Three Priorities to Build Your Procurement Function in 2022

There’s no question that the global pandemic has changed the procurement profession. As economies shut down and people sheltered in place, supply chains were put to the test, and businesses reevaluated how they operated. ?

I wanted to look back at some of the predictions made for the procurement profession in the Deloitte Global 2021 Chief Procurement Officer Survey. While our profession as a whole has done an excellent job adapting to the demands of our constantly shifting “new normal,” there are three key areas of focus that should remain top of mind in 2022.?

1. The Strategic CPO?

While CPOs need to lead by example, now is the time to step back from transactional and operational activities (such as working on deals and managing contracts) to spend more time on the strategic work to build capabilities within your organization to help deliver higher performance in the future. ?

Deloitte describes a strategic CPO as someone who “engages the business and supply markets strategically to meaningfully impact business outcomes: supplier innovation, digitalization, extended network design, and strategic category management and SRM [supplier relationship management].”?

The procurement function has become a critical business function for many organizations, and 2022 is an ideal time to start thinking about procurement beyond purchasing. Procurement must build engagement with stakeholders, staff, and suppliers as global supply chains are reevaluated and reshaped.?

2. Building Success Through Agility?

There is no doubt that the last two years have forced every business worldwide to move beyond the way things have always been done. Being agile within procurement is not a new concept, and the most successful organizations had placed value on being agile for many years before the global pandemic. As the Deloitte survey authors point out, “agility is indeed a sort of antidote that helps inoculate firms against complexity and risk so that they deliver healthy performance results even in the toughest of times.”?

What is your organization doing to become more agile? To develop the ability within your teams to think and act quickly, monitor fast-moving stakeholders and supply markets, and predict and prioritize risks and opportunities.?

According to Deloitte, there are several ways you can build an agile mindset within your procurement teams, including:??

• Finding ways to meet stakeholder needs in innovative ways;?
• Building teams with the capabilities, knowledge, and experience you need, when you need it;?
• Creating systems to increase efficiency, build capacity, and adapt to challenges, and;?
• Using data to understand situations, predict and model outcomes, uncover opportunities, and make better decisions.?

2022 is the time to transform the culture of procurement functions from “build to evolve vs. built to last.”?

3. The Changing Workforce?

You’ve heard me say this many times over the past year: procurement professionals have different expectations about how, when, and where they will work. Hybrid and remote work options are in high demand, and organizations must be flexible to attract top talent in a competitive market. Additionally, CPOs should put increased value on soft skills, such as resiliency, creativity, empathy, and tenacity, and be open to training employees on the hard skills needed in the profession.?

While technology such as artificial intelligence and machine learning are being used to automate systems and processes, creating a shift in procurement professionals’ work, strategic work can’t be automated. According to Deloitte, it’s important to “focus on training, hiring, and acquiring the strategic capabilities that they will need to deliver on their strategies and goals in the future.”?

There are still many unknowns as we head into 2022. Building more strategic and agile procurement functions, complete with capable and adaptable employees, will ensure supply chains stay strong, stakeholders and suppliers remain happy, and your organization sees ongoing success.

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