Elevating Procurement Excellence Across EMEA at TP With Gianfilippo Villa
As Director of Procurement Shared Services for EMEA, Gianfilippo Villa leads one of TP’s most strategically important functions, overseeing the harmonisation, management, and optimisation of procurement activities across Europe, the Middle East, and Africa. Since joining the company in 2014, first in the Italian branch and then in accross EMEA, he has been instrumental in building a unified, multilingual procurement organisation that operates seamlessly across borders. Today, he drives a centralised model that enhances efficiency, strengthens governance, and ensures every sourcing decision aligns with TP’s global standards and long-term business objectives.
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Procurement Transformation & Shared Services: TP emphasises a “high-touch, high-tech” procurement model via Shared Services. How does your team balance efficiency through automation with maintaining empathy in supplier relationships?
In our Group, striking the right balance between efficiency and empathy is fundamental to the transformation of procurement and shared services. Automation allows us to optimise processes, reduce lead times, and minimise errors, freeing our teams to focus on higher value activities such as negotiation, strategic planning, and continuous improvement.
However, the human component remains indispensable for building trusted and sustainable supplier relationships. This is why we maintain a “high-touch” approach centred on constant communication, active listening, and a genuine understanding of our partners’ needs. Technology supports us with data analysis, performance visibility, and operational consistency, but every strategic interaction is led directly by our teams to ensure personalisation, transparency, and mutual trust.
We consider our suppliers true strategic partners. Through shared KPIs, regular performance reviews, and co-innovation initiatives, we work collaboratively to enhance processes, improve outcomes, and generate long-term value. This model enables us to combine the efficiency of automation with the empathy of human connection, creating a procurement ecosystem rooted in collaboration, accountability, and shared growth.
Generative AI in Procurement: With TP GenAI now part of operations, how are you implementing generative AI in procurement processes such as demand forecasting, negotiation, and supplier risk assessment?
TP GenAI is TP’s interaction analytics platform, powered by Generative AI and Natural Language Processing, designed to enhance the performance of customer experience programs. Building on this foundation, we are integrating generative AI into our procurement function through several targeted applications that strengthen accuracy, agility, and decision-making.
In demand forecasting, generative AI models analyse historical data, market indicators, and external variables to generate more precise and adaptive predictions. This enables us to improve order accuracy, optimise inventory levels, and reduce the likelihood of both surplus stock and shortages.
In supplier negotiations, AI-driven tools support the creation of scenario analyses and propose data-backed negotiation strategies. These tools can even simulate negotiation dynamics based on past interactions and market benchmarks, allowing our teams to approach discussions with stronger insights and improved preparation.
For supplier risk assessment, generative AI plays a crucial role by analysing documents, news sources, performance data, and other structured and unstructured inputs. It helps identify early warning signals linked to compliance, financial health, operational delays, or geopolitical exposure. This proactive, data-driven capability strengthens our ability to mitigate risk and reinforce resilience across the supply chain.
Through these applications, generative AI is becoming a strategic enabler, enhancing the speed, precision, and intelligence of procurement activities while allowing our teams to remain focused on high-value, relationship-driven work.
Cloud & Marketplace Strategy: You recently consolidated software procurement through the Microsoft Commercial Marketplace. How has this impacted procurement agility, vendor management, and cost control?
Consolidating our software procurement through the Microsoft Commercial Marketplace has significantly strengthened agility, governance, and cost efficiency across our technology ecosystem.
From an agility standpoint, the Marketplace has streamlined the entire purchase cycle. Automated workflows, pre-validated vendors, and standardised contracting have substantially reduced approval and onboarding times. This allows us to adopt new digital solutions far more quickly and align our technology roadmap with evolving business needs.
Vendor management has also become more efficient. By centralising software engagements within a single platform, we gain clear visibility into performance, contract terms, renewals, and compliance. The broad and constantly updated catalogue makes it easier to compare solutions, identify alternatives, and strategically plan renewals with transparency and control.
Cost management is another major advantage. Enhanced reporting, consolidated spend visibility, and integrated budget monitoring tools help us avoid duplication, optimise licence utilisation, and negotiate more favourable commercial conditions. The result is a more disciplined, sustainable, and value-driven approach to software investment.
Overall, the Marketplace model has allowed us to elevate software procurement into a more strategic, data-driven capability, supporting innovation while ensuring robust cost and vendor governance.
Sustainability & Responsible Sourcing: TP is committed to UN SDGs, climate targets, and ethical sourcing. How do you embed environmental and social criteria into supplier selection and ongoing accountability?
TP embeds environmental and social responsibility into procurement through a rigorous, structured framework aligned with the UN Sustainable Development Goals and the Group’s broader ESG commitments. Every supplier is required to comply with the TP Supplier Code of Conduct, which covers critical areas including emissions reduction, energy efficiency, waste management, ethical labour practices, and human rights protections.
Sustainability performance is continuously monitored through assessments, audits, self-evaluations, and data-driven scorecards that provide transparency and accountability. This ensures suppliers not only meet our minimum standards but also demonstrate ongoing improvement. Collaboration is central to this approach, with suppliers encouraged to participate in joint initiatives such as low-impact technology adoption, renewable energy programs, and carbon-reduction efforts.
Training and awareness form another pillar of the strategy. Both internal teams and external partners engage in capability-building programmes that reinforce sustainability culture and ESG best practice across the supply chain.
From a social responsibility standpoint, TP actively promotes inclusion, diversity, and ethical compliance throughout all sourcing activities, encouraging partners to adopt these principles within their own operations.
Ultimately, sustainability is regarded as a shared responsibility across the organisation, with Procurement playing a pivotal role in ensuring that every sourcing decision supports TP’s commitment to ethical, transparent, and future-focused procurement.
Partnerships & Collaborations: TP has partnered with AI firms like Sanas and Carnegie Mellon. How does procurement evaluate and integrate strategic partnerships to enhance service delivery and innovation?
TP’s procurement function plays a central role in shaping the organisation’s innovation ecosystem by identifying, assessing, and integrating strategic partnerships with advanced technology leaders such as Sanas and Carnegie Mellon. The process begins with a clear understanding of business priorities, operational needs, and emerging opportunities, enabling the team to pinpoint partners capable of delivering measurable value and elevating service performance.
Potential partners are evaluated against a robust set of criteria, including technological maturity, co-innovation capability, sustainability credentials, scalability, and alignment with TP’s long-term strategic vision. Beyond technical compatibility, procurement also assesses cultural fit and the partner’s ability to collaborate within TP’s global ecosystem.
Once a partnership is formalised, integration is driven through structured pilot programmes, shared onboarding frameworks, and close collaboration between procurement, IT, and operations. This approach ensures that new technologies are tested rigorously, deployed efficiently, and aligned with both client expectations and operational realities.
Through these strategic partnerships, TP accelerates the adoption of AI-enabled solutions, enhances automation, strengthens analytics capabilities, and reinforces its position at the forefront of customer experience innovation. Procurement’s role in steering this ecosystem ensures that innovation is not only cutting-edge, but also scalable, sustainable, and strategically aligned.
Supplier Code & Governance: Your Supplier Code outlines zero-tolerance for corruption and strict data standards. How do you operationalise compliance, auditing, and conflict-of-interest policies across regions?
TP operationalises its global Supplier Code of Conduct through a structured governance framework that combines rigorous due diligence, continuous monitoring, and consistent enforcement across all regions. While global standards define the foundation, regional teams adapt implementation to local regulatory environments to ensure relevance and effectiveness.
Compliance begins at onboarding, where suppliers undergo integrity checks, data-security assessments, and verification against international benchmarks such as ISO 37001 for anti-bribery practices and GDPR-aligned privacy requirements. Only partners who meet these standards progress into TP’s supply base.
Ongoing governance is maintained through regular audits, documentation reviews, and digital risk-monitoring tools that provide real-time visibility into compliance performance. Should potential issues or conflicts of interest arise, established escalation protocols trigger independent investigations, with consequences ranging from corrective action plans to suspension or removal from the supplier ecosystem.
Training is another cornerstone of TP’s approach. Multilingual programmes ensure suppliers clearly understand ethical expectations, reporting procedures, and the company’s strict zero-tolerance stance on corruption and data breaches.
By combining proactive prevention, robust monitoring, and transparent enforcement, TP maintains a resilient, ethical, and accountable global supply chain.
Regional & Cultural Alignment: Leading procurement across EMEA involves navigating diverse markets and hubs. How do you tailor sourcing policies and supplier relationships across different countries?
Managing procurement across EMEA requires a framework that is globally consistent yet locally responsive. TP applies a unified strategic procurement model anchored in global policies, governance, ethics, sustainability, data management, and cost optimisation, while allowing thoughtful localisation to reflect the regulatory, economic, and cultural realities of each market.
This balance is enabled through close collaboration between PSS EMEA, Category Leaders, and local procurement teams. Global standards provide structure and transparency, while regional teams adapt processes, supplier engagement strategies, and negotiation approaches to align with local market dynamics and business practices.
Local procurement teams play a central role in identifying high-potential suppliers, building trust-based partnerships, and navigating cultural nuances. Their insights ensure that category strategies and sourcing decisions are both globally aligned and contextually effective.
Shared training programmes, cross-market workshops, and best-practice exchanges reinforce a common understanding of TP’s expectations across the region. Digital tools for category management, analytics, and forecasting further support coordinated decision-making while maintaining the agility needed to respond to shifting economic conditions.
By combining a unified governance framework with regional autonomy, TP strengthens supplier collaboration, enhances operational consistency, and builds a resilient procurement ecosystem across EMEA.
Verticalisation & Sector Expertise: TP’s procurement serves industries like finance, healthcare, telecom, and luxury. How do you build vertical-specific procurement strategies to meet unique market demands?
TP builds vertical-specific procurement strategies by combining global governance standards with deep sector insight, ensuring each industry’s unique regulatory, operational, and commercial requirements are met.
In the financial sector, procurement strategies centre on stringent data security, regulatory compliance, and partnerships with certified technology providers capable of supporting high-integrity environments.
In healthcare, priority is given to suppliers with proven capabilities in traceability, medical-grade quality standards, and strong data-protection practices.
Telecom procurement focuses on operational continuity, infrastructure resilience, and scalable solutions that support rapid technological evolution.
For luxury brands, the emphasis shifts to exceptional material quality, customisation, and ethically sourced, premium supply chains.
By tailoring sourcing frameworks to the specific needs of each vertical, TP strengthens risk management, enhances operational efficiency, and drives co-innovation with sector-aligned partners. This verticalised approach ensures procurement delivers precise, market-relevant value while supporting the organisation’s broader strategic ambitions.
Future Roadmap: Looking ahead to 2026+, what are the procurement team’s top priorities in areas like AI adoption, sustainability milestones, supplier diversity, or digital transformation?
Looking ahead to 2026 and beyond, TP’s procurement organisation is strengthening its roadmap around four core pillars: advanced AI adoption, sustainability, supplier diversity, and end-to-end digital transformation.
AI will continue to be a catalyst for procurement excellence. Building on the strategic supplier engagement programme launched in 2025, which focuses on co-innovation, artificial intelligence and long-term value creation, the team is accelerating the use of predictive analytics, automated insights, and intelligent decision-support tools. These capabilities enhance forecasting accuracy, improve supplier selection, and reduce operational risk across global markets.
Sustainability remains a fundamental priority. Procurement is embedding ESG milestones across every stage of the sourcing lifecycle, supported by measurable objectives linked to emissions reduction, responsible materials management, and circular economy principles. These actions align with TP’s broader climate commitments and reinforce responsible growth across all supply chains.
Supplier diversity also continues to evolve as a strategic lever, promoting stronger collaboration with local suppliers, small businesses, and underrepresented groups. This approach reflects TP’s commitment to inclusion and supports more resilient regional supply ecosystems.
Finally, digital transformation is enabling a more transparent, integrated, and data-driven procurement model. Automation, marketplace consolidation, and enhanced analytics are ensuring that procurement remains agile, efficient, and fully aligned with the organisation’s global strategic direction.
As part of this future-focused journey, TP values the contribution of strategic partners who share its vision. The partnership with Errebian SpA exemplifies this alignment, supporting TP through tailored, integrated solutions and ongoing collaboration in AI innovation and supply chain digitalisation. This partnership strengthens operational efficiency and reflects a mutual commitment to innovation, sustainability, and long-term performance.
In Association with:
Errebian Spa is a leading Italian distributor of workplace products and services, offering extensive office supplies, technology, safety equipment, furniture, hygiene and facility solutions. With over 50 years of experience, we support businesses nationwide with quality products, tailored services and a commitment to innovation, reliability and customer success.
