What you'll learn: Get insight from James Vespoli, the CPO of PNC, and Ed Cone, Deputy Director of Thought Leadership, of Oxford Economics as they explore the results of recent Oxford research on the future of procurement. Discuss how perspectives differ between roles, see signs of concrete changes in progress, and take back ideas on how to future-proof your team. You’ll discover: • Whether the organisational structure of procurement will develop as it becomes more strategic. • How procurement talent can be developed and what capabilities will drive change in the function. • How technology and a collaborative mindset are transforming procurement. • Why our KPIs and time investments are not always mirroring our vision and goals.

1. The Future of Procurement
One survey, two perspectives

2. Building on a strong foundation
 Outsourcing explodes
 Strategy scope widens
 Talent competition heats up
 Innovation comes from
without
 Suppliers gain power

3. Going boldly where no procurement study has gone before
 How have executives responded
to the trends outlined in Vision
2020 in the years since?
 What new challenges and
opportunities do executives and
practitioners consider most
important?
 Where are there gaps in
understanding between
executives and practitioners?

4. A global survey of executives and practitioners
In collaboration with SAP, Oxford Economics conducted a large-scale global study to
discover emerging and enduring trends in the procurement function. We surveyed 500
procurement executives and 500 procurement employees in the following countries:
Australia
Austria
Brazil
Canada
China
Denmark
Finland
France
Germany
India
Italy
Japan
Mexico
Netherlands
Spain
Switzerland
UK
US

5. Key findings
 From here to where?
 Procurement gets collaborative.
 Goodbye to business as usual.
 The technology agenda.
 The human challenge.

6. From here to where?

7. Differing views on procurement’s future
40%
23%
25%
12%
28%
21%
33%
17%
Choose 1.

8. Collaboration

9. Internal collaboration is a given
68%
of executives say
procurement at their
company is becoming more
collaborative with other parts
of the business.
56%
of executives say
procurement data is being
used strategically by other
parts of the business.
Agree /Strongly agree

10. Reaching beyond the firewall
On which of the following areas
would you like your organization to
be most focused today?
Executives say…
Choose up to 3.
41%
38%
35% 35%
31% 30% 29%
26%
46%
34% 35%
42%
31%
37%
30% 30%
Working one-
on-one with
suppliers in a
strategic way
Managing
supply risk
Optimizing the
procure-to-pay
process
Implementing
and training on
new technology
Working on
sustainability
and CSR
initiatives
Conducting
category
management
and sourcing
Working with
lines of
business on
new initiatives
Analyzing
spend
Today In two years

11. The cost of collaboration is time
Thinking of a typical day at work, which of
the following activities take up the majority
of your time?
Practitioners say…
Choose up to 3.
55% 55%
46%
41%
36%
32% 32%
Working one-on-one
with suppliers on
strategic initiatives
Working one-on-one
with suppliers and
others on
administrative issues
Conducting sourcing/
contracting category-
management activities
Working on operational
procure-to-pay tasks
Training/Upskilling
programs
Recruitment of new
talent
Conducting spend
analysis activities

12. KPIs and time investments

13. It’s all about relationships
To what extent
are the
following
trends
affecting the
way your
procurement
function
operates?
To quite an extent/To a great extent
47%
48%
54%
48%
53%
56%
55%
46%
48%
50%
53%
54%
58%
61%
The use of contingent workers within the
procurement function
The use of contingent workers across the
business
Suppliers providing more end-to-end
solutions, instead of just materials or…
An increase in services purchasing,
including statement-of-work contracts
Procurement managing accounts payable
Increased competition for high-performing
suppliers
Procurement owning the supplier
relationship
Executives Practitioners

14. 65%
54% 53% 52% 52% 50% 49% 48% 48% 46% 45% 45%
Cost savings
and cost
avoidance
Number or
percent of
touchless
transactions
Inventory
turnover/
inventory
activity
Risk
mitigation
Order cycle
time
Number of
suppliers with
automated
collaboration
Procurement
ROI
Percent of
total spend
under
management
Impact on
revenue from
innovation
Supplier
quality/
performance
Percent of
compliant
purchasing
Stakeholder
satisfaction
results
A disconnect between usage and value
Executives say…
Only respondents who say their company used a particular KPIs were asked to rate its value.
How valuable are the
following KPIs?

15. Practitioners measure themselves on cost
80%
Cost savings/
cost avoidance
52%
Supplier quality/
supplier performance
49%
Procurement
ROI
47%
Percent of total spend
under management
45%
Inventory turnover/
Inventory activity
Which of these corporate-level KPIs do you feel
you contribute to the most in your day-to-day job?
Top 6 responses
Choose up to 3 or none of the above.
Practitioners say…
49%
Percent of compliant
purchasing

16. Technology

17. The tech imperative
Mobile
technology
34%
Business
networks
35%
Cloud
computing
29%
Big data
27%30% 32% 33%
Executives
35%
PractitionersExecutives Practitioners Executives Practitioners Executives Practitioners
Which economic and technology trends
do you expect to have the most significant
impact on the procurement function over
the next three years?
Choose top 3.

18. Collaboration technologies drive the business
B2B commerce
networks
Social media
58% 48%
Internet of Things
52% 46%
Mobile apps and devices
49% 42%
Analytics
46% 47%
Cloud
45% 43%
Knowledge exchange/
collaboration platforms
54% 57%
44% 47%
How important
are the
following
technologies
important to
the progress of
your
procurement
organization?
Quite important/Very important

19. Talent

20. People are a priority
Executive investment priorities
1 – Recruiting new talent
2 – Training/Upskilling programs
3 – Procurement/Supply chain
technology
4 – Outsourcing
5 – Funding supplier innovation
programs
6 – Hiring consultants
7 – Acquiring third-party data
Executives and practitioners
alike say recruiting new
talent and investing in
training/upskilling are the top
investment priorities.
48%
of executives and practitioners
say the use of contingent
workers is changing the way
procurement operates.

21. Business skills most difficult to acquire
Executives say…
How difficult is it to find and recruit talent
with the following skills to meet the
changing demands on the procurement
function?
24%
Supply chain
management
knowledge
24%
Risk
management
24%
Data analysis
and critical
thinking
20%
Soft/People
skills
28%
Negotiation
34%
Strategy/
Business
acumen
28%
Technology
Difficult/Very difficult

22. Next steps

23. Stay tuned for more on the following themes
 Procurement gets collaborative. Executives and practitioners are spending more time
collaborating with other lines of business and external partners.
 Goodbye to business as usual. These new ways of working are forcing change on the way
procurement operates—and on the way success is measured.
 The technology agenda. Procurement today is focused on automation and collaboration through
networks—but executives and practitioners do not see eye to eye on every issue.
 The human challenge. As the nature of work changes and technology advances faster than most
workers can keep up, attracting and recruiting the right workers is a challenge for the
procurement function—and one of the biggest opportunities to rise above the competition.

24. Executive overview
ari.ba/future-overview

25. OXFORD ECONOMICS