EBG welcomes Achilles to CPO Outlook 2026 as an Expert Organisation, 14–15 October at Hotel Birger Jarl in Stockholm. They have spent more than 35 years on a single idea: verify a supplier once, then let many buyers rely on the same verification.
The thesis before the welcome: assurance is expensive to produce and cheap to reuse. That asymmetry is the argument for a shared network, and it makes coverage of the wider supplier base a question of economics rather than intent.
What Achilles does
- Runs a shared supplier network built over more than 35 years, spanning over 900 buying organisations and more than 300,000 suppliers worldwide. A supplier verified once can be relied on by many buyers.
- Published its annual Global Supplier Risk and Sustainability Survey in March 2026, based on 2,805 responses across construction, energy, manufacturing, transport and the public sector.
- Launched Achilles Risk Screening in 2026: a no-touch layer that monitors large supplier populations across ESG, financial, cyber, country and geopolitical risk, sanctions and watchlists, and adverse media. It requires no supplier onboarding or questionnaires, and feeds into deeper due diligence and audit where the signals warrant it.
So what — for you, on a Monday morning
The survey puts numbers on something most functions will recognise. Six per cent of respondents report full visibility into tier-2 and tier-3 suppliers, and close to half report limited or no visibility beyond their immediate supplier base. Only 18 per cent say they are very confident in the accuracy of the safety data their suppliers report. The same research finds that legislation and regulatory requirements have become the primary driver of sustainability initiatives, overtaking both carbon-reduction commitments and customer expectations.
Adam Whitfield, Head of Global Compliance and ESG at Achilles, points to growing pressure from regulators, investors and customers to demonstrate transparency and accountability across supplier networks.
The design question underneath is one of resourcing. Deep assurance costs a great deal per supplier, so it goes where the stakes are highest, which is a defensible allocation rather than an oversight. Achilles have a name for what is left: the risk blind spot, where financial, cyber, ESG and operational risk can develop unnoticed. Screening at scale is a different instrument from deep assurance: lighter, continuous, and useful mainly for deciding where the expensive one should point next.
The Nordic angle deserves a table of its own. Small domestic markets mean a long tail of smaller local suppliers, and one argument for a shared network is that it moves qualification cost off them rather than multiplying it across every buyer. Whether that holds is worth testing against people who have sat on both sides.
The practical question for Stockholm: how far down your supplier population does assurance currently reach, and where does it need to reach next?
Meet Achilles at CPO Outlook 2026
14–15 October, Hotel Birger Jarl, Stockholm. Two days of senior practitioners comparing notes on what actually works. Register at cpooutlook.com
About Achilles
Achilles delivers advanced risk monitoring for suppliers and third parties, helping organisations tackle climate change, uphold human rights, and lead in health, safety, and compliance – all through a connected, global network. achilles.com
About CPO Outlook 2026
CPO Outlook is EBG | Network’s Nordic summit for procurement leaders, run since 2010. The premise is straightforward: ask senior practitioners what they most need to discuss, then build the days around the answers. Peer and expert exchange comes before a stage and an audience. That means roundtable discussions, peer labs, working sessions and keynotes, with the peer sessions practitioner-led throughout.
This year’s theme is From Strategy to Practice: Making Procurement Transformation Real. The summit runs 14–15 October at Hotel Birger Jarl in Stockholm. Day 1 closes on the first Nordic CPO of the Year Award. Day 2 is built around a working session on AI in procurement.
Read the full programme at cpooutlook.com/programme-2026 — or register to attend.