Top IT procurement trends

As consumers demand more from the businesses they interact with, companies are trying to keep up with their customer needs and stay ahead of their competition. In order to do this companies are looking to make their procurement processes more agile by embracing technological advances.

In 2017, we saw a host of new trends revolutionising IT procurement across industry. Here are some of the most notable.

Transparency

Increased transparency due to social media and the prevalence of social data required companies to become more accountable for their practices and actions.

Social media gives organisations a greater channel of communication with established and potential customers. The companies can modify their processes and make procurement decisions based on what will ensure customer retention, sales, and overall success.

Sustainability

Sustainability became a bigger part of companies’ procurement solutions and strategies.

Procurement management and functions extended to create sustainable and environmentally-friendly supply chains, partnerships, and agreements that are also economically viable. As more millennials and young professionals become involved with procurement, the impact on both environmental and economic sustainability is expected to increase due to their openness to innovation and their different views on economics.

Ethics

Ethics is being prioritised in response to widespread consumer concerns and demand for ethically sourced products. Companies are now expected to use ethical ingredients, materials, and methods of sourcing and delivery.

Innovation

Innovation increased across the board, becoming the newest way that companies gain a competitive edge against one another.

Companies are becoming more open to taking some risks and seizing unconventional business opportunities to differentiate themselves and break out of repetitive industry traditions.

Risk Assessment

Risk assessment has undergone changes to accommodate innovation and the evolving technological world.

Companies have implemented risk management practices and strategies that encompass total risk exposure as well as other factors like threat management, risk transfer pricing, and relationship risk assessment

Collaboration

Collaboration and cooperation between companies and their suppliers to improve or create procurement services and other services is on the rise, shifting the focus to value, quality, and teamwork.

Collaboration is a good way for companies to get the best value for their money, improve relationships with suppliers, and decrease costs over the long term.

The people involved in procurement will have a significant impact on the transformation of the industry soon. More millennials are entering the workforce and are helping change the way that businesses and procurement strategies operate.

Additionally, more companies are hiring staff based on their soft skills rather than degrees and past titles, and are also hiring from unconventional (for procurement purposes) backgrounds such as education.

The future is bright

Procurement is changing rapidly to keep pace with the evolving world around it, and the future looks bright. These expected changes to procurement will increase job opportunities, efficiency and productivity, customer loyalty and trust, and businesses’ overall profits and success.