It is an interesting time to be working in procurement; perhaps, more interesting than in any other era. This is true across all industries and regions of the world. Business and product cycles continue to collapse placing greater pressure on all companies to make better decisions faster. For many, the speed of change within business is magnified by the volatility found in their supply markets. Globalization and innovation have allowed companies to develop new products, enter new markets, and increase sales, but they have also made things increasingly complex for procurement leaders around the globe. In 2014, leading Chief Procurement Officers are not sitting on the sidelines. They are in the middle of the action and they are, to be certain, making an impact.

While the CPO role continues to evolve, for many enterprises, the role of the CPO remains one that is focused on change management – changing the way that the business buys things. For an enterprise buy things more effectively at the right cost with better quality and service, the CPO  has to change the way the business buys things. To be successful in enacting this change, a CPO must understand the culture of the larger enterprise, put the right talent in place to affect change and have enough charisma to sell a vision. This is harder than it sounds, to start,  “The industry is low on talent. we are not minting many college graduates with procurement degrees. Each year, we are starting at zero. Many of the people in procurement today were put there because they couldn’t do anything else.” says the CPO of a Fortune 200 company interviewed for this report. Finding and retaining the right talent will remain a top CPO challenge throughout 2014. At the same time, finding a CPO with the ability to energize an organization and make it thrive while driving change across the larger entity is a challenge for most businesses. The rest of this report discusses what those businesses should be seeking in the market today.

Regular readers of CPO Rising will certainly be interested in this report which looks at the key qualifications, experience, and characteristics needed to ascend to the role of Chief Procurement Officer in 2014.

Click here to download the report, Becoming a CPO in 2014: The Qualifications, Experience, and Characteristics of a Chief Procurement Officer (registration required). And, make sure you tell ’em CPO Rising sent ya!

I’ll be back soon to highlight some of the CPO interviews conducted for this report.