Hosting last week’s Procurement Leaders European Forum provided an excellent opportunity to explore two areas that are of fundamental importance to current CPO strategies: technology and resilience.
With a theme of Procurement by design: Building a resilient, digital-first function, the gathering brought together almost 100 of our members within the intimate settings of Silent Green, Berlin, and, as I said in my introduction, the location seemed appropriate.
With a history of such significance, the Berlin of today represents a story of transformation and reinvention, having emerged during the post-Cold War era as a cultural, creative and entrepreneurial heavyweight. It’s a city with edge, but it’s optimistic and fast-paced.
Obviously, procurement is undergoing its own reinvention – one of the reasons I felt the location to be appropriate – and a large proportion of the conversations taking place were focused on what this might mean for the size, shape and focus of the function.
This is not easy to predict, but CPOs must put serious thought into the question. Where to invest, how to develop, what to automate, what to eradicate and how to drive real value and impact from technology investments are all big hairy questions that demand to be explored.
They are questions that, with the pace of change we are currently experiencing, are enough to leave even the smartest of senior leaders scratching their heads. In fact, when I asked a group of practitioners to describe the current environment in one word, I was offered some typical responses, such as “optimistic” and “excited”, but one honest CPO said they are “bamboozled”.
It was a refreshing response, because, yes, this is bamboozling. The sheer speed of development and scope of impact of AI makes it tough to keep up and nigh-on impossible to build future-proof functional strategies.
While I share my CPO friend’s feelings of bamboozlement, some things did become a little clearer to me in Berlin. First, human involvement in buying (the buyer) will fade away; second, some of those resources will be redeployed to focus on greater value work; and third, there will be fewer people working in procurement.
This is the elephant in the room that not all are comfortable with, but it’s a reality we must face.
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