Digital transformation : procurement departments are committed to sourcing innovation

Networking, getting the company bridging the gap between line of businesses, disruptive economy, new ecosystems, … buyers are at the heart of the digital revolution.

Early adopter in sourcing innovation, the Procurement function is transforming, monitoring and actively participating in the emergence of new uses, launch of new products and promise of a new customer experience.

Developing this new state of mind and fostering cultural change within a Procurement Department requires rethinking its organization, seeking agility and a strong commitment to digitizing Procurement processes.

In its quest for innovation, the Procurement function went from being a cost-control guard to become a start-up incubator at the service of the company’s performance.

The Big Bang of Innovation

To face this challenge, the Chief Procurement Officer needs to be a strategist in order to anticipate technological changes, understand business issues and align with internal clients’ needs.

At the center of a complex and rapidly expanding ecosystem, the Procurement Manager must strive for internal efficiencies to free up resources to focus on capturing innovation.

The promise of artificial intelligence makes sense in this perspective of moving from a relatively administrative function to a connected function focused on markets evolution.

Leading the Procurement strategy to focus on new challenges like the sourcing of innovative suppliers and the development of an ecosystem of startups put on new perspective the attractiveness of suppliers and the importance of investments to be allocated to understand the suppliers.

The Procurement departments are all faced with the need to revise well-established practices and adapt their negotiation strategy to help the emergence of innovative suppliers, mostly ignored and with deep need for financial support.