In today’s business environment, procurement is expected to deliver far more than savings.
Organisations increasingly rely on procurement teams to strengthen supply chain resilience, manage risk, support sustainability goals, drive innovation and provide the commercial insight needed to navigate uncertain markets. Organisations’ success in this space, however, depends on the maturity of their procurement function – its processes, technology, talent, and alignment across the business.
What is Procurement Maturity?
Procurement maturity refers to the extent to which an organisation’s procurement function has developed from a reactive purchasing operation into a strategic, value-generating business partner. Procurement maturity models are widely used across the profession to assess capability and identify opportunities for improvement across areas such as strategy, people, processes, governance, technology, supplier management and performance measurement (CIPS, 2024; Procurement Tactics, 2026).
While maturity frameworks vary, most follow a similar progression:
- Transactional – procurement is largely reactive and focused on purchasing.
- Controlled – standard processes and governance begin to emerge.
- Strategic – procurement aligns with wider business objectives and manages spend proactively.
- Leading – procurement becomes a strategic advisor, leveraging technology, data and supplier relationships to create competitive advantage (Procurement Tactics, 2026; SIG, 2025).
At the highest levels of maturity, procurement is no longer viewed as a support function; it becomes a key contributor to organisational performance.
Why Procurement Maturity Matters
With organisations facing increasing supply chain disruption, geopolitical uncertainty, inflationary pressures, and expanding sustainability requirements (see EBIT’s article, “The Biggest Supply Chain and Procurement Challenges Facing UK Businesses in 2026 – And How to Mitigate Them”), procurement maturity is increasingly important.
The research consistently demonstrates that organisations with more mature and agile procurement operating models generate approximately 10% more value than those operating at lower maturity levels (4C Associates & University of Birmingham, 2025). More advanced procurement teams typically achieve (Deloitte, 2025; Gartner, 2025):
- Greater cost savings and value creation
- Improved supplier performance
- Enhanced risk management and resilience
- Higher stakeholder satisfaction
- Better use of data and technology
- Stronger sustainability outcomes
- Increased innovation from suppliers
Thus, procurement maturity is not simply about reducing costs. Modern procurement leaders are increasingly focused on balancing commercial performance with resilience, sustainability, compliance, and long-term value creation (Deloitte, 2025; Gartner, 2025).
Core Aspects of Procurement Maturity
Findings from the Transformative Procurement Annual Survey 2025, conducted by our sister company 4C Associates in partnership with the University of Birmingham, examined responses from almost 400 organisations, finding that maturity must be assessed through several interconnected capability areas (4C Associates & University of Birmingham, 2025).
Strategy and Governance
Mature procurement functions possess a clear vision, defined objectives and governance structures that are aligned with organisational priorities. Procurement is involved in strategic decision-making rather than only being engaged when a purchase needs to be made (CIPS, 2024).
People and Capability
Talent and experience remain one of the most important differentiators between average and leading procurement. Technical expertise, commercial acumen, stakeholder engagement, and relationship management capabilities all play critical roles in value delivery (Deloitte, 2025; 4C Associates & University of Birmingham, 2025).
Processes and Controls
As organisations mature, procurement processes become more consistent, repeatable and measurable. Category management, strategic sourcing, contract management and supplier management move from being ad hoc activities to embedded business disciplines (Procurement Tactics, 2026; SIG, 2025).
Technology and Data
Digital capability has become increasingly important in maturity differentiation. Leading organisations use procurement technology and analytics both to automate transactional work (alleviating time and resources from repetitive administrative tasks) and to provide visibility, identify opportunities, and support better decision making (Deloitte, 2025; Gartner, 2025).
Supplier and Stakeholder Management
High performing procurement teams develop collaborative relationships with both internal stakeholders and external suppliers, enabling procurement to access innovation, improve resilience, and ensure procurement activity is aligned with business objectives (4C Associates & University of Birmingham, 2025; Gartner, 2025).
Average Maturity of Organisations Today
Although procurement has become increasingly strategic, industry benchmarking suggests that many organisations are still relatively early in their maturity journey.
The Transformative Procurement Annual Survey 2025 labelled the 400 surveyed organisations as either:
Basic – Procurement is largely reactive and transactional, with limited governance and strategic influence.
Growing – Core procurement processes are emerging, but capability and consistency remain developing.
Progressing – Procurement is becoming more structured, proactive and aligned to business objectives.
Established – Procurement is well integrated into the organisation and consistently delivers strategic value.
Or Worldclass – Procurement is a highly strategic, data-driven function that maximises value creation and business performance.
And their findings proved only 1.3% of organisations have World Class Procurement maturity (4C Associates & University of Birmingham, 2025).
Figure 1: Overall Procurement Maturity Distribution
| Maturity Level | Organisations |
| Basic | 14.5% |
| Growing | 37.0% |
| Progressing | 35.7% |
| Established | 11.5% |
| World-Class | 1.3% |
The results speak for themselves; most organisations have room to improve their procurement function…but take heart! The research also demonstrated a strong relationship between maturity and value delivery:
Figure 2: Average Savings and Value Delivered by Maturity Level
| Maturity Level | Average Savings / Value Benefit |
| Basic | 1.31% |
| Growing | 2.55% |
| Progressing | 5.09% |
| Established | 9.72% |
| World-Class | 14.00% |
The report also highlights several common challenges:
- 29% of organisations have no procurement strategy or only a very basic one.
- 71% struggle to proactively manage economic and supply chain uncertainty.
- More than half lack a meaningful procurement technology roadmap.
- Over 75% have only a limited approach to procurement sustainability
EBIT’s takeaway from these findings is that most organisations have a gold-mine of untapped opportunity to increase efficiency and unlock value – fiscally, organisationally, and otherwise.
How Organisations Improve Procurement Maturity
Improving procurement maturity is rarely achieved through a large-scale transformation programme alone. Most leading organisations take a structured, staged approach that begins with understanding their current capabilities, identifying priority gaps and building a roadmap aligned to wider business objectives (CIPS, 2024; Procurement Tactics, 2026).
The Chartered Institute for Procurement and Supply Chain instruct that the first step to improving maturity is assessing the effectiveness and / or presence of key dimensions such as:
- Strategy
- Governance
- People
- Processes
- Technology
- Supplier management
This establishes current-state to help organisations understand where capabilities gaps are hindering performance (SIG, 2025).
After this, organisations should define a future target state that reflects strategic priorities. For example, a business experiencing supply chain volatility may focus on supplier risk management and resiliency (Gartner, 2025; Deloitte, 2025).
Leading procurement transformation programmes typically focus on four interconnected areas:
- Strengthening governance and strategy through clear procurement policies, category strategies and alignment with organisational goals.
- Developing capability and skills through training, role development and stronger stakeholder engagement.
- Standardising and improving processes such as sourcing, contract management and supplier relationship management.
- Investing in data and technology to improve visibility, automate routine activities and support better decision-making (Deloitte, 2025; Gartner, 2025; SIG, 2025).
Importantly, procurement maturity should be viewed as a continuous improvement journey rather than a destination. Organisations that achieve the greatest success regularly benchmark their progress, measure outcomes and refine their roadmap as business priorities evolve (Procurement Tactics, 2026; Deloitte, 2025).
Building Your Maturity
For many growing businesses, the challenge is not recognising the value of procurement maturity but assessing the conditions of their current-state and finding the internal expertise, resource, and capacity to develop it.
How EBIT Can Help
EBIT Intelligent Procurement designed a Procurement Maturity Assessment, purpose built to help our clients or curious organisations evaluate their capability across key areas such as strategy, processes, people, technology and supplier management. The assessment provides a clear view of current strengths, identifies capability gaps, and highlights priority actions that can accelerate procurement performance and value delivery (EBIT Intelligent Procurement, 2026). Organisations can download their results for easy sharing across their team(s), giving organisations the necessary clarity on current state to develop an actionable plan to develop their Procurement function.
If you’re curious to learn where you and your business stand in terms of Procurement maturity, take our survey and feel free to contact us for help interpreting your results and staging an action plan: Procurement Maturity Assessment – EBIT Intelligent Procurement.
Together, EBIT is sure that we can drive real, sustainable value creation operationally and fiscally.
CITATIONS
4C Associates and University of Birmingham (2025) Transformative Procurement Annual Survey 2025. 4C Associates.
Deloitte (2025) 2025 Global Chief Procurement Officer Survey. Available at: https://www.deloitte.com/us/en/services/consulting/articles/2025-global-chief-procurement-officer-survey.html.
EBIT Intelligent Procurement (n.d.) Procurement Maturity Assessment. Available at: https://ebitip.com/procurement-maturity-assessment/ (Accessed: 6 July 2026)
Gartner (2025) Successful Sourcing and Procurement: Key Strategies & Steps. Available at: https://www.gartner.com/en/supply-chain/topics/sourcing-and-procurement.
Gartner (2025) Hype Cycle for Procurement and Sourcing Solutions, 2025. Available at: https://go.levelpath.com/hubfs/Content%20-%20Research/Hype_Cycle_for_Procurement2025%20%282%29.pdf.
Procurement Tactics (2026) Procurement Maturity Model – Definition, Stages and Best Practices. Available at: https://procurementtactics.com/procurement-maturity-model/
SIG (2025) The Procurement Maturity Model. Available at: https://assets.sig.org/s3fs-public/srcDocs/Procurement_Maturity_Model-eBook.pdf.
