Knowledge Note: Evolution before Transformation

There is no question that technological advancement has moved well beyond the days of multi-million dollar overarching initiatives in which implementation towards expected outcomes took years. In many instances, the realization of the anticipated returns never fully materialized if at all.

Despite the promise of the digital age to finally transform businesses, including procurement practices, most organizations seem to be “stuck” in a perpetual holding pattern of uncertainty. A McKinsey survey of 1,600 companies globally found that there is a universal belief in the digital promise; only 23 percent of executives indicate that they currently have an actual digital strategy in place. Of those, just 2 percent have a strategy regarding the digital transformation of their supply chain.

There are several reasons or obstacles regarding the reluctance to move forward with the digital transformation of the supply chain including the growing talent gap, perceived risk and the ability to manage it, as well as the paucity of clean data to drive digital capabilities including AI.

However, and based on the findings from the Evolution Before Transformation webinar, in this Knowledge Note, we will attempt to look beyond the above individual obstacles and focus on the strategic approach to leveraging cloud-based SaaS technological capabilities to achieve change and realize measurable outcomes. Specifically, the assess-develop- implement progression model to digitally transform your procurement practice.