We hired a supplier and considering five other companies

Interview with: Tobias Steffen, Head of Finance, TerryWhite Chemmart

“We gave business to a supplier we met at the Summit, and are considering five others” said Tobias Steffen, Head of Finance, TerryWhite Chemmart, a delegate at the Marcus Evans CFO Summit in Australia.

What new business opportunities has the Summit brought your way?

We had several interesting meetings with suppliers. We were looking for different technologies to automate some back-end processes, and the Summit was a great way for us to stay at the forefront of what is available in the market.

Did you hire any of the companies you met with?

We hired a supplier from Melbourne - we are in Brisbane - that we met for the first time. If they had approached us directly, I doubt that we would have ended up hiring them as we usually select local providers. We had a few touchpoints during the Summit that helped make it happen. I am looking to continue the engagement for annual training programs for my Finance team.

We also received detailed proposals from five or six other suppliers. We are still open to potential future implementations of new systems with at least three of them. I only knew one of those before the Summit. As their systems are potentially multi-year engagements, it takes time to review and change providers. If we go ahead, the contracts are likely to be around AUD 100,000+ each year. Without the Summit, we would not have come across these contacts.

Did you find the one-to-one meeting format was an efficient way to meet new service providers?

It is a very good format. I had the opportunity to have direct contact with different suppliers with deep industry knowledge and look at what they do.

How would you compare Marcus Evans Summits with other industry events?

I liked that the panels and presentations were by my peers. Some of the content was very relevant and valuable. There was a big focus on new technologies and AI implementation, which I was very interested in. I also liked the 30-minute one-to-one meetings. The venue was fantastic. The event was very well organised. It exceeded all my expectations.