Building capability and transformation
As procurement’ s influence expands, Tomas Veit believes the focus must now shift to capability building.“ A futureready procurement function is not built by chance,” he says.“ It requires deliberate and sustained investment across people, processes, systems and partnerships.”
For him, capability has two dimensions. First, the individual skills – in risk management, sustainability, analytics and AI – that have become table stakes for modern practitioners. Second, the collective consistency that ensures all regions, teams and processes align under common principles.
“ Fragmentation – whether in systems, behaviours or governance – is a major barrier to scale,” he cautions.“ Technology enables capability, but it’ s not a solution in itself. Systems should simplify and enable better decisions, not add layers of complexity.”
His view challenges a common trap: investing heavily in tools without equal focus on people and processes.“ You cannot modernise procurement by focusing on one dimension alone,” Tomas warns.“ The strongest functions evolve
98 March 2026