Compliance
A complex industry to navigate, procurement professionals in 2024 will continue to grapple with changing governance, regulations, procedures and contracts. Maintaining compliance with the aforementioned will be vital to stay ahead of disruptions and innovations. Technology will be a key enabler in this area with cloud, automation, and AI benefiting procurement teams.
Cybersecurity
While the rise in technology adoption will be greatly beneficial for the procurement function, it isn’t without its challenges, namely cybersecurity. As organisations continue to increase their investments in technology and race to keep ahead of the latest trends, organisations mustn’t let the security aspect of these technologies fall through the cracks.
Diversity and inclusion
The focus on diversity and inclusion will continue internally and externally in 2024. DE&I initiatives will continue to emerge for employees and suppliers. Specifically, when it comes to suppliers, procurement will place a greater emphasis on diversity when selecting suppliers, nurturing their growth, making contract decisions, and executing various procurement tasks.
Supplier development
Another way in which procurement professionals will navigate supply chain disruptions will be through supplier development. The key to success here in 2024 will be ‘proactive planning’ to flexibly ride the waves of disruption. Again, technology will play an integral role in proactive planning to mitigate risks, with AI, natural language processing (NLP), data, and analytics being top players.
Risk management
It is rare to have a discussion about supply chain and procurement these days without the conversation turning to risk management. The last few years have shown that disruption is on the rise in the industry, and risk management will still be at the top of every procurement professional's agenda.
ESG and Scope 3
ESG and Scope 3 will become the norm in 2024, sustainable efforts are no longer a nice add-on but a necessity to thrive. With many setting ambitious goals to achieve net zero, the race is on to achieve their 2025, 2030 and 2040 targets, and procurement will be an integral cog for success.
Low code platforms
Circling back to technology, whether starting or continuing on their digital transformation journey, procurement professionals will be looking to reap the quick-win benefits of low-code platforms to navigate the dynamic and complex industry.
Currently, more than two-thirds of enterprises have already adopted low-code into their supply chains, enabling users with little technical knowledge to quickly build, test and implement new capabilities.
Transparency and visibility
An ongoing challenge for the procurement and supply chain industry is transparency and visibility due to its complex nature. Continuing to break the visibility barriers will be a top priority for the industry.
Technology will play an important role in driving transparency and visibility by reducing siloes, deriving deeper, actionable and proactive insights, producing higher-quality data, and creating a single touch point for users.
Data
Both a core benefit and challenges alike, Data, when done well, can result in cost savings, strategic value, risk mitigation, enhanced demand forecasting and planning, and informed decision-making.
Done badly, however, can be a headache for procurement professionals due to the volume and complexity of the data created in the function. Data availability, quality, cadence, and consistency, will continue to be critical considerations for procurement professionals in 2024, particularly with the rapid rise in adoption of the final trend - generative AI.
Generative AI
Taking the world by storm, there are not many conversations about technology in procurement that don’t mention the potential generative AI has for the function. Predicted to be ‘a once-in-a-decade opportunity to transform procurement’ by Bain & Company, the technology is expected to be a significant leap forward for the function to deliver greater value for the wider business with notable benefits expected to be seen in risk management, actionable insights, vendor evaluation, compliance, predictive model, and anomaly detection.
******
Make sure you check out the latest edition of Procurement Magazine and also sign up to our global conference series - Procurement & Supply Chain 2024
******
Procurement Magazine is a BizClik brand
