Jan 16, 2026
How to increase procurement adoption
I’ve demo'd more procurement tools than I can count.
Software is rarely the problem (unless it's the old stuff).
It's usually the people.
I once watched a brand-new procurement platform go live to applause. Three weeks later? Everyone was back in spreadsheets like nothing happened.
Same desks. Same habits. Same excuses.
“Just this once.”
“It’s faster my way.”
“I’ll log it later.”
Famous last words.
Change doesn’t fail because of tools. It fails because of culture.
Think about your favorite restaurant removing your go-to order. You don’t immediately embrace the new menu, you resist it. Procurement transformations work the same way. If people don’t feel bought in, they’ll quietly go elsewhere.
I’ve learned this the hard way: you can’t force adoption. You have to earn it.
“If leadership doesn’t use the system, no one else will. Full stop.”
Start with people. Always.
Every successful procurement rollout I’ve seen started before the software showed up.
Teams talked. Finance weighed in. IT had a seat. End users were actually asked what slowed them down. That early collaboration did two things:
It surfaced real pain points.
It created shared ownership.
When people see their fingerprints on the solution, they’re far more likely to use it.
Simple rule: procurement doesn’t work in a silo. Stop trying.
Adoption happens when the value is obvious.
Another lesson from experience: nobody cares about “digital transformation.”
They care about fewer emails, faster approvals, and not chasing receipts at 10pm.
So we stopped selling features and started showing wins.
“Look… this saved you two hours this week.”
That changed the narrative.
Track usage. Celebrate early adopters. Share small wins loudly. Momentum is contagious.
Champions beat mandates.
Top-down mandates don’t scale. Champions do.
Find the people who get it and empower them. Let them lead training. Let them be the first success stories. Recognition matters, not fancy rewards, just visibility.
People follow people they trust.
Leadership has to show up (and log in).
Nothing kills adoption faster than leaders who support change “in theory.”
If leaders bypass the system, so will everyone else. When leaders use it, talk about it, and back it publicly, resistance fades fast.
I’ve seen it flip overnight.
The payoff is real.
When teams truly adopt procurement tech, the wins come quickly:
Cleaner data
Faster approvals
Fewer errors
Time back in everyone’s day
That’s when procurement stops being a blocker and starts becoming a growth engine.
Final thought.
Procurement transformation isn’t rolling out software.
It’s about bringing people with you.
Celebrate progress. Tell the stories. Build momentum together.
