Just because some companies act in ways which appear — and often are — wasteful, perverse and value-destructive, that doesn’t mean all their employees are blind to the inefficiencies. Ironically, at the heart of effective procurement, are decision makers’ profound understanding of the dysfunction inside their own organisation. It is the dysfunction that will prevent them from realising the full benefits of whatever they’re buying; but awareness of the dysfunction which gives them a truer understanding of the benefits.

The old proverb — about leading a horse to water — has a corollary: the horse won’t thank the person who showed them the pond.

This is a problem for companies who provide SaaS & software services which give customers AI-derived insights. If customers don’t act on those insights, then how much value will they place on the source of those insights? How long will it take them to ask why they’re paying so much?