Digitalizing the Construction Industry: How Skanska Cuts Time and Money

In collaboration with procurement platform Vieri, Skanska lets its skilled workers order the equipment they need themselves. This saves the construction giant a lot of time and money.

– Previously, skilled workers submitted order lists twice a year. This led to a lot of manual work, ordering errors and returns, says Sindre Knutzen, advisor for digitalisation of procurement and sustainability at Skanska.

– Now they can order themselves, and we already see that it has saved us a lot of time and simplified processes. Employees can purchase clothing and equipment for the various seasons themselves. In Vieri Ordering, employees always have an overview of their own budget and how much has been used through the employee purchase functionality. It is much like shopping in a regular online store, he explains.

From forms to screens

Vieri offers digital procurement and supplier solutions tailored to customer needs. Skanska has a total of around 2,500 skilled workers. They can log in from their mobile and order equipment whenever the need arises.

– We have created instructional videos and travelled around to provide training. Many order directly on their mobile at the construction site, says Knutzen.

The employee purchase solution has already been adopted for Skanska's building operations in Trondheim and Southern Norway. Next on the list are Bergen and Stavanger, while Oslo will get the solution after New Year. In the long term, the solution will be available to all skilled workers. The product range can also be expanded with additional categories, such as helmets and lamps.

Great potential

Skanska has been using solutions from Vieri since 2023. The goal is to simplify procurement processes, gather suppliers in one portal and save both time and costs. Annually, Skanska receives around 300,000 invoices in total. – If we find ways to save just one minute per invoice, that means over 5,000 hours a year. The potential is enormous, says Knutzen.

He also highlights environmental benefits, especially with employee purchases. – When employees manage their own quota, they are more likely to bring clothing and equipment from project to project, instead of ordering new items. This provides both cost savings and a positive environmental effect. This will become even more important going forward, especially for public contracts.

More freedom of choice

Skanska has a total of around 25 supplier agreements in the Vieri solution. This provides breadth in the product range and good control over procurement.

Skanska has chosen Vieri over supplier-managed portals to ensure flexibility. – With Vieri, we can add the suppliers we want and tailor the product range. This gives us both greater freedom of choice and better agreements, says Knutzen.

Next steps

– Employee purchasing is just one part of the collaboration with Vieri, says Knutzen. – We are also working on solutions for data flow, environmental accounting and automation of invoice flow. The collaboration is not just about meeting today's needs, but about developing the systems of the future.

– This is just the beginning. The goal is for more and more of our procurement to go through Vieri. Then we get better overview, fewer errors and more time to build, says Knutzen.