As global uncertainty rises, supply chain resilience starts in places organisations often overlook

As organisations face growing geopolitical uncertainty, stricter regulatory expectations and increasingly complex supply chains, procurement resilience depends on more than managing strategic suppliers. Tail spend—often spread across thousands of low-value purchases and fragmented supplier relationships—can introduce significant operational, compliance and governance risks when it lacks consistent oversight. Limited visibility into these transactions makes it harder to identify supplier duplication, monitor policy compliance, maintain accurate records and respond effectively to disruption.

Strengthening resilience requires a unified view of procurement activity across the entire supplier lifecycle rather than relying on disconnected systems and manual processes. By improving supplier data quality, governance and auditability, organisations are better positioned to support ESG reporting, reduce risk and make more informed procurement decisions. While AI can accelerate data analysis, detect anomalies and automate repetitive tasks, lasting value comes from combining intelligent automation with procurement expertise to ensure commercial judgement, accountability and governance remain at the centre of decision-making.

Read the full article on CPO Strategy.