The Top Procurement Trends of 2022 that you need to know
Understanding your Supply Chain through Data
As teams have become remote and the need to quickly get all of your Procurement documents in one place (ideally a secure cloud-based solution), the need to understand every part of your supply base has become more valuable than ever before
Being remote means we need to get better at collating accurate and trustworthy data throughout the entire Procurement lifecycle, including pre-contract and post-contract signatures. That’s vital.
However, it goes deeper than this.
With solutions such as Tealbook, which creates a supplier data foundation that isn’t dependent on a supplier going into a portal and updating information, we will see a shift in procurement teams opting for options such as this.
With better data comes more precise insights into your Supply Chain. You’re going to understand your spend categories better understand where risk is in your contracts and how well your suppliers are genuinely performing.
If you currently have no way to get accurate data, this needs to be prioritised.
Procurement practitioners and Procurement leaders now need to talk, with confidence, about every part of their supply chain to multiple different stakeholders. With remote working being the norm, with the disjointed nature of working, ensuring you have a single source of truth for your supplier information is the key to unlocking value in your supply chain.
Sustainability and Ethical Sourcing
It seems that businesses and not governments will lead the charge to promote a more sustainable way of doing business.
Procurement and Supply Chain teams will be vital in finding ways to onboard new suppliers who can work with them to achieve any aims that the Business has around sustainability, diversity, ethics and any other categories that fall under this umbrella.
How are they going to do this?
Two ways seem realistic.
The entire Business pushes through the need to do this in every department/area.
We have leaders who push this direction from the top down and give them the freedom to teams to get this done.
If I were you, I’d be getting clued up on how to create a more sustainable Supply Chain to increase your chances of success in any procurement or supply chain role.
We will still be talking about Digital Procurement
If you’re reading this, I truly hope this next section is not something you feel the need to implement. Why? Because you already should have done this.
I’ve personally spent 6 and a half years in Procurement and Supply Chain now. I’ve seen Procurement Pros talk about the need to implement Digital Procurement tools and solutions throughout my entire career. The sad truth is that Procurement Teams aren’t implementing Procurement Tech in the right ways to lead to a better way of working.
This is simply the most obvious thing anyone can say. Of course, you need digital tools to enable best in class procurement. To be honest, you probably need them to do a half-decent job.
If you’re a Procurement Leader who hasn’t pushed for procurement tech to be implemented for your team, you’re not doing a good enough job.
I know people might read this and say, “you need to get your manual processes in good order first…blah blah blah”.
It’s nonsense.
Procurement Tech can automate so many parts of your process that you hardly need to consider them. Build for digital and get started yesterday.
Procurement needs to wisen up to Data Protection
How often do you source some new software that holds data about people, whether that is customers or your employees?
For some, this might happen a lot and for others, you might be thinking…never (for now).
In short, every piece of software we buy will likely store some kind of personal data. You could get stung by the ICO in the UK or an EU member state that has to implement GDPR if you fall foul of protecting the personal data of individuals.
Key things to understand:
Is data leaving the UK/EU - if so, is it protected?
Can any governments access the data in those countries the data is stored in or accessed in?
Do our contracts cover who does what with the data (e.g who is the Controller and who is the Processor).
What types of data are stored, and is the data truly secure?
These should be just a few of your most essential considerations when looking at new solutions or providers.
Get Tech savvy or get out of the Profession
I’ve prioritised learning all the procurement, supply chain and contract management tech out there over the last few years. We’ve had some providers on the podcast to help you and I’ve implemented or recommended several solutions to previous clients.
If you do not know how to build out the tech (I’m talking no-code solutions here, really, unless you are into code (which would be even more amazing)), then you’re not going to last in this profession. In the following year, I’m telling you that more Procurement Pros will get promotions or find themselves in positions where they bring incredible change to their business by….
You guessed it…
Implementing Procurement Tech, Supply Chain Tech, Contract Lifecycle Management Solutions and Legal Tech.
If your Business is looking into this, I implore you to raise your hand and take it on.
Whilst you’re here, join the World of Procurement Community on Discord by clicking Join Now below.
Big Picture Risk
We need to shift from looking at risk solely as a sourcing exercise. However, a quick note, if you aren’t undertaking risk management when sourcing, WHAT THE F**K ARE YOU DOING?
That has to be the primary starting point.
Understand, capture and deal with risk throughout the sourcing stage. Procurement is the first line of defence in risk management for supply chain risk, and you need to be all over it.
Though, my “Big Picture Risk” concept is more extensive than this. There are many options in the tech space to track supply chain and supplier risk in real time. Solutions such as Contingent, MarketIQ from Gatekeeper and DueDil are fantastic, and they give you a constant feed of supply chain risk.
I genuinely believe that Procurement will be consumed as a profession in the next ten years. It will all be about Supply Chain, with most Procurement Pros focussing on Supplier Relationships, Supply Chain Management and Sourcing. Risk needs to go beyond the tier 1 suppliers to tier n, and having that broader appreciation that you are part of a complex supply chain and web of contracts is key to doing this justice.
Be as lean as possible on Process whilst still covering yourself
Rich Sains said - “some processes have become unwieldy over the last few years and many teams are tackling this. In streamlining their approach they help their organisations deliver new requirements more quickly and without unnecessary overhead.”
I like what Rich states here, and I agree.
Procurement Pros will have to look for opportunities to make their processes more efficient with fewer resources and time available to get the work done. This won’t be an easy task. But I believe that the future CPOs or Supply Chain Leaders will be the ones that embrace tech, data, risk and a supply chain view of procurement.
Can that be you?