PSC LIVE Chicago: Interview with Parker Budding, osapiens
Procurement & Supply Chain LIVE Chicago, staged in co-location with Sustainability LIVE Chicago, brought together many of the brightest minds in procurement, supply chain and sustainability.
Supply Chain Digital caught up with Parker Budding, Account Executive at osapiens, to discuss the evolving landscape of supplier relationship management and diverging attitudes to regulation.
Harnessing data and AI
osapiens specialises in helping clients navigate the complex web of supplier data, offering what Parker describes as "a compliance-first" approach to supplier relations.
The company's platform addresses multiple regulatory frameworks, from EUDR (European Union Deforestation Regulation) to CSRD (Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive) and CSDDD (Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive), providing organisations with a clear overview of their entire supplier ecosystem.
Parker articulates a vision where regulation serves as the foundation for comprehensive supplier oversight, with AI providing the tools to transform vast amounts of data into actionable insights.
"Regulation is the foundation of supplier relationship management," he says. "Bringing in that data and AI not only gives us a clear overview of our supply chains, but it also allows us to improve our companies and improve our suppliers downstream as well."
Breaking down barriers
PSC LIVE Chicago and Sustainability LIVE Chicago represented something of a unique event, bringing together procurement, supply chain and sustainability professionals under one roof.
This convergence reflects a broader shift in how organisations approach supplier management, moving away from traditional departmental silos towards more integrated approaches.
"Sustainability isn't just a one-vertical thing or one-team thing – it shouldn't be siloed," Parker emphasises.
"You need to bring in all parts, whether it's logistics, procurement, sustainability or even your IT department, to really work across your entire company."
Traditional boundaries between departments often create inefficiencies and blind spots that can undermine sustainability efforts and compliance initiatives.
By fostering cross-departmental collaboration, organisations can develop more comprehensive strategies that address the full spectrum of supplier-related challenges and opportunities.
Divergent approaches to regulation
Asked for his key takeaway from the event, Parker points to the divergent attitudes and approaches to ESG being displayed around the world.
"We're actually in an interesting time where North America is pushing away from deregulation and Europe is pushing to regulation," he notes.
Clearly, this reality is creating a complex operating environment for multinational organisations, requiring sophisticated approaches to compliance that can adapt to different regulatory frameworks across jurisdictions.
Despite these regulatory differences, Parker observes a remarkable consistency in underlying motivations.
"What I've really noticed is everybody wants to move towards a sustainable future and it doesn't matter what anybody else says. We all want to work together to get to that point."
This shared commitment to sustainability transcends geographical boundaries and regulatory frameworks, suggesting that the drive towards more responsible business practices represents a fundamental shift in corporate values rather than merely a response to external pressures.
