change or transformation teams but it ' s not common . So there is a massive opportunity to help close this gap by professionalising and levelling up our own skills in being able to more effectively drive change .”
Top priorities for procurement leaders in 2022 and beyond When it comes to priorities for procurement leaders as we start the new year , Walden would like to see investment in people at the top . “ It should be , but it ’ s definitely not the top priority ,” says Walden . “ The top priorities for procurement will still be cost savings particularly in today ’ s environment of scarcity and inflation . It will also be third party risk management , business resilience , supply assurance , sustainability , and mastering data and information architectures . We run a study every year that looks at the CPO top 10 priorities , and people are always in the top 10 , but it ' s usually around number seven , eight , or even nine . But I think it needs to be much higher .”
Adding to Walden ’ s comments , Belotserkovskiy says : “ organisations shouldn ’ t try to wait this cycle out , taking a bet that it is going to come back to normal is a dangerous place to be . We are seeing volatility increasing , and if it ’ s not the next virus then its climate change , it ’ s a natural disaster . Recent history points at a need for increased resiliency so it comes down to what capabilities do we need to build now to deal with recent disruptions . All of the implementations made in response to recent disruptions now need to be built into the fabric of procurement in a sustainable way going forward .”
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