Just 6% of leading companies have fully embraced digital transformation in the way they buy and sell services

A new report from Globality, an AI powered procurement platform and the Sourcing Industry Group (SIG) has found that just 6% of leading companies have fully embraced digital transformation in the way they buy and sell services in the £3.9 billion global market, a new survey released today has revealed.

The study also found that 94% are in early- to mid-stages of their transformation, meaning the vast majority have considerable work to do.

Further, only 15% of organisations surveyed believe that they are either “best in class”
or “industry leaders when it comes to digital transformation of their procurement processes and operating models, and 50% of global procurement leaders admit their companies are ‘laggards’ when it comes to the digital transformation of their B2B sourcing processes and operating models.

“Organisations who take proactive measures to transform their current procurement processes and operating models will enjoy considerable competitive advantage in a rapidly changing market, both now and well into the future,” said Dawn Tiura, SIG Chief Executive Officer.

The survey questioned more than 120 global procurement leaders with 84 percent of respondents in positions at a director level or above. The industries represented ranged from arts and entertainment to manufacturing, finance and insurance. More than half of the respondents were responsible for procurement spend in North America, and more than 40 percent were accountable for global spending.

“The average Global 2000 company spends over £3.9 billion a year on services and all of it can be spent smarter and better,” said Keith Hausmann, Globality Chief Revenue Officer. “These findings highlight the need for companies to utilise the sophisticated, AI-powered technology that now exists to enable fair, competitive, sustainable self-serve sourcing.”

“Through digital transformation, procurement can create far more impact on a company’s profitability, as well as helping to enable its ESG agenda,” he added.

Globality’s Platform and marketplace is used by leading global companies, including British Telecom, Santander, HSBC, GEA, and Dropbox, to transform the sourcing of high-value services by automating demand creation, supplier identification, proposal evaluation, and the statement of work creation process through an intuitive self-service experience.