7 Trending Business Practices disrupting Traditional Procurement

When I was a kid, my mom had a ’93 Ford Escort.

I remember that car as clearly as I remember banging with my fist on it’s ceiling singing Tom Petty’s Makin’ Some Noise.

Days and years went by, and eventually, the ’93 Ford Escort was living in the hybrid-dominated world of the year 2004. My mom decided that the Escort had seen better days, and started a new/used car hunt. She soon selected the Prius as her car of choice for its environmentally friendly features. The Escort joined its fellow junk metal comrades in an automotive-parts junkyard a few miles away from my childhood home.

My mom didn’t really choose to get a new car. Her previous car no longer functioned at the same level it once did, and she needed to make a decision to adopt something new. It was a natural progression of time and technology.

The correlation between technology and time is a special one. For every year that passes of time, it seems our technology advances 5 years, and begins to disrupt our lives — professionally and privately.

But, when my mom was buying a new vehicle, she didn’t decide to scrap the vehicle from 1993 and purchase one from 1995. Time and technology had progressed, and there were a plethora of better alternatives on the market in 2004. She chose the hybrid route.

I tell this story because I believe it’s incredibly applicable to the modern business landscape.

Organizations are ‘going carbon neutral by 2025’, and ‘implementing Artificially Intelligent business systems’ and ‘sourcing form solely environmentally friendly suppliers’. Initiatives are being put in place to make these statements a reality, but are these organizations agile enough to shift strategies, process and operations — for real?

In some cases — yes, organizations are changing their attitudes and becoming incredibly innovative in their restructuring of traditional business practices. In other organizations, marketing innovative business practices is good enough, as traditional business practices remain at the heart of operations, one bad PR headline away from full-on cardiac arrest.

Disruption has taken a stronghold of us all, and the correlation between time and technology has made it impossible to stay ahead of the curve. Some business functions have been forced to change more than others in the efforts to combat disruption.

Procurement is a business function that has undergone a lot of change in the last few years. Due to globalization, growing consumer demands on transparency, the pertinence of sustainable development and technological advancements, procurement and supply chain professionals have been highlighted as an integral part of their organizations. As a believer in the power of procurement, this recognition makes me happy. But, we can’t begin our journey towards the future of procurement excellence in a ’93 Escort. Simply put, we can’t expect outdated business practices to achieve innovative results. So… out with the old and in with the new!

Here are 7 Trending Business Practices disrupting Traditional Procurement, and doing so with all right!

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