Heightened competition in a global marketplace that is increasingly interconnected means that the decisions, operations, and performance made across an enterprise’s supply chain can have a more direct and lasting impact on the bottom line of the business than ever before. To succeed and advance in this environment, CPOs and other procurement and supply chain leaders must be able to adapt, at ever-increasing speeds, to the changing market conditions and threats that can impact their supply chains and general operations. Ardent Partners’ examination of the procurement and supply chain professions over the last two decades makes it exceedingly clear that technology will be a critical enabler in the development of more agile and responsive organizations.

In the “Age of Intelligence,” procurement teams now, more than ever, must continue to extend and enhance their capabilities in order to maintain their momentum and accelerate to the next level of performance. Cognitive technologies offer the potential to become such a force and catalyst for the procurement industry. Cognitive computing systems combine a series of capabilities including Big Data analytics, natural language processing, and machine learning to analyze and process large volumes of data and provide users with the intelligence and guidance needed to make smarter, faster decisions.

Today, not all procurement and supply chain organizations are poised to “flip switches” on cognitive procurement and become truly revolutionary operations. Progress, after all takes time. Nonetheless, organizations should stay focused on the Big Data opportunities. Here are three recommendations to get started.

• Develop a Big Data strategy including technology, resources, and organizational capabilities. Procurement and supply chain operations should work to master process automation and Big Data management before moving onto “smarter” technologies, like cognitive technologies.
• Maintain and build organizational expertise Cognitive procurement technologies should be viewed as a way to extend and enhance an organization’s capabilities. But, the systems need guidance, validation, and a feedback loop to continue to learn, improve, and ultimately better serve their human masters.
• Track innovations and stay abreast of the cognitive procurement technology marketplace. Solution providers are still defining what “cognitive procurement” is and how it will be brought to market. This new/emerging market will change faster than other industries and must be actively followed.

The industry is just scratching the surface on what cognitive technologies can do for procurement and supply chain practitioners in the “age of intelligence.” But, it is clear that ability to make better-informed decisions across an organization can be game-changing and is solutions that enable this should be investigated.

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