I have always sought out the Deloitte CPO Survey as a leading indicator on the health of the procurement function and just a couple of days ago, Deloitte published the results of their 2017 Survey.

Today on the Art of Procurement, I am joined by Lance Younger. Lance is the Head of Procurement and Sourcing Consulting in the UK, a Partner of Deloitte's Strategy and Operations Practice, and a co-author of the report that accompanies this year's survey findings.

In today's conversation, we go beyond the numbers to identify some of the trends, challenges and opportunities that look set to shape the procurement profession in 2017.

Areas we cover in today's conversation include:

• The headline findings of the report, such as:
  • 79% of procurement leaders continue to focus on cost savings
  • The growing importance of risk management as a procurement priority
  • 60% of procurement leaders do not believe they have the internal capabilities to deliver on their vision
• The increasing role that procurement is playing in helping organizations deliver top line growth.
• The juxtaposition between more and more procurement leaders wanting to increase business partnership, while the value levers being used are increasingly short term.
• Key characteristics of high performing procurement organizations
• How procurement outsourcing is struggling to maintain traction, and why changing workforce trends and the increase in the freelance economy are providing procurement leaders with new, innovative, delivery models.
• Why some leading companies are moving back towards a decentralized procurement delivery model.
• The expanding nature of procurement's role in an organization.
• Why the clock is ticking to transform procurement's value proposition (and why we do have time yet to make the leap).
• What do C-suite executives look for from their procurement teams today.

For more information, visit: http://artofprocurement.com/deloitte2017