New Year Insights for the procurement solutions and services marketplace 2024: Globality

For several years now, Spend Matters has been collecting and publishing a series of articles about procurement, supply and services trends for the year ahead from expert tech and service providers in the market.

This year we’re highlighting the customer demands, market movements and advances in procurement tech that are exciting the world of solution providers, how they expect them to shape the S2P landscape next year and how they plan to respond to them.

Our series runs from mid-December to mid-January, then our senior analysts will wrap up with their own take on the key themes that emerge.

In no order of preference, other than by the date they arrived in our inbox, today let’s hear from Seth Catalli, Chief Revenue Officer at AI and autonomous sourcing leader Globality, Inc.

Understanding the transformative leap procurement is about to take

The field of procurement is undergoing a transformative shift — moving from the simple acquisition of goods and services for an organization based solely on cost considerations to something much more concerned with adding value.

The motor of this welcome, if not long-overdue, change: artificial intelligence (AI). By harnessing the capabilities of AI-driven technology, organizations can automate routine and transactional tasks, enabling procurement teams to focus on driving better business outcomes.

There’s also the lure of what becoming optimized can do for your team’s perceived contribution to your organization. As McKinsey notes, procurement leaders that demonstrate substantial value to the enterprise swiftly ascend to the role of strategic partners for CEOs, CFOs and COOs.

Utilizing AI means that procurement will soon position itself as a strategic force. This can be achieved by actively contributing to the unlocking of innovation and harnessing the capabilities of AI to enhance employee productivity. Forward-looking CPOs are integrating innovative technologies, such as intelligent and autonomous sourcing platforms, to streamline the sourcing process and empower their teams to operate with increased agility.

Recovering tens of millions of dollars that might otherwise be lost

In 2024, every business function needs a generative AI story, and procurement is no exception. AI enables autonomous sourcing by equipping employees with guardrails that allows them to run their own sourcing events. This ensures that all sourcing is done according to compliance rules and processes, and it also demystifies the process and speeds up the outcome so that every employee can act as a procurement professional.

AI-powered automation also enables procurement to recover tens of millions of dollars that might otherwise be lost due to inadequately managed indirect spend. If all indirect spend is competed for fairly and transparently with AI guardrails in place, the ability to negotiate and bring down contract prices effectively means that companies can save more than $10 million for every $1 billion in revenue.

The key lies in the redesign of manual processes, making them user-friendly, digital and intelligent. Shifting a greater portion of spending to business stakeholders through self-service channels — while maintaining compliance and adequate risk management — will also amplify operational efficiencies and cost savings.

Finally, how a company allocates its funds bolsters its ESG strategy. For example, COP28 has called for a tripling of renewables and a doubling down on increase in efficiency. CFOs and CPOs can really start the ball rolling here by encouraging their suppliers to adopt more sustainable practices — using intelligent digital technology to identify and engage with suppliers committed to such principles.

All in all, that’s an outstanding story for procurement leaders to tell as they head into 2024!

Many thanks to Globality for being a part of the series.

Read our senior analyst’s take on the key themes from the series here.

If you need to find the right procurement technology provider or service for your business needs next year, try Spend Matters TechMatch for a free rapid shortlist.

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As always, reach out to discover how Spend Matters can help with your new year commitments and wishes.