2016 – The Year of Procurement Transformation

Transformation – the word on procurement’s lips. But when will real strategic change be realised for the profession?

If you were to pick one word to describe 2016, you could probably settle on volatile. There has been major change afoot in global markets and politics, which has lead to unprecedented volatility and upheaval.

In the past few weeks, we have been talking to some of our Procurement partners about the topic of change and transformation within their organisations, and more broadly in the market for our ‘Autumn Market Insights‘.

It prompted us to think about what has actually changed? Clearly the spectrum of change is quite varied. However, a common theme coming out of these discussions was ultimately that Procurement was, is, and always will be, about getting cost out of the bottom line of the business.

Transformation on the Procurement Agenda

How aggressively this is approached will obviously vary from business to business depending on its agenda. But surely this is why Procurement is critical to any business?

What this has allowed over time is for Procurement to have a seat at the “top table”, rather than being part of a broader function that reports into Finance.

Increasingly we are seeing businesses turning to a more category aligned approach to Procurement, bringing in experts in their field to drive category strategies forward and having the gravitas to collaborate with stakeholder groups.

However, as of one of the CPO’s we spoke to pointed out there can be risks to this approach. There can be a risk that a Procurement team member becomes so immersed within their stakeholder group that they “go native”, and move away from the Procurement agenda.

And the Buzz Word Is…?

If the buzz word for Procurement in 2015 was “strategic”, we would say 2016 is all about Procurement transformation. We are working with four large and well respected organisations at the moment in the South, supporting their transformations.

But what does Transformation truly mean? Does this simply mean a change in process or ways of working or is it something much larger? We have to consider transformation as fundamental change across the business – the processes behind procurement, the remit it covers, and the tools used. This is true transformation.

Clearly 2016 is very much about driving this Procurement transformation agenda. These are exciting times for the profession. And, as we approach the end of 2016, it can only add to Procurement being at the forefront of an organisation’s DNA.

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