Redefine your Spend Culture

How Hivebuy helps to build strong corporate culture - in cooperation with Hypatos GmbH

Introduction

The importance of culture cannot be denied in modern companies. In an interview with Nick Stodt, VP of Finance at Hypatos, it became clear that company culture is closely correlated to success. As a startup in its hyper-growth phase, the management aims to be fully aligned and retain its talents. The “No Rules Rules” book has fuelled their discussion about the right approach and prompted them to reflect on the following aspects:

• How can we attract and keep hold of the most talented people?
• How do we achieve that everyone is empowered and acts independently for the sake of the company’s success?
• What values should be prevailing?

The problem

Spend culture in many companies is not aligned with modern principles of leadership. Rigid processes, a lot of bureaucracy, and a lack of communication hinder companies to become high-performing organisations with the right talents in their teams to lead the path to success.

Background

The bestseller “No Rules Rules” by Erin Meyer and Reed Hastings describes the unique and efficient company culture of Netflix, including the levels of freedom and responsibility that it gives to employees. The innovative way of running the business is the very reason for the company’s success and that is why so many others aim to apply these aspects within their own business. However, it does not imply not set any context for employees. Without any context, misunderstandings are predestined.

The solution

In alignment with several principles from the book, Hypatos uses the Hivebuy software. Hivebuy is a SaaS solution that orchestrates ordering processes from purchase decisions to invoice verification in a company-wide solution, creating efficiency and transparency across all processes and costs.

Given that Hypatos sees no point in dictating and rather lets employees develop their potential, Hivebuy supports the company with the implementation of their freedom concept. It also allows them to remain flexible with respect to budgets and policies which helps to achieve the desired spend culture. 

The benefits

• People can be accountable for their own budget
• Perceived appreciation and autonomy within the Hypatos team increased
• Trust plays a big role as it is believed that employees buy what matters
• Products/services can be bought immediately with automatic approval processes
• Approval workflows ease communication

In order to provide the necessary context to avoid any misunderstandings, Hypatos aims to set guidelines as clearly and transparently as possible. Budgets are divided according to the different departments and examples specify what the budget may be used for.

 

“We want to lead by example, share our values and encourage employees to follow along. By doing so, we build our desired company culture.” – Nick Stodt, VP Finance at Hypatos

 

Conclusion

Nick concluded that people should remember any software just serves a supporting role. It cannot replace communication or the critical reflection of actions within any company. Yet, Hivebuy has a positive impact on a company culture that because of four main reasons:

1.Transparency

Employees have a clear overview of their budget and now that there are simple approval-workflows.

2. Ownership

Employees may decide what they do with their budget and there’s no need to discuss every detail of a purchase request.

3. Documentation

Everyone benefits from the software, as allocation of budgets, is possible for single departments, and everything is documented within one platform.

4. Processes

Implementation and maintenance of processes is especially important to startups as it helps to structure young companies and supports them to scale up.

Hivebuy is your enterprise-wide ordering and invoicing solution that helps you overcome challenges in purchasing goods and services. Request a demo now.