When you ask what single technology challenge they’d solve, procurement leaders reveal more about transformation barriers than any survey question could
When we asked 58 procurement professionals at CPO Outlook 2025 to name the single technology challenge they would solve if they could, something unexpected happened. They didn’t describe aspirational capabilities or cutting-edge innovations. Instead, they listed frustrations with basics that should already work.
The responses reveal patterns that help explain why 74% of organizations struggle with data quality, 67% face disconnected systems, and 78% remain at “developing” digital maturity despite years of investment.
The Data Integration Theme
The most frequently mentioned challenge appeared in various forms, but the core issue remained consistent: getting clean, connected data that procurement can actually use.
Leaders described this in similar terms:
• “Free text into standard clean data”
• “Better integrated systems with high quality data”
• “Data quality and analytics capability”
• “Better data management and connections between systems for quicker analysis and decisions”
• “Easily connect data from various sources”
What emerges from these responses isn’t a technology problem in the traditional sense. It’s an infrastructure problem. Organizations have accumulated systems over years – an ERP here, a sourcing platform there, a contract repository somewhere else, analytics tools bolted on top. The desire for “easy and consolidated accessible data” reflects a basic operational reality that information doesn’t flow as it should.
The End-to-End Process Wish
The second dominant pattern focused on seamless processes. Leaders want to “bridge S2P from sourcing to contracting to ordering, delivery and payment system in a user friendly way” and achieve “connecting P2P closer with risk agreements etc in a better way.”
One participant’s question captures the underlying frustration: “If customer software is created around the customer experience, why is Procurement not created around the buyer experience?”
This comparison to consumer technology is telling. While consumer-facing software obsesses over seamless experiences, much procurement software still feels designed for different priorities. Several leaders specifically mentioned wanting “automation in contracting and supplier onboarding” and “fast track S2P tool implementation.”
Where AI Actually Appears
Given how much attention AI receives in procurement discussions, its relatively modest presence in the technology wish list is noteworthy. When AI did appear, it took specific, practical forms:
• “Contract management system that can be translated into and from English to Spanish and Greek”
• “Predictive performance analyses, expand autonomous sourcing, automation in contracting”
• “Start using AI in order to help with data and analyzes”
Notice what’s absent: no one asked for generative AI chatbots for their own sake, or sophisticated machine learning algorithms as standalone capabilities. Instead, leaders described AI solving specific problems they face now – translation barriers, predictive capabilities for actual decisions, assistance with data analysis they currently do manually.
This grounded approach connects to the EBG | Xperience Copenhagen finding that 60% are exploring AI but haven’t widely implemented solutions. The primary barrier cited by 56% was data quality and system fragmentation.
The User Experience Undercurrent
A number of responses focused on usability:
• “Make procurement tools easy to use, for example to record a session and then it will end up in a low code tool ready to use”
• “One system to work in”
• Tools that “make procurement outside of IT and procurement far more easy to handle”
The desire for “one system to work in” reflects something deeper than preference for simplicity. Procurement professionals currently juggle multiple platforms, each with different interfaces, login credentials, and workflows. The wish for tools that work easily for people outside procurement reveals another dimension – when procurement tools aren’t intuitive, business users find ways around them.
The Consolidation Versus Integration Question
Something interesting emerged in how leaders framed their wishes. Some focused on consolidation:
• “Integration of source of contract and CRC and TPRM system”
• “The challenge of fragmented systems by having one integrated platform”
Others emphasized connection:
• “Better integrated systems with high quality data”
• “Connect our Digital Tools to make data flow freely”
• “Building an end to end automated process from Spend Analysis to Contract Lifecycle Management”
The distinction matters. The first group wants fewer systems. The second accepts multiple systems but needs them working together properly. This split reflects an ongoing debate – should organizations pursue comprehensive platforms that handle everything, or accept specialized tools and invest in making them integrate seamlessly? The survey responses show both approaches appearing among the 58 participants.
What Leaders Want Beyond Internal Systems
Several responses mentioned wanting better access to specialized data:
• “Market intelligence information condensed into relevant reports”
• “Supplier evaluation and DD”
• Risk monitoring capabilities
This suggests the data procurement needs increasingly comes from outside traditional platforms – news monitoring services tracking supplier risks, sustainability rating providers validating ESG claims, financial data assessing supplier stability, supply chain mapping revealing sub-tier relationships. This external data need connects to another survey finding: 59% lack visibility beyond Tier 1 suppliers.
Connecting to Broader Survey Patterns
The technology wish list connects to other survey findings in revealing ways:
Resource overload (62%): The most cited operational bottleneck is having too many tasks and insufficient time for strategy. When systems don’t integrate and data requires manual reconciliation, procurement professionals spend time on work technology should handle.
Data chaos (60%): Inconsistent or poor-quality data blocks progress for 60% of respondents. The technology wishes focused on data integration directly address this barrier.
System fragmentation (48%): Nearly half cite too many disconnected tools as a bottleneck. This validates what the technology wishes reveal – leaders aren’t asking for more tools, they’re asking for their existing tools to work together.
Digital tools competency gap (64%): Nearly two-thirds identify digital tools and automation proficiency as a critical competency need. But the technology wishes suggest the problem isn’t just skills – current tools are difficult to use effectively.
The Workshop Mapping Connection
The CPO Outlook workshop mapping exercises add texture to the technology challenges. In the Skills Relevance versus Skill Readiness mapping, Data & Analytics dots clustered in the “over-invested zone” – high readiness but questioned relevance.
This positioning reveals an interesting tension. Organizations have built data capabilities – analytics teams, tools, roles – yet 74% struggle with data quality. The workshop mapping suggests organizations may have capability without effectiveness. Having data analysts doesn’t solve data quality problems if the underlying data remains poor and disconnected.
The “over-invested” perception may reflect frustration that despite capability investment, data still doesn’t drive decisions effectively. Organizations invested in the people and tools but not in the infrastructure foundations those capabilities require?
Questions the Data Raises
The technology wish list patterns raise questions worth considering:
• Why do procurement ask for basics that should already work rather than advanced capabilities?
• What explains the gap between having data capabilities (workshops show “over-invested”) and struggling with data quality (74% cite this challenge)?
• Can organizations successfully pursue AI (60% exploring) before addressing the infrastructure problems the wish list reveals?
• Does the consolidation versus integration debate have a clear answer, or does the right approach depend on organizational context?
• How do organizations break the cycle where poor infrastructure creates resource overload (62%) that prevents fixing infrastructure?
The procurement leaders participating in CPO Outlook continue exploring these questions. The technology wish list doesn’t provide answers, but it reveals where the friction exists between aspiration and reality.
Continue Networking with EBG
The insights in this article emerged from CPO Outlook 2025, where 58 procurement professionals shared not just survey data but real challenges, honest struggles, and practical solutions. This is how professional communities enable identity construction: by creating spaces where procurement professionals can compare their experiences, challenge assumptions, and collectively figure out what actually works.
CPO Outlook 2026 and EBG | Xperience 2026 will continue this conversation, bringing together Nordic procurement leaders to tackle the questions that matter: How do we build foundations that support transformation? What does good data governance actually look like? How can we make user experience a strategic priority rather than an afterthought?
Join the conversation. Register your interest for 2026 events now.