On Solid Ground:

BUILDING THE DATA

FOUNDATION FOR
AGILE PROCUREMENT
3-PART WEBINAR SERIES:
APRIL 7th, 14th, and 21st, 2021
Executive Summary
In March of 2020, 81% of procurement leaders were not completely
confident in their supplier data, seeds of doubt that bloomed into crisis
when COVID-19 rocked their industries. An overwhelming 82% of
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procurement leaders discovered that their supplier data was less than
completely adequate during the pandemic.

It’s Now
or Never! An overwhelming 96% now say being agile is more
important than cost savings for their companies’
bottom line in the long run, including a stunning
42% who feel strongly that this is the case,
81%
according to a survey of 200 Procurement and
Sourcing Executives (Director-level or higher) at
companies with $200 million or more in annual
revenue conducted by Wakefield Research for
Tealbook.

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Key Findings
Essential takeaways from Despite this, almost 3 in 4
this research include: (73%) have not yet made the
necessary improvement to
future-proof supply chains.

Concerns add up despite

the cost of the data: the
average cost of a single
Nearly a year after COVID-19
supplier record is estimated
upended supply chains, 72%
to be $2,431—and perhaps
are concerned that their
more alarmingly, a third of
companies’ supplier intel has
procurement leaders (33%)
not significantly improved.
admit they have no way of
knowing how much a
supplier record costs.

96% of procurement leaders

agree that being agile is more Meanwhile, 57% of procurement
important than cost savings leaders rely on manual entry of this
for their companies’ bottom already costly data, compounding
line in the long run. the time and resources going in.

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Key Findings Furthermore, COVID-19 put into
perspective the need for best
(Continued) practices in ESG—but 63% still lack
full visibility into supplier data to
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fulfill this mandate.

Nearly 3 in 4 procurement leaders

(74%) are concerned their company
isn’t in a position to leverage
supplier relationships to drive
innovation—including 21% who are
extremely concerned.

Looking to the future, a solid data

foundation will be critical to
operational success—this is why 92%
of companies have become more
strategic in their indirect procurement
as a result of COVID-19.
Procurement professionals have a multitude of concerns about their lack
of data foundation, including missing out on innovation (30%), falling
behind the competition (26%) and not being able to determine ROI (22%).

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Section I : Nearly all (96%) agree that being agile is more important
than cost savings to the company's bottom line.
A Cause For Concern

72% of procurement leaders are concerned their supplier intelligence has

not significantly improved during the pandemic. This urgency is why 199
Around 3 in 4 procurement
out of 200 of procurement leaders surveyed say their company has planned
leaders have concerns about their
or implemented improvements to their supplier data and intelligence.
companies' supplier intelligence.

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Procurement Leaders
Top Concerns But missing out on innovation is far from the only major
concern worrying procurement leaders right now:
The top concern with inadequate supplier data is missing
out on supplier innovations (30%). In fact, 92% are at least
somewhat concerned their company is not in a position to
leverage supplier innovation, including 74% who are

91% 29% 26%

extremely or very concerned.

multiple concerns compromising falling behind

stemming from a lack of the integrity of the competition
high-quality supplier data IT solutions

30% SUPPLIER INNOVATIONS

NOT IN A POSITION
92% TO LEVERAGE
SUPPLIER INNOVATION

EXTREMELY CONCERNED
74% TO LEVERAGE More than a quarter also cite not being able to assess
SUPPLIER INNOVATION
or improve supplier diversity (26%), while more than 1
in 5 worry about not being able to determine ROI
(22%) or having a less efficient and effective company
(21%). Nearly as many are concerned about
partnering with untrustworthy vendors (19%) and
being more impacted by disruptions (19%).

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Concerns Expressed by
Procurement Leaders
Missing out on innovation or better solutions Not being able to determine ROI

30% 22%

Compromising the integrity of IT solutions Having a less efficient and effective company

29% 21%

Falling behind the competition Partnering with untrustworthy vendors

26% 19%

Not being able to assess or improve supplier diversity Being more impacted by disruptions

26% 19%

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Section II :
The Cost Of Falling Behind
1 in 3 procurement leaders aren’t
even able to determine the cost of
their supplier data.

Among those who know, they

Procurement leaders who lacked a strong estimate records-costs to stand
data foundation were let down by their around $2,431 on average.
supplier records, despite the massive
financial investment involved. Among
procurement leaders who can estimate the
cost of a supplier data, the average record
costs a shocking $2,431 each. In March
2020, more than half of procurement leaders
(54%) reported having 10+ suppliers,
including 22% who had more than 30
suppliers. A surprising 33% of procurement
leaders admit to having no way of
determining the cost of their data. In fact,
among those who do know the cost, only
29% are completely confident their
company knows the accurate cost for
managing supplier data throughout the Among those who do not know the cost of supplier data, 78% relied
entire supply chain. half or more on supplier data since the start of the pandemic,
significantly more the 56% of those who do know the cost—but for
these procurement leaders, the investment in external data did not pay
off: those who do not know the cost of supplier data (52%) are more
likely to say their supplier data during the pandemic was inadequate
than those who do know the cost (36%).

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The Importance of ESG A majority of procurement leaders lack visibility into their
supplier info with respect to governance criteria.
Procurement leaders continuously grapple with the growing importance of
Environmental, Social and Corporate Governance (ESG) criteria: but even as
these criteria become more essential to procurement, procurement leaders
themselves struggle with having all the information they need. Just 37% of
procurement leaders report full visibility into their supplier information to fulfill
their ESG criteria mandate. ESG compounds procurement leaders’ frustrations
with a lack of visibility, which in March 2020 presented risks such as delays in
projects (47%), delays in payments (46%) and missed deadlines (39%).
Procurement leaders continue to struggle with lack of visibility, which is both an
individual vulnerability that puts them at risk as well as one more gap in the
data foundation they are struggling to bolster.

Only around 2 out of 5 said they have full visibility into their supplier
info when it comes to determining compliance vis-à-vis Environmental,
Social and Corporate Governance.

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Section III :
Information Underload
As the effects of COVID-19 rippled across supply chains
worldwide, procurement leaders felt the effects as they Just 54% of procurement
struggled to react quickly to the pandemic. Not only did leaders have real-time
41% of procurement leaders find their supplier data access to supplier data.
inadequate during the COVID-19 pandemic, a surprising
26% found it mostly or completely inadequate. 54%

57%
26%
41%

61% of procurement leaders relied

half or more on external data during
COVID—in fact, 45% report that A surprising 3 out of 5 (57%) procurement leaders say
their team is still using external data that their supplier data gets entered manually.
to supplement their supplier data.

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The High Cost of
A New Direction on Indirect Procurement
Manual Entry

A surprising 57% of procurement leaders say their 92% report that indirect procurement
supplier data requires manual entry—including a has become more strategic since
COVID-19, including 35% who say it’s
shocking 35% of procurement leaders who say they
are manually entering supplier data themselves. 92% now much more strategic.

35%

57% This highlights how every aspect

35% of procurement leaders’ work,
not just direct procurement, have
been upended and reinvented
during the pandemic, including
how they procure important
internal supplies.

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Section IV : Top Reasons Procurement Leaders Report That
Their Company Might Not Be Leveraging
Building A Foundation Supplier Relationships to Drive Innovation

Procurement leaders are sounding the Still recovering from disruptions due to COVID-19
alarm on their inability to capitalize on 48%
supplier innovations—and they are
diagnosing the root cause with the Lack of corporate initiative to do so
hopes of making the changes necessary 31%
to begin influencing the marketplace.
Too committed to existing suppliers and processes
31%

Lack of a data foundation strategy

31%

Bad or incomplete data

29%
Procurement leaders can play catch up in
the aftermath of the pandemic, but without Don’t have the resources to find and implement
investment in a strong data foundation,
they will be in the same position if and 21%
when another disruption occurs.

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Conclusion
Companies need to learn from their procurement
leaders’ struggles during COVID-19 in order to take
steps now to improve their data foundation.
More than 4 in 5 procurement leaders (82%) found their
supplier data lacking during the COVID-19 pandemic, despite
the surprising $2,431 average price tag on a single supplier
record —records 35% of procurement leaders admit they are
manually updating themselves.
An overwhelming 91% of procurement leaders have multiple
concerns stemming from a lack of high-quality supplier data,
especially missing out on supplier innovations or solutions
(30%), as well as compromised IT integrity (29%), falling
behind the competition (26%), and not being able to assess
or improve supplier diversity (26%).
While 92% of procurement leaders feel their companies’
indirect procurement has become more strategic as a result of
COVID-19, 73% say their improvements to supplier data and
intelligence being made in response to the disruptions of
COVID-19 are still incomplete.
96% agree that in the long run, being agile is more important
than cost savings for their company’s bottom line.
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About Wakefield Research
Wakefield Research is a leading, independent provider of quantitative,
qualitative, and hybrid market research and market intelligence.
Wakefield Research supports the world’s most prominent brands and
agencies, including 50 of the Fortune 100, in 90 countries. Our work is
regularly featured in media.
Methodological Notes
The Tealbook Survey was conducted by Wakefield
Research (www.wakefieldresearch.com) among
200 Procurement and Sourcing Executives
www.wakefieldresearch.com
(Director-level or higher) at companies with $200
million or more in annual revenue, between
January 22nd and February 3rd, 2021, using an $200
email invitation and an online survey.
Milion

50 of the Results of any sample are subject

Fortune 100, to sampling variation.

in 90 countries i. Asked among 250 Procurement and

Sourcing Executives director-level or
above, with no revenue requirement.

To download the full study to access all our findings visit: ii. Small base size; directional finding only.
http://insights.tealbook.com/wakefieldsurvey

6.9

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THANK YOU FOR JOINING US!
Be sure to look out for all 3 parts of the series on our YouTube page.

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