A 14-year review of Deloitte’s CPO Surveys uncovers ongoing procurement challenges that remain unaddressed despite advances in technology and strategic ambitions, highlighting the need for a fundamental shift in mindset and incentives.
The Procurement Problems That Refuse to Go Away
What 14 Years of Deloitte CPO Surveys Tell Us from 2011–2025
Iain Campbell McKenna has built his career at the intersection of procurement and people. A former transformation leader turned consultant, he works with CPOs and leadership teams to help reimagine what procurement – and the teams behind it – can achieve, focusing on building high-performing functions that deliver measurable outcomes. He is also the host of the Procurement in 5 Minutes podcast, exploring topics from supplier diversity to digital innovation. A strong advocate for more dynamic, inclusive, and impactful procurement, Iain brings practical insight, curiosity, and energy to the SRM community.
Despite new operating models, digital platforms, ESG mandates, and now AI, a review of Deloitte’s Global Chief Procurement Officer Surveys from 2011 to 2025 reveals an uncomfortable truth: the same core problems keep reappearing.
Different language, different tech, but the same conclusions. Here are the five procurement challenges that have remained most consistent over the past 14 years and why that should concern every CPO.
Top 5 Consistent Procurement Trends 2011–2025
1️ Cost Reduction & Savings Delivery
This has never moved from the top spot.
- 2011–2014: 70–80% of CPOs report cost reduction as the primary objective
- 2017: 79% list cost reduction as the top priority
- 2018: 78% still prioritise cost savings
- 2023: 76% say savings delivery remains their #1 KPI
- 2025: 96% of top-performing procurement teams meet or exceed cost targets (vs ~80% average)
Message:
Despite years of discussions about strategic value, ESG, AI, and resilience, procurement is still judged first on its ability to deliver savings.
2️ Risk Management & Supply Continuity
Always present, but only the context changes.
- 2011–2015: 45–55% supplier and supply risk
- 2018: 54% list risk management as a top priority
- 2021: COVID pushes risk to the top of CPOs agenda
- 2023: 70%+ report increased risk exposure
- 2025: 75% actively maintain alternate suppliers
Message:
Risk never went away; it’s just continuously rebranded (financial, geopolitical, resilience).
3️ Talent & Capability Gaps
A problem procurement has never solved.
- 2011–2013: 65–70% say skills limit impact
- 2017: 87% say talent is the biggest performance driver
- 2018: 51% admit teams lack capabilities
- 2023: 70% struggle to attract procurement talent
- 2025: Talent development remains a top-three priority
Message:
For over a decade, procurement has recognised that people are the most important. However, recruitment processes still lack the human element, and we continue to underinvest and impose strict caveats, such as requiring the right vertical expertise, category experience, and qualifications, which limits the talent pool.
4️ Technology as an Enabler (but Slow Adoption)
High belief. Slow execution.
- 2011–2014: Analytics described as a “future differentiator”
- 2017: 65% say analytics is the most important technology
- 2021: Leaders are 4–18x more likely to deploy AI and automation
- 2023: Less than 40% have scaled advanced analytics
- 2025: Leaders invest 2x more in digital than peers
Message:
Digital has been on procurement’s agenda for over a decade, but only a few have actually executed at scale.
5️ Push for Strategic Influence (Seat at the Table)
Aspiration has outpaced reality.
- 2011–2016: Procurement seeks greater strategic influence
- 2018: 60% say the function is still seen as operational
- 2021: CPOs spend 76% of their time on transactional work
- 2025: 57% still cite organisational silos as a major barrier
Message:
Procurement may want a seat but hasn’t fully changed how the room works and struggles to believe they have earned it.
So Why Hasn’t This Changed?
Part of the answer is structural. Reporting lines still shape behaviour. While around 23% of procurement teams still report to the CFO, down from 48% pre-pandemic, procurement teams now report to COOs. 60% are measured on a cost-first mindset, even as expectations broaden.
Incentives matter too. Procurement is sold a strategic narrative but rewarded almost exclusively on short-term savings and o lowering operating expenditure. That disconnect quietly drives strategic thinkers away because there is no incentive to do otherwise. But this isn’t just a systems problem, and systems will never be the silver bullet. At its core, this is a people problem.
Real change requires a more entrepreneurial mindset and a deliberate shift in how procurement is perceived internally. As any strong CEO will tell you: always hire people better than yourself. People who challenge thinking, bring new perspectives, and raise the bar.
That means challenging the status quo and building procurement teams that stakeholders respect, teams that enable the business, create value, and strengthen supplier relationships, not functions driven by reducing contract spend, driving suppliers down further and further on cost or seeing new suppliers as higher risk when they are trying to solve the problem that the bigger companies are just not addressing.
If we want the next Deloitte CPO Survey to look different from the last, now is the moment to change course, intentionally, visibly, and with people at the centre.
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