“The question of whether a computer can think is no more interesting than the question of whether a submarine can swim.”
(E. W. Dijkstra)

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Will technology replace procurement professionals?

Procurement is one of the most important departments of the company. However, in many companies it is still very traditional, slow to adapt to changes and it does not recognize the importance of technological progress. When talking about procurement functions, the emphasis is most likely to be put on generating savings, while the importance of analysis conduction, as well as the importance of adding value to the enterprise, are put in another plan. Fortunately, companies increasingly focus on digitization as the key to success, so digital transformation of procurement is an inevitable part of that process.

Procurement softwares have progressed significantly so far. Their functions have reduced the amount of repetitive work procurement professionals earlier had to handle and gave them insight into data that was previously impossible to access. However, with such rapid growth and technology advancement, there is one very important question that comes to our mind: Will technology replace procurement professionals? At the procurement conference we’ve visited recently, we’ve heard attitudes of some of the most influential people in the world of procurement so we decided to explore this topic in more detail.

Technology has progressed considerably in a short time, so for example, automatic cashier machines are increasingly replacing human cashiers, self-driving cars will soon be brought to perfection, and there is a store where no human is working – everything is automated. More and more jobs are being replaced by technology and many jobs we know today are likely to become history. But can technology completely replace procurement professionals?

In our research, we came across a website claiming that procurement professionals have a 98% chance of being automated. However, such automation implies primarily the introduction of digital solutions for processing big data and taking over burdensome activities that unnecessarily take away procurement professionals’ time. By developing and implementing intelligent software solutions such as Ensolva, which accelerate and automate processes, procurement professionals will finally have enough time to conduct analysis and plan future business steps strategically.

Procurement is an industry that benefits a lot of from the development of technology. Artificial intelligence in this area is widely applied, and this will be expanded in the future even more. Still, it is very unlikely that procurement professionals will be replaced by robots. Artificial intelligence will increasingly advance and accelerate processes that require a lot of time for their realization, which will give procurement professionals enough space for creative thinking and discovering new business solutions. Be ahead of the competition and, with Ensolva, take advantage of digital transformation today!