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Articles, webinars, whitepapers, guides, product updates and company news from Spendkey.
Pricing against moving costs: why margin leaks between three rooms
A deal can pass every approval and still lose margin. Find out where the gap appears between Commercial, Procurement and Finance, and how to catch it before signing.
Read the article →
Validate Before You Commit: How Procurement Leaders Prioritise High-Impact Savings
Before you commit to a savings target, how confident are you it will actually hit the P&L? See how leading procurement teams validate savings initiatives first.
Watch the webinar →
How Contract Analytics Enhances DORA Readiness
Streamline DORA compliance and strengthen operational resilience in the financial sector with contract analytics.
Download the whitepaper →
The AI Playbook for Procurement Success
Your guide to smarter, faster procurement with AI: the fundamentals, real use cases, the risks and practical next steps.
Get the playbook →
Introduction of Reseller Insights Dashboard
Visibility of the IT software licences and subscriptions bought against each contract, so you know exactly what was procured from every reseller.
Read the release note →Spendkey press kit
Press releases, awards, company facts, leadership and media contacts in one place.
Open the press kit →
Our approach to corporate social responsibility
How sustainability, the Open Kitchen initiative and diversity and inclusion shape the way Spendkey works.
Read our approach →What we and our founders have been saying since DPW New York.
Every post from the Spendkey page and the founders, newest first. Each one opens on LinkedIn.
AI makes garbage in, garbage out faster and quieter. One of our clients now runs intake through Claude and Lumina, fully automated. Claude picks up the supplier's shipment confirmation from the inbox, pushes…
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This is Strategic Sales as a Service in action with our customer Spendkey
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Spendkey29 Oct 2026Knowing what a deal made last quarter is important. Knowing whether it will deliver its target margin over the next three years could change the decisions you make today. A contract may have been approved at a…
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Alex Grundy28 Oct 2026
Will Harman28 Oct 2026
Will Harman28 Oct 2026I’m sorry for passengers on the Villa Vie Odyssey cruise liner who signed up for a multi-year voyage, and have now been forced to disembark due to the cost of fuel per cabin rising from $1,800 a month to…
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Are your costs in lock step with your pricing? Amazing to hear Alex Grundy today at Grupo CPOnet in Madrid on Spendkey Want to: - save money - control your costs - increase your working capital? Drop me a line…
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Alex Grundy20 Oct 2026Tomorrow in Madrid I’m talking about one question: what happens to a contract’s margin after it’s signed. Indices move, caps bite, pass-through lags. Some contracts finish ahead of the bid, some behind, and…
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Will Harman20 Oct 2026I’m in Madrid preparing for Eventos y Formación Grupo CPOnet tomorrow with Alex Grundy and Giles Reid Please drop by the Spendkey stand and see how we can expand and protect your profit margins Trusted Value…
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Alex Grundy19 Oct 2026Every deal gets approved on one number: the margin on the day it’s signed. Very few teams ever produce the second number, the margin in year three, after costs have moved and the customer price hasn’t…
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Alex Grundy16 Oct 2026Spendkey is on the map 🎉 Everest Group has published its Innovation Watch for AI-powered Spend Intelligence, and Spendkey is named an Influencer among the 16 providers assessed, alongside GEP, SpendHQ, Sievo…
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Alex Grundy16 Oct 2026Once the contract is running, what was agreed and what is invoiced are rarely the same number. On the supplier side, a rate gets misapplied, an escalation is taken that the clause does not allow, the same…
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Alex Grundy16 Oct 2026The saving you sign and the margin you keep are two different numbers. The first is fixed the day you agree the price. The second moves with every index the contract is tied to, for the rest of the term…
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Alex Grundy15 Oct 2026Not every supplier increase is worth a fight. Some can be approved without touching the margin. Some need renegotiating. A few need to go up the line, because the contract they feed can’t absorb them. The real…
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Alex Grundy14 Oct 2026Most approval steps confirm a deal is allowed. Few confirm it will still make money at the end of its term. Approve the ones that will. Challenge the ones that will not. But can Finance tell which is which…
Read on LinkedInAlex Grundy14 Oct 2026Spendkey14 Oct 2026
Alex Grundy13 Oct 2026By the time Finance is asked to approve a purchase, most of the decision has already been made. Finance and Procurement are often described as partners. But look at where Finance typically enters the buying…
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Akshay Upadhye12 Oct 2026Sharing this with my network in Spain. Please attend; I assure you that you will find this valuable. #costoptimisation #EBITDA #profitmargin
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Alex Grundy9 Oct 2026Most procurement teams I meet in manufacturing and industrials can tell you exactly what they saved last year. Far fewer can tell you what that contract will be worth when it ends. The saving is fixed the day…
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Will Harman9 Oct 2026Great to see the Spendkey logo Alex Grundy Akshay Upadhye 👍🏼
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Spendkey7 Oct 2026Do you know how much margin is at risk in the next contract you sign? Come and find out at the CPOnet Convention in Madrid on 21 October. Introducing Spendkey's Commercial Control Layer. It helps procurement…
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Alex Grundy6 Oct 2026Missed DPW Amsterdam? Here is my talk, in under three minutes. Think about the last time a supplier put their price up on you. What happened next? And how long did it take for that to reach your customer's…
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Alex Grundy6 Oct 2026Excited to be Sponsoring, and Exhibiting at Eventos y Formación Grupo CPOnet in Madrid in a few weeks time. Translation below: Is it possible to know whether a contract will remain profitable before signing…
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Thank you to our 32 #spendanalytics participants in our Fall 2026 SolutionMap! Anaplan, Anvil Analytical, AnyData Solutions, Arkestro, Corcentric, Coupa, Creactives, ebidtopay, Efficio, GEP Worldwide, Ignite…
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Last week, I returned to the main stage to open #DPWAmsterdam. 2,303 people. 51 countries. And walking through the expo hall, I could see what I’ve always wanted to build: a true ecosystem. Startups pitching…
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Wow! What an amazing couple of days at #DPWAmsterdam. So many discussions with fellow Procurement professionals. One thing is for sure, Procurement is at one of the most exciting points and the innovations…
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Spendkey20 Aug 2026
Spendkey18 Aug 2026$9M in procurement savings opportunities. Identified in just 10 days. The hard part for most procurement teams isn’t setting a savings target. It’s knowing where those savings will actually come from…
Read on LinkedInSpendkey17 Aug 2026
Spendkey14 Aug 2026Should Procurement be able to stop a deal when the costs don’t support the price? Sales agrees the customer price. Finance approves the expected margin. Procurement knows what is happening with supplier costs…
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Spendkey13 Aug 2026Manufacturers: what happens to your margin if input costs rise after you sign? A manufacturing deal can look profitable under today’s assumptions and fail under tomorrow’s costs. Before approving it, teams…
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Spendkey12 Aug 2026If you work in Finance, Procurement or Sales, this is one to watch. Before you approve your next major deal, ask one question: Does it still make money if costs move? Today, Spendkey CEO Alex Grundy will show…
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Spendkey12 Aug 2026Finance. Procurement. Sales. One hour from now, see what happens when customer commitments and supplier terms are tested together before the deal is approved. Our CEO, Alex Grundy, will show you how to: •…
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Spendkey12 Aug 2026The deal you approve today could be the margin loss Finance reports next quarter. We're going live in 5 mins... Join our CEO, Alex Grundy, to see how Finance, Procurement and Sales can identify margin exposure…
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Spendkey11 Aug 2026If you want to put a commercial control in place that protects margin on every deal even when costs keep moving this webinar is for you. Join our Co-Founder & CEO Alex Grundy tomorrow as he breaks down how to…
Read on LinkedInSpendkey10 Aug 2026
Spendkey7 Aug 2026A deal can look profitable when it is priced and still miss margin when it is delivered. The customer price may be fixed. Supplier costs, commodity prices, freight and exchange rates are not. That means the…
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Spendkey6 Aug 2026How do you price to protect margin when the cost to deliver keeps moving? Margin is decided the day you sign, not the day you notice. Find out where it leaks, and how to catch it before a deal is approved…
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Spendkey5 Aug 2026Finance, Procurement and Commercial Leaders: on 12 August we're putting all three of you in the same session, on purpose. Because the exposure none of you can see is the one that sits between you. Sales locks…
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Spendkey4 Aug 2026Finance Leaders : What if you could identify the commercial exposure before the deal was approved? That's exactly what we'll be discussing on 12 August. If you're responsible for EBITDA, forecasting…
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Spendkey3 Aug 2026Your supplier costs changed three times. How many times did you revalidate the deal? For most businesses, the answer is once. At signing. After that, the price is locked and the decision is treated as final…
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Spendkey30 Jul 2026Manufacturers have spent years getting better at reducing cost. The bigger challenge today is protecting the margin you've already priced into a deal. Our latest article explores why that's become harder, and…
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Spendkey29 Jul 2026In industrial manufacturing, winning the deal is only the start. The real challenge is keeping the margin you expected. Customer prices are often fixed, but steel, energy, freight and supplier costs continue…
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Spendkey27 Jul 2026How do you know a deal will still make money before you sign it? Most manufacturing businesses don't lose margin because they negotiated badly. Steel moves. Energy moves. Freight moves. Exchange rates move…
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Spendkey23 Jul 2026Manufacturing CFOs: volumes up, margins down. How do you stop deals from quietly draining EBITDA? Spendkey's Commercial Control Layer validates each deal for margin before you sign. Approve, renegotiate, or…
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Spendkey16 Jul 2026Sales, procurement and finance all did their jobs. The margin still leaked. That's more common than most organisations realise. Sales focused on winning the customer. Procurement secured the supplier. Finance…
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Spendkey15 Jul 2026How much margin are your approved deals quietly losing? You negotiated the price. But tariffs change. Freight costs rise. Input prices move. The assumptions behind a deal can shift long before the impact shows…
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Spendkey13 Jul 2026As AI starts executing more commercial decisions, one question matters more than ever. How do you know the decision it's executing is still the right one? That's what this article explores.
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Spendkey10 Jul 2026The best procurement teams are invisible - until the one time they save the deal. They don't win by being loud. They win by catching the thing everyone else missed - a pricing gap buried in a signed contract…
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Spendkey10 Jul 2026Do you know which procurement opportunities will deliver the biggest savings first? Most organisations have no shortage of opportunities. The real challenge is knowing: • Which initiatives will create the…
Read on LinkedInSpendkey8 Jul 2026
Spendkey3 Jul 2026Your most profitable deal this quarter could be losing money right now, and you will not see it for 90 days. Not because it was a bad deal. The price was locked, the costs were not, and no one’s job was to…
Read on LinkedInSpendkey2 Jul 2026
Spendkey1 Jul 2026By the time the variance hits your P&L, the decision that caused it is already 90 days old. Finance gets the number last. Then gets asked to explain it. The report is not the problem. The timing is. What would…
Read on LinkedInSpendkey30 Jun 2026
Spendkey23 Jun 2026Finance. Procurement. Sales. Do you know which deals are likely to lose margin before they're approved? Most organisations don't. Deals are approved using today's costs. They're delivered using future costs…
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Spendkey19 Jun 2026Manufacturers: Can you spot margin erosion before it reaches the P&L? Our latest blog explores why profitable deals can lose margin over time and how manufacturers can better understand margin risk before…
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Spendkey19 Jun 2026Procurement Leaders : You negotiated the price.But what happens when freight costs rise, energy prices increase, supplier costs change, or commodity indices move? The deal that looked profitable when it was…
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Spendkey17 Jun 2026Can you identify which deal is about to stop making money before it is signed? Most organisations can't. You won the deal. So why did you lose the margin? As tariffs, freight costs, energy prices and supplier…
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Spendkey16 Jun 2026How does your organisation test profitability before approving a deal? For many organisations, it looks something like this: Revenue checked. Costs checked. Margin looks healthy. Deal approved. The problem is…
Read on LinkedInSpendkey15 Jun 2026
Spendkey12 Jun 2026Most deals are approved using today's costs. They're delivered using future costs. That's where margin erosion begins. Tariffs change. Freight costs rise. Suppliers reprice. Market indices move. The contract…
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Spendkey9 Jun 2026You signed the deal at 70%. You delivered it at 30%. Where did the margin go? Why do profitable deals stop delivering, and how can organisations catch margin erosion before it happens. Full article below. 👇
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Spendkey5 Jun 2026What an incredible few days at DPW New York 2026. Great conversations and engaging discussions on the future of procurement and AI. We were excited to unveil Spendkey's Commercial Control Layer and demonstrate…
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Spendkey4 Jun 2026One of the most talked-about launches at DPW New York: The Commercial Control Layer. Because procurement teams don't just need to negotiate great deals. They need to know those deals still make commercial…
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Alex Grundy3 Jun 2026DPW New York 2026 🇺🇸 With 30% of Spendkey’s customers now based in the US, it only felt right to be here. Looking forward to an exciting few days ahead. Great to have Will Harman on board for the journey. Come…
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Spendkey3 Jun 2026Day 1 at DPW New York is live. We're unveiling the Commercial Control Layer at Booth S8. The question every CFO, CPO, and Commercial Director should be asking: Does this deal still make money? Supplier costs…
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The Margin Roundtable
NEXT: TUESDAY 19 JANUARY 2027 · LONDON · FULL DETAILS →PAST EVENTS: TRANSFORMING PROCUREMENT, AUTOMATION AND AI · THE IVY, LONDONA closed room for CFOs, CPOs and commercial directors at manufacturing, infrastructure and services businesses. One question per session, such as how to keep a fixed-price customer contract in step with a supplier price that moves every month. Held in London and alongside the events we attend.
- No vendor pitches, and nothing is attributed
- A short written summary for the people in the room
- Seats are offered by role, to keep both sides of the deal in the room
The Margin Note
One chart on where the market prices behind industrial contracts moved last month, one anonymised case, one film, and what we heard from the people we met at the last event. Written for people who sign contracts, not for people who sell software.
- Metals, energy, freight and labour, read against contract terms
- Short enough to read before your first meeting
We sponsor and speak at the events our clients attend. Meet us on the stage, or in the room afterwards.
- 19 JAN 2027The Margin Roundtable, LondonThe first roundtable of 2027: finance, procurement and commercial leaders, one question, no slides. Twelve seats.ASK FOR A SEAT
- 2027Digital Procurement World, AmsterdamBooked for 2027. Come and find us, or ask for a seat at the roundtable we hold alongside it.BOOKED
- OCT 2026CPO Net Convention, MadridSponsor, with the keynote and a 30-minute workshop for procurement leaders.SPONSOR AND KEYNOTE
- OCT 2026Digital Procurement World, AmsterdamSponsor, with the talk on why negotiating hard is not enough, and why margin is two-sided.SPONSOR AND TALK
- LONDONTransforming Procurement: Automation and AI, at The IvyAn evening for procurement and finance leaders, held with Market Dojo and Veridion, with guest speakers.CO-HOST
New dates are announced here and in The Margin Note.
2024Winner, AI in procurementProcurement and Supply Chain Awards
2025Runner-up, AI in procurementProcurement and Supply Chain Awards
2026Upper quartile for customer valueThe Hackett Group
2026Innovation Watch: InfluencerEverest GroupWhen costs move and prices do not, it makes the headlines.
Recent stories from both sides. Some companies kept their margin by pricing for the move. Others lost it to costs nobody was watching.
Margin keptLindt raises prices and keeps its margin
Price rises offset record cocoa costs. 2024 operating profit reached CHF 884.2 million and the margin rose 0.6 points to 16.2 percent.
ESM MagazinePhoto: Medicaster, public domain
Margin keptRyanair's fuel hedge pays off
Ryanair hedged 80% of its fuel at $67 a barrel to April 2027, and annual profit after tax jumped 35% to 2.17 billion euros.
AFPPhoto: Harry Knight, CC0
Margin keptFerrari hands the tariff bill to buyers
Ferrari met US tariffs with price rises of up to 10%, kept its 2025 targets, and reported a 30.3% first-quarter EBIT margin.
Ferrari resultsPhoto: Russell Bray's Ghost, CC BY-SA 4.0
Margin keptCostco's first fee rise in seven years pays off
Costco raised its basic membership from $60 to $65, its first increase since 2017. Fourth-quarter membership fees rose 14% to $1.72 billion.
Retail InsiderPhoto: Kanesue, public domain
Margin lostThe forever cruise that ran out of fuel money
Monthly fuel cost rose from about $1,800 to between $6,000 and $8,000. The operator said it "cannot simply pass" that on, and 203 travellers disembarked.
Cruise Industry NewsPhoto: JerickVillaruel, CC BY-SA 4.0
Margin lostOld contracts bring down a major UK builder
Loss-making contracts won between 2018 and 2020 sank ISG, a firm with turnover just under £2.2 billion. 2,200 jobs were lost.
Construction BriefingPhoto: Fons Heijnsbroek, CC0
Margin lostHershey's margin melts as costs outrun prices
Second-quarter adjusted gross margin fell 510 basis points to 38.1%, as higher commodity and manufacturing costs more than offset price rises.
Hershey resultsPhoto: David Stanley, CC BY 2.0
Margin lostTariffs take a $9.5bn bite out of Toyota
Toyota expected a $9.5bn hit from US car tariffs and cut its full-year operating profit forecast from 3.8 to 3.2 trillion yen.
Al JazeeraPhoto: Tupungato, CC BY 3.0
Margin keptOlive oil maker passes on the price swings
Deoleo passed olive oil price changes on to customers. Sales rose 19% to €996 million and EBITDA rose 10.4% to €33.4 million.
Deoleo resultsPhoto: Maarten Heerlien, CC BY 2.0
Margin keptHermès reprices for tariffs and its margin rises
Hermès raised US prices from May 2025 to offset tariffs. Its 2025 recurring operating margin rose to 41%, from 40.5% in 2024.
NBC NewsPhoto: Trougnouf (Benoit Brummer), CC BY 4.0
Margin keptFuel surcharges keep concrete ahead of diesel
Cemex added fuel surcharges to ready-mix concrete as diesel rose. Led by pricing, EBITDA rose 12% to $990 million and margin widened 80 basis points.
Investing.comPhoto: woodleywonderworks, CC BY 2.0
Margin keptFinnair's fares outrun an 84% jump in jet fuel
Jet fuel cost 84.4% more than a year earlier. Higher fares more than covered it, lifting Finnair's comparable operating result to €84.0m from €50.7m.
Investing.comPhoto: Kgbo, CC BY-SA 4.0
Margin lostNo fuel hedge, $4bn of extra fuel costs
With no material fuel hedges, American Airlines expected high fuel prices to add $4 billion in expenses and cut its 2026 forecast twice.
SkiftPhoto: Hank Seidel, NARA, public domain
Margin lostFixed-price jets cost Boeing $4.9bn
Boeing booked $4.9 billion of 2024 charges on fixed-price defence contracts, including $800 million on the KC-46 tanker in the fourth quarter.
Breaking DefensePhoto: US Air Force, public domain
Margin lostNew homes on fixed prices, costs on the move
Australian builders on fixed-price contracts face concrete fuel levies of about A$8 to A$10 per cubic metre and plastic pipe rises above 35%.
Master Builders VictoriaPhoto: L Maule, CC BY-SA 4.0
Margin lostRoofing costs outran the price list
Diesel, freight and oil-based materials rose faster than Carlisle's prices, which usually trail costs by 3 to 6 months. Its EBITDA margin fell 210 basis points.
Carlisle earnings callPhoto: KVDP, public domain