The survey of 200 executives, including CEOs, CFOs and CPOs, found that 17 percent of respondents thought their business's procurement function was "entirely strategically focused." Fewer than one in five thought the function had driven significant value for their organisation in recent years.
Conducted by consultancy firm Ayming, it also identified a gap between how heads of procurement and CEOs view the function’s performance.
“While [CPOs] are looking to external fixes such as new technology to improve performance, the executive team is more likely to want procurement teams to change their culture and become more proactive in seeking out a central role in business strategy,” the report said.
The survey involved a number of executives from businesses of different sizes and across a range of sectors.
It found that 90 percent of CPOs thought technology was the answer to improving efficiency, while a quarter (26 percent) said it was departmental reorganisation. Answering the same question, 76 percent of CEOs said technology and 58 percent said reorganisation.
