Procurement Leader Strategies for Bridging Gaps in Stakeholder Alignment

brought to you by WBR Insights

An exclusive look at data captured from members of the ProcureCon Indirect East, contextualizing stakeholder management in an era of disruption.

Stakeholder alignment is a critical element of Procurement's success, and understanding how relationships are performing today as well as how they can be improved provides a significant advantage for executives who are able to apply the lessons gleaned from the collective experience of their peers.



Procurement is developing their relationships with stakeholders, with the most robust being with Operations and IT.

Coordination between Operations and Procurement is the strongest of the relationships evaluated in this study, with 71% of respondents reporting that they have either average or complete alignment with this group. Another notable stat is the level of alignment between Procurement and IT. Given the level of indirect spend that goes through the IT department as well as the importance of technology in assisting Procurement's mission, it makes sense that this relationship has become much stronger over time.

Notably, relationships between Procurement and Marketing, as well as Travel & Meetings showcase a much more varied level of development. Depending on the organization, as well as the level of influence that the procurement department has won within the organization, they may be more or less welcomed within these traditionally more autonomous groups.



When asked to identify which strategy would be the most efficient for bridging gaps between leadership in other departments, each response option landed within a three-point margin. This suggests that the ideal approach would seek to employ a blend of al strategies listed.

The two most commonly listed strategies for improving relationships across department lines are embedding personnel within the department in question, splitting off a dedicated group from the core procurement group to become specialized, as well as the implementation of self-service options that can empower the business and help them maintain a sense of control. Secondary goals include bridging communication and focus gaps by establishing shared metrics for value creation alongside facetime between department leaders. Finally, hiring for category experience takes the third-tier, which can contribute final assurances to other departments that their concerns are being heard and accommodated into decisions made on their behalf by Procurement.

Look out for the full research report to be released in 2019, and take a look at some of the great content on Procurement available now within our content center!

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