Professionalization gets personal
About the case
Payment service provider Adyen combines the culture and pace of a tech start-up with the obligations of a financial institution – and its rapid global growth called for an end-to-end procurement transformation.
Adyen turned to KPMG’s Procurement & Supply Chain team for support. Bringing together KPMG colleagues across the Netherlands and beyond, this multifunctional group included experts in business, technology, and change management. Their task? To support Adyen with the implementation of its first-ever centralized procurement tool, enabling a better and more uniform experience both for Adyen’s internal users and for its suppliers.
Amid lively debate and fast-moving workflows, the KPMG team quickly demonstrated our expertise as a proactive partner in co-creation. By the time the project was completed in 2025, both sides could look back on a job well done. The transformation was not only completed in impressive time but, more importantly, marked a major step forward in Adyen’s professionalization journey. KPMG’s Samuel Maia de Moura, Senior Manager Procurement & Supply Chain, reflects on a unique engagement: one where his social strengths were just as important as his procurement prowess.
“We deliver structure and expertise, but to be a trusted advisor, we also need to be open, communicate clearly, and act as a strong sparring partner.”
In conversation with Samuel
You stepped up to manage this project from start to finish. How did you approach it?
Adyen came to us for help in using technology to gain more insight into and control over risks in its supply chain. Our Powered Procurement solution, KPMG’s structured methodology for approaching transformations, was an ideal choice in this case: we knew it would enable Adyen to modify and validate existing ways of working, avoiding more complex process overhauls. The project lasted approximately one year, starting with a strategic and vision phase followed by the more operational phase, during which we implemented the chosen technology platform. However, with so many different people from KPMG and Adyen involved at various times, my role was actually just as much about managing people as it was about managing the project!
Speaking of people, Adyen’s culture remains very close to its start-up roots. How did the client’s ways of working impact your collaboration?
Adyen is a relatively young, tech-driven company with an entrepreneurial culture to match. Their approach is very agile: rather than spending a long time on every decision, they prefer to assess the risks, experiment, reiterate, and optimize quickly. My colleagues and I soon realized that debate wasn’t something to be afraid of, and we found common ground through our people-centric approach. Powered Procurement is all about co-creation, and that really was a strong point of our collaboration with Adyen, especially during the strategy and design stage. We encouraged Adyen to explore the capabilities it really needed from a new, fully integrated procurement system.
And on your side, how did you and the rest of the team earn the client’s trust?
With honesty. Yes, as KPMG, we deliver structure and expertise, but to be a trusted adviser, we also need to be open, communicate clearly, and act as a strong sparring partner. Our ability to do that was a big factor in our success with Adyen. And in a partnership like that, a big part of my role was to make sure the social side of the relationship was strong, too. I’m happy to say we were always welcome at their office, to work or have lunch, and I still stop by sometimes to say hello!
Which of your own qualities and strengths did you rely on as project manager?
I consider myself the glue of the team. I’m a people person, I love connecting with different people, and I also provide structure to those connections through regular meetings, whether we’re reflecting on work or catching up on personal highs and lows. It was great to lead the project end to end: bringing different viewpoints and characters together and empowering them to add their unique contribution.
Is that something you look for in your work?
Absolutely, and it’s something I really enjoy about KPMG. There’s huge diversity among the people you meet here, not only in terms of background but also when it comes to different working styles. People have space to be themselves, and that makes it a very friendly and relaxed place to work, contrary to the impression others might have of us. In fact, during my first week here, someone was confused as to why I was wearing a tie!