Meet - Connect - Inspire: Gstock at eProcurement Tech Summit 2023

Know. Connect. Inspire'. With this philosophy, Voxel has held in Barcelona a new edition of the eProcurement Tech Summiton October 5th and 6th. From Gstock we supported the event as Gold Sponsor and we also attended to learn about news and trends in digital transformation, electronic invoicing or customer experience, success stories and (good) examples of digitization.

Also to connect with other members of the industry and share with them our vision for profit-driven digital management and how we can grow and how we can grow by collaborating together.

And to be inspired by the experiences of the participants and to be able to inspire them also with our #PerformanceUnderControl philosophy. Our CEO, Federico Fritzsch, shared some interesting ideas in the panel on creating the technological ecosystem in Horeca, which we collect here:

• The delivery note is the ultimate example of the "everything" that remains to be done in digitalization in Horeca and also the key piece of the key piece for the digital back-office management of a food and beverage business really works and and profitability oriented..
• To digitize well, you need a strategy. Have a plan and follow it. Digitizing on a whim is not only a serious mistake: it is the highway to failure. Without planning, there is no good management, and without good management, there is no profitability..
• To speak of digitization of management today is to speak of a digital ecosystem. digital ecosystem. To create our own, we have to answer three questions: Where do we want to go, what applications can help us and how are they going to be integrated? The answers to these questions require analytical work.
• Hiring digital solutions is not creating a digital ecosystem. The ecosystem is not automatic, nor does it happen by itself, nor is it the logical consequence of hiring digital applications. It is necessary to work on it and to do it focused on one objective: profitability..

Our CEO shared a panel with three great industry professionals: Lluís M. Gabarrón, IT Director at el Fornet; Mateo Ramón, CIO at Grupo Piñero; and Marcos Mañas, CPO at Voxel. They reflected on the creation of the digital ecosystem and how to get off to a good start. We share some of their contributions: 

"To digitize, what is required initially is to be like SpongeBob SquarePants: before implementing a plan, you need to know the company, know the processes and how they are being carried out. Going in with the idea of changing directly, without prior knowledge, doesn't work."

Lluís Manuel Gabarrón

"When you work with processes, you need to know them well first to know how to improve them. And change management is also very important." 

Matthew Ramon

"There are two things we would do differently to help our customers digitize better: be more aware of the tools that are available to digitize processes and with which we can have a symbiosis to do the process together, and second, grow from a customizable standard instead of growing by customizing services on demand." 

Marc Mañas

The Summit was attended by experts in digital transformation for Horeca such as Isabel BellotDirector of Digital Transformation at Grant Thornton; Iker Beraza, Advisor to the General Directorate of Economic Policy at the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Digital Transformation, who stressed the need to implement electronic invoicing to improve payment to suppliers, since "delaying it hinders business growth". "delaying it hinders business growth. It is necessary to provide the sector with a supplier payment structure".; Manel Morillofounding partner of Con Gusto Consulting; Matthew MorrisonDirector of Business Development - Commercial Solutions at Mastercard; Javier RetornanoCEO at Suitech Consulting & Technology; Beatriz Martínadministration manager at Hotelatelier; Josep GarrigaPurchasing Director at H10 Hotels; Alberto MezquitaIT Manager at Froneri Iberia; Daniel IbáñezEcommerce & Digital Manager at Bidfood Iberia; Mónica RubioSales & Marketing at NAVEX Consulting; Teresa Garcíageneral manager of Hotel Servicers; Víctor Santacanamanager at Edisa Barcelona; David VilàSales & Key Account Manager and Commercial Director at DINO Group and Lladopol; Soledad GarcíaDeputy General Manager at Garcimar; or Jordi GarridoAcademic Director of Executive Education at the International School of Business and Digital Economy of the Universitat Ramon Llull.

From Jordi's presentation we would like to highlight his Decalogue for digital transformation, with which we share the same philosophy. We are sure that in many of his points you will recognize the point of view of our CEO:

1. Don't listen to the false prophets: digital transformation is 70% management/strategic direction and 30% technology.
2. You must understand the technology. Technology alone and without business thinking is useless.
3. Everything that can be automated and digitized should be.
4. The ultimate purpose of digitization is to improve the customer's shopping experience. Digitizing the back office is a good way to be efficient.
5. Digitalization must be transformed into a competitive advantage.
6. Design the digitization of the customer's purchase and consumption process.
7. One cause of failure is not having a strategic plan.
8. Change management is a must (degree of maturity).
9. Identify the speed at which your company can change.
10. Analyze potential customers and technology providers.

And from the intervention of Xavi Ginesta, CEO of Voxel and who opened the Summit, we were left with an interesting idea: "Natural selection is now working on opening the perspective to include technology as a factor to improve survival (people's lives)".

At Gstock, we see technology as a great ally in getting businesses out of 'survival' mode and into 'profitability' mode.

The eProcurement Tech Summit 2023 is a must-attend event to learn about learn about trends and news about digital transition and electronic invoicing, to connect connect companies to connect and drive technological innovation together, and to inspire and inspire new solutions for the optimization of value chain processes. We share the video prepared by Voxel, with some moments of the day.

Thanks to the entire Voxel team (Xavi Ginesta, Ángel Garrido, Héctor Martín, Anastasia Vasilenko, Pedro Nágera, Marc Mañas and Alberto Pastrano) for organizing this meeting and for counting on Gstock to continue working together for a real digital future for our sector. working together for a real digital future for our sector.