4 ways to reshape procurement to enhance business values

Strengthening procurement’s role as a strategic business partner

Procurement is undergoing a significant transformation, expanding its role from a cost-saving function to a strategic driver of value, resilience, agility, and compliance.

The Deloitte and Coupa alliance can help chief procurement officers (CPOs) make the most of this expansion and drive business value. During a recent dialogue, Ryan Flynn, principal at Deloitte Consulting LLP, and Tricia Miller, SVP product marketing at Coupa, drew on data and decades of procurement experience to suggest four key areas where organizations can concentrate their efforts: 

1. Expanding roles strategically
“The success of the procurement function has increased demands on procurement,” said Ryan. “This comes at a time of increasing complexity and pressure on resources, so the organizations that can expand procurement roles strategically through digital transformation are going to create real advantage moving forward.”

Deloitte’s 2025 Global CPO Survey highlights procurement’s rising expectations to support growth, manage risk, and align sourcing strategies with sustainability goals.

The survey also shows that the spread across CPOs’ top four enterprise priorities is just 8%. While improving margins through cost reduction remains the highest priority, other objectives—such as operational efficiency, digital transformation and Generative AI (GenAI)—are nearly as important, underscoring procurement’s evolving and multifaceted role.

Top enterprise priorities in 2025

Deloitte’s survey of more than 260 CPOs identified improving margins via cost reduction (72%) and driving operational efficiency (68%) as the top two priorities for responding to macroeconomic challenges. Digital transformation is seen as a key enabler to deliver this strategy.

2. Leveraging technology and AI
The integration of technology and AI into procurement processes is non-negotiable for leaders aiming to stay ahead. The survey indicates that 95% of CPOs are involved in digital transformation initiatives, including next-generation technologies such as GenAI. 

The survey also found that “digital masters”—the organizations that have made effective investments in digital transformation, AI, and upskilling talent—deploy GenAI at 2x the rate of their peers and realize double the return on investment (ROI). This is significantly higher than “follower” organizations. Digital masters also invest more in procurement technology and are more likely to leverage best of breed solutions.

Solutions such as Coupa's AI-native platform can help organizations become digital masters by leveraging AI to enhance spend management. Coupa’s SpendGuard™ and Contract Intelligence can better equip procurement teams to optimize processes and mitigate risks.

As CPOs increasingly focus on AI, they should also consider how AI can help execute the specific tasks that keep their teams busy. Doing so helps empower procurement professionals to focus on the work that matters most and drive greater strategic value.

“Implementation is only the beginning of the journey,” said Tricia. “You’ve accomplished something through technology or AI deployment but if you don’t add an investment in people to sustain gains, they won’t grow and may even slide backwards.”

3. Investing in talent and capabilities
High-performing organizations have made significant investments in talent development.  CPOs identify digital skills as the most prominent competency gap, emphasizing the need for teams to both implement new technologies and leverage them effectively. High performers differentiate themselves by prioritizing digital capability development and business partnering in their training programs.

Consulting skills rank as the second most critical gap, reflecting the evolving role of procurement professionals. As one CPO noted, “in procurement, you need to sell more than you buy.” This shift requires teams to “sell” the procurement team’s ability to deliver value to the business internally, so they can influence demand management, develop innovative contracting strategies, and drive business innovation—skills that go beyond traditional supplier negotiations. 

By investing in talent development alongside technology, procurement functions can enhance their strategic influence and drive greater business impact.

Talent development priorities

CPOs identified their single biggest skill or competency gap:

4. Executing well and measuring outcomes
Effective measurement is critical for procurement organizations to sustain improvement and deliver strategic value. By consistently tracking progress against key performance indicators, leaders can identify opportunities, address gaps, and ensure alignment with organizational goals.

The Coupa Total Spend Management Benchmark Report supports this approach by providing 20 actionable KPIs for finance and procurement. These benchmarks help organizations structure transformation roadmaps, monitor outcomes, and drive continuous improvement. Organizations with reliable outcome measurements can translate strategic priorities into tangible results and position procurement as a catalyst for organizational success.

The Deloitte and Coupa alliance helps procurement leaders achieve their vision by combining leading transformation services with AI-powered spend management technology—driving innovation, accelerating business growth, and delivering measurable value across the organization.