Global Chief Procurement Officer Survey 2019

Scope of the CPO Survey 2019

To provide insights on the state of procurement, Deloitte researched the procurement agenda since 2011 with their annual Global CPO survey. This survey is sent to Chief Procurement Officers across the globe, from a variety of industries, countries, and turnovers. With nearly 500 responses this year, the Deloitte Global CPO survey 2019 provides refreshed insights about the future of procurement and the current sentiment towards that future. And these insights are available now.

Key insights from the Deloitte Global CPO survey 2019

Embodying the future of procurement, the 2019 Global CPO survey focuses on the key themes of complexity, talent, and of course: digital procurement. These themes are expected to shape the procurement agenda the coming years.

Complexity is there to be leveraged

If there were one word to describe the scenario chief procurement officers (CPOs) are facing today, it would be complexity. Both in the world out there, as within the walls of the company. And as it appears, organizations facing a lot of complexity actually thrive in this dynamic world.

• Economic downturn (42%), internal complexity (39%), and managing risk within mega-suppliers (37%) are the most often mentioned risks organizations face
• Most CPOs (61%) feel procurement-related risks have increased over the last 12 months
• Organizations that are subject to a lot of external complexity (i.e. complexity masters) are far more willing to address top risks (58%) than organizations who operate in a world of lesser complexity (41%)

Talent models are to be changed

Retaining qualified talent and recruiting new talent is on the CPOs agenda for years already: talent models are changing, contingent workforce is rising, and the entire skillset of procurement is also changing. But is the training agenda changing accordingly?

• The confidence level among CPOs on the ability of procurement teams to deliver on strategy has slipped from 49% last year to 46% this year
• Strategic sourcing and category management is by far the largest area (68%) of training for the next 12 months
• Business partnering and relationship management is the leading soft skills training

Procurement goes digital – but is not mature enough

Procurement is increasingly aligning digital strategies with business strategies, and is covering a lot of ground. Primarily in the more operational processes of procurement. But when procurement gets more strategic – is technology ready?

• Low-in-maturity strategies, such as improving and automating procurement processes (68%) and extending digital procurement tools to internal and external stakeholders (59%) are the top-digitization strategies for CPOs
• High-in-maturity strategies, connecting supplier to the customer (21%) or tapping digital innovations from the supply base (26%) are amongst the lowest embraced digitization strategies
• CPOs are often not satisfied with the results of their digital technologies, especially when managing supply chain risk and supplier relationships

The impact to be made

With complexity all around and not showing any signs of decreasing, procurement should learn from the masters of complexity. Throughout the Deloitte Global CPO survey 2019, practical actions for impact are provided. To provide a glimpse of what you can expect:

• Eradicating bad complexity and embracing good complexity: complexity posing unnecessary risk is to be eliminated, while complexity can also be leveraged to expand procurement’s influence within the organization
• Go digital: automate operational and tactical process to the possible extent to focus on managing complexity
• Align talent investments with business needs
• Define a bold digital vision, but execute digital programs iteratively and recognize where the organization, IT, users, and suppliers stand throughout