It was a great event and I found it to be one of the most informative, innovative and rewarding conferences of the year with an impressive lineup of speakers who shared some amazing insights as well as a broad range of attendees from procurement, technology vendors and a number of interesting startups.

Why was this? Well, it was full of new ideas and great pitches from a number of startups showcasing what their platforms could do and a number of stimulating conversations about the future of digital procurement and the challenges people are facing right now.

Ultimately what the event taught me was an appreciation of how we need to use technology both to automate and to get better data to enable better decisions, and transform procurement from being tactical and reactive to being strategic and adding measurable value.

This has huge implications for the development and sourcing of talent in whatever business or sector you are in.

The message is clear: you need to collect, understand and control your data far more effectively than you have done before and this needs people with greater capabilities around analysing and interpreting data, but also what it means is strategically to engage and influence more.

The market for products and services that can facilitate this shows no signs of slowing down. All three of the Directors from Edbury Daley attended the event and we all had the same concerns raised to us, that all organisations are struggling to find people with Digital Procurement Skills whether in Procurement, Consulting or Technology Vendors.

It is a real challenge to find those who understand the ecosystem and this scarcity has meant competition is fierce and with this has come rapidly rising salaries. It is literally a ‘bidders’ game. The event confirmed what we see and hear day to day.

For Procurement Technology Suppliers finding people has never been harder and if you are looking to recruit you need to think carefully about how you will attract the people you need.