The rental market has gone through massive changes in the last 18 months or so. The pandemic was a major reason that pushed companies to focus on remote working environment. It allowed people to move away from the cities and purchasing properties in the suburban and rural areas. Compared to the urban real estate, the growth in property purchase in the rural areas has increased by a massive rate. Is the situation of remote working or WORK FROM HOME going to change any sooner? Well, the present scenario is not showing much ray of hope although medical professionals are working their hearts out to eradicate the deadly Covid 19 from our country. Only time will say how things move!

If 2020 was the year of uncertainty, the present year, 2021, showed way for adaptability. Yes, we are slowly learning to adapt to the changes, to the scenarios, to the pandemic threats that has troubled each and every one of us.

The sourcing professionals will have a bit difficulty adjusting to the new norms. Well, time heals everything and these professionals will also mend with time. The pandemic has affected the emerging market sourcing options severely. Be it sourcing or procurement, each has witnessed some form of disruption. Talk about industries like tourism, retail, or manufacturing, everywhere the wrath of pandemic has been felt. Tourism industries have cut down on capacity level. Many physical locations of the retail sectors are closing down. Instead, they are eyeing more towards the ecommerce proposals. Irrespective of the size of business, many are shutting their doors and waiting for the pandemic to exit the world.

The businesses operating, are witnessing some additional cost investment because of sanitization needs. Also, supplier failures have become a major issue during this critical situation. A lot of companies are turning to group purchasing organizations for strengthening the procuring and sourcing lines.

 

Here are the top trends expected to create a positive impact on the sourcing and procurement trends in the coming days:

 

Enhancing the Sustainability

The vision should be appropriate. Once the requirements are defined clearly, the selection procedure will be appropriate in regards to the vendors and other business areas. Figuring out the right type of vendors will help with the emerging market sourcing process. You need to shortlist vendors but be very careful with the final call. Remember, not every vendor you find promising, will be able to meet your business requirements. Your team must be able to create the RFI (Request for Information) and send the same to the shortlisted vendors. Observe the responses and take decision accordingly.

 

The Emergence of AI (User Driven) and Business Digitization

The concept of ecommerce has taken up big on the market. Different procurement sourcing procedures are getting integrated to the different ecommerce market places for better delivery of on-demand services and products. The introduction of Machine Language, Artificial Intelligence, and Natural Language Processing, businesses are certainly going to gain better heights. Ordering of services and products becomes a lot more convenient. It has the potential to improve on the overall procurement process speed. In simpler words, the technological innovation certainly can make the procurement and sourcing market move forward and repair the damages within a shorter succession.

The concepts of AI and ML are playing integral role in developing intelligent bots. What’s the need? Businesses are developing bots to manage the regular procurement tasks. As a result, the requirement of manpower for these tasks will be reduced to a greater extent. Right from managing volumetric orders to updating inventory lists, negotiating with the suppliers to running those repetitive sourcing events, the AI based bots are expected to manage these activities with ease.

 

Strengthening the Procurement and Sourcing Resilience

The technological innovations have integrated procurement and sourcing and made them a more global approach than they used to be earlier. This initiative also results in higher challenges for the organizations due to multi-polar economic systems, mass healthcare risks, geo-political risks, and climatic changes to be more specific. Technology and automotive are the industries that seems to be more vulnerable. So naturally, companies will be more keep towards undergoing a thorough assessment of the procurement and sourcing risks before coming up with a viable solution. Businesses are trying to be more transparent in approach, trying to work with emerging market sourcing suppliers to gain a better hand about the upstream value chains and next-tier suppliers.

 

High Dependence on SaaS (Software as a Service)

A lot of organizations are presently opting for in-house supply chain management process. Recent updates suggest that more businesses are likely to adopt the concept of SaaS for supply chain management purpose. It will result in outsourcing the inventory, logistics, and manufacturing part to reduce on the overall manpower and cost. Once the manpower becomes smaller for the SCM teams, businesses will focus more towards appointing skilled individuals who can strategize new plans for the betterment of the SCM process.

 

Circular supply chain to replace the linear chain model

This is obvious! The concept of circular supply chain management is soon going to take over the age old linear model. Trade experts are of opinion that that the circular chain is going to have a better edge in the long term. Some of the expected gains include reduce environment impact, minimal wastage, and low cost investment.

 

Ready for the Future Trends

What is the new normal? What future trends will make a successful presence? Only time will tell. However, it is obvious that transformation is going to happen. The way collaboration and operation with the stakeholders (external and internal) are happening till date, will certainly go through modification. Efforts must be given in identifying an operating model agile enough to help with the scaling of different procurement functions and respond to the challenges (read, sudden changes). Emerging market sourcing solutions can certainly help in this process. The concept of virtual training to enhance the skills of existing talents will also prove to be beneficial. The present situation may look dull and challenging, but future trends are expected to manage the damage control. It may take time but the market will improve. That’s a certainty!

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