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Big Trends & Predictions for Procurement: New Ardent Partners report

Kerrie Kennedy

April 6, 2022

Procurement departments have learned a variety of lessons while navigating disrupted supply chains in recent years, with agility emerging as a critically important attribute for business survival. Many large enterprises sought technical solutions to supply their customers with the goods and services they required and alleviate pressure on overburdened sourcing teams.

Modern sourcing technology has been hugely effective in supporting companies achieve much-needed speed and agility in their sourcing processes during such uncertain times. Even before the pandemic, eSourcing tools such as Sourcing Optimizer offered by Keelvar were helping procurement teams navigate issues including supplier capacity limitations, freight expense volatility, supply chain pinch points, and other obstacles that will still periodically resurface in the future.

A recent webinar by Keelvar Sourcing in 2022: Juggling Disruptions, Sustainability & Modernization explored survey findings from primary research that showed how organizations are increasingly looking to procurement tech to boost their competitive edge in an increasingly crowded marketplace.

Now, looking at the year ahead, a new report published by research and advisory firm Ardent Partners outlining predictions for the procurement industry has echoed much of the survey findings discussed during that webinar. 

Ardent Partners Trends and Predictions for Procurement report

The Procurement 2022: BIG Trends and Predictions report highlights opportunities for continued digital transformation among the areas where Chief Procurement Officers and their teams should focus on to have the most impact. In fact, one ‘trend’ the report suggests is that CPOs will go "all in" on digital transformation initiatives and may even prioritize these programs over all others.

Prediction: COVID’s Impact On Procurement To Continue

Undoubtedly, procurement teams have felt an extraordinary impact on their workload during the pandemic – and Ardent Partners expect such pervasive uncertainty to remain a significant force throughout 2022.  

But – the new report notes – predictive AI tools that analyze market data, market and industry factors and esourcing bid information will allow procurement teams to better identify and react to pricing trends and inefficiencies that have been hiding in plain sight for years: “Given the challenges ahead, this technology is arriving at the right time, which is very exciting.”

Additionally, it’s predicted that more CPOs than ever will become "data-driven" due to an increasing awareness that getting better data and “becoming more intelligent” leads to better decisions and results.

“‍2022 will be a very interesting, challenging and rewarding year to work in procurement," the report continues. “And most CPOs would not have it any other way."

Download Ardent Partners’ new report here and read the complete list of trends and predictions for the procurement industry in 2022.

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