Experts say more businesses should be willing to embrace certain technologies, such as online procurement and cloud computing, as in doing so the UK economy could get a £100 billion productivity boost.
This is according to latest research carried out by the Confederation of British Industry (CBI), which has found that many British firms aren’t taking on even tried-and-tested technologies – as a result this is harming productivity and growth.
Carolyn Fairbairn, the CBI’s director-general, said, “Too many firms are missing out on what’s right under their noses.
“Failing to adopt the nuts-and-bolts technologies of today is leaving a yawning gap in productivity and pay between businesses.”
Farida Gibbs, CEO of professional services firm Gibbs Hybrid, commented, “Predictive analytics are being used to transform five key procurement areas – spend, category, supplier, compliance and performance. A data empowered procurement function equipped with a new set of data skills enables collaboration and partnership with finance and supplier teams. Moving away from decisions based on retrospective fiscal data, real-time data is a powerful asset for procurement when it comes to spend analysis as businesses can adjust their strategy in a more agile way.
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Begin contracting now“Working in an organisation where there is no culture of data-driven decision making requires a shift in mindset. Data insights across the end-to-end process of procurement are helping businesses significantly reduce costs, enhance profitability, increase customer satisfaction, and gain competitive advantage.”
Gibbs added, “Procurement leaders are progressively looking for scalable solutions to prevent a data overload – speed and innovation are critical success factors in today’s digital world. According to ProcureCon’s Annual CPO Study of chief procurement officers, within the next 18 months only 3 per cent of respondents would have no procurement processes automation while 61 per cent would have between 21 per cent and 60 per cent of the process automated. Automation provides businesses the scalability to help process high volumes of data to derive meaningful insights.”
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