PwC’s Rowan Lipscombe: Procurement Drives Transformation

Rowan Lipscombe, Director at PwC and a leader within its UK procurement practice, has seen the evolution of procurement firsthand through work completed with clients across an array of diverse sectors including technology, aerospace and energy and utilities.

Drawing on more than two decades of industry experience before joining PwC, Rowan has driven large-scale transformation programmes focused on both cost and carbon reduction, positioning procurement at the heart of organisational reinvention.

Beyond traditional cost control

The days when procurement success was measured solely by cost savings are firmly behind us. "No longer is procurement just a cost control function, it's now a driver of innovation, transformation, and managing supply chain risk and resilience."

This shift reflects the complex challenges facing businesses today. In what Rowan describes as a “VUCA (Volatility, Uncertainty, Complexity and Ambiguity) world", organisations must navigate disruption from multiple angles – AI, climate change and geopolitical shifts all demand new approaches to business resilience and growth.

"It used to be cost savings. Now that's no longer going to differentiate you. That's business as usual," Rowan adds. Procurement value creation is "measured through speed to market of new products, risk and resilience of the supply chain, sustainability imperatives and bringing in supplier-led innovation as well."

Technology as a transformation catalyst

PwC's approach to procurement transformation works alongside the modern expectations now on procurement. Rather than focusing purely on automation benefits, the firm emphasises how technology serves as "a catalyst for new ways of working and helping to drive compliance and adoption."

Its work with Deliveroo demonstrates this philosophy in action. Working with the food delivery giant from the early stages of its procurement transformation, PwC helped, using deep spend analytics to identify opportunities across its cost base, but also its operating model and technology as well.

This enabled Deliveroo to move beyond reactive procurement towards what Rowan calls "enabling growth, embedding Coupa real-time data, which allowed them then to significantly contribute to their EBITDA (Earnings Before Interest, Taxes, Depreciation and Amortisation) improvement."

The value in motion framework

PwC's approach to value creation centres on what it terms "value in motion", which aims to address how mega trends are reconfiguring industries and value pools. This framework focuses on three key areas: igniting innovation in business and operating models, competing on new sources of advantage including technology and trust and turning obstacles into enablers through improved governance and strategic investment alignment.

For procurement specifically, this translates into "moving from reactivity into insights" – leveraging data, digital platforms and transformation to inform predictive decision-making whilst building enterprise-wide return on investment.

Future priorities: AI and sustainability

Looking ahead, Rowan signposts two critical areas demanding procurement's attention. Sustainability presents significant opportunities, she says, particularly given that "procurement has some of the biggest levers to drive improvement for Scope 3 emissions through supplier collaboration."

Equally important is the emergence of intelligent orchestration powered by AI. "The shift to intelligent orchestration is underway and AI is enabling predictive insights, real-time risk sensing and new operating models," Rowan explains.

However, Rowan adds that successful AI implementation must be paired with trust, highlighting PwC's trust-based transformation equation where "productivity gains are being responsibly deployed and there's always a human in the loop to ensure ethical outcomes."

As procurement continues its evolution from cost controller to strategic enabler, organisations that embrace this broader value creation agenda will be best positioned to navigate an increasingly complex business environment.