Procurement 4.0 goes way beyond spend analytics and Cloud hosted S2P - perhaps we will come to view them as 'entry grade'. In layman's terms Procurement 4.0 relates to how businesses will harness the opportunities provided by the digital revolution. I say 'businesses' because one of the casualties, if the profession don't quickly start to think in terms of Digital Procurement Strategy , may well be the traditional Function which could be digitised as a non-value adding function out of existence. Of course, that threat can be turned into a very real opportunity and help shift the wise to being recognised as indispensable due to their valuable strategic contribution!
Nevertheless, back to the IML/BME report, it's based on interviews with leading German procurement managers. Interestingly, none of whom think it is desirable for Procurement to take on the role of being a 'follower' in driving forward Industry 4.0!
The report envisages Procurement 4.0 will bring significant changes in:
- Technologies and systems;
- Organisation and processes;
- Management and people; and
- Business Models.
Basically a transformation of the function or a relegation of a function?!? This is radical stuff and I would love to see us see us seizing the opportunity as opposed to being viewed as part of the problem. A good starting position would be reading the IML/BMW report or my own whitepaper and having a discussion with colleagues to develop your response.
