March 3rd, 2026 – DigitalPA has been included in the 2026 edition of the Financial Times FT1000: Europe’s Fastest-Growing Companies, which identifies the 1,000 European companies with the highest revenue growth rate over the three-year period from 2021 to 2024. The ranking is compiled in collaboration with Statista.

The FT1000 ranking is one of the most authoritative benchmarks in Europe for measuring a company’s ability to grow rapidly, based on compound annual growth rate (CAGR) and absolute revenue growth.

Data from the 2026 edition confirms DigitalPA’s position at the top of the European tech sector.

• Among the leading IT and software companies in Italy: DigitalPA ranks among the top Italian software houses in terms of growth rate, consolidating the role of Made in Italy technology.
• At the top of the European software sector: the company’s absolute positioning places it at the top of the IT & Software company ranking at a European level. This is in a historically crowded and competitive sector.

This is not the first time. DigitalPA was also present in the 2022 edition of the FT1000. Four years later, the numbers speak for themselves — and even louder.

The recognition in the Financial Times ranking is part of a well-established path: just a few months ago, in November 2025, DigitalPA was named Growth Leader 2026 by Sole 24 Ore and Statista, ranking first in Sardinia in the IT & Software sector. The FT1000 brings this recognition to the European stage.

 “Returning to the FT1000 after four years is not guaranteed” comments CEO Oscar Pitzanti. “It means that the choices we made—investing in software products, building internal expertise, staying close to the real needs of public administrations and businesses—have stood the test of time. And that we are heading in the right direction.”

The full FT1000 2026 ranking report will be available on the Financial Times website from March 26, 2026.

→ See the full ranking on the Financial Times website

A company’s products and services are closely related to the quality of its suppliers. The ISO 9001:2015 standard, “Quality Management Systems”, acknowledges this concept in Section 8.4.1, which is dedicated to managing external suppliers.

But what does this mean in practical terms? How can a process be structured to effectively select, qualify, and monitor suppliers in accordance with ISO requirements without wasting time on manual activities? Let’s take a look.

According to the ISO 9001:2015 standard (clause 8.4.1), organizations must perform four key activities:

1) evaluate and select suppliers before starting collaboration

2) implement a structured qualification process

3) monitor performance regularly

4) document each stage of the process

It sounds simple on paper, but many companies struggle to implement these requirements.

Imagine having to check the expiration dates of 50 suppliers’ certifications or urgently retrieve a supplier’s documentation during an audit. Would you immediately know where to find the information?

Simplify supplier management with Online Procurement’s Supplier Management solution -> .

While it does not immediately show up in company financial statements, scattered supplier management erodes margins and performance in the long term.

In concrete terms, this translates to:

• Increased administrative workload, with employees engaged in repetitive, low-value activities
• Decisions based on incomplete or outdated data increase the risk of errors.
• Hours spent manually monitoring activities that could be automated
• Difficulty detecting problems and supplier noncompliance in advance
• Complications during certification audits due to disorganized or missing documentation

To ensure compliance with the international ISO 9001 standard and optimize processes, a structured system must be adopted. We suggest the following four steps to get you started:

Do you recognize yourself in the following situations: supplier documents stored in emails and Excel spreadsheets, forgotten deadlines, and decisions based more on intuition than real data?

Our Online Procurement platform helps you manage your company’s purchases more efficiently. It’s more than software; it’s an ally that simplifies your existing processes without disrupting them.

• Automated qualification: Maintain your selection criteria, and let the system collect information and remind you of deadlines.
• Centralized Repository: Find any document in seconds, even those from years ago.
• Intuitive vendor rating: Evaluate suppliers using your own set of parameters with the help of automation.

Don’t just take our word for it.

Many procurement professionals like you have already integrated Online Procurement into their existing processes and seen immediate results.

and we’ll show you how to tailor the system to your needs.

An RFQ (Request for Quotation) is a formal document used by companies to invite one or more qualified suppliers to submit a price quotation for the supply of goods or services, based on clearly defined technical, contractual, and delivery requirements.

In procurement processes, the RFQ is a core sourcing tool. It allows buyers to collect comparable quotations and evaluate them mainly on price, terms, and compliance, making it easier to identify the most economically advantageous supplier.

Looking to digitize your company’s purchasing and sourcing processes?

Discover Online Procurement, the platform that helps you simplify and optimize the management of suppliers, orders, and contracts in a single, centralized workspace.

We’ve supported hundreds of companies on their digital transformation journey, helping them make procurement processes faster, more secure, and more efficient.

Now it’s your turn! Find out how we can help.

An RFQ typically involves several stakeholders:

Digitizing RFQs through the Online Procurement platform delivers concrete, strategic advantages for your purchasing team:

Want to see how these advantages can transform your procurement processes?

Request a free, no-obligation demo today.

The 12.0 release of the Online Procurement platform marks a turning point for procurement professionals everywhere. With its enhanced functionality, greater supplier control, and access to an unparalleled qualified network for vendor scouting, purchasing efficiently, securely, and in a data-driven manner is now easier than ever.

Thanks to its modular and scalable structure, Online Procurement 12.0 adapts perfectly to companies of all sizes, from large organizations with complex processes to SMEs looking for an easy-to-use tool to digitize their purchasing management.

With Vendor Network 360, you have access to an exclusive network of over 140,000 pre-qualified suppliers, all just a click away. These suppliers are selected according to strict criteria and are constantly updated. You can access them directly from your e-procurement platform.

It’s a unique resource built to meet the real needs of those who deal with purchasing on a daily basis: speed, reliability, and return on investment.

This powerful search engine, developed in collaboration with hundreds of companies, allows you to:

It’s not just about expanding your network; it’s about making faster, more informed decisions.

Simplify supplier management with the Online Procurement Supplier Management solution.

Online Procurement 12.0 features an intelligent assistant, available 24/7, which simplifies every stage of your work.

Thanks to the most advanced AI technology, the platform offers you continuous, contextual, and personalized support, right where you need it:

A system designed to reduce margins of error, speed up daily operations, and make every user autonomous right away—even without prior experience with e-procurement software.

Discover how integrated AI can make your purchasing department more responsive, informed, and independent.

Talk to an expert and try Online Procurement with intelligence that truly assists you.

Discover how to really simplify and enhance supplier management

With Online Procurement 12.0, you have more control and visibility, and fewer manual tasks.

From supplier qualification to performance management and documentation to audits, everything is on a single platform designed for companies that want to improve purchasing and simplify process governance.

Book a free demonstration with a DigitalPA consultant to learn how to take your supplier management to the next level.

… And we will show you how to adapt the system to your needs.

• Cybersecurity and data protection (82%)
• Human capital, diversity, and talent management (50%)
• Macroeconomic and geopolitical uncertainty (46%)
• Changing laws and regulations (44%)
• Digital disruption, new technologies, and artificial intelligence (38%)
• Climate change and environmental sustainability (37%)
• Business continuity, crisis management, and disaster response (36%)
• Supply chain, outsourcing and sub-supplier risk (34%)
• Financial, liquidity, and insolvency risks (28%)
• Corporate governance and reporting (25%)

Source: Risk in Focus 2023

Optimal management of procurement risk begins with supplier management. CPOs and Purchasing Directors should work on both awareness, i.e., knowing the risk factors, their priority, and their estimated impact on business assets, involving the C-Suite, and readiness, i.e., playing in advance with an action plan that responds to different risks using classic risk management methodologies (eliminate, reduce, transfer and retain, depending on the type and urgency for the business).

The only way to do this is to start with data: a data-driven approach is the foundation of any risk management technique you choose.

Choose Online Procurement, the effective risk management tool for your procurement department

Assigning a sustainability rating to a supplier can take place in two stages:

• At the screening stage, requesting information and documentation as part of the qualification process
• At the contract execution stage, as a reward requirement, through the calculation of dedicated KPIs.

In each of these two stages, it is the supplier himself who enters the required data through questionnaires and checklists, which, once completed, feed into the defined KPIs.

An advanced scoring system also allows requirements to be weighted differently, calculation methods to be fine-tuned, and requirements and required certifications to be diversified by commodity category.

Simplify Vendor Rating with Online Procurement >>

Generating value is the primary goal of every company. To achieve this goal, what matters is not only the profit that comes from the success of one’s offerings in the market but also the optimal management of business processes, such as purchasing and expense tracking.

Precisely to help companies improve the management of purchasing and invoice and payment authorization processes, we have implemented the functionality of Online Procurement software, which in version 10.0 allows for greater control over expenses and, in general, over corporate accounting.

Invoice Management allows you to digitize the invoice authorization process, providing control and visibility over the entire order-invoice-payment cycle.

From a single dashboard, it is possible to monitor the passive invoicing cycle in real time and have an overview of the status of invoices, payments, and associated contracts, with immediate visibility of any discrepancies or anomalies.

Information is shared with all departments involved in the purchasing process, from contract manager to accounting, improving internal collaboration and communication. By centralizing data in a single shared environment, external tools, such as emails or spreadsheets, will no longer be needed, which lengthens management time and cause countless inefficiencies.

Equipping Procure to Pay management software such as Online Procurement means having access to a digital system for managing and controlling the entire purchasing cycle.

Here are the main benefits:

1. Simplification of administrative processes, given by the elimination of paper documentation and manual activities with low strategic value
2. Cost saving and containment of maverick expenses due to increased control of expenses and each stage of the passive cycle
3. Increased collaboration between departments, thanks to an efficient information-sharing system
4. Automatic organization of all documents related to your purchases within a digital repository
5. SaaS-based: the procurement and supplier invoice management software is a SaaS solution (Software as a Service) and therefore requires no installation
6. Always available and accessible from any device via a browser.
7. Certified security all data is protected by the highest ISO 27001 and ISO 9001 certified security protocols.

Learn more about the complete enterprise procurement solution.

The more companies grow, the more the number of contracts to manage multiplies: it is easy to end up with hundreds of different suppliers and thousands of contracts each year, whose documentation, clauses, renewals, and established service levels need to be tracked.

Therefore, effective management of the entire contract lifecycle requires a high level of collaboration between departments: on the one hand, the purchasing department, which deals directly with suppliers, and on the other hand, the administrative department and compliance officers, who are in charge of ensuring supply compliance.

To remain competitive and efficient in a market that is increasingly variable and shaken by unpredictable events, it is necessary to digitize the entire Contract Lifecycle Management (CLM) process as the company acquires new suppliers and increases its turnover.

Therefore, it becomes strategic to invest in software like Online Procurement that integrates contract and supplier management into one platform to ensure that signed purchasing conditions are always fulfilled.

According to a survey conducted this year by Conflavoro PMI (Italian SMEs Association), more than 80 percent of Italian companies have already implemented measures to combat inflation, especially regarding rising energy and raw material prices: in addition to increasing costs for the end consumer by between 15 percent and 60 percent, with noticeable effects on purchasing power, 65 percent of companies have already taken steps to reduce their costs, while 20 percent have had to resort to staff cuts.

When inflation comes to threaten a company’s financial health, and access to credit lines is reduced, it is crucial to have a clear and comprehensive view of spending to better plan for available cash and make informed decisions based on objective data.

No two companies are the same, but all of them can proactively address rising costs by optimizing the management of their liability cycle, where digitization and automation play a major role. So, let’s take a look at how best to manage supplier-related accounting, and what the benefits are for companies.

With Invoice Management, the Online Procurement suite enables the management of purchasing processes from scheduling to the final stage, i.e., invoice receipt, reconciliation with the order, and payment management. With intelligent, digital workflows and automation, all passive accounting becomes touchless, resulting in immediate cost and error reductions.

With Online Procurement, the entire invoice lifecycle is transparent, broken down into stages that are always visible and tracked by the system, during which all figures involved will have immediate access to up-to-date documentation and data.

To support the steps just described, the software integrates a central dashboard with an overview of invoices and credit notes, showing at a glance their status, amount, due date, and associated supplier, which is essential for monitoring and reporting.

Additionally, Online Procurement integrates with popular ERP and billing management software to channel information already present in the company to the procurement function

The integration of supplier passive invoice management and spend management, with simple and intuitive tools for data analysis and monitoring, makes Online Procurement the ideal solution for having total control over corporate cash flow. Digitizing all procure-to-pay processes relieves the purchasing department of low-impact manual tasks and increases the strategic value of procurement within the relevant business.

By automating the payable cycle with Invoice Management, procurement managers can optimize important metrics, such as reducing average payment times and the number of disputes, the level of compliance and the level of risk related to suppliers and contracts, keeping tabs on corporate liquidity, and use data for short- and long-term predictive analytics

According to a Gartner survey of 275 global supply chain executives, improving supplier performance is one of the top priorities that procurement executives want to invest in to ensure supply continuity and create value.

For procurement professionals, dealing with suppliers is their bread and butter, but transforming that relationship into a true partnership that goes beyond simple negotiation requires commitment, transparency, and trust on both sides, as well as a solid core strategy.

In fact, supplier management is a set of coordinated and complex activities that includes sourcing new companies and professionals, the qualification process, the management of negotiations and orders, the segmentation and evaluation of their performance, the execution of contracts and payments, and risk mitigation.

Only a digital, centralized solution such as Online Procurement can truly help buyers simplify supplier tracking throughout the collaboration and maximize benefits.

1. Define business objectives: Aligning the short- and long-term objectives of the procurement department with those of the company and its key stakeholders is key to making procurement processes contribute to the business strategy and simplifying the analysis of the results achieved.
2. Establish qualification criteria: Identifying the requirements for each commodity category is not only functional for the qualification process but also helps streamline and homogenize the way they are handled.
3. Centralize information: A comprehensive view of each supplier’s data, documents, risk profile, rating, and order history supports decision-making and significantly reduces the time spent on manual audits.
4. Segment suppliers: The theory behind supplier relationship management recommends ranking suppliers according to their strategic importance to the business, performance, and risk factors, and creating specific goals and metrics for each segment.
5. Select KPIs: Working together on common and objective metrics allows both parties to monitor progress and difficulties with greater transparency.
6. Access up-to-date products and pricing: Direct access to products and price lists updated in real-time by the suppliers themselves speeds up purchasing processes, standardizes procedures, and reduces costs through economies of scale.
7. Keep track of communications and documents: How often do important negotiation details get lost in email exchanges? Centralizing communications and documents in a digital repository makes it easier to find information and keep everything up to date.
8. Monitor performance: A system for evaluating performance from an operational perspective – indicators such as delivery time, contract compliance, etc. – but also from a collaborative standpoint, based on qualitative parameters, makes it possible to identify the most reliable suppliers and optimize purchasing costs.
9. Risk prevention and mitigation: to ensure continuity of supply, it is essential to know which suppliers could cause bottlenecks or disruptions, and to proactively monitor the risk profile: financial, geographic, ESG.

We devote a separate section to supplier qualification and onboarding processes because they are the foundation for any procurement team to optimize costs, reduce supply-related risks, and improve internal efficiencies.

The Online Procurement suite provides flexible tools to better organize and interact with your supplier network, making request validation and documentation control activities faster and more accurate.

Digital Supplier List Management

Online Procurement provides extensive capabilities to customize the classification of suppliers into different lists and/or product categories, with ad hoc qualification requirements for each type of supplier. Once the requirements are set, the suppliers themselves complete the master list.

Qualification Request Management

On the platform, buyers can easily and intuitively qualify suppliers with a single-screen view of the data and documents entered by the supplier in the request form.

Single Digital Archive and Document Review

Documents, communications, and supplier-specific performance and risk KPIs are collected in convenient digital files, with an integrated system of automatic due date reminders to reduce the workload of the purchasing department.nze.

It is estimated that in manufacturing companies, purchasing accounts for about 50-60% of the turnover: identifying the best suppliers in the market and in the relevant category is, therefore, a key lever for a cost reduction strategy and, in particular, for reducing the total cost of ownership (TCO), one of the most important procurement metrics.

Among the useful methodologies for reducing costs, not in the sense of simply “cutting” but of optimizing from a development perspective, we highlight 3.