In today’s article, we’ll be discussing the top ways in which technology is impacting procurement. From automatic document generation to collaborative scoring and real-time analytics, incorporating technology into your procurement decisions has the potential to speed up and streamline your workflows. Used effectively, manual and often time-consuming tasks can be automated, allowing your teams to focus on the more strategic elements, including supplier relationship management, innovation and sustainability.

Your organisation may be one of the many organisations nowadays relying upon external third parties to conduct a range of businesses processes on your behalf. But how can you be sure that you’re not outsourcing too many of your core processes? The answer is supplier diversification. Supplier diversification plays a crucial role in enhancing organisational resilience and it involves engaging multiple suppliers or service providers to fulfil various needs within an organisation. In this article, we will be exploring why this strategy can be a means to protect the health of your supply chain.

Many smaller suppliers may believe they are unable or unsuitable to meet the needs of well-established, blue-chip companies, however this is often not the case. While some small suppliers may lack some of the compliance standards required, they often have many other benefits including agility and innovation. In this article, we will explore why being smaller could actually be the reason why an organisation is chosen over others in a bid.

In today’s world, organisations are having to adapt to the ever-changing digital landscape, with more of them turning to outsourcing their key business operations. This can include everything from core IT services, to HR, marketing and customer service.

Besides the challenges of finding the best-fitting suppliers that will solve issues around pricing, quality and delivery, procurement should also invest in alternate scenarios for sole-source suppliers in order to overcome any problems and mitigate the potential risks.

Mitigating supply chain risks is one of the most important roles of a procurement professional, and it is especially critical to identify issues before they have the potential to cause serious disruption.

Including CSR and ESG criteria to better assess risks and opportunities related to sustainability is becoming an important step during the tendering process for many companies and it's more important than ever that suppliers take this responsibility seriously.

Large companies with operations in the European Union could start being held responsible for environmental violations or human rights abuses committed by the business and their supply chains under a new law proposed in late February by the European Commission.

In early October, a global survey conducted by Jaggaer and Tealbook found that 70% of organisations are prioritising supplier diversity, but most of them are struggling to find diverse suppliers.