2024 was widely recognized as a landmark year for elections, with over sixty countries holding significant polls. Across continents, incumbent governments faced mounting dissatisfaction as citizens demanded improved public services. Many taxpayers feel their contributions fail to deliver value for money, citing delayed infrastructure projects, rising costs, and public services struggling to meet growing demand.
Having led commercial improvement programs in public sector organizations, I’ve seen firsthand the challenges procurement professionals face. While there are nuances across regions, many of the priorities and solutions for public sector procurement transcend borders. Below are five critical considerations that can guide policymakers and practitioners worldwide.
1. Demonstrate Return on Investment
A global challenge across public sector organizations is monitoring and recording the return on their technology investments. From municipal councils to national agencies, procurement departments often struggle to answer, “What is the ROI on our technology investments?” This challenge is not unique to the public sector; private sector organizations face similar difficulties.
With the hype around artificial intelligence, there’s a risk of misallocated resources due to poorly conceived business plans and implementations. To prevent this, clear metrics for ROI must be established and continuously monitored. Globally, organizations have experienced the pitfalls of investing in trending technologies without rigorous evaluations — lessons learned from the dot-com bubble resonate worldwide. Public procurement professionals must approach AI and other technologies with a pragmatic mindset, ensuring that investments yield tangible benefits.
For example, in North America, municipal councils are increasingly tying technology investments to measurable outcomes such as cost savings and service delivery improvements, setting benchmarks for others to follow.
Reflective Question for Leaders: How are you quantifying and communicating the tangible benefits of your technology investments to stakeholders?
2. Usability is Not Enough
While poor usability is a key reason for low adoption, cultural resistance to change is another significant barrier. Whether in Europe, Asia, or the Americas, the phrase, “The old ways worked fine, so why change?” echoes across organizations. Leaders globally need to champion technology adoption by clearly communicating benefits, such as enhanced transparency, efficiency, and cross-functional collaboration.
Procurement leaders must incentivize adoption and ensure that technology serves both organizational goals and individual needs. In regions with diverse workforces and varying levels of digital literacy, localized training programs and visible leadership support are crucial. In the Middle East, for instance, public sector organizations have found success by combining digital transformation initiatives with targeted workforce upskilling efforts.
Reflective Question for Leaders: Are your training and communication strategies tailored to address the unique cultural and digital literacy challenges within your workforce?
3. Procurement Leaders Need to Engage with Technology
Around the world, procurement leaders who mandate new technologies often remain disconnected from their design, development, and implementation. This distance leads to frustration and unrealized potential. Leaders must actively engage with technology to ensure alignment with organizational needs and to inspire confidence among their teams.
For example, in countries with advanced procurement frameworks, such as those in Scandinavia, leaders’ hands-on involvement in piloting and refining technological solutions has driven higher adoption rates. Conversely, where leadership remains distant, implementation challenges are more pronounced. In Southeast Asia, however, strong leadership involvement in procurement innovation has emerged as a key driver of success in healthcare and infrastructure projects.
Reflective Question for Leaders: How involved are you in the technology implementation processes within your organization?
4. Plug Data Utilization and Knowledge Gaps
Across continents, public sector organizations struggle with siloed and misclassified data, which limits their ability to leverage insights into procurement, service delivery, and supplier behavior. Investments in data lakes and advanced analytics can provide significant benefits, including cost-saving opportunities and strategic decision-making.
However, maintaining momentum is critical. In Latin America, for instance, initial enthusiasm for data modernization projects often wanes after implementation, leading to lost opportunities for long-term success. To prevent this, organizations must foster a culture of continuous improvement and collaboration, treating data as a strategic asset rather than a one-time project deliverable. Similarly, public sector organizations in Africa are demonstrating how cross-departmental data-sharing can unlock efficiencies and improve service delivery in education and healthcare.
Reflective Question for Leaders: Is your organization actively fostering a culture where data is treated as a continuous and strategic resource?
5. Conduct Bottom-Up Analysis of Cost Drivers
One area where public sector organizations worldwide can learn from manufacturing and private sector practices is conducting bottom-up analyses of cost drivers. Techniques like ‘clean-sheet analysis’ — benchmarking costs to uncover inefficiencies and negotiate better terms — are increasingly relevant.
For example, public procurement teams in Africa have successfully used granular cost analyses to optimize supply chain costs and improve service delivery in sectors like healthcare and education. In North America, scenario modeling is helping government agencies anticipate disruptions and make more informed procurement decisions, offering a blueprint for global leaders.
Reflective Question for Leaders: How robust are your cost-analysis practices in identifying inefficiencies and driving savings?
A Global Perspective
Despite regional differences, public sector procurement professionals share many common goals: maximizing value for taxpayers, enhancing service delivery, and building resilience in supply chains. By embracing these priorities with a global mindset, public sector organizations can drive meaningful change, improving outcomes for citizens worldwide.
Call to Action: For public sector leaders seeking to accelerate their procurement transformation, explore our resource hub for practical tools and case studies to drive innovation and resilience in your strategy. Let’s start a conversation on making measurable impact in 2025 and beyond.
