Enterprise procurement professionals, faced with growing supply chain and other risks associated with the COVID-19 pandemic, are turning to business process outsourcing providers to help them improve the value they deliver to their organizations, according to a new report published today by Information Services Group (ISG) , a leading global technology research and advisory firm.
The 2021 ISG Provider Lens™ Procurement BPO and Transformation Services Global Report finds enterprises looking to become more agile in their procurement processes through digital innovations. Many are using business process outsourcing providers to deal with the complexity of the procurement process, including challenges created during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Read More : 1touch.io Launches Strategic Channel Partner Program
“As a result, procurement needs to be transformed into both an efficient and streamlined function and, more broadly, into a function that enables a more adaptable, agile enterprise overall.”
“The challenge of procurement is that the more strategic it becomes to an enterprise, the more complex it becomes,” said Jan Erik Aase, partner and global leader, ISG Provider Lens Research. “As a result, procurement needs to be transformed into both an efficient and streamlined function and, more broadly, into a function that enables a more adaptable, agile enterprise overall.”
The pandemic has caused supply chains to break and cash flow to be disrupted, with access to resources becoming more limited and unpredictable, the report notes. At the same time, incompatibilities within and between procurement systems, operations and organizations have become painfully visible. Procurement BPO goals of efficiency, cost reduction and risk mitigation became even more challenging to enable and achieve.
A growing number of enterprises are seeking to transform their procurement functions, operations and systems in response to problems that surfaced or were made worse during the pandemic, the report says. When executed effectively, this transformation creates business agility and adaptability that can support and protect enterprises through future market disruptions.
Read More : SalesTechStar Interview with Scott Norwalk, SVP Growth & Strategic Partnerships at Centerfield Corporation
Most providers of BPO services also provide procurement transformation services, the report says. The report assesses relevant platforms used by enterprises and service providers to help establish a solid software foundation for procurement transformation, agility and maturity.
Providers of transformation services offer expertise to help customers make operational, organizational and technological transitions, the report adds. One goal of transformation is to enable uniformity of experience, technologies, operations and outputs across all aspects of procurement. This requires a unification of organizations and systems that, in many cases, developed and grew in silos.
The report also notes many transformation providers are moving toward outcome-based pricing and payment options as customers look to preserve working capital during the pandemic. The irony is that customers need to spend more to transform procurement so that they can spend less in the future, the report says.
The 2021 ISG Provider Lens™ Procurement BPO and Transformation Services Global Report evaluates the capabilities of 21 providers across two quadrants: Procurement BPO Services and Procurement Digital Transformation Services.
The report names Accenture, Genpact, GEP, IBM, Infosys, TCS, Wipro and WNS Denali as leaders in both quadrants. Capgemini is named a leader in the BPO services quadrant.
Read More : Find Your Future Music Fans By Making Better Use of Digital Ads