Fill does more than give us control of the process. It helps managers move every request forward, catches issues early and takes away much of the follow-up that used to sit with procurement.
Ufuk Atagün
Project buyer, SSAB
Fill does more than give us control of the process. It helps managers move every request forward, catches issues early and takes away much of the follow-up that used to sit with procurement.
Before Fill, consultant procurement at the rapidly expanding Transformation Office in Luleå required one full-time procurement manager to keep up with the work.
Procurement maintained supplier relationships, supported hiring managers, prepared requests, administered bids, coordinated interviews and handled contracts. Information was spread across emails, SharePoint sites, procurement tools and chats.
Managers depended on hands-on support, and procurement became the operational hub for everything: answering questions, checking details, following up and pushing every assignment toward completion.
The process worked but at the cost of strategic capacity.
SSAB saw an opportunity to rethink it completely. The ambition was not simply to digitize the existing administration. It was to create a governed process that could actively support hiring managers and keep the work moving without procurement having to coordinate every step.
Procurement championed the transformation, beginning with SSAB’s Transformation Office in Luleå.
Fill’s team worked side by side with procurement to redesign the process from the ground up. Together, they configured the workflow, prepared historic supplier and assignment data, embedded SSAB’s requirements, onboarded its existing supplier base and introduced hiring managers to the new way of working.
Approximately five weeks after kickoff, SSAB signed its first consultant agreement through Fill.
The rollout delivered more than functioning software. It gave SSAB a proven blueprint for scaling a secure, approved and actively managed consultant procurement process across the organization.
Traditional procurement systems record what users do. Fill helps the work happen.
As each request progresses, Fill uses AI to monitor the process, detect anomalies and identify issues that could cause delays or require attention. It prompts the right people, highlights what needs to happen next and actively drives the request toward a signed agreement.
Procurement no longer needs to watch every request, identify every missing detail or repeatedly chase managers and suppliers for the next action. Fill takes on much of that coordination in the background.
Managers describe the experience as feeling like someone is constantly helping: keeping track of the details, explaining what comes next and gently pushing the request forward.
That proactive support is central to adoption. Managers do not need to become procurement experts or learn a complex system. They are guided through the approved process while Fill and procurement requirements operate quietly in the background.
With Fill, hiring managers can move from an identified need to a signed consultant in one clear, guided workflow.
Requests are structured from the start. Suppliers receive consistent information. Candidates, rates and commercial terms can be compared in one place. Interviews, decisions, contracts and tenure information remain connected throughout the process.
Every stakeholder benefits:
“The system gives me a clear overview of consultant tenure and helps us stay ahead by alerting us well in advance when someone is approaching 24 months.”
Alicia Stewén, Senior HR Business Partner, SSAB
This is what makes the result so powerful: the governed process is also the process people want to use - all linked to an API ready system of record. Hiring managers reported time savings of between 50% and 93%, alongside exceptionally positive feedback on the experience.
The greatest operational impact was felt within procurement.
Work that previously consumed one full-time role now requires only a fraction of the effort. Fill does more than keep information in one place: it monitors progress, surfaces issues and takes on much of the repetitive coordination between managers, suppliers, HR and procurement.
The released capacity can instead be directed toward higher-value priorities such as supplier strategy, category development, governance and long-term commercial improvement.
Procurement has moved from administering individual sourcing events to focusing on the strategic agenda.
A procurement process only creates control when people actually use it.
Because Fill makes the approved route easy, and actively helps managers complete it, procurement gains visibility before suppliers or commercial terms have already been decided.
When something looks wrong or risks slowing the process down, Fill brings attention to it early. This allows procurement to manage by exception rather than monitoring every request.
Structured competition and transparent rate comparisons have generated direct savings of between 5% and 15%. Every sourcing event also creates a consistent record of requirements, candidates, decisions and terms - strengthening governance without adding friction for users.
SSAB therefore gains more than lower costs. It gains a repeatable process that combines proactive support, adoption, efficiency and control.
The Luleå implementation showed that strong governance does not need to create more administration.
By combining an intuitive platform, AI-powered process guidance, hands-on implementation support and a clean-sheet redesign, SSAB achieved rapid adoption, substantial time savings and measurable commercial results - while giving procurement more time for strategic work.
For procurement teams transforming the external-services category, Fill is not another system that needs to be administered. It is an active participant in every request, helping users move faster, surfacing issues early and giving procurement control without the operational workload.
