Sky's Procurement Strategy: Driving Supplier Diversity - Business in the Community

Sky’s Procurement Strategy: Driving Supplier Diversity

Sky launched their Inclusive Procurement Strategy in 2021, with a mission to create an inclusive supply chain that provides a level playing field and equal opportunities for all qualified suppliers.

At Business in the Community (BITC), we believe that employers should ensure Black, Asian, Mixed Race and other ethnically diverse owned businesses are part of their supply chain contracts. This is commitment seven of our Race at Work Charter.

Sky is one of Europe’s leading media and entertainment companies, connecting 23 million customers across Europe to the best apps, entertainment, sports, news and arts, including its own award-winning original content.

Background

Sky launched their Inclusive Procurement Strategy in 2021, with a mission to create an inclusive supply chain that provides a level playing field and equal opportunities for all qualified suppliers. The focus is on businesses owned and operated by under-represented groups, along with a commitment to fostering diversity, equality, and inclusion among all their suppliers.

Sky’s strategy focuses on two key areas:

  • Provide equal access to opportunities in their supply chain for all qualified diverse suppliers, to support their economic prosperity and that of their communities.
  • Encouraging all their suppliers to have, a commitment to diversity, equality and inclusion.

As part Comcast, their US team has achieved long term Inclusive Procurement success, and Sky were keen to do similar in the UK.

The challenge

Even with a dedicated UK resource and strong backing from Sky’s executive sponsors, achieving their mission and strategy in the UK has been difficult. Unlike the US, where tracking supplier diversity is often mandatory, the UK’s voluntary framework slowed their progress. Without mandatory certification and data collection, raising awareness and scaling diversity efforts were more complex.

What the company did

Sky were able to address these challenges with support from Sky’s Diversity Advisory Council, advocacy groups, and their partner The Black Equity Organisation. This led to the development of a maturity model that assesses the current landscape and sets clear future goals.

The maturity model is an internal tool to track progress and inform Sky’s strategy. The model goes beyond ensuring engagement with diverse suppliers—it aims to champion inclusion across their entire procurement process. Created by the Sky Procurement Centre of Excellence and supported by their global supplier diversity team, the model provides a roadmap for moving from: no strategy at all; to supplier diversity; and then inclusive procurement.

Implementation and progress

As part of their strategy, Sky introduced a supplier portal that enables diverse suppliers to register their businesses and engage directly with Sky. The portal functions as a central database, allowing Sky to invite suppliers to participate in Requests for Information (RFI) and Tier II mixers, ensuring visibility and access to opportunities.

Sky also carried out a review of their supplier categories and identified four key focus areas: Marketing, Professional Services, Corporate and Business, and Studios. By focusing efforts on these areas, Sky was able to create more opportunities for engagement with diverse suppliers.

The maturity model also helped them to address other challenges, such as pursuing SME-friendly payment processes and encouraging their Tier I suppliers to track and report on their own diverse spend. The model played a critical role in helping to understand these challenges and adjust their strategy.

Results, lessons learned and future plans

Sky’s maturity model has not only tracked their progress, but also shaped their future strategy. It helps leadership team make data-driven decisions and serves as a benchmark for other organisations. Externally, it fosters collaboration and encourages progress toward advancing supplier diversity across the UK.

Sky has learned that flexibility and persistence are key when tackling challenges. If the results don’t meet expectations, they advise reassessing and making adjustments to ensure progress.

Moving forward, Sky has just expanded into Ireland and will continue to focus on growing spend through their Tier I suppliers while encouraging diverse suppliers to register on their portal. Sky is committed to advancing their Inclusive Procurement Strategy and using their voice influence to promote inclusive procurement across the UK.

“Our Sky strategy is all about creating equal opportunities and inclusive business environments. The maturity model we have developed offers a practical roadmap, embedding inclusion into everyday procurement activities. Working with so many businesses and advocacy groups has been a tremendous part of building this inclusive procurement model, and which was enabled and informed by my secondment experience at BITC”.

– Patricia B-G Mensah, Senior Supplier Inclusion Manager Sky Procurement Centre of Excellence

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