I have been reading a lot about innovation, Industry 4.0, and the future of procurement in the context of those two drivers. The winds of change are, indeed, blowing and I think most procurement teams should expect to change willingly, or be forced to, in the very near future.
There is an appetite for changing the role of procurement and my reading suggests companies are expecting more of their procurement teams than just squeezing the price. But I think this type of change is different in that, this time it’s personal.
The digitisation of knowledge has lowered barriers to entry and threaded everything we buy with technological cotton. Category knowledge is not enough to keep us in sustained future employment. New “as a service” commercial models change the contracts by which we buy, and the way in which we have traditionally worked out what we should pay suddenly has no relevance when a service provider never passes title and expects you to keep current with the latest innovations her service offers. These types of changes are happening in every industry and category of spend. Knowledge workers have not been threatened like this before.
If we don’t adapt to this new reality, we will lose relevance. Our companies have cost incentives to use more efficient replacements for us like bots and other forms of artificial intelligence and it’s no longer science fiction to suggest this. The next iteration of how work is done is here.
It is time to take a long hard look at our skills and test how future proof they are. Many companies want their procurement teams to lead the way to supplier innovation or open source relationships. What you are doing with your skill set can ensure you are the supply that meets this new demand. Or not.