It is surprisingly hard to find a concrete definition of
what is meant by “Procurement 2.0” but, given that it takes its name from the
rise of Web 2.0, we can make some assumptions as to what was meant by the term.
Back in 2008 A.T Kearney’s “Assessment of Excellence in
Procurement” Study, highlighted the growth in Web 2.0 based collaboration
solution adoption and the trend has continued ever since. The rise of social
networking, blogging, social tagging etc. has changed and will continue to change
the way businesses and procurement carries out their day to day operations. This
is an area I have covered in a previous blog post and is currently seeing an accelerated
rate of development. Note for example the move towards more tightly linked P2P
systems and the growth of cloud based offerings from the likes of Ariba and
Coupa.
There is a real danger here though that Procurement 2.0 is
seen as a technological, process and data driven nadir when actually in reality
it should be a lot broader than that. Whilst no doubt the advancement and
adoption of new web 2.0 solutions and the development of cloud based
e-procurement solutions have a massive role to play, there has to be an appetite
to look beyond the data / process and to consider advances in, amongst other
things; people, technology, risk management, benefits realisation.
Procurement is, and will always be, first and foremost a
people business. A function that rests solely on process will have fruitless
relationships with their supply chain and no hope of developing their position
as the customer of choice. Moreover a core skill of a procurement manager
involves the ability to handle internal customers which involves subtle
engagement and time. I would have thought it is exceptionally tempting to run
functions such as procurement as lean as possible but, in a slight paradox, it
would seem that as companies become more technologically driven and layered in
their approach good people matter more than ever. If these people can’t be recruited directly
then consider working with a 3rd party who is able to bring in such
expertise…process and technology can only go so far.
Procurement is in a state of change however I’m not sure the
2.0 label is one that sits well. Technological and data driven change will continue
at a pace for the foreseeable future but 2.0 mustn’t be seen as a surrogate
offering to traditional procurement. A good, flexible process harnessed with
talented people should be the base from which to deliver a true strategic
sourcing solution.
PwC recently released an excellent piece related to all
things digital called “the world is in beta” (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fh3SSCK2rtE)
and I think the tagline is one that fits here. Procurement isn’t moving towards
2.0, it is instead in beta.
No comments:
Post a Comment