Fewer than a fifth of procurement directors and executives believe that their teams contain “adequate talent” to meet the future needs of their organisations’ procurement functions.
In a recent survey of 111 procurement leaders, analyst firm Gartner found that, while procurement leaders remained fairly confident in their current talent pools, when asked about their ability to meet future demand, confidence plummeted.
“Procurement leaders are generally confident in the current state of their talent and the ability to meet their near-term objectives,” commented Fareen Mehrzai, Senior Director Analyst in Gartner’s Supply Chain Practice. “However, our data shows that chief procurement officers (CPOs) are worried about the future and having sufficient talent to meet transformative goals based around technology, as well as the ability to serve as a strategic advisor to the business.”
The threat of an industry-wide talent shortage has been looming for several years, and isn’t constrained to the procurement and supply chain sectors.
In the UK, half of all employers expect to face talent and skills shortages when recruiting procurement and supply chain professionals—something 20% of firms believe will be exacerbated by Brexit. In Europe, firms say they already lack “highly qualified procurement personnel”, with 78% of procurement leaders surveyed as part of a recent Accenture report “increasingly confronted with skills shortages in their procurement departments.”
A Different Beast: Procurement Professionals’ Key Competencies “Shifting”
One of the key reasons that procurement leaders lack confidence in their industry’s talent pipeline to meet future demands is reportedly the shifting nature of the modern procurement function.
“Procurement leaders are aware that the competencies required to drive transformation are different from traditional procurement skills, and that there are significant gaps between their current and future needs for the most important competencies,” Mehrzai said. Only 4% of surveyed leaders said that no gap existed between their current capabilities and their need for technology and data skills, with 68% of leaders saying technology and data skills had become more important to the operation of their procurement function in the past year.
Increasingly, procurement is a data-driven, technology-focused sector, but it appears the development and recruitment of available talent lacks behind the sector’s need to not only drive transformation within the business but also serve as a strategic advisor to its key decision makers. As generative AI and data analytics are adopted in greater concentrations across the sector, the demand for professionals who are primarily equipped with technology and data-centric skillsets — at the potential expense of a traditional procurement background — will only increase.
By Harry Menear
