The document discusses how digital technologies are transforming procurement by creating opportunities for data-driven and experience-focused operations. It notes that most organizations currently have a process-driven approach to procurement rather than focusing on the user experience. The document advocates that organizations shift to become more intelligent and leverage data, artificial intelligence, and their ecosystem partners to unlock new capabilities and power next-generation procurement. It outlines some of the biggest barriers preventing this transformation.

1. INTELLIGENT
OPERATIONS
Powering Next-Generation Procurement with
Empower your business with information and
experiences that matter

2. OPPORTUNITIES
Digital continues to upend established
industries and markets, creating
inside and outside your organization.
The ease and elegance from the
“procurement” tasks you do at home as
consumers on Sunday apply to the work
you do on Monday.

3. Digital is reshaping what people want
and expect, putting pressure on
enterprises to think differently about the
experiences they need to create.
38%
38%
Procurement
Enterprise Buyers
41%
30%
Keeping pace with the user
experience
Understanding user
expectations and preferences
Anticipating user needs
50%
38%
Procurement
Enterprise Buyers
Procurement
Enterprise Buyers
34%
35%
Procurement
Enterprise Buyers
The most challenging aspects of engagement
A TOP-THREE
business challenge:
improving the user experience

4. THREE
Making more predictive
decisions based on rapidly
accessible real-time data
across the organization
of the top five business drivers that will impact the business are about data and experiences
Micro targeting customers
Organizations interest
in and ability to make
data-driven decisions
Procurement
45%
Creating compelling experiences, both
34%
Enterprise Buyers
Procurement
39%
34%
Enterprise Buyers
Procurement
38%
42%
Enterprise Buyers
And procurement is no exception
INSIDE AND OUTSIDE
the organization, requires rich data and information

5. Yet, organizations today design
procurement and finance to support the
process, not the user experience.
HUMAN AND DIGITAL
EXPERIENCES.
Business stakeholders need improved
It’s time to do procurement differently, not
just better.

6. Organizations need to become intelligent
and unlock the power of data – the fuel for
information and experiences your
stakeholders need and expect.
A DATA-DRIVEN ONE
Shift from a process-driven function to
Organizations underestimate the volume of
data needed to power the future of next-
generation procurement.
They have data strategies in place, but they
need to do more—especially with data
curation.
Data aggregation/ingestion
Data lakes
Data curation
61%
25%
Only 13%

7. Two of the key technology enablers are
And they need to apply technologies to that data
to improve business processes and drive faster,
more intelligent decisions.
ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE and
INTELLIGENT AUTOMATION.

8. You may think you have optimized procurement and finance, but there is
more fuel embedded in sub-optimized, old ways of thinking.
AGILE AND RESPONSIVE
Eliminate the stubborn obstacle of legacy
technologies and processes to become more
Legacy processes and technologies
are preventing organizations from
achieving their business goals
Estimated amount of legacy
technology and process
70%
55%
Procurement Enterprise Buyers
Procurement Finance and Accounting
still have
26-75% legacy
54%
still have
26-75% legacy
66%

9. ALONE
Don’t try to go it
There’s no reason to reinvent the wheel.
Organizations should leverage the full range
of capabilities and resources their ecosystem
can deliver.
The ecosystem can help organizations fill in
their skills, data, and technology gaps that
stymie their ability to deliver better
experiences.

10. TOP ENABLER
to help the organization
achieve its business goals
Working closely with
ecosystem partners
TOP WORKFORCE
REQUIREMENT
Exploring new ways of partnering
across the services ecosystem
82%
68%
Enterprise Buyers
Procurement
40%
38%
Enterprise Buyers
Procurement

11. TOP
Drive change from the
Procurement
The two triggers for change that matter.
Only the c-suite can drive transformation end-to- end to
overcome barriers like process silos and short-term band-
aids, hurdles that continue to prevent procurement from
making the shift to focus on experiences first.
Top-down directive
to drive growth
Top-down corporate directive
to cut costs
Enterprise Buyers Procurement
34%
24%
20%20%
Enterprise Buyers

12. BIGGEST
BARRIERS
Overhauling legacy process and technology
Lack of long-term investment
Short-term actions
Lack of talent
People afraid of change
Lack of relevant IT skills
Lack of digital /transformation leader
Internal processes too siloed
Lack of relevant data analytics, AI,
machine learning skills
Lack of clearly defined business goals
External ecosystem partners lack
necessary capabilities
to achieving business goals
PROCUREMENT
70%
66%
63%
61%
61%
59%
59%
57%
57%
48%
45%
ENTERPRISEBUYERS
55%
55%
54%
56%
58%
54%
54%
54%
54%
48%
50%

13. PROCUREMENT
TRANSFORMATION
It’s time for
of procurement executives believe transforming
procurement is a priority for their organization.
67% The future belongs to intelligent operations.
The opportunity exists to jumpstart new value
creation and growth at a time when companies
need it most.

14. NEXT GENERATION
PROCUREMENT
BEGIN YOUR JOURNEY TO
https://www.accenture.com/us-en/insight-digital-procurement-process
Experience-focused
Digitally-driven
Insight-led