And they are right… in part.
But, in my experience, procurement’s greatest ability to create value exists long before a sourcing event ever begins. Before suppliers are approached. Before a specification is finalized. Even before the business has determined what it thinks it needs.
For procurement, that’s where the real opportunity sits.
The problem is timing
However, in many organizations, procurement is only brought into the conversation once the business is ready to buy. But, by that point, a lot has already happened. The need has been identified. The requirements have been defined. The specification has been written. The scope has been agreed. The internal view of the solution has already started to harden.
Procurement is then asked to go to market and get the best possible commercial outcome from a set of decisions it had very little opportunity to influence. Which is a fairly narrow way of using procurement.
Great value exists before sourcing ever begins
Procurement has a unique view of a business. It sits at the intersection between commercial goals and operational needs – and needs to keep the tension between the two at all times. It also has visibility into business requirements, supplier markets, cost drivers, operational dependencies, and supply chain risk all at the same time.
It can look at the requirement and ask: does the market actually deliver this in the way we are asking for it? It can look at the specification and ask: are we overcomplicating the solution? It can look at the supplier base and ask: are there alternative approaches we have not considered? It can look at the risk profile and ask: are we creating a dependency we may regret later?
Which is why involving procurement earlier matters, because it can help improve the quality of those decisions before they become fixed.
The value is not always obvious
Part of the reason this value is often undervalued is that it’s harder to see than a negotiated saving.
If procurement negotiates a lower price, the value is easy to report. But what if procurement helps simplify the requirement before the sourcing process begins? What if it challenges a specification that would have limited the supplier market? What if it helps the business avoid unnecessary spend altogether? What if it identifies a supplier risk before it becomes a disruption? The value can be significant. But it does not always show up neatly as a saving against a supplier quote.
That does not make it less valuable. In many cases, it may make it more valuable. Preventing unnecessary cost from entering the business in the first place is often more effective than trying to remove it later.
The same is true of risk. If procurement helps the business avoid a poor supplier decision, the value may never appear as a dramatic intervention. The disruption never happens. The dependency is avoided. The problem is prevented before it becomes visible.
That is often what good procurement looks like. It is not always loud. It is not always obvious. But it can have a significant impact on commercial and operational outcomes.
Procurement helps the business make better decisions
More and more, modern organizations are dealing with an incredibly hard balancing act. They need to remain competitive while building more resilient supply chains. They need to manage uncertainty while continuing to innovate. They need to respond quickly to changing customer demands while still protecting cost and operational performance.
Procurement sits directly in the middle of many of those pressures.
It sees supplier markets. It sees cost drivers. It sees operational dependencies. It sees commercial risk. It sees where the business may be asking the market for something that will be expensive, difficult, or risky to deliver.
That perspective can help organizations make better business decisions, not just better purchasing decisions.
This is where procurement can move from support function to strategic partner and begin to deliver additional value.
What decisions become better because procurement was involved?
Okay, but what decisions actually become better?
If an engineering team is defining a requirement, engineering should be involved. If operations is designing a process, operations should be involved. If finance is evaluating costs, finance should be involved. None of that is up for debate.
The question is whether the business benefits from having procurement there as well.
In my experience, it does.
Small changes made early often have a disproportionate impact later. A requirement that is better defined can expand the supplier market. A specification that is less restrictive can reduce cost and complexity. A commercial model that is challenged early can improve long-term value. A risk that is identified upfront can prevent disruption later.
Procurement can help shape those decisions before they become difficult to change.
And that is why I believe some of procurement’s greatest value is created before sourcing begins.