“You don’t want to over-engineer orchestration. The goal is progress, not complexity.” - Philip Ideson, Founder and Managing Director, Art of Procurement
There’s no shortage of procurement technology right now. If anything, the challenge has flipped. It’s no longer about finding solutions. It is about understanding their true differences.
In this episode, Kelly Barner and I discuss our upcoming “State of Orchestration” report. Drawing on conversations with CPOs, RFI responses, and provider briefings, we explore what orchestration means today, how the market is evolving, and what leaders need to consider before investing.
Orchestration Means Different Things to Different People
Some leaders see orchestration as workflow automation layered on top of existing tools. Others view it as a connective layer across the entire procurement ecosystem. And some are already thinking about it as a decision-enablement platform.
That lack of alignment matters. If you’re not clear on what problem you’re solving, it becomes very easy to get distracted by features instead of focusing on outcomes. Like Kelly said in our conversation, “You can’t just bolt orchestration tech onto an old process and expect transformation.”
What we’ve seen time and time again is that the most successful teams don’t start with technology. They start with the friction. Where are decisions slowing down? Where are stakeholders disengaging? Where is value getting stuck?
Only then do they look at orchestration (or any other category of technology) as a way to solve those specific problems.
The Real Question Isn’t Capability… It’s Fit
There’s a lot of noise in the market right now around what platforms can do. Native workflows. Deep integrations. End-to-end visibility.
What I keep coming back to is a much simpler question: Does this actually fit how your business works? What looks impressive in a demo doesn’t always translate into something that’s usable at scale.
One of the themes we explore in the upcoming report is the importance of understanding how platforms are built. Not just what they claim to do, but how they do it. Are workflows truly native, or are they stitched together through integrations? How much configuration is required to make them work in your environment?
Those details don’t always get the spotlight, but they have a huge impact on adoption. And ultimately, adoption is what determines whether any of this delivers value.
“More Tech” Doesn’t Solve a Change Problem
If there’s one pattern I’ve seen consistently, it’s that organizations underestimate the change management effort required to make orchestration successful. The technology itself is rarely the biggest barrier. It’s how people interact with it or how processes shift. It’s how decisions get made differently.
You can build the most sophisticated workflows in the world, but if stakeholders don’t engage with them, nothing will change. That’s why I always come back to the idea that orchestration isn’t just a digital initiative. It’s an operating model shift. And that requires a different level of intentionality.
The Market Is Still Young… And That’s Important
One of the more interesting data points from our research is how early most organizations still are in their orchestration journey. Yes, there are pockets of advanced adoption, but broadly speaking, many teams are still experimenting, piloting, or trying to connect the dots between different tools.
That tells us two things: First, there’s a real opportunity to get ahead if you approach this thoughtfully. Second, there’s no need to rush into a decision just because the market feels busy.
In fact, the organizations that take the time to define their priorities clearly are the ones that tend to avoid the biggest pitfalls.
Orchestration as a Strategic Lever
At its best, orchestration has the potential to do something procurement has been trying to achieve for years… make it easier for the business to engage. Speed up decision-making. And bring together the data and context needed to create better outcomes.
None of that will happen automatically. It happens when you align the technology with your strategy, your processes, and your people.
Orchestration doesn’t mean just adding another layer of tech. To truly achieve orchestration, procurement has to create a more connected, more responsive way of working. The decisions they make now will shape how effectively they’re able to do that in the years ahead.
