PwC Study 2022: Digitalisation of procurement is picking up speed again
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Dr. Jan Joachim Herrmann
Partner at PwC Germany
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In times of supply bottlenecks, rising commodity prices and growing inflation, procurement departments around the globe are focusing on the essentials: Reducing costs and managing risks.
As the pandemic subsides, however, the digitalisation of procurement is once again coming into focus. Companies are willing to invest a lot of money to make the idea of digital procurement a reality. The planned investments are to flow primarily into digital source-to-contract (S2C) and procure-to-pay (P2P) solutions.
In contrast, the hype around innovative technologies in procurement – such as blockchain and artificial intelligence – has faded. CO2 trackers are becoming increasingly relevant.
During the pandemic, sourcing and supply chain risks were more palpable than ever. Many companies found it difficult to ensure the continuity of their business. As a result, companies are now focusing more on improving their risk management in purchasing.
With over 800 participating companies from more than 60 countries, the 4th edition of the Digital Procurement Survey reveals interesting insights for the digital transformation in procurement.
The procurement professionals in Germany, Austria and Switzerland place their strategic focus on risk and crisis management: for 31 per cent, this topic currently has the highest priority; globally, only twelve per cent of the companies surveyed mention risk and crisis management.
In contrast, cost savings are more relevant in most countries compared to the DACH region: 37 per cent of respondents worldwide want to focus on saving costs in strategic procurement. In the DACH region, only 19 per cent of procurement managers name cost reduction as a strategic priority. At 21 per cent, procurement managers in the DACH region consider digital transformation to be slightly more important than procurement managers worldwide (18 per cent).
Procurement can take a leading role in tracking CO2 emissions within the company by collecting CO2 data from suppliers, integrating this information into sourcing decisions and tracking emissions in the supply chain.
These are the findings of the PwC Global Digital Procurement Survey 2022. For the study, PwC surveyed more than 800 companies from 64 countries, including 52 companies from Germany, Austria and Switzerland (DACH).