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Digital World-Class Procurement – “Reaching New Heights in Peak Performance”

July 20, 2021

Season 2, Episode 2

Host Chris Sawchuk talks with Tim Yoo, leader of The Hackett Group’s Technology Practice, about findings from the latest digital world-class procurement Research “Reaching New Heights in Peak Performance,” which details how technology enables procurement organizations to improve efficiency, effectiveness, and customer experience. They also discuss how data and analytics skills have become more important in procurement, and how challenging it has become to find talent qualified and able to utilize these tools to provide greater business value.

Show Notes

Host Chris Sawchuk introduces guest speaker, Tim Yoo—Principal and eProcurement Practice Lead at The Hackett Group. Today’s topic is based on the Hackett Group’s recent research paper, “Reaching New Heights in Peak Performance”. This paper is part of the digital world class technology series and speaks to the impact of the digital realm on procurement performance. Taking a set of organizations, the Hackett Group divided them into groups based on their utilization of technology, and then compared them to see the impact of this technology. With the varied performance metrics measured, there was significant indication that technology was having an outsized impact on organizations.

Chris kicks off the conversation with asking Tim about this outsized impact, and what the culmination this has had on the rising digital world class performance group. Listen as Tim talks about the benchmarks of digital technology enablement, its critical role in pushing companies into this new world class performance group, and the gaps that have been created. With a rising performance bar, the digitization and automation of procurement processes has changed the measure of transaction cost. There is no longer a sole focus on the transactional activities, but rather now a focusing on the additional value-adding services an organization can offer.

After looking at quantifiable impacts, they discuss the enablers that were found in the study. Chris and Tim chat about the six areas where world-class performers really excel. What areas have a bigger outsized impact? Or, are all equally balanced? Tim points out the foundational role that technology enablement plays in the grand scheme. While the other areas are just as important, they have to follow the enablement of technology. Learn about Cloud-based modern architecture that is giving ease to user engagement.

Looking forward, what key priorities should businesses be focused on? Find out more about the impact of data and analytics; it is not all just about the technology, Tim provides insights of other aspects that are critical to make this component successful. Operating models are evolving with technology usage. Chris asks Tim about a critique and challenge that he has for their clients. They converse about the lack of talent in this digitally enabled world of procurement—the reality is that there is not a lot of talent out there, so organizations need to train and build the talent in-house to manage their technology. There is a need for both skills and abilities in order to manage and to continue to drive improvement and adoption across the organizations.

The conversation draws to a close with one last question—how does one keep up with all the things being introduced out there? In this constantly evolving and changing market, Tim recommends focusing on the outcomes that you are trying to reach, then you can determine what is the best fit for you. By keeping the end in mind, you will be able to evaluate what is in the marketplace to assist you toward that end.

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