Fast-Track To Future-Ready Procurement

A new report from Accenture – Fast-Track to Future-Ready Performance – Procurement,  surveyed procurement leaders on their level of operational maturity.

Dramatic market events, such as the pandemic, are a catalyst for bold change in the procurement organization.

Although procurement touches every part of the business every day, it is often undervalued. Supplies are sourced. Purchases are made. Invoices are paid. It all happens without attracting much attention. But in recent years, the business started to see procurement more as a strategic partner with a unique ability to influence a wide range of value levers. The pandemic sped up this shift, raising the stakes for Chief Procurement Officers (CPOs) and influencing how procurement organizations will operate in the future.​

Flashback to the start of the pandemic. Manufacturers were shut down. Supply chains were disrupted. Business continuity hung in the balance. Procurement organizations supported the business as only they could working with key suppliers to reduce negative impacts and find alternative supply sources when necessary. They also evaluated contracts to anticipate operational and reputational risks and assessed their effects on the business.​

Actions like these demonstrated how procurement can create a competitive advantage for the business. CPOs can—and should—build on this momentum.​

Accenture’s global research indicates that operating model maturity is advancing among global organizations. Our research and experience reveal four levels of operations maturity: stable, efficient, predictive and future-ready. Each level is grounded in and enabled by increasingly more sophisticated technology, talent, processes and data insights.

On average, we found future-ready organizations to be:

• 1.7x more efficient
• 2.8x more profitable

Procurement leaders say that their organization’s operations maturity has improved and they are optimistic about more progress in the next three years.

Just 4% of procurement leaders say that their organizations were predictive three years ago. None had future-ready operations. Today, 61% view their operations as predictive, and 2% call them future-ready. By 2023, 65% expect to have predictive operations, and 26% expect to be future-ready.

Download the report in full here.