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In 2025, Chief Procurement Officers are standing at the nexus of transformation. According to the CPO Rising 2025 insights on digital strategy by Ardent Partners — based on insights from 326 global procurement leaders — three themes dominate the agenda: cost savings, risk mitigation, and digital transformation. These priorities aren’t just strategic; they are imperative for survival in a landscape shaped by economic volatility, technological disruption, and intensifying global competition.

Let’s break down how CPOs are balancing these pillars—and how AI-powered platforms like Zycus are helping them lead the charge.

Cost Optimization: A Renewed Imperative Amid Volatility

In the face of rising tariffs, inflation, and macroeconomic headwinds, 71% of CPOs identified cost savings as their top priority in 2025. But this isn’t just about slashing budgets—it’s about intelligent, scalable savings.

CPOs are focusing on:

Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) vs. unit price
Spend under management— which averaged 70.8% across surveyed companies, the highest ever recorded by Ardent
Sourcing optimization using AI-driven analytics

Explore: Zycus Spend Analysis

Zycus’ Merlin AI helps automate low-value sourcing and deliver actionable insights, allowing teams to reinvest saved time into strategic initiatives.

Risk Mitigation: Resilience in an Era of Constant Disruption

Uncertainty is the new normal. 90% of CPOs surveyed by Ardent Partners expect 2025 to be even more challenging than 2024. The top drivers? Tariff changes, supplier instability, and geopolitical tension.

Key CPO initiatives include:

Diversifying suppliers and nearshoring (38% plan to increase nearshoring)
Enhancing supplier collaboration and lifecycle visibility
Real-time risk monitoring through AI

Explore: Zycus Supplier Risk Management

The Merlin Supplier Risk Agent identifies early warning signals and flags compliance issues—helping procurement act before disruptions strike.

Digital Transformation: From Automation to Intelligence

Digital maturity remains uneven. The report shows that less than 10% of CPOs have fully embedded AI into their Source-to-Pay platforms, even as expectations skyrocket. Still, momentum is building.

CPOs are prioritizing:

AI-powered workflows to boost productivity
Contract and spend analytics for visibility and agility
Unified procurement orchestration to eliminate silos

Explore: Zycus Merlin Agentic AI Platform

80% of CPOs now expect AI to significantly or even transformationally impact procurement in the next 2–3 years.

Data-Driven Strategy in Action

The top-performing procurement organizations—dubbed Best-in-Class in the Ardent report—offer a compelling blueprint:

91.7% spend under management
8.0% average cost savings in 2024
Significant lead in supplier enablement, risk analytics, and automation

Their secret? Higher AI maturity, better tech adoption, and stronger enterprise alignment.

See how Zycus helps organizations follow this blueprint:
Zycus Source-to-Pay Suite
Merlin Intake Management

CPOs no longer have the luxury of treating cost, risk, and transformation as separate initiatives. These priorities are interdependent, and only those who approach them holistically will emerge resilient.

The CPO Rising 2025 report clearly shows that digital dexterity, AI-powered visibility, and agility are the levers of leadership. Forward-thinking CPOs are aligning technology with business outcomes, and partners like Zycus are enabling that shift with platforms purpose-built for the AI era.

Want to dive deeper? Download the full CPO Rising 2025 report to see where you stand—and what’s next.

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Amit Shah

Amit is a seasoned business leader who brings to Zycus about 18 years of experience in strategic marketing and communications, business management, and strategy. As CMO and Head Global BD, he is responsible for all aspects of global marketing and demand generation. He also leads other strategic functions like sales ops, bid desk and sales enablement. Before joining Zycus, Amit was based in London and served as Managing Director at OakNorth, a B2B SAAS unicorn and supported large enterprise engagements across the US, Europe, and Australasia. Amit holds an MBA from IIM Mumbai and B.E from REC Surathkal (NIT Karnataka). He has also completed an executive program in strategic marketing from Stanford Graduate School of Business. He was recognized as 40under40 by Reputation Today in 2017, has been a Power Profile on LinkedIn in 2018 & 2016, and has served on the advisory board of S.P.Jain Institute of Management & Research and Fintech committee of FICCI.