Tomorrow, we start our annual Best of the Year, which is always great time to reflect and look at where we have been this past year. Today, however, we look forward to 2021.

The strategies, tools, and approaches that have come to define procurement best practices over the last decade remain as relevant and important as when they were first established. But the truth is that today, a majority number of procurement organizations have not fully adopted them. Nonetheless, the context of what procurement can do for the enterprise has changed and in 2021, the scope and urgency of what the business needs from procurement will continue to increase. As CPOs continue planning for 2021, here are a few considerations:

• Procurement will be more important in 2021. Globalization and the ongoing advances in technology and communication have created extraordinary opportunities beyond the four walls of the enterprise and the procurement department is best positioned to access them. During and in the immediate aftermath of the pandemic and a recession which has the potential to get much worse, executives will need even more from procurement, particularly in the areas of savings and impacting cash.
• Stay fluid and agile. What the business needs to hit their 2021 plan may shift dramatically in the first 6 months of the year. Be ready to shift priorities and reallocate resources to new, more urgent needs.
• Reversion from “Work from Home” will be slow. Watch for productivity to slip. Once the risks from COVID-19 start to dissipate and communities and businesses generally start opening up, many companies will be slow to bring their entire workforces back to the office. Procurement managers must prepare for the likely situation where staff will still be working from home, but no longer restricted to staying in their homes. Inevitably, an increase in potential distractions creates a risk that some workers will become less productive. CPOS should develop strategies to track performance and productivity.
• When recruiting, understand that the current procurement job market is really hot. On the hiring side this means that if you have a strong candidate for a new opening, work fast to sign them up ASAP. The current job market is highly competitive and strong candidates are already yielding multiple offers. Have you changed your recruiting process to match the current environment?  Have you changed your permanent hire recruiting methods to navigate the quarantine? If the answer is no to either, you should be listening to our Contingent Workforce Weekly Podcast that hits on these issues and reading up on the latest future of work and direct sourcing (workforce, not RFPs) trends.
• As the leader of a team, understand that the current procurement job market is really hot. As job market stays hot in the first half of 2021, more recruiters will be calling in to pull your staff away. The concern that your enterprise is the “only game in town” is no longer a constraint for procurement organizations who have been hiring new employees without ever meeting in person. What new and deliberate plans are you introducing in 20210 to retain your staff?
• Technology gaps are no longer acceptable. 2020 exposed many procurement (and accounts payable) organizations who were unable to maintain business as usual due to sizable gaps in their technology systems. The procurement teams that were mostly automated remained fully operational. Others acted quickly to become operational, taking advantage of new “smaller and more economical” software packages offered by many of the major players in this space. If you are evaluating sourcing/procurement and/or P2P/AP/B2B payments solutions, and anything related to the contingent workforce including MSPs, VMS, and Digital Staffing, let us know – we have a report and resources for you.
• Keep an eye on the horizon and keep building for the future. It is very easy to allow the urgent nature of the pandemic and its impact consume the entire organization, so it is important that procurement leadership teams continue to press forward on longer range plans which could and for many teams should include a major initiative to reevaluate and change their current global supply chains.
• Work hard, but have fun. Even while remote, your teams feed off of your personal energy. Work to be more visible and available in 2021.

If I were to add one thing, that would be to stay engaged and connected to your personal network and the larger procurement community. Ardent Partners is going to introduce a few new programs designed to help procurement executives stay more engaged and be better connected, so watch this space.

Please enjoy our curated Best of 2020 series that starts tomorrow

To all of our loyal readers, have a safe and happy holiday season and

We’ll see you in the New Year!

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