What is the business impact of digital procurement transformation?
Digital procurement transformation can take many forms — from empowering
procurement teams with new digital tools and AI-driven capabilities, to the complete end-to-end digitization of
the procure-to-pay process.
When it’s implemented correctly, in a way that’s aligned with both the
goals of an organization’s procurement team and the wider business, it can yield benefits including
greater procurement efficiency, improved cost control, streamlined governance and compliance processes, and
smarter risk management. But the positive impact doesn’t stop there.
How can digital procurement transformation help businesses become more resilient?
One of the biggest areas where digital procurement transformation can benefit the
wider business is within business continuity and resilience.
Digital procurement transformation helps accelerate and optimize core procurement
workflows. This in turn enables procurement experts to spot disruptive market and supply chain trends earlier,
identify the right strategies in response to them, and mitigate their impact on the business.
As a part of their digital procurement transformation initiatives, businesses can
even adopt scenario modelling capabilities that enable them to visualize the project impact of emerging trends.
With this, teams can confidently take the right action at the right time to ensure that rising prices or
constrained supply don’t prevent their business from producing and delivering the goods it manufactures.
What impact can digital procurement transformation have on bottom line
profitability?
Digitizing the end-to-end procure-to-pay process helps increase visibility across
your procurement operations, surfacing opportunities to increase efficiency and productivity. It can shine a
light on the dark, paper-based corners of procurement, and give businesses a greater ability to detect and
prevent both overspending and rogue spending.
But direct cost savings are just the beginning. Equipped with leading digital
tools, platforms, data, and intelligence, procurement teams can make smarter spending and negotiation decisions
every day. Over time, each of these small, informed changes can add up to significant bottom line benefits,
helping organizations achieve greater financial performance than ever before.
Can digital procurement transformation help businesses become more competitive?
By empowering procurement teams with deeper, more reliable insights and visibility
of their own processes — and what’s happening across key categories — digital procurement
transformation can drive big shifts in procurement culture, and the function’s strategic position within
the business.
These insights enable procurement to evolve from simply being a cost and spend
controlling function, to one that plays a major role in product and market strategy. For example, equipped with
deep insight into material markets, procurement teams can make suggestions to shift product formulations or
packaging choices that enable that product to be produced at a far lower cost.
In the same vein, digitally empowered procurement experts can keep a close eye on
the movements of competitors and customers, and alert product teams early to ensure their own offerings remain
competitive and stay ahead of shifting customer demands and expectations.
This is also highly relevant for businesses that have aims to improve the
sustainability of their products and operations. As new sustainable materials enter the market, or become
financially viable, procurement can collaborate with other business teams to integrate those materials into
their product and packaging strategies — driving progress toward sustainability goals.
What impact does digital procurement transformation have on your suppliers?
Digitized procurement processes and platforms support transparency and
collaboration — leading to stronger and better-connected supplier relationships. It can enable the secure
sharing of data between businesses and their suppliers, increasing visibility of one another’s operations,
building trust, and creating mutual value for both parties.
This helps strengthen supplier relationships and can enable you to turn your
suppliers into strategic business partners. So, when a disruptive event occurs and supply is threatened, you can
rest assured that you are a strategic priority for your suppliers, and you’ll remain at the front of the
queue.
What impact can digital procurement transformation have on a team’s talent
strategy?
The right procurement talent can have a major impact on your business. But to
attract top performers, you need to offer streamlined and engaging working experiences. Digital procurement
transformation helps remove the friction and frustration associated with paper-based procurement processes,
creating better experiences for everyone, and helping businesses attract and retain top procurement talent.
How can you ensure your digital procurement transformation has the right impact
on your business?
While digital procurement transformation can deliver all of the business benefits
outlined above, they’re not guaranteed. If your transformation strategy isn’t aligned to the unique
needs of your procurement processes and department, and the strategic goals of your business, they can fail to
deliver significant value.
To ensure digital procurement transformation has the greatest positive impact on
your business, we recommend the following:
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Approach transformation holistically and begin with a clear
overarching strategy, rather than evolving individual aspects of your procurement operations using point
solutions.
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Pair transformation with process optimization and use the
greater visibility granted by procurement digitization to surface opportunities to increase procurement
efficiency and productivity.
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Start with your business goals and work backwards to determine
exactly how procurement evolution could support them. Don’t simply expect a digitized procurement
function to push your business in the right direction by default.
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Work with a proven digital procurement transformation partner
that can support every aspect of your journey, and ensure that you make the right decisions in line with
your goals and ambitions.
Conclusion
Digital procurement transformation is one of the most important and impactful
journeys your procurement function will ever embark on. When it’s well planned, executed, and managed, it
can yield immense benefits for your wider business and help create a culture where procurement becomes a top
business value creator.
To learn more about WNS Procurement’s digital procurement transformation
services, and discover what they could help your organization achieve, click here to Contact Us.