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As organisations focus on finding ways to procure the best products within their budget, supply chain comes to the forefront as a strategic resource that drives business value.

But adapting to every emerging trend for achieving the best results can become cataclysmic if you fail to get your fundamentals right. The procurement technology is expected to undergo a paradigm shift with the rising demand for real-time collaboration.

A recent global procurement report revealed the role of technology in reshaping every element of procurement for improved operational efficiency and timely contract management. Companies that will adopt a progressive approach will be in a better position to handle these ten major trends that will change the scope and structure of global sourcing:

- Procurement will play a decisive role in all operational decisions

- Customer relationship management will take the centre stage

- Skill development programs will become mandatory for procurement teams

- All procurement transactions will take place through web applications

- Big data analytics will drive major changes in procurement

- Global sourcing will become a perennial activity

- Complexity management will come to the fore

- Risk management will become an inherent aspect of procurement arrangements

- Product scarcity will be an ongoing issue

- Procurement will form a significant part of corporate strategy

A Seven-Step Strategy to Meet the Future Needs of Procurement

As predicted by experienced sourcing agents, the future of the procurement industry is promising both as a profession and as a business process. Here are seven critical areas that need special attention from businesses that seek to succeed:

1) Realign Business Strategy to Accommodate Supplier Relationships

There is a major off-balance of network when it comes to sourcing. The need of the hour is to embed the procurement process into existing business operations to facilitate free exchange of information and smooth supply chain management.

2) Adopt a Nimble Approach to Strategic Decision Making

The past complexities of supply chain management resulted in rigid contracts and raised the cost of switching vendors. This concept needs to be replaced with a flexible yet dependable sourcing model that focuses on reducing supplier proximity for enhanced visibility. This less extended approach will condense the product lifecycle and bring the vendors closer to the companies.

3) Employ Advanced Project Management Tools

When talent management combines with automation, companies will find themselves working more efficiently. Sourcing agents will be required to master technical skills and relationship management to lead a world-class sourcing operation.

4) Be Prompt With the Response

The procurement market is highly volatile and requires prompt management of market demands. Businesses need to develop resilience to unpredictable changes by being agile with their procurement process. Near-shoring will be the key to staying consistent with procurement plans.

5) Stay Prepared for Supply Risks

Even as global sourcing continues to thrive, companies need to consider the imminent dangers of natural disasters and geopolitical impact in near future. The pros of low-cost country sourcing are not risk-free and no company can afford to overlook the security aspects.

6) Hire Sourcing Agents to Gain Competency

Companies have realised the benefits of segmenting the supplier base and focusing solely on managing relationships. For everything else there are China sourcing agents who actively manage everything from negotiations and quality control to documentation and delivery.

7) Collaboration is the New Key to Effective SRM

Sourcing agents play a pivotal role in the procurement process from start to finish. Right from revamping systems and integrating processes to charting innovation and facilitating coordination, the complete transition from buyer to supplier is managed by sourcing agents.

If you want to sustain and thrive, you need to invest your resources on business intelligence that enables you to understand and analyse process benchmarks and procurement possibilities for informed decision making.

How Technology Will Transform Procurement Operations

The use of technology and automation has accelerated supply chain management reducing human intervention to minimal. As companies continue to capitalise on automation, priorities will shift from operation to strategic integration of supply chain for a seamless customer experience. Here are four key trends that are expected to bring a transformative shift in the procurement space:

User Experience Will Become the Core Focus

Procurement applications will undergo a sea change as priorities shift from functionalities to end-user experience. The digital era demands innovation in product design to ensure complete client satisfaction. Fuelled by the power of technology, procurement is all set to embrace big data analytics for better planning and prudent decision making. As the need to ensure an easy navigation emerges, companies will switch to cloud technology and responsive websites that offer a seamless experience to consumers on every device.

Business Intelligence Will Emerge As the New Focal Point

With the development of intuitive procurement software, managing routine tasks will become a total breeze. Software solutions will facilitate data-driven decision making and voice-enabled communication in the coming years. These intelligently designed solutions will work with minimal human intervention and accomplish every task efficiently. From preparing insightful reports to managing inventory to analysing data, these platforms will turn the mundane manual procurement process into an error-free and fast activity.

Digital Technology Will Take Over Supply Chain

Technology will emerge as the undisputed tool that leads collaboration between business processes providing real-time updates into supplier risk management. As companies switch to automation, accounts payable will turn into profits. With real-time visibility across orders and contracts, suppliers will be in a better position to mitigate risks and maximise profits.

Automation Will Become the Catalyst for Change

The entire procurement process right from purchase and contract engagement to payment and delivery will be automated. With the entry of next-gen procurement apps, the entire supply chain will be digitalised to offer real-time insights into supplier management.

The new-age procurement technology will reinvent the existing supply chain model to a more collaborative approach that will ensure significant cost savings and improved efficiency.

Mitie has entered a deal with Lucozade Ribena Suntory for the provision of waste management services in the company’s sites around the UK.

The facilities management giant will be responsible for Lucozade’s waste and recyclables process including dry waste and skip services, waste reduction, recycling and energy recovery.

On top of the day-to-day facility management tasks, Mitie is expected to deliver strategies on bulk effluent streams, office recycling and commodity trading.

Darren Kenney, sales director at Mitie Waste and Environmental, said: “Mitie are very pleased to work in partnership with Lucozade Ribena Suntory, not only to maintain their zero waste to landfill status but to drive towards achieving 100% recycling through our unique ‘resource not waste’ approach.”

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Related: Unison denounces Mitie for poor service delivery in Cornwall

The outsourcing market has had a stellar performance in the first quarter of 2016, with the volume and value of contracts growing by 32 percent and 20 percent respectively when compared to the same period of 2015.

The new data was released by the Information Services Group (ISG) yesterday, in its ISG Outsourcing Index. The Index takes into account commercial outsourcing contracts with an annual contract value (ACV) of £5m or more. The growth in outsourcing has been sustained by a steady growth in smaller deals and a record number of contract restructurings.

The total ACV for the global sourcing industry in the first quarter reached $6.1bn; however, the smaller contracts - those valued at less than $40m per year - grew at an astounding rate of 40 percent totalling $4.1bn. Contract restructures amounted to $2.8bn, a growth of 48 percent relative to the first quarter of last year.

Total contract volume reached 404 contracts, the second highest since ISG started the Index. Keeping with the trend of the past quarters, the volume of megadeals - those worth $100m or more - fell also, from seven in 2015 to five.

In the past 12 months, total ACV reached $24.3bn, and 1542 contracts worth $5m or more were signed globally.

Europe, the biggest outsourcing region, had a total ACV of $2.8bn, an increase of 19 percent from the previous quarter of the same year. Restructuring has been the biggest growth driver, having gone up 115 percent in value and 91 percent in volume. ITO and BPO were the best performing services.

The UK has seen moderate growth in the first quarter, especially when compared to the outstanding performance of the Nordic countries and Southern Europe.

Going forward, John Keppel, founder and president of the ISG, expects that the second quarter of the year will be more difficult, and advised that “for sustained market growth, the industry will need to continue seeing stepped-up activity in the smaller deal category”.

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Related: Global outsourcing industry finishes 2015 with a bang, says ISG

The joint venture partnership between Salford City Council and Capita, the company that runs the authority’s planning services, will be extended for three more years.

The public-private partnership between Capita, the Council and Galliford Try was formed in 2005 and named “Urban Vision”. This partnership involved the management of planning, property, engineering infrastructure and design, and highway operations on behalf of the authority.

The extension of the contract will mean the provision of technical services to the council, further efficiencies, and improved capacity and capability. Both parties – Capita and the Council – believe this partnership will play a key role in supporting the council through the current period of substantial regeneration and growth.

The contract is worth up to £90 million; Capita will see total revenues of £60 million over the next three years. Urban Vision has delivered significant costs savings and income generation initiatives including in excess of £12.5 million secured over the last five years.

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Related: Norfolk closes a £20m deal to enhance network services

The NHS has launched an investigation into Coperforma’s performance after many complaints regarding its ambulance service.

The £63.5m contract, that resulted in the privatisation of NHS non-urgent transport in Sussex by Coperforma, is thought to have failed to perform adequately, often leaving many patients waiting for several hours for ambulance pick-up. The NHS bodies and other local MPs have criticised Coperforma performance saying it was an “absolute shambles”.

Many problems have arisen since Coperforma replaced the NHS’s South East Coast ambulance service: cancer patients have missed oncology appointments after ambulances failed to turn up to collect them; hospital staff have had to stay overnight to ensure vital dialysis to kidney patients; and many patients had to wait in hospital for prolonged periods for their transportation.

Conservative MP for Lewes and former NHS nurse Maria Caulfield said: “Such an unreliable service being provided to residents is simply unacceptable and, as a nurse, I am very aware of how this could have a direct impact upon the health of patients as well as create unwarranted delays within our hospitals and GP surgeries.”

Coperforma’s chief executive Michael Clayton has apologised for the “unreliable” and “inefficient” services, blaming the former transport services provider, Secamb, for the chaotic situation.

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Related: NOA announces plans to “rid the public sector of outsourcing failure”

IBM and the American Cancer Society will launch a new partnership to combine IBM’s Big Blue cognitive computing platform (Watson) with the non-profit organisation’s cancer research and patient support services.

Every year 1.6 million Americans are diagnosed with cancer, patients that require accurate information as quickly as possible. Kyu Rhee, the chief health officer of IBM, said: “Watson has read of oncology literature, but this phase is now about learning all the cancer advocacy literature and how to support cancer patients, survivors, and caregivers in their journey.”

The initiative was announced by Ginni Rometty, IBM CEO, at the 13th World Health Care Congress on Tuesday 12 April 2016.

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Related: IBM and Pfizer to team up in “first-of-its-kind” research

At a time when an unprecedented number of government organisations are choosing outsourcing to improve services and help deal with cuts to funding, the National Outsourcing Association (NOA) is launching a campaign to continuously drive improvements in public sector outsourcing, with a programme comprising of:

• A free-to-attend Public Sector Day conference (including free outsourcing training)

• Free access to the NOA’s Outsourcing Life Cycle Model, tailored for public sector use

• Free access to the NOA’s Maturity Index, analysing an organisation’s outsourcing maturity

• An “Outsourcing Works in the Public Sector” supplement detailing the best public sector case studies

• A series of public sector special interest groups

• Corporate accreditation for public sector organisations

The NOA has developed a huge body of outsourcing best practice resources over the past decade. This body of work has now been tailored for public sector use and will be made widely available to public sector organisations.

Kerry Hallard, CEO of the NOA, commented: “We’re fed up with all of the negative media coverage public sector outsourcing has been receiving recently: Cornwall County Council, the NHS and the Ministry of Justice have all been subject to it. As the industry association promoting best practice in outsourcing, it’s always very disappointing to see examples of outsourcing failing in such a manner, especially knowing the benefits outsourcing can deliver when properly implemented and overseen.

“The NOA is here to help rid the public sector of such failures – we’re doing everything we can to support our public sector and ensure it gets the utmost from its outsourcing. Our Public Sector Day will also celebrate the most successful cases of public sector outsourcing in recent years, highlighting the accomplishments so that other government departments and organisations can achieve the same. By embracing the full programme following the event, public sector organisations will be shown how to permanently embed best practice across all of their outsourcing contracts.”

The campaign begins on Monday 25th April with the launch of the NOA’s inaugural Public Sector Day, a one-day conference where representatives from public sector organisations will be shown what future trends and technologies will transform the way that they work, share best practice on how to better manage outsourcing relationships, and see how outsourcing can help to deliver public services in a more cost-effective manner.

The event is free to attend for all buyers of outsourcing and aimed particularly at those in the public sector. It features free outsourcing training workshops led by NOA specialists, demonstrating the latest best practice in outsourcing governance and relationship management.

Find out more about the NOA’s Public Sector Day.

Read the full release.

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Related: Is outsourcing the public sector’s saviour or villain?

Ahead of its inaugural Public Sector Day on Monday 25 April, the National Outsourcing Association (NOA) has started a survey of the UK outsourcing industry to determine how successful they believe public sector outsourcing to be.

Highlighting outsourcing contracts involving the likes of Cornwall County Council, the NHS and the Ministry of Justice, the NOA is asking UK outsourcers why they think there are so many high profile public sector outsourcing failures, and whether they see public sector outsourcing as a “saviour” or a “villain”.

The survey consists of seven questions and takes just five minutes to complete. All those involved with UK outsourcing are encouraged to participate, to ensure that the views of the entire industry are fully represented.

Start the survey.

The results will be announced at the Public Sector Day, along with best practice demonstrations, and free outsourcing training delivered by NOA specialists. The event is entirely free to attend for all buyers of outsourcing and NOA corporate members.

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Related: NHS Blood and Transplant to speak at the Public Sector Day outsourcing conference

Accenture has made its second acquisition of 2016 after buying a majority stake in IMJ Corp, a Japanese full-service digital agency.

The company aims to build on Accenture’s digital business in Japan by boosting the resources of the company’s $3 billion interactive division. This is thought to be the last of a total of five acquisitions to strengthen Accenture interactive division – which focuses on providing digital marketing across US, Asia-Pacific, Latin America and the Baltics.

Shelly Swanback, the group operating officer for Accenture Digital, claimed that the interactive division is the fast growing across the group. “We are hiring top designers, experienced architects, marketers and technologists”, she added.

Pierre Nanterme, Accenture’s CEO, said: “Accenture Interactive is clearly one of the strongest growth sectors in Accenture overall.”

The IMJ Corp acquisition is the eighteenth executed by Accenture in the past 12 months and is part of the established company leadership goal to spend $1 billion in acquisitions – between 2013 and 2015, Accenture acquired 38 companies.

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Related: Accenture is awarded with Met’s application management services contract

Unison, the public service union, has appealed to hospital executives at the Royal Cornwall Hospital Trust (RCHT) to review its contract for “hotel services” with Mitie.

According to Unison, for months now, the outsourcing giant has failed to meet standards in the delivery of cleaning and catering for the Trust. A situation which, as Sarah Woodward from Unison explains, is putting “patients at risk, which is a huge worry and something our members would want to avoid at all costs”.

The contract was signed in 2014 and is valued at £90m. In the past four months, Mitie has been fined up to 67 percent of its profit because of the anomalies in service provision, which include delays in response to emergency bedside calls, as well as for requests for patient meals or drinks.

The Trust issued a statement in which it informed that it would “continue to require these high standards and work with Mitie to ensure their consistent delivery."

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Related: Mitie’s earnings forecast cut amid fears of a Brexit