As we take on 2025, procurement teams face an exciting, yet challenging, opportunity to transform their role within their agencies. Moving from cost-saving functions to strategic collaborators, procurement leaders can drive innovation, boost efficiency, and align with broader organizational goals while helping agencies stay on budget and provide greater taxpayer value.
Here’s a checklist of actionable steps your procurement team can take to stay competitive, embrace technology, and foster stronger collaboration.
01
Embrace Strategic Cross-Departmental Teamwork
Procurement is no longer a siloed function. To unlock its full potential, it must align with organizational objectives and work closely with other agency departments.
Steps to Take:
- Establish regular cross-departmental meetings to align procurement goals with organizational strategy.
- Collaborate with finance, operations, and sustainability teams to understand broader objectives.
- Build strong supplier partnerships by focusing on transparency, continued partnerships, and shared goals.
02
Upskill Your Workforce
With technology rapidly changing procurement and all business functions, continuous learning is essential to staying ahead.
Steps to Take:
- Invest in technology training programs to ensure all team members are comfortable with new systems.
- Encourage certifications in procurement and supply chain management for a deeper understanding of industry trends.
- Provide access to online courses and webinars focusing on eProcurement, data analytics, and sustainability.
03
Focus on Sustainability
Sustainability is no longer a “nice-to-have” but a strategic imperative for many procurement teams. Working with vendors and partners who prioritize sustainable practices will help you meet state and local regulations while staying on budget.
Steps to Take:
- Integrate any required or desired sustainability criteria into your solicitations, as well as you supplier evaluation process.
- Track and report on sustainable purchasing metrics, such as carbon footprints or recycled material usage.
- Collaborate with suppliers who prioritize environmentally friendly practices and innovations, managing their certifications and licenses digitally to save time and stress.
04
Leverage New Technology
Technology adoption is critical to procurement teams’ success in 2025, but full integration is the key to maximizing value. Beyond purchasing and implementing new software, technology champions must ensure that all users are fully capable and ready to utilize the software to its fullest potential.
Steps to Take:
- Adopt scalable eProcurement tools for automating manual processes like bid evaluation and supplier management.
- Work with your IT team to fully integrate procurement systems with ERP and financial tools, ensuring continuous training and support is available for users.
- Utilize spend analysis tools to identify cost-saving opportunities and optimize supplier contracts.
05
Strengthen Vendor and Supplier Relationships
Solid vendor partnerships lead to better contract terms, improved reliability, and innovation. Whenever possible, work with vendors to secure favorable terms by promoting continued partnerships, volume discounts, referral discounts, etc.
Steps to Take:
- Implement supplier performance management systems to track reliability, quality, and delivery.
- Create clear SLAs (Service Level Agreements) with measurable outcomes for accountability.
- Regularly communicate with suppliers to identify potential challenges and opportunities.
06
Prioritize Data-Driven Decision Making
Data is the backbone of modern procurement. Gathering clean, accurate data helps procurement teams make smarter decisions and more proactively manage their bids and contracts.
Steps to Take:
- Use procurement analytics tools to track spending patterns and identify inefficiencies.
- Leverage real-time dashboards for visibility into key procurement metrics like vendor performance and contract compliance.
- Train your team to interpret data and use it for strategic decision-making.
07
Address Resistance to Change
Transforming procurement processes requires buy-in from stakeholders at all levels. New technology is worthless if your team refuses to use it correctly – or at all.
Steps to Take:
- Engage stakeholders early in the process when adopting new technologies or strategies.
- Develop clear implementation plans with measurable milestones to demonstrate value.
- Offer ongoing support and training to reduce resistance and encourage adoption.
08
Prepare for Emerging Trends
The future of procurement includes new terms that can cause trepidation – AI, advanced analytics, blockchain, and robotic process automation (RPA) are all words that can strike fear into those who do not understand them. But breaking down these terms and concepts and understanding how they can be used to benefit your agency and team can make them less scary and more exciting.
Steps to Take:
- Explore how Artificial Intelligence and machine learning can help you streamline processes, build solicitations faster, evaluate bids more effectively, improve supplier recommendations, and make smarter risk assessments.
- Research blockchain technology to see how your agency make more transparent, secure transactions.
- Experiment with RPA to streamline repetitive tasks like invoice approvals or purchase order processing.
The Road to 2025
Strategic transformation in procurement doesn’t happen overnight – especially not for public agencies. However, by taking these actionable steps, procurement teams can position themselves as strategic powerhouses within their organizations.
The time to act is now: embrace change, upskill your team, integrate new technologies, and prioritize collaboration. By doing so, you’ll not only navigate the challenges of 2025 but also drive meaningful value for your organization for years to come.
SHARE
