CVS Caremark’s Anna Umberto dedicated to assisting MWBEs meet the highest standards of excellence

Women’s business enterprises have never truly gotten a fair shake in the business world as far as sourcing and procurement is concerned. Constantly struggling for equality, WBEs are feeling additional strife with the current economic conditions.

This is why as more businesses compete for a smaller set of opportunities, Anna Umberto, vice president of sourcing and procurement at CVS Caremark, thinks it is important that a supplier is

a “quality” business offering a “quality” product or service.

“To me, quality means that the highest standards of excellence are met,” said Umberto, a speaker at the upcoming Women’s Business Enterprise National Council’s National Conference, June 9-11 in San Francisco. “That applies to how the business is run and supports its clients, and what product or service is offered.”

Our responsibility

This also is why Umberto believes it is CVS Caremark’s responsibility to support its communities and provide opportunities to smaller, diverse companies.

According to Umberto, the corporation’s strategic sourcing and procurement program is based on ensuring it has a fair and equitable way of purchasing and contracting.

What that means, Umberto said, is all suppliers can bid on CVS Caremark’s business.

The challenge for MWBEs, however, is being able to support CVS Caremark’s business needs, Umberto explained.

“There are many, very strong smaller businesses that exist [that] do not have the access to companies such as CVS Caremark and sometimes have not been advised on exactly what it takes to support our business,” she added. “My goal is to further provide MWBEs access to opportunities and help educate business owners on how a company such as CVS Caremark operates and what they need to do to meet our requirements.”

Since joining CVS Caremark in 1995, Umberto has been dedicated to this initiative, having held various positions related to procurement, sourcing and supplier diversity. Currently, she is responsible for sourcing for indirect categories enterprise-wide and certain centralized purchasing functions, including technology, business travel, store construction and supplies.

As a champion of CVS Caremark’s supplier diversity initiative, one of Umberto’s goals is to provide more information to minority- and women-owned business leaders to further educate them on how to do business with large companies like CVS Caremark.

“We are focused on increasing communication to business leaders through groups such as WBENC to ensure an understanding of the criteria we have set for all suppliers to have a fair opportunity to work with CVS Caremark,” Umberto said. “Some of those criteria include quality standards, certification, electronic capabilities and pricing levels.”

Turbulent economy

CVS Caremark also is monitoring how the turbulent economy is increasing sourcing opportunities for the company – specifically in new suppliers approaching the company and existing suppliers open to locking in pricing for longer periods.

As a result, CVS Caremark has accelerated some of its projects to take advantage of pricing in the current market, which has translated to new suppliers and provided expanded business opportunities for some of its existing suppliers.

“One of the biggest accomplishments I have had at CVS Caremark [has been continuing] to prove the value that an enterprise-wide sourcing strategy brings to an organization the size of CVS Caremark,” Umberto said. “We faced many challenges when sourcing was introduced to the company. It was a change in the way associates managed their categories and there was much hesitancy by category owners because they felt [they were losing] control of their category.”

Over time, Umberto adds, the organization has learned the value it brings as a separate neutral group involved in bidding, negotiations and contracting.

“We not only continue to reduce costs through sourcing,”

Umberto said, “but have improved our supplier base and moved to those who provide higher-quality goods and services as our company has grown.”

Staying ahead of change

Throughout this growth, however, there have been challenges, including the current economy. CVS Caremark continues to develop strategies for success in the ever-changing economic climate.

As a result of the market’s constant changes, Umberto believes CVS Caremark’s challenge is to stay ahead of the changes to ensure it has the needed suppliers to support its business.

Meanwhile, CVS Caremark remains committed to its sourcing and procurement efforts by providing all suppliers an equal opportunity to participate in its supplier programs.

“We don’t want to miss opportunities, and pressures of the economy have increased the demand on sourcing,” Umberto said. “Specifically for CVS Caremark, procurement has been focused on challenges related to supply chain for indirect products. Given our expanded footprint and requirements of each business group, we are constantly reviewing ways to improve our purchasing and delivery methods in order to best supply our locations throughout the enterprise.”