Insights into CPO intentions: A new launch

With the launch of our new Procurement Intentions intelligence index, we can now provide unparalleled insight into the strategic thinking of global CPOs.

To gain that insight we ask our panel of senior, CPO-level, procurement executives a series of 15 questions on a regular basis with the aim of tracking significant trends and changes in approach over time. The questions focus on strategic areas such as headcount, global-sourcing, outsourcing, supplier-consolidation and payment-term decisions, among other things.

So, what do the results of our first study reveal?

While the aim is to track change over time, the studies do provide interesting insights as standalone datasets, and April is a good example – CPOs are intending to hire more, outsource more spend, reduce the number of suppliers they do business with and lock into fixed-price contracts.

One of our panel members suggested that the outsourcing trend was of particular interest: "The interesting figure is the amount of outsourcing… Companies can either build and/or buy internal capacity, or outsource. The fact that us and others are choosing to outsource more is a data point of uncertainty in long-term sustainable growth."

The full results of our Intentions surveys are available to members only, but here are a few highlights:

- 33% of respondents intend to increase procurement headcount over the next three months.

- 56% said more of their spend will be outsourced over the next 12 months.

- 80% of CPOs said their teams will spend more time on risk management.

To find out more about Procurement Intentions, click here.