For several years now, Spend Matters has been collecting and publishing a series of articles about predictions and insights on procurement, supply and services trends for the year ahead from expert tech and service providers in the market.
This year is no different and we’ve framed the subject around “insights,” highlighting providers’ observations from the year they’ve left behind and how they see them shaping the year ahead.
This series will run from mid-December to mid-January, then our analyst Bertrand Maltaverne will wrap up with his own take on the key themes that emerge.
In no order of preference, other than by the date they dropped into our digital letterbox, today let’s hear from Costas Xyloyiannis, CEO of HICX, a supplier experience platform.
Cultural mindsets will shift in favor of the supplier and to enrich data
Demonstrating deep resilience has been a theme for businesses this year. War, climate change, Covid-19 and other disruptive events have demanded high attention, but so has environmental and social governance (ESG), an area in which reputational stakes are high.
This year, many businesses focused on safeguarding vulnerable supply chains with leaders starting to expand what they know about suppliers. Who are they? What are they doing? How are they performing? And, crucially, how do we contact the right people quickly?
Over two-dozen procurement and supply chain professionals formed a community earlier this year. Participants, who were in senior roles at multi-billion-dollar enterprises, carved out time each month to explore how these questions can be answered.
Two principles were universally appreciated. One was the idea that what’s happening in the supply chain must be crystal-clear. If not, businesses cannot respond swiftly to change, and they’re unlikely to be truly compliant. The other is that we need suppliers. Not only are they central to operations; suppliers also own the data which powers transparency.
We were pleased to notice that forward-thinking leaders are becoming aware of the experience which their businesses offer to suppliers and how this impacts data flow.
In 2023, we expect to see more businesses rethinking supplier engagement. Procurement and supply chain teams will lead the charge; they have a vested interest. Every other department which works with suppliers, i.e. most of the business, also stands to gain. We expect to see more C-suite executives taking an interest in how this is engaged.
Over time, we expect cultural mindsets to shift. Large organizations will start to actively improve the experience they give to suppliers and, in turn, receive quality data. Despite the changing landscape, we sincerely hope to see more businesses empowering themselves in 2023 to face the complex supply market with ease and confidence.
Thanks to HICX for being a part of the series, and look out for more insights for the year ahead.
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