Ardent recently completed its sixteenth annual CPO-themed market research study, “The State of Procurement & the CPO”, which is part of an ongoing dialogue that my team and I have had with Chief Procurement Officers (CPOs) and other procurement leaders for more than a decade. Over the next few weeks, we’ll be discussing the results from this year’s study in a series of articles on this site. If you’d like access to this report, make sure to register for our newsletter with a business email address. 

The CPO’s Priorities in 2021

The past year has underlined the point that the procurement function is universal. Most Chief Procurement Officers around the globe manage similar processes, share similar goals and challenges, and leverage similar tools and strategies to drive value. If procurement’s future points towards intelligence, agility, and innovation, many CPOs have prioritized the tools, strategies, and talent needed to get them there.

Technology is a common thread in 2021, with more CPOs (34%) prioritizing automation than any other area. The digital transformation of a procurement department is an opportunity to use technology as a means to reimagine the organization’s entire scope of operations and how it performs. Unlike the process automation initiatives that preceded it, a digital transformation does not view technology as a process enabler, but rather, as THE default process going forward. As with any technology deployment, a successful digital transformation requires many things, including sponsorship, effort, collaboration, vision, expertise, and robust, usable solutions.

Superior program design is critically important to the overall speed and impact of any transformation initiative. Not surprisingly, the second most common priority among CPOs this year is linked directly to design – streamlining and improving processes (27%).

Above all, this is a clear indication that CPOs are not standing pat with the major strides taken by the procurement industry since the first edition of this report was authored more than 15 years ago. Procurement departments continue to impact business operations and business results, but their leaders see other opportunities. These industry leaders aspire for greatness in the form of agility (27%), intelligence (with Big Data – 24%), and expanded influence (26%).

Savings is likely to rise in importance over the next year for many groups. But more and more procurement teams are becoming highly-effective at multi-tasking, showing that it is possible to execute against the immediate needs of the business (i.e. cash, savings, etc.), while building for the long-term. The profession’s largest opportunities to make an impact on business operations and results lay before it.

If you are interested in learning more about the key procurement and CPO data collected in our annual research study, consider joining our upcoming webinar “The Procurement Metrics that Matter in 2021”. Click below to learn more and to register.

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