Procuring in unpredictable times...
Trust is earned - not given. As such it needs to be respected and cared for - otherwise it dissipates fast!
It's not a hand-out... It's your job. Get those seats locked in and start executing as you've always dreamed of.
Procurement, let’s face the music: “No seat at the table yet?” isn’t a casual check-in—it’s our wake-up call. We’re all after that C-suite title, the mandate that holds weight, the paycheck that reflects our value, and the boardroom pat on the back that says "we belong".
But here’s where we stand—we’re grinding through spend reports, haggling with suppliers, and stuck outside the room while the real decisions roll. The evidence doesn’t flinch—we’re off the board.
Deloitte’s 2023 Global CPO Survey of 350+ leaders shows not one of us normed a board seat—82% of us claim “CEO access,” but that’s a hallway chat, not a seat! Korn Ferry’s 2019 report pegged our board presence at 2%, while CFOs hit 15-20% across the Fortune 500. PwC’s 2022 study of 1,200 execs? Zero of us at the top table—finance owns that real estate. We manage most of the company’s cost, yet we’re not in the game; we’re on the sidelines.
We’ve felt it—our data’s shaky, a patchwork of guesses that won’t earn a paycheck bump. Gartner’s 2024 report says 65% of us run on outdated analytics—it’s not like we don't try, but honestly "trying" is just not good enough and it’s no wonder our data is not trusted.
We’re not synced with the five-year plan—Korn Ferry’s 2023 pulse found only 15% of us link spend to strategy. And we’re bogged down executing—Heidrick & Struggles notes CSCOs hit 5% of boards while we’re still negotiating paper clips and hotels with free WIFI!
It’s not just the board seat - it the seat at all the big stake tables in the company. Why is it that we are always invited in late to “get that 5% discount” or “approve this contract that we made ready with the pre-chosen supplier”? We are not seated at the right tables!
These seats are not a handout—we’ve got to take it. We build our competitive edge—lowest unit costs, supply lines that deliver, supplier control that locks in stable, predictable and measurable wins. CostBits is build by procurement for procurement: real-time spend visibility, cost slashing insights, and the leverage to arm you and your senior management.
We’re trying to arm procurement so that we don't have to ask for a seat at the table (pick one!), but give us the mandate to claim the seat’s we find relevant. But we’ve got to make the move ourselves - no one will do it for us!
See also our top 20 free advice for rapidly reducing supplier costs