At CPO Outlook 2025, Lisa Lidén, Procurement Director at SSAB and Henrik Nyberg Sales Director Northern Europe at Ivalua shared insights into a headache most teams share. Namely, how to operationalize many facts at once — risk, sustainability, sanctions, audits, and cost — in a way buyers actually use.
Context and ambition
SSAB is transforming toward a fossil‑free future. As stated on stage, the company is one of the largest national emitters today (about 10% of Sweden’s CO₂ emissions and 7% of Finland’s). Procurement set a matching ambition: to be the benchmark in the steel industry for responsible sourcing.
The ‘before’: scattered systems, scattered effort
Before SSAB’s transformation, procurement primarily focused on negotiating contracts and cost control. Sustainability and risk management existed. However, as Lisa described on stage, they were handled “here and there” through multiple systems and Excel files. Buyers had to move between tools to find the right data. This often led to frustration and low adoption.
Recognizing this, SSAB aimed to create one integrated view that would help buyers work efficiently. The goal was to meet the growing demands for responsible sourcing, risk control, and compliance.
Design principle: start from the buyer’s day
SSAB rethought responsible sourcing from the buyer’s perspective. They emphasized one system and one overview that buyers would want to use in daily work, not another layer of compliance. Henrik Nyberg noted why this matters for a platform. Spend differs by commodity and geography, so the process needs sensible variants. Data is messy; standard connectors rarely cover everything. Therefore, the job is to adapt just enough while keeping the output simple and useful.
What buyers see now: the Risk Center
On stage, Lisa showed their Risk Center. It is a consolidated view with integrations to external systems and SSAB’s own data. It centralizes items such as audit documents (internal and third‑party). Also, it raises notifications when something changes in a risk area (for example, sanctions). The view adapts depending on supplier relevance. The controls applied vary with context and spend.
I don’t need to go into five different systems anymore — I can see everything in one place
Putting ESG and risk where decisions happen
SSAB placed a Sustainability Manager for Procurement inside the procurement team. Procurement leads the agenda (with input from corporate sustainability and top management) and keeps ownership with the people making sourcing decisions. Buyers are expected to understand sustainability and risk. This includes sub‑tier supply‑chain mapping, learning by doing.
Decision‑making with evidence
With the risk view in one place, SSAB can present comparable supplier risk pictures to top management. That clarity helps when cost isn’t the only factor — it becomes easier to choose differently because the trade‑offs are visible.
Adoption: why change wasn’t a fight
Unlike many large-scale system projects, this one faced little resistance. Lisa said the difference was that the new approach helped buyers: it replaced complexity with clarity. Notifications came directly to them, and the design reflected their feedback.
“Try, and try again. If it doesn’t work, change it and try again.”
Lisa Lidén
The system was tested extensively. Several factors were considered, such as what to notify, when to notify, and how to present information. It was adjusted until it fit. Usage is now required for sourcing decisions. Compared to the old setup, usage is materially higher with a noticeably more positive atmosphere around the system.
What made it work
• Start from buyer reality — ambition only matters if it’s usable in daily sourcing.
• Integrate what counts; don’t over‑standardize — adapt enough so the output stays simple.
• Keep ownership in procurement — ESG and risk are part of the buyer’s job, not an attachment.
• Iterate in the open — test, change, and test again until notifications and views fit the work.
• Use the view to make decisions — including trade‑offs — not just to file a check.
About SSAB
SSAB is a global steel company with a leading position in high-strength steels and related services. Their vision is a stronger, lighter and more sustainable world. SSAB is revolutionizing steelmaking with two unique decarbonized steels. They aim to largely eliminate carbon dioxide emissions from their own operations.
SSAB is organized across five business segments consisting of three divisions: SSAB Special Steels, SSAB Europe and SSAB Americas, and the fully-owned subsidiaries: Tibnor and Ruukki Construction.
SSAB has a secondary listing on Nasdaq Helsinki.
- Headquarters in Stockholm, Sweden
- SSAB employs approximately 14,500 people in over 50 countries
- Revenue 2024: SEK 103 billion
About Ivalua
Ivalua is a leading provider of cloud-based Spend Management software. Our complete, unified platform empowers businesses to effectively manage all categories of spend and all suppliers. This increases profitability, improves ESG performance, lowers risk and improves employee productivity. We are trusted by hundreds of the world’s most admired brands and recognized as a leader by Gartner and other analysts.
Learn more at ivalua.com. Follow us at @Ivalua.
Networking with EBG
Continue these practitioner‑to‑practitioner conversations at CPO Outlook 2026 in Stockholm on October 14–15, and in the EBG | Xperience 2026 workshops series in the spring. These are smaller, hands‑on sessions designed to turn shared experiences into concrete actions.