How Akeneo Transformed Its Procurement Processes with Pivot

Before Pivot: Building structure and visibility

Procurement at Akeneo was largely informal and decentralized. Buyers made purchases directly with their managers through emails or Slack messages, and approvals weren’t always documented. The company relied on Google Sheets managed by Internal IT to track suppliers, but this offered little traceability or control. There was no purchase order process, no audit trail, and limited visibility into who owned what.

Regarding Akeneo’s procurement function, “We started from almost nothing,” said Pierre-Louis Le Bigot, Corporate Finance Manager. 

Although Akeneo had a culture of thoughtful and responsible spending, this alone wasn’t enough to maintain control as the company grew. Without standardized processes or visibility, procurement oversight remained reactive, often happening only once invoices reached the finance team.

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The Search: Building a foundation for adoption

Given that Akeneo built out its procurement function from the ground up, it needed a solution that was simple and efficient.

“The user experience was key for us,” said Pierre-Louis. “We needed something simple but effective; if the tool was too complex, adoption would fail.”

The team defined several non-negotiable requirements:

• Seamless integration with their ERP, NetSuite‍
• Real-time Slack integration for fast approvals
• An intuitive interface to ensure company-wide adoption

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Deploying Pivot: Connecting people, process, and systems

Akeneo rolled out Pivot company-wide, giving all employees access to submit purchase requests. From the start, workflows were deliberately kept simple; approvals based on spend thresholds, along with legal and security reviews.

“We wanted requests to be fast and efficient,” said Pierre-Louis. “The simpler the process, the higher the adoption.”

The integration with NetSuite went smoothly and provided an opportunity to refine existing processes. Pivot helped highlight and challenge areas where the ERP setup was overcustomized, resulting in cleaner, more standardized processes. The accounting team faced a timing challenge as they were already modernizing other systems, but adoption overall was strong. Akeneo worked with an implementation partner to align systems and workflows, ensuring a seamless deployment.

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The Results: Savings, control, and collaboration

After implementing Pivot, Akeneo quickly began to see the benefits of having structure, visibility, and automation across its purchasing processes. Procurement and finance teams gained the insight and control they had been missing, while employees across departments found it easier to submit and track their own requests. Adoption was high, and the impact was measurable.

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• Akeneo identified long-forgotten contracts that were still being paid even after their owners had left the company, saving tens of thousands of euros annually.
• Pivot also helped uncover invoice discrepancies, empowering the finance team to challenge incorrect charges and eliminate waste.
• Managers gained real-time visibility into budgets, turning reporting into a collaborative process between finance, marketing, and cost-center owners.

“Before Pivot, budget tracking was purely financial,” said Pierre-Louis. “Now, everyone has visibility and ownership.”

Akeneo now processes around 1,000 to 2,000 invoices per year through Pivot, with automatic routing, clear audit trails, and faster approvals powered by Slack notifications.

With Pivot’s Slack integration keeping approvals moving, Akeneo no longer faces bottlenecks. “We don’t have blocked or unvalidated POs,” said Andrea, Procurement Specialist. “Everything flows.”

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Looking Forward: Flexibility and partnership

When asked to describe Pivot in three words, Andrea didn’t hesitate: “User-friendly, efficient, flexible.”

With Pivot as the backbone of procurement, Akeneo has achieved what every scaling company seeks: visibility, control, and efficiency. 

“Pivot is easy to use, adapts to our needs, and gives us a real overview of our spend,” said Pierre-Louis. “It’s transformed the way we manage procurement.”