean, our website would be great. We would love them to actually connect with us ww.supplier.io. You know, we have a lot of information, of course, about us, but there's also a little link there that just says, talk to an expert. So, someone within our organization will definitely connect with them and we would love to hear from anyone that has either a question or you know, would love to learn more. In addition to it, again, if you're a supplier and you are looking to kind of really expand your visibility and you're also interested in being part of our of course database, that's another again, way that you can engage with us. And that's also on our website. We certainly look forward to hearing from 'em.

Tom Raftery: 38:37

Fantastic. Fantastic. Aylin, that's been really interesting. Thanks a million for coming on the podcast today.

Aylin Basom: 38:43

Thank you so much, Tom, for having me. I really appreciate it.