Did you miss Ardent Partners’ recent webinar, Cast a Wider Net: Leveraging Innovation to Expand Procurement’s Influence and Impact, that shed light on how procurement can deliver greater value by focusing on user experience and operational agility?
Moderated by Ardent Partners’ Andrew Bartolini, the session featured industry experts, Magnus Bergfors, VP of Research at Ardent Partners, and Sudhir Bhojwani, CEO of ORO Labs, who explored strategies to enhance procurement’s impact amid increasing complexity.
In this three-part series, we provide some of the webcast highlights and this link to the full event.
Part Three explores how procurement can elevate its role from a transactional function to a strategic powerhouse, delivering lasting value across the organization.
Building the Future of Procurement: Connecting Strategy, Users, and Technology
In a dynamic and complex business environment, procurement’s success increasingly hinges on aligning strategy with seamless execution. The webcast discussion highlighted the transformative role of Intake Management and Procurement Process Orchestration (IM&PPO) in delivering value by focusing on user-centric design, adaptability, and integration.
Focus on the End User
A core theme of the discussion was the importance of placing the end user at the center of procurement processes. Personalized workflows, intuitive interfaces, and technologies like generative AI enable users to articulate needs in plain language — such as “I need a 3D printer for drug research”— without navigating complex forms or systems.
This approach:
- Reduces friction in sourcing and procurement.
- Enhances early engagement by fostering trust and simplicity.
- Improves data accuracy, reducing downstream inefficiencies.
As Bhojwani noted, procurement systems must eliminate the need for extensive user training, focusing instead on delivering fast, intelligent, and user-friendly solutions.
Agility and Adaptability
Procurement operates in an ever-changing landscape marked by new regulations, expanding markets, and technological innovation. Agility is essential to meet these challenges. Platforms with low-code or no-code capabilities allow organizations to:
- Rapidly adjust workflows for new business requirements or regulations.
- Implement changes without relying on IT for every modification.
- Scale and evolve with the organization’s needs.
As Patrick Foelck, Head of Strategy & Transformation and Head of Insights & Enablement Procurement for Roche, emphasized, orchestration layers must seamlessly integrate changes, enabling procurement to adapt efficiently while ensuring compliance and control.
Orchestration: The Glue That Holds It All Together
Procurement orchestration doesn’t just simplify processes — it connects strategy with execution. By integrating workflows and data across procurement systems, orchestration ensures processes are efficient and aligned with broader organizational goals. Key benefits include:
- Automating repetitive tasks to free up resources for strategic initiatives.
- Coordinating stakeholders and systems to eliminate bottlenecks.
- Enhancing visibility into procurement processes, from supplier onboarding to invoice approvals.
Foelck shared a powerful example from Roche, where orchestration enabled 90% automation in key buying channels, driving both efficiency and strategic alignment.
Data as a Foundation for Smart Decisions
Data orchestration is as critical as process orchestration. Clean, centralized data empowers organizations to:
- Ensure accurate and informed decision-making.
- Spot inefficiencies in real time.
- Provide actionable insights for continuous improvement.
Bhojwani stressed that orchestration must manage data seamlessly across platforms, creating a foundation for smarter, faster procurement decisions.
Technology as a Strategic Enabler
Finally, orchestration layers amplify the capabilities of existing procurement solutions. By integrating disparate tools, they unlock the full potential of the tech stack, enabling organizations to:
- Leverage analytics for deeper insights into spend patterns and opportunities.
- Streamline contract management and supplier processes.
- Align procurement processes with strategic goals.
As Foelck concluded, procurement technology must mirror and support strategic ambitions. Success depends on connecting high-level strategies to day-to-day execution, with technology serving as the bridge.
Intake management and orchestration offer a path forward for procurement to thrive in a complex, fast-changing world. By prioritizing user experience, enabling agility, and integrating data and processes, procurement can elevate its role from a transactional function to a strategic powerhouse, delivering lasting value across the organization.
