My colleague Bernie Donachie wrote earlier this week about high-performance procurement, focusing on some top performer characteristics that emerged from our procurement survey prior to its release. The full report is now out, and, top performers notwithstanding, it shows that there are divergent perspectives across stakeholders when it comes to the value generated by the procurement function.
The key takeaway from the results of Protiviti’s 2017 Procurement Survey is clear: Procurement functions need to focus on how they drive value and how they quantify and communicate their performance. In what is arguably the most notable finding in the survey, close to half of finance leaders say 20 percent or less of procurement savings drop to the bottom line. Just one in five finance leaders say their procurement functions effectively manage both direct and indirect costs. Overall, only a small percentage of bottom lines actually realize the savings that procurement functions have achieved. These and other issues identified in the study need to change.
In our report, we share key findings from the survey, examine the perceptual gap between finance and procurement regarding procurement’s objectives and value, identify traits commonly displayed by leading procurement functions, and present some action items for procurement and finance leaders to consider as they seek to get on the same page while increasing the value that the procurement function delivers to the bottom line.
Jim
