While sourcing and procurement go hand in hand to establish a concordant relationship among the supply chain agencies, the dynamics of the business environment in 2016 calls for a better arrangement in future global settings. One of the factors that will subsequently influence decision-making in procurement department, is the ability to integrate technology-driven methods in its day-to-day operations to provide a strategy-driven and industry-specific supply cycle.
Whether it’s regular procurement or strategic sourcing, the optimal amalgamation of every component of the supply chain will have endowing results in 2016. And the endeavour pays not only in terms of streamlining the transactional function of procurement and the transformation process of strategic sourcing. It also involves innovating the global supply chain management (SCM) thus to provide a comprehensive and coherent solution to every sourcing need that the new-age industry can come up with. In the same accord, we predict the following four trends that will reinvent procurement practices in 2016:
Augmented Reality
Augmented reality or AR has picked momentum right from the start of the year and offers optimistic promises to supply chain professionals. With data-driven insights and strategically picking optimisations, the professionals will be able to calculate profitable paths across multiple channels. And not to mention the improved experience through augmented reality. Superseding the rest using GPS navigation, AR equips you with heads-up and windshield displays so that your drivers face no or little distraction en route. Ensuring a more customer-centric facility planning, organisations realising the potentials of augmented reality can perform better than the best rest. Having a cutting edge over the rivals, you can model your workflow and check for possible loopholes in your model— all virtually, thereby decreasing the unnecessary expenses.
SCM empowered by Artificial Intelligence AI
We all know that AI is the next big thing since the invention of the internet. From Google to Tesla and Apple, every major tech-giant is improving the existing AI models, much to the benefits of procurement professionals. By smart placement of predictive technologies driven by new-age robotics, professionals will find more aptitude in handling the supply chain in addition to monitoring, analysing and improving the various components that work on or within supply chain cycle. Boosted by the Internet of Things, supply chain industry will witness a revolutionary stake of artificial intelligence-aided tools, by and large. Market leaders understand that close to 10 million self-driven vehicles will show up by 2020 and procurement agencies need to realise the importance of such a value-added system that can add to the existing supply chain management on a global level.
Procurement with more responsibilities
Sadly, most professionals equate procurement with a tiring struggle to negotiate with suppliers so as to earn a reasonable bargain. With the changing market forces and the advent of new global players, companies have shifted their objectives to minimise cost of sourcing and that is where procurement and sourcing can now assume the spotlight.
Weighing the market conditions and floating constraints like sustainability, organisations such as Moglix are adapting to the changing business trends. Adaptability therefore, holds the key to augment the efficiency of the sourcing process.
Procurement professionals taking the spotlight
Hiring top-notch candidates having aptitude and enthusiasm to understand the market forces, a company can ascertain its upper hand in the industry. Most companies see procurement as an investment that will ultimately upgrade their transactional and transformational functions. So the organisations are clear about who they going to hire in as procurement professionals. They will prefer candidates with above-average (academic) qualifications who can demonstrate experience and understanding of business units such as R&D, product development, marketing etc.
