Most everyone has heard of Goldman Sachs, the global banking and securities firm. And by now, most have probably heard of Greg Smith, former executive director and former head of the firm’s US equity derivatives business in Europe, the Middle East, and Africa.

The Procurement Intelligence Unit is in the midst of its research into Requisition-to-Pay processes, and the the findings show weaknesses of current providers.

In a week where many were expecting some of the biggest news to come from Europe – particularly regarding Greece, there have been one or two surprises elsewhere that serve to remind how frequently procurement’s agenda impacts on global business.

GreenPalm has recently come under fire in light of Unilever’s change to its palm oil pledge, extending its target to buy all its palm oil from traceable sources by 2015 to 2020. The news resulted in criticism towards GreenPalm certificates with some sources questioning its influence in the move towards sustainable sourcing of palm oil.

Several years ago, when I was writing for an audience of CFOs, the financial software industry went through a wave of particularly active consolidation when first Oracle paid $3.3bn for Hyperion, then SAP shelled out $6.8bn for Business Objects and IBM joined the party by acquiring Cognos for $4.9bn. All were big-ticket acquisitions, as the enterprise software industry finally nailed down the business intelligence and performance management space.

This first installation in Hugo Eckseler’s series on procurement transformation takes a look at the mandate for functions to take the next step in their evolution.

The panel discussion at this year’s Procurement Leaders Forum focussed on the impact procurement can have on shareholders return and was made up of an eclectic mix of CPOs and chaired by Jean-Francois Baril, former SVP sourcing and procurement at Nokia.

Value creation is the next stage in procurement’s journey. The function has matured from its previous preoccupations with price and cost, and it’s now looking to make a bigger impact in business.

Well, it’s about time! Recent reports show a growing realisation on the part of finance officers of the value of procurement. Consultancy 4C cites finance’s view that procurement is a driver of growth. And there’s more: A recent study by Ariba and the research arm of CFO magazine reveals that finance executives agree that procurement is making a valuable contribution to companies and is, indeed, a strategic function. One respondent said that procurement has evolved into an area of optimisation.

"How can procurement make a difference?" That was the question Eva Wimmers, Deutsche Telekom’s CPO and SVP DT procurement, put to a room full of global procurement chiefs. The answer, she said, wasn’t as simple as it once was – functions need to change.