For years, chief procurement officers focused on reducing costs for purchased materials and services and ensuring the timely delivery of goods and services. Today, they face an increasingly complex landscape dominated by legal issues, sustainability concerns, and regulatory and ethical considerations that could impact not only their company’s bottom line, but also its brand and public image. Over the next decade, procurement officers will need to take on more expansive roles within their organization. They will need to become guardians of the corporate brand, advocates for sustainable business practices and innovators who help develop new products and services. Companies that embrace this broader perspective for their procurement teams will find themselves in a better position to tackle the 10 change dimensions—from managing and anticipating risk to embracing the need for greater transparency across the supply chain—that will transform procurement by 2025.
This is a future in which the procurement function is digitally woven not just into the operation, but the strategy, of the business. A centralized organization model can, for example, facilitate innovation and competitiveness, rather than merely act in a fulfillment capacity. This same model can incorporate the increased use of shared services and business process outsourcing (BPO) for service delivery, maintaining a sustainable set of processes and metrics for
managing the external team. A Center of Excellence can carry out strategic activity, and digitization can make the most of the efficiency and value of sourcing and procurement tools and enablers.
A new role for procurement will also see supplier relationships improve. When data is better managed, suppliers can be better profiled – but also, innovation can be more easily initiated, and better monitored. Better supplier management also makes it likely that procurement can play a greater role in meeting the organization’s corporate social responsibility (CSR) commitments. Also, right now, the skills of the procurement team are frequently misaligned to the changing needs of the business, especially in the areas of digitization and analytics – but the growing awareness of procurement’s potential is increasing the pressure to implement bespoke training and digital skills programs. This is another way in which the procurement role is evolving.
This shift in finding tomorrow’s procurement leaders will mirror the overall transformation for all procurement teams, in which they move beyond the role of buyers that exclusively specialize in finding, acquiring and ensuring the timely delivery of goods and services. Companies that begin adapting to the new procurement landscape today will be poised to seize a competitive edge in the decade ahead.
We present to you, “Top 10 Procurement Solution Companies - 2021"
