New Research on the B2B Digital Buyers’ Journey and the Forces Shaping the Future of Enterprise Procurement

In this episode of the Futurum Tech Webcast, host Shelly Kramer is joined by Carsten Storm, Head of Marketplace for the SAP Digital Experiences team for a conversation around our latest report: 2022 B2B Digital Buyers’ Journey: Forces Shaping the Future of Enterprise Procurement, done in partnership with SAP. In 2019, our team at Futurum Research collaborated with SAP to understand the trends, practices, and challenges in relation to the digital buying of enterprise software solutions. That first edition of the report offered an inside look at the shift that was happening within procurement. But then, our world underwent a cataclysmic shift. Last fall, we again partnered with SAP to understand the forces that have shaped both the demand for and the process of enterprise software procurement.  So, what do procurement officers and businesses need to know? What did we learn in the report? That’s exactly what Carsten and Shelly discussed in this episode. Their conversation covered the following: The business world has undergone immense changes in the last few years, and we kicked off the show by discussing how this has impacted purchasing. Our research showed that a whopping 89% of B2B organizations reported changing their business models during the past two years — and we discussed what these changes look like. Our research also showed that 78% of respondents reported looking for ways to streamline the procurement process, while 27% say their current process never or only occasionally operates as efficiently as it did in the past. We explored why streamlining procurement is important and the challenges organizations face in that undertaking. We talked about the fact that how we shop, and our shopping preferences — both as consumers and as B2B buyers — has changed, how these changes impact how we do business, and how that has spurred a rise in consumer marketplaces. We explored what enterprise organizations are doing to adapt to a change in procurement practices and what their challenges are as it relates to software procurement. We know that the future of procurement is digital, and our conversation explored what our research showed that organizations want from their procurement processes. B2B procurement pros are very clear: they want to purchase primarily online, through a vendor’s site or a digital marketplace, they want a one-stop shop where possible, featuring multiple vendors, and almost 20% today expect to purchase at least half of their enterprise software through a digital marketplace.  Given these very clear preferences from B2B buyers, how can enterprise organizations thrive in today’s marketplace and serve those buyers’ needs efficiently and effectively? To get the answers to that question, you’ll need to tune in and hear what Carsten has to say.