In post 1 on Pulse of Procurement 2014 series we discussed the Pain Areas for 2014 and the future expectations of Procurement Execs, we then discussed the current state of Procurement in post 2 and post 3 followed by a discussion on the Procurement Technology Trends for 2014 in post 4 and post 5. In our latest post we will explore the Procurement Technology Impact and Wish-list for 2014. This post would discuss the most successful tactics used by procurement professionals for promoting procurement automation.

As per the study, the top tactic mentioned by most of the procurement professionals for promotion of procurement automation for driving technology adoption and use are listed in the below table:

\A top tactic that works for procurement professionals across organizations and users is to select solutions that are intuitive and easy to use. However, the same professionals admit that the current solution that they are using is not very intuitive and easy-to-use, especially with respect to advance functionalities. On a scale of 1 to 7, with one being ‘difficult’ and seven being ‘very easy,’ procurement professionals rate standard features at an average weighted score of 3.9 (just slightly better than half way up the scale). They rate advanced features at a score of 3.3 — less than halfway up the scale. For advanced features, some 60% of procurement professionals score their current technology at two or lower on the 1-7 ease-of-use scale.

The table below compares average adoption & use rates according to where on the ease-of-use scale procurement professionals rate their currently deployed solutions’ standard features. Organizations reporting high ease of use in standard features see the biggest upward usage bump among enterprise procurement personnel — 24 points higher, on average, when compared to companies rating their standard solution features as essentially difficult to use. Among distributed procurement personnel, the adoption & use differential is +16pts; for spend stakeholders it is +18pts when standard solution features are rated as very easy to use.