How procurement tools drive cost savings in 2025

An advanced procurement tool could be the ticket to helping your team boost operational efficiency, improve cost management, or streamline supplier relationships—or all of the above. 

Yet, procurement solutions are ever-changing. Their functionality evolves in response to broad industry trends, taking advantage of emerging technology to help procurement teams stay ahead of the competition. With the right tool, your team can drive organization-wide growth and improve cost savings.

Here’s everything you should have on your radar as you consider how procurement software can help your team hit its goals.

Trends shaping procurement tools in 2025

Industry-wide trends impact which features procurement management tools prioritize and how teams use them. As you move through 2025, keep these leading trends in mind.

AI and automation

According to Amazon Business' 2025 State of Procurement Data report, 29 percent of decision-makers and 31 percent of senior procurement leaders consider AI a key influence over the next two years. AI transforms procurement systems through spend management optimization, more strategic sourcing, and improved contract negotiations. It provides a deeper level of insight into your operations, giving you more control. 

Automation relieves your procurement team of day-to-day routine tasks. Rather than spending valuable hours manually verifying purchase orders and invoices or seeking stakeholder approvals, an automation tool handles it instantly. The right procure-to-pay solution streamlines every step of your process.

Widening procurement skills gap

As procurement solutions grow more advanced, the demand for skilled talent increases. While a procurement platform may handle routine tasks and collect information automatically, teams still need qualified professionals to assess data and implement strategy. Without a savvy team working behind the scenes, even the best tools can only help so much. 

The Amazon Business 2025 State of Procurement Data report identified talent as a growing area of focus for procurement decision-makers. Today, procurement leaders are training existing staff to foster future-ready skills and onboarding tech-oriented individuals who can help shape their organizations.

Centralized, digital procurement

Decentralized procurement is a recipe for lost opportunities to drive revenue and operational bottlenecks caused by avoidable errors. Today’s procurement moves too quickly for manual, tedious, or scattered processes. Because procurement has become a competitive advantage for organizations, it must run optimally. That means consistency and clarity across the entire workflow—in other words, teams looking to power growth need centralized digital procurement. 

A centralized procurement process means all your tools communicate with each other. This in-depth connection ensures data accuracy and real-time insight into everything happening across your network. As a result, you enable better risk management so nothing slips through the cracks. When you combine centralization with a digital process, you leverage key technological advancements that help maintain consistency, accuracy, and reliability. 

Data-driven insights

Advanced analytics pull back the curtain on what’s happening in your procurement network. In fact, according to the Amazon Business 2025 State of Procurement Data report, 31 percent of procurement decision-makers listed boosting reporting and analytics as a top priority. Not only does data capture what’s happening right now, but it can also help you plan for future supply chain and market conditions. With this information, it's easier to uncover savings opportunities, maintain supplier relationship management processes, and predict your organization's needs.

Additionally, modern procurement software solutions provide greater insight into spending patterns. Comprehensive spend analytics shed light on historical spending habits and reveal potential instances of rogue spend. Your team can use these insights to help support more informed, data-backed decision-making that can drive revenue.

Must-have features for procurement tools

Procurement has the potential to drive organization-wide growth—if teams have the right tools in place. However, since not all tools are built the same, keeping these crucial features of procurement tools in mind is essential:

• Purchasing visibility: Gain a bird’s-eye view of your organization’s purchasing habits.

• Automation: Use workflow automations to streamline operations, like purchase requisition approvals and invoice payments.

• Systems integrations: Connect your existing systems to the new tool so it fits within your current workflows and addresses operational gaps.

• Order management and tracking: Understand where each order is in its lifecycle to ensure vendor contract and regulatory compliance .

• Compliance management: Set purchasing parameters so every purchase complies with company policy.

• Analytics: Gain real-time insight into current workflows to spot operational bottlenecks and inefficiencies.

• Supplier and contract management: Monitor supplier performance and contract lifecycles to ensure the best deals and create high-quality vendor partnerships.

• Centralization: Store purchasing data, order tracking info, and supplier management stats in one user-friendly solution.

Any solution you use should simplify your procurement operations so you can redirect your efforts to grow other organizational areas and maximize profits.

How the right procurement tools drive industry success

There’s no one-size-fits-all procurement tool—every industry faces unique challenges that influence how it structures its procurement ecosystem. Here’s an industry-specific breakdown of how procurement tools can drive success. 

Healthcare

Healthcare organizations face complex purchasing requirements, time constraints, and the need to juggle revenue goals with providing a high level of care. These challenges can make using automated procurement solutions in settings like clinics and hospitals especially valuable. 

According to research by Deloitte, 70 percent of healthcare survey respondents said digital solutions are a key focus for their organizations. By automating routine tasks across the procurement cycle, your healthcare organization can create efficient back-of-house workflows that allow you to adapt to industry shifts and better serve your patients.

K–12 and higher education

For educational organizations, budgets and compliance are top of mind. Administrators and teachers must stick to their district’s budget, yet overly complex and time-consuming workflows increase the chances of overspending or buying from unapproved vendors.

The procurement tool can help centralize the network so all purchasing data lives in one place. That way, your organization will have a realistic sense of purchasing trends so you can align budgets with actual organizational needs. Additionally, with increased purchasing visibility, you can identify areas prone to rogue spending, resolve them, and ensure increased organization-wide compliance. 

Government

The ability to make decisions quickly and effectively is a major priority for most government agencies. Since state and local governments already navigate plenty of challenges related to rules and regulations, acquiring goods or services to complete daily work shouldn’t add more. 

Modern procurement technology can provide your team with a comprehensive view of organizational procurement spend, supplier risk, sustainability, and tail spend. These data points help highlight workflow inefficiencies so you can make data-powered decisions that quickly resolve bottlenecks, reduce costs, and increase supply chain resilience. 

Manufacturing

Manufacturing organizations must balance spending, manage direct and indirect costs, and handle inventory strategically. While their procurement teams need to acquire the goods and services necessary to keep production moving smoothly, they also have to avoid overspending or purchasing the wrong amount of raw materials. 

A quality procurement tool can relieve your manufacturing team of these logistical headaches by providing comprehensive spend analysis and inventory management. With good data, you can identify historical trends and monitor broader industry shifts, which is useful when forecasting procurement needs and trying to reduce waste spend.

Nonprofit organizations

Nonprofit organizations navigate unique legal and financial rules to maintain their status according to IRS standards. Having an accurate budget and showing a measurable impact from spending is also crucial for maintaining donor confidence in their investments. 

The right procurement tool can capture valuable data to help your nonprofit optimize spend and reduce leaks. That way, you retain access to the resources that allow you to maximize your impact on your community. 

Travel and hospitality

To meet guest demand and stay competitive, travel and hospitality organizations need to stay one step ahead. That means maintaining smooth operations, so they’re never without the goods or services needed to serve loyal guests. 

A quality procurement tool leverages automation and centralizes every step of the procurement workflow, enabling your team to optimize its ordering processes and make the most of every dollar spent. 

The right procurement tool to encourage long-term cost savings

A successful procurement strategy relies on high-quality insights into existing workflows and cost controls. Procurement tools grant this access, offering benefits like greater spend visibility, more reliable inventory management, and faster approval processes. 

Is your procurement team looking for more information on how the right tool can transform your workflow? Learn how Amazon Business can help you achieve your procurement goals.