Over the last several weeks, Ardent Partners has gone back in time with its “State of Procurement (A Retrospective)” series, featuring executive insights from its previous State of Procurement reports dating back to 2006. It’s now time to shift gears into the present, with a close examination of this year’s report, highlighting the most significant trends and issues facing today’s CPOs.
Our new weekly series brings industry insights around Ardent’s CPO Rising 2025: Navigating Global Uncertainty & Unlocking an AI-Driven Future report. Don’t miss our coverage on all things procurement, including operational strategies, technology adoption, artificial intelligence trends, and supply chain challenges.
In Part Four this week, we explore the wave of uncertainty CPOs face as well as AI’s emergence in procurement.
A continuing theme that has been present in recent CPO Rising reports has been uncertainty related to market volatility and supply risk. To address evolving business challenges and capitalize on emerging opportunities, CPOs are strategically aligning departmental priorities with those of the enterprise.
Top CPO Priorities
This year’s survey results illustrate the continued priority of CPOs, in the face of steady inflation, tariffs, and the emerging potential for a recession, to find savings. The top three priorities identified by procurement leaders are delivering cost savings, managing (and/or mitigating) supply risk, and driving digital transformation, reflecting the growing importance of balancing cost, quality, and risk and having the right tools to do so.
Persistent global market uncertainty, along with the unexpected from a new U.S. administration kept cost savings (71%) as the most critical priority for CPOs and their teams in 2025. This keeps the pressure on procurement to optimize spend by leveraging spend analytics for savings gains in strategic sourcing and supplier negotiations.
The aftermath of the pandemic, coupled with geopolitical tensions and destructive natural disasters, underscores why 42% of CPOs have “managing supply risk” as the second-highest priority. As they look out over the next three years, procurement leaders say they are reevaluating sourcing strategies, with 38% expecting more nearshoring and 20% expecting more onshoring to alleviate risk and possibly tariffs. Using predictive analytics and real-time monitoring tools promotes a proactive approach to risk management that can help mitigate the impact of disruptions and other challenges.
The expectations for today’s CPOs and their departments to streamline complex workflows, analyze immense volumes of data, and gain strategic insights make the prioritization of digital transformation a top initiative for 34% of groups. AI-powered ProcureTech is the next evolution for procurement automation across the enterprise. With CPOs accessing AI within their current ProcureTech systems and larger AI adoption expected in 2025, the fear of missing out (FOMO) on AI and its immense potential are real. Digital transformation and the drive toward automation has been an ongoing priority for procurement.
While the top three procurement priorities were centered around savings, risk, and technology, several areas received notably less attention from CPOs. Tracking and improving supply quality (8%), for example — emphasizing that procurement leaders are all about achieving savings but less focused on quality this year. What was less surprising was the de-emphasis on diversity, equity, and inclusion (DE&I), with only 6% of CPOs prioritizing supplier diversity (DE&I) and 1% staff diversity (DE&I) in their departments, respectively. With the
U.S. federal government eliminating many DE&I-related programs, this trend is also occurring within enterprises as well. Surprisingly, only 1% of CPOs were preparing for a downturn/recession in their procurement department, indicating that procurement leaders are generally positive about the economic outlook.
Top Procurement Strategies in 2025
To leverage AI advancements in ProcureTech and optimize cash flow in a volatile marketplace, CPOs must elevate their procurement strategies. This requires greater collaboration with line-of-business leaders, stakeholders, and trading partners to maximize process efficiencies and harness the resources to achieve greater savings and financial agility. When identifying the top strategies, procurement leaders have remained fairly consistent in their prioritization albeit, in a shifting, but familiar environment.
With that said, to drive procurement and enterprise initiatives and improve performance, CPOs are focusing on a combination of digital transformation, financial strategy, and enhanced collaboration. Pursuit of a digital transformation (both in the adoption of new technologies and the optimization of existing systems) is the leading strategy pursued by 45% of procurement leaders. This reflects a growing recognition that technology, particularly automation, AI-driven analytics, and integrated procurement platforms, can enhance efficiency, reduce manual processes, and improve supplier management.
The second leading strategy for CPOs is implementing processes that improve cash flow (39%). Organizations are increasingly focusing on renegotiating payment terms, managing demand more effectively, and enforcing compliance mandates to ensure financial stability. These strategies are crucial in today’s economic environment, where higher interest rates, supply chain disruptions, and financial constraints demand better cash flow agility.
Additionally, 33% of procurement leaders are prioritizing improved internal communication and collaboration with business leaders and budget holders. Strengthening these relationships ensures that procurement aligns closely with business objectives and operational needs. Enhanced collaboration enables CPOs and their teams to anticipate business requirements, secure better supplier agreements, and drive more strategic decision-making. Moreover, effective internal communication also helps in fostering stakeholder buy-in for procurement initiatives, ensuring smoother implementation and greater impact.
Finally, 24% of CPOs plan to leverage AI technologies to further enhance operations. AI-driven insights can improve forecasting, risk assessment, and supplier performance management, while also automating routine tasks. As AI adoption continues to grow, CPOs that successfully utilize these tools expect to see improvement in efficiency, agility, and outcomes.
