There is general agreement that the role of procurement in company success is growing – and that this value often comes beyond just negotiating the best price with suppliers.

Supply Chain Digest Says... Patel says Procurement professionals need to be proactive and find their way into the business and feel comfortable with settling in their space, just as fluids do." What do you say? Click here to send us your comments Click here to see reader feedback

In a recent guest column on the UK's SupplyManagement.com web site, Avnish Patel, a procurement manager at Air Products, offered some interesting insight on the "next generation" skills procurement professionals will need to succeed in coming years and deliver on this expanded value proposition.

They include:

Innovation: Patel says that "Outside-the-box thinking and coming up with smart ways of extracting cost from the entire procurement process, not just driving down the unit cost, and improving stakeholders' experience should be at the forefront."

Execution: Because procurement is very dynamic, it requires people who can easily handle and execute change management, Patel says. "Execution is the bridge between conception and implementation. It's great to have a vision but it can only be realized if the plan to achieve is executed well," noting that of course many strategies don't succeed because of poor execution and change management.

Puzzle solving: There are many piece to the procurement puzzle that need to fit together to see the full picture, Patel says. Those pieces include spend analysis, market research, supplier risks, terms and conditions, service levels, price, stakeholder engagement and internal customer satisfaction. Procurement leaders need to devote more attention to developing their team's skills in these area, Patel adds.

Communication: Procurement touches almost every area of a company, Patel notes. As a result, the ability to communicate with stakeholders at all layers is a critical skill. Procurement is still evolving and maturing in many organizations, Patel adds, meaning that excellent communication skills are required to influence stakeholders and create trust in the procurement brand needs.

Fluidity: In nature, fluids find their way into any voids easily and settle in. In business, procurement is not always invited to the party even when it should be, such as many discussions occurring with suppliers or for business deals. "Procurement professionals need to be proactive and find their way into the business and feel comfortable with settling in their space, just as fluids do," Patel says, adding that ultimately procurement professionals are "business advisors" and show that they can play that role well by helping the stakeholders to feel comfortable when procurement is around, earning their confidence and trust.

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A key question from all this then becomes how mature a given procurement organization is, or where it is headed, Patel writes.

Naturally, if a company is operating at tactical level, meaning primarily the procurement function is reactive and always trying to catch up with business needs, with the focus on "bid and buy," then building many of these next generations skills may not have much value.

Trying to do so will "create an imbalance and could destroy procurement's ability to create value if the maturity level of the function and skills are not in sync," Patel concludes.

What would you add to this list of next generation procurement skills? Let us know your thoughts at the Feedback section below.

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