THE BUSINESS REVIEW FOR PROCUREMENT LEADERS
In the space of just a few years, technology has transformed the procurement landscape. But despite everything that powerful new software tools have delivered, CPOs aren’t short of suggestions as to where further help would be welcome. Their “wish list” isn’t without a certain irony, because there’s ample evidence that they and their teams aren’t making full use of the functionality they already have.
Nevertheless, one desire is to improve the usability of procurement applications, which can help user adoption and boost compliance. Another is to get much better access to data with which to make more informed sourcing decisions. Still another is to build greater connectivity with suppliers, particularly smaller, less IT-capable firms and those in low-cost countries.
Looking further ahead, some CPOs imagine a world of “touchless procurement” where
not only are purchase transactions made without the function’s involvement
and spend data captured seamlessly, but also “intelligent software agents” automatically
source, negotiate and contract on behalf of their companies in non-critical
categories. So far, however, such technology does not exist, and the question
of whether this is the kind of software vendors will develop remains an open
one.
