Did you miss the recent webinar “Procurement Metrics that Matter in 2025,” featuring Andrew Bartolini, founder and chief research officer for Ardent Partners, and Paul Blake, Senior Director, Engagement at GEP?
The webinar unpacked highlights from the eBook The Procurement Metrics that Matter in 2025, featuring the biggest trends and issues facing CPOs today.
This three-part article series brings forth the key points from the webcast, with a link to the event.
The state of procurement in 2025 is strong, but the path ahead is anything but smooth. Procurement continues to stand on solid ground, yet economic uncertainty and supply chain volatility persist. Since the pandemic, organizations have faced ongoing disruptions, and while some stability has returned, the environment remains unpredictable. Uncertainty has become the new normal for procurement leaders. Shifting trade policies in the United States and changing global alliances have added turbulence, forcing enterprises to navigate an increasingly complex landscape. Despite this, procurement continues to deliver meaningful results. The function has grown stronger, expanding its influence across organizational spend and proving its ability to create value even in uncertain times.
For many enterprises, 2025 feels familiar in a historical sense. Like the period surrounding the Great Recession, economic pressures and unclear horizons are prompting organizations to turn inward. When conditions tighten and outlooks darken, the focus inevitably returns to procurement. Executives expect procurement to step up and deliver results, particularly in the form of cost savings, risk mitigation, and operational stability. It is an interesting and promising time for the function, especially as new tools and technologies, such as artificial intelligence, begin to play a more prominent role. For the first time, research is capturing detailed data on how organizations are using AI, their goals, and their expected outcomes, signaling a significant step forward in digital transformation.
The current level of uncertainty among procurement leaders is one of the highest ever recorded. Based on recent survey data, 57% of Chief Procurement Officers (CPOs) entered 2025 with a strong sense of uncertainty, nearly doubling the figure from the previous year. Furthermore, 90% of CPOs believe this year will be more challenging than last year, while none expect an easier road ahead. These numbers illustrate how volatility has become a defining feature of the business environment. Tariff discussions have resurfaced with intensity, marking a shift away from decades of global free trade. This renewed focus on trade restrictions and economic nationalism has prompted many procurement teams to reconsider long-established supply chain strategies. The once-assumed reliability of global sourcing networks is no longer guaranteed. As organizations evaluate their next steps, visibility, agility, and optionality are becoming essential priorities.
This reexamination of supply chain strategy has major implications. Many Western companies that previously moved production to low-cost countries, such as China, are now reassessing those decisions. The global economy’s long progression toward open trade appears to be reversing, and this trend is unlikely to change in the near future. Procurement leaders are responding by exploring nearshoring, diversifying supplier bases, and investing in more resilient sourcing models. Supply chain visibility is now viewed as a prerequisite for success, not an optional advantage. Agility, in particular, is becoming the differentiating factor between organizations that thrive amid disruption and those that falter.
Spend Under Management Rises
Procurement’s performance metrics also tell a story of progress and pressure. One of the most significant indicators, spend under management, continues to rise. On average, procurement teams now manage about 71% of total enterprise spend, marking the first time this figure has surpassed 70% in two decades of research. Every additional dollar of spend brought under procurement management yields savings of 6% to 12% during the initial contract period. The remaining 29% of unmanaged spend represents untapped potential and opportunity for cost control, efficiency, and strategic impact. As organizations strive to make the most of their resources, visibility and influence over total spend remain central to procurement’s value proposition.
Savings Remains a Top Priority
Savings has once again become the top priority for CPOs. During the pandemic recovery period, inflation and rising costs challenged enterprises globally. The result has been a renewed focus on cost reduction and operational efficiency. While innovation and growth remain important, procurement leaders are being asked to deliver measurable financial impact. CFOs are increasingly turning to their procurement counterparts to identify opportunities for savings and ensure stability in uncertain markets. This shift mirrors patterns seen during the Great Recession, when savings dominated CPO priorities before giving way to broader strategic objectives during years of economic expansion. Now, as inflation and economic pressure return, the focus on savings has reemerged as a top-line mandate.
Supply Risk Means Reconfiguration
At the same time, supply risk management continues to grow in importance. In the past, organizations often discussed risk but failed to act until disruptions occurred. That has changed. The frequency and severity of global disruptions have elevated risk management to a central role in procurement strategy. Whether caused by geopolitical tensions, trade policy shifts, or black swan events, supply chain risk now demands continuous attention. Procurement teams are building stronger frameworks for monitoring, assessing, and responding to potential disruptions. The coming years will likely bring continued reconfiguration of global supply chains as companies balance cost efficiency with resilience.
AI Shapes Digital Transformation
Digital transformation remains another defining priority. For the past decade, CPOs have invested in technology to improve visibility, scale best practices, and attract new generations of talent. The digital backbone of procurement has become a crucial enabler of agility and growth. However, 2025 marks a turning point as artificial intelligence becomes a top priority for the first time. AI’s potential to analyze spend, forecast risk, and support decision-making is reshaping how procurement operates. Rather than focusing solely on automation, organizations are beginning to explore how intelligence-driven tools can help them predict, adapt, and lead.
The state of procurement in 2025 reflects both challenge and opportunity. The environment is marked by volatility, uncertainty, and constant change, but procurement continues to evolve and expand its impact. The function’s growing strategic influence, improved spend visibility, and embrace of technology demonstrate its readiness to meet whatever lies ahead. As organizations face a future that demands both resilience and results, procurement stands not as a passenger in the enterprise journey but as a driver of its success.
