I’ve been producing content on procuretech for 5 years.
It’s official!
I launched the first episode of The Procuretech Podcast on 25th March 2020. (We later rebranded to The Procurement Software Podcast to match our software directory.)
When I look back at some of my early guests, a few of them back then were pretty small startups that have gone on to do bigger things. Stephany Lapierre from TealBook, Edmund Zagorin from Arkestro, and Pierre Laprée from Per Angusta (later acquired by SpendHQ) were all on the show in Series 1.
Four guests from early on who became good friends are Susan Walsh, Joël Collin-Demers, Sarah Scudder and Rich Sains.
A lot of things have changed since then. But some have stayed the same.
In hindsight, I now know a couple of key factors.
- Procurement – by and large – is still a very conservative and technocratic profession.
- There is still an awareness gap among procurement leaders of what technology and applications are out there, especially if we exclude large enterprises who have Centre of Excellence expertise.
So, let’s take a quick tour of 10 key changes since 2020, as well as 5 challenges or ongoing debates which still persist.
What’s Changed?
1. Advancements in AI
This one is the biggie. When ChatGPT burst onto the scene in September 2022, it was clear that it was game-changing. It gained 100 million users faster than any other tech application in history.
Since then, procurement software companies have been racing to add AI into their product (or enhance their previous offering).
There have also been a flurry of new, AI-first tech platforms offering agentic solutions which I – and most other commentators – believe will be game-changing.
2. UI/UX being prioritised
Back in 2020, this wasn’t really being talked about. Incredible really, when you think that all of the consumer apps with great UX that we’re so used to were well-established and going strong, even back then.
It took a while for procurement leaders to realise that saddling stakeholders and suppliers with clunky software won’t win you any popularity contests. And it probably won’t reduce your maverick spend problem or your admin overload either.
Thankfully, in 2025, it’s pretty much a given that any tech that’s implemented needs to have a slick UX. Most analyst firms even evaluate this as one of their criteria now.
3. Intake & Orchestration as new category
Zip are widely credited with bringing the concept of Intake into the mainstream. I remember being on a panel chat organised by DPW in 2021 (when they were a virtual conference). Zip had just launched their product and were full of confidence that they were going to disrupt this space.
I guess they were right. Although how Intake & Orchestration – and SaaS in general – will fare against the new breed of AI agents and agentic AI functionality still remains to be seen.
4. More distributed / remote teams
2020 being the height of the pandemic meant that most teams had to get used to remote working for the first time.
While many firms settled on a more hybrid model of working post-pandemic, the cat is out of the bag with work from home and work from anywhere. Workations to escape the winter are here to stay. Working parents enjoy being able to walk the dog at lunchtime, or to pick the kids up from school.
As Millennials and Gen Z continue to climb the corporate ladder, policies on remote working I’m sure will swing back towards where we were during COVID. Time and location freedom is unstoppable.
5. A LOT more content
When we published our first podcast episode, there were only about 4 other podcasts out there covering Procurement, plus a few on Supply Chain.
Last count we published our list of 50 procurement podcasts (which, by the way, is due a refresh, as someone pointed out over the weekend!).
Additionally, there are now high quality YouTube channels, individual creators publishing weekly newsletters (wink) and MUCH more fun and engaging content on LinkedIn.
2020 was really the year where Procurement LinkedIn went from being stuffy posts from consultants to fun and engaging content from a diverse group of creators.
6. More procurement-specific events
The events space post-COVID has certainly blossomed too. I think we can credit the DPW team for making procurement events something we actually look forward to. It’s forced others to up their game.
We’re also now seeing more micro-events and user conferences from procurement tech firms. I especially love these, both to attend and speak at, as well as a great marketing tool for the organisers themselves.
7. Solution providers have procurement experts on their teams
There are still a surprising number of procuretechs who don’t have a procurement expert on their Founding Team, but change is afoot.
We’re seeing many more companies hire an in-house procurement guru e.g. Jose Bustillo at SpendHQ, Michael Shields at Tropic, and Shachi Rai Gupta at ORO. Others – e.g. Scoutbee and Arkestro – have a strong advisory board of current and former CPOs.
Then, we’re seeing startups founded by former CPOs / Heads of Procurement scaling up and succeeding. Focal Point, LeanLinking, Raindrop, and apadua immediately spring to mind.
8. Better selection of tech for SME & Mid-Market
I guess I don’t need to comment much here – this is something I talk about all the time.
After we launched ProcurementSoftware.site in March 2022, Spend Matters soon after also adopted some of our tags and search filters into their database for SME and mid-market software.
This was the biggest acknowledgement that the game had changed, and procuretech was no longer just for large enterprises.
9. Increased pace of consolidation
Good companies go bad, and bad companies go out of business. Or they don’t get their next round of funding and are acquired.
That’s life.
Sometimes, too, good products just don’t prioritise marketing enough to succeed in a brutally tough space where brand awareness is key.
The procurement tech space will probably look quite different a couple of years from now.
10. Gap growing between Best-in-Class and Laggards
This is increasingly being talked about by analysts and large consultancies, and it’s not hard to see why. As firms who are more open-minded towards experimenting with the latest tech continue to take bold decisions, they will increasingly outpace the laggards.
5 years ago, you could still get away with running a legacy S2P suite and fall too much behind your competitors. You increasingly can’t any more.
What’s Stayed The Same?
1. Suites vs. Best-of-Breed and Point Solutions
The debate that never goes away!
I’ve gone from being all-in on best-of-breed in 2020 to now being more cautiously pro-BoB / point solution. I acknowledge that large, well-resourced and mature procurement organisations may be better off with a suite, due to the complexity of their tech landscape.
SME and Mid-Market? I will always argue for BoB, as I did back in 2020.
The fact this debate is still out there probably means there will be a place for both in the future landscape.
2. Struggle to provide business case
It’s still one of the core factors why teams don’t get the necessary tech investment. We need to better with how we articulate the benefit, and move the conversation away from just cost savings and headcount reduction. Not easy, but vital, if we’re going to see tech’s full potential be realised.
3. Failed Implementations
Go on LinkedIn and you’ll see plenty of doom and gloom about failed implementations, and how they continue to haunt the corridors of senior procurement leaders.
Needless to say, the best tech won’t help you if you’ve not got the right people, a good change management playbook, and some budget to tackle your dirty data issues.
4. Low user adoption
Often linked to failed implementations, low adoption is usually a result of poor communication or execution of change management. It can also be exacerbated by instances where organisations buy the wrong tech for their level of procurement maturity.
5. Resistance to change
What summary on the state of procuretech would be complete with the old chestnut of stakeholder resistance?! Working in procurement and trying to drive change can often feel like pushing jelly uphill.
It’s unlikely to miraculously go away anytime soon. Although a good business case and some much-needed internal communications skills will certainly help to lubricate the wheels of change.
