JAGGAER Highlights the Importance of People, Processes, and Technology when Companies Embark on Digital Procurement Transformation

JAGGAER, the world’s largest independent spend management company, has partnered with the Chartered Institute of Procurement and Supply (CIPS) MENA, to deliver a webinar highlighting the importance of people, processes and technology when companies begin their digital procurement transformation and how to improve on existing processes.

The webinar revealed that more and more companies are opting to digitally transform their procurement processes to drive operational efficiency, increase the performance of their existing system, reduce operational costs, and increase employee productivity.

According to CIPS research, over 40% of firms surveyed said that cost is the biggest inhibitor in adopting digital technologies, specifically in terms of technical set-up, training, and ongoing support.
 

However, 95% of the companies surveyed have adopted at least one digital technology for their procurement and supply practice, with cloud computing, big data, and Internet of Things (IoT) leading the way. In addition, businesses have recognised cost-effectiveness as the primary benefit of using digital technologies, followed by real-time capability, agility, and transparency.
 

Michael Rosch, Senior Vice President, Customer Engagement, EMEA
 

JAGGAER’s Michael Rosch, Senior Vice President, Customer Engagement, EMEA, focused on the importance of companies considering their people, processes, and technology when embarking on a digital transformation journey.

“It is important to measure the effectiveness of business processes in terms of procurement and identifying areas of improvement. In terms of people, building a procurement team of the future is crucial, they must have the expertise, knowledge, and culture for successful change management,” said Rosch.

“Finally, finding an implementing the right technology to transform procurement into a value driver for the organisation is a must. Technology should be easy to use, process compliant, integrated, state of the art and futureproof."

Highlighting the importance of processes, he said, “Poor processes, combined with new technology, ultimately results in very expensive poor processes!” he added.

Rosch also outlined four development steps in procurement implementation. The first, automated procurement, ensures all spend under control, all processes automated and full data transparency. Digital procurement is the second, depicted by predictions by machine learning, rule-based recommendations, smart assistant, and self-maintained data-quality.

The third step is intelligent procurement which entails sourcing automation, contract compliance automation, requisition automation, supply-chain automation, supply-chain automation, invoice automation, and RPA integration for all recurring tasks.

The final step, autonomous procurement, involves an artificial neural network for self-learning, autonomous tactical procurement, sourcing strategy advisor, negotiation chatbot, supplier enablement based on AI, and algorithm trading network, enabled with partners.

Sam Achampong, FCIPS, Regional Head of CIPS MENA, said, “The digitalisation of procurement and supply is the practice of redefining models, functions, operations, processes and activities by leveraging technological advancements to build an efficient digital business environment – one where gains (operational and financial) are maximised, and costs and risks are minimised."

The webinar included a panel discussion featuring Yaser Alkhousi Chair of CIPS Jeddah Branch, Ahmed Baloushi and Wesam Bokanan, Chair and Vice-Chair respectively, of CIPS Riyadh Branch as well as Sam Achampong and Michael Rosch.

To view the webinar recording, please visit here

About JAGGAER

JAGGAER is the world’s largest independent spend management company, connecting customers to a network of 4 million suppliers in 70 countries, served by offices located in?the Americas, APAC, Asia and EMEA.
 

JAGGAER offers complete SaaS-based Source-to-Pay eProcurement solutions with advanced Spend Analytics, Sourcing, Supplier Management, Contract Lifecycle Management, Savings Tracking, and intelligent workflow capabilities?all on a single platform, JAGGAER ONE. JAGGAER has pioneered spend solutions for over two decades and continues to lead the innovation curve by listening to customers and?stakeholders in all industry sectors, public services and academia.
 

Additionally, JAGGAER integrates with most ERPs, can transact on one single platform or easily complement existing systems to drive more value and holds 37 patents – more than any other spend management provider.