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Sanitas
Procurement as a Strategic Anchor in a Regulated World Must act Between the Lines of Defense
Michael Spiess
Michael Spiess is Head of Procurement at Sanitas Health Insurance, based in Zürich. He leads digital procurement transformation with a focus on compliance, efficiency, and system integration. With over six years in this role, he brings broad leadership experience from retail, consulting, and health insurance sectors.
Balancing Compliance with Efficiency
As Head of Procurement in a highly regulated industry like health insurance, my role centers on balancing compliance with efficiency. Regulatory requirements from government authorities continue to tighten, and quality standards are rising. Meeting these demands is one of our most critical responsibilities.
To address this, we've introduced a range of structured measures, chief among them the implementation of the “Three Lines of Defense Model” within procurement. This framework strengthens oversight, clarifies accountability, and ensures procedural compliance across all activities.
At the same time, we remain focused on the core goals of any effective procurement organization: reducing spend, avoiding unnecessary costs, and managing expenditures with transparency and discipline.
For us, procurement performance goes beyond just P&L impact. It’s about creating value, supporting compliance, and acting as a strategic partner to the business.
Embedding Digital Tools in Governance and Value Creation
We’ve structured our procurement processes around the “Three Lines of Defense” model to reinforce both strategic oversight and operational discipline. Digital tools play a central role in embedding this framework, ensuring that each line of responsibility is clearly defined, enforced, and fully traceable.
In our model:
The first line owns and manages risks in daily operations—day-to-day procurement handled through digital tools that support consistent, compliant execution.
The second line is risk and compliance. This layer provides guidance and oversight through clearly defined approval processes integrated into our systems and support to the first line.
The third line is internal audit, which independently reviews governance structures, risk controls, and alignment with internal procurement directives.
We’ve designed our workflows so that these lines cannot be bypassed—alternative routes are intentionally restricted. This ensures full application of third-party risk management and procedural integrity. By embedding governance directly into digital processes, we’re able to align procurement with both strategic goals and regulatory obligations—delivering greater value and transparency across the business.
Strengthening Cross-Functional Collaboration
Procurement can no longer operate in isolation. Teams need to think and act across the entire organization, connecting the dots between departments rather than working in silos. Cross-functional collaboration is key, and top management must take on a gatekeeping role to ensure alignment. Practices like zero-based budgeting should be used more frequently, especially because procurement leaders often don’t have the authority to challenge internal demand, specifications, or quality on their own. Strategic procurement requires shared accountability and organization-wide commitment.
Emerging Tools Raising the Bar for Procurement
The increasing use of intelligent applications powered by algorithms and AI is a major step forward. These tools go beyond just cost savings, they enable stronger governance, improved compliance, and more transparent decision-making. As these technologies mature, they’ll help standardize processes, reduce manual intervention, and allow procurement teams to focus more on strategy and risk. Over the next decade, I see these innovations setting new industry benchmarks for both efficiency and accountability.
Advice for Procurement Leaders on Digital Transformation
If your business is heavily regulated, as is the case in healthcare and insurance, procurement’s role extends far beyond cost savings. It becomes a core enabler of regulatory compliance and risk management. My advice: build your transformation around that responsibility. A strong digital foundation should not only drive efficiency but also help ensure your organization stays aligned with evolving regulatory expectations. That’s where procurement can deliver real, lasting value.
