Monthly Top 5 - November 2025

...and that's when the KPI blew up in front of our eyes!

We were preparing for Quarterly Business Reviews (QBRs), {{FIRST_NAME|my friends}}…

And we were ready to demand penalty payments from suppliers based on On-Time In-Full (OTIF) failure reports. The stakes were high: hundreds of thousands in breach penalties.

But before we acted, we double checked the data… And felt like idiots: the suppliers were on time; our warehouses were late in logging goods receipts in our own system…

Everything was fine and we were about to torpedo relationships for a problem of our own making…

This gap: the one between what the numbers say and what's actually happening, is the theme running through this month's Top 5 stories. We see it everywhere: in procurement benchmarks, AI strategy, leadership, and climate targets.

This month’s editions cut through the noise on this issue.

Real data. Real problems. Real fixes.

Onwards!

Every month, I comb through 1000+ articles across 40+ sources to bring you the best free procurement articles on the web.

My picks are based on what I feel is the most concrete, actionable and useful content I came across that month.

I sort through the noise so you don’t have to.

📰 In this month’s edition:

Let’s dive in!

Most procurement benchmarks rely on surveys and self-reported data. Sievo just changed the game with their first State of Spend report built entirely on real transactions: $1.4 trillion in purchase orders, invoices, and supplier payments. That's roughly 2% of global GDP analyzed across six major industries.

Unlike traditional reports where teams estimate their performance, this reveals what top performer data actually says... Real KPI benchmarks across PO coverage, payment timing, invoice processing, and supplier concentration. Very cool!

Sievo State of Spend 2025
by Sievo

Tech analyst Benedict Evans' latest "AI Eats the World" presentation is a great overview of what’s happening today: we're in a massive platform shift, and almost nobody knows what they're doing (whatever they may claim…). Will AI lead to market consolidation or fragmentation? Should we measure adoption or outcomes?

Every platform shift follows the same pattern. Nobody knows how it works, most early questions turn out to be wrong, and the path forward only becomes clear in retrospect. AI is no different. Evans argues we're asking users to figure out what AI is for, which is backwards from how successful technology spreads.

AI Eats the World
by Benedict Evans

The world is too complex, fast, and fragmented for old leadership models of “total control” to work. This HBR piece argues that leaders often sacrifice long-term imagination and morale by defaulting to urgent firefighting when complexity rises.

Instead of clinging to the illusion of total control with micromanagement tendencies, this article offers five tangible ways to manage the "underground currents" of your organization: imagination, morale, and momentum. The central idea is to keep the ambition big (the long-term story) but make the time horizon small (like 90-day strategic cycles) so teams can operate with confidence in chaos.

How to Lead When Things Feel Increasingly Out of Control
by Eric Solomon and Anup Srivastava

Many organizations believe they manage cash flow well. Forecasts look accurate, dashboards appear complete. Yet payment delays, missed discounts, and supplier frustration continue. The problem? Finance and Procurement handle cash flow separately with different goals, tools, and success measures.

Finance extends days payable outstanding to protect liquidity. Procurement prioritizes supplier relationships and timely payments. Without coordination, these objectives conflict, creating unpredictable cash positions, strained supplier relations, and reduced working capital efficiency.

Cash Flow Isn't Broken — Your Alignment Is
by Xavier Olivera at Spend Matters

The Global Carbon Project's 2025 report says it plainly: we have four years left before exhausting the carbon budget for 1.5°C warming. With emissions at 42 billion tons annually, we'd need to cut them 20% immediately just to extend that to five years. Not happening.

Fossil emissions increased 1% this year despite strong renewables growth. While we are approaching “peak carbon” (China flatlining, land use emissions dropping), it’s too little, too late for 1.5°C. BUT 2°C is still possible if efforts accelerate.

What Happened to Global Carbon Emissions this Year?
by Hannah Ritchie at Sustainability by Numbers