RS Group report highlights industry procurement challenges

Professionals across industry who work in maintenance, repair and operations (MRO) roles are becoming increasingly worried about managing risk in the supply chain, have mounting concerns about cybersecurity and are more serious than ever about high ethical standards.

These are just some of the key findings from a report published today (Monday Jan 13^th) by industrial solutions giant RS Group exploring some of the key challenges faced by MRO procurement professionals.  

Produced in association with The Chartered Institute of Procurement & Supply (CIPS), the 2025 Indirect Procurement Report ‘Tackling the cost of business’ is the eighth annual survey of its kind and attracted 426 responses from individuals working in sectors including discrete and process manufacturing, public and private sector organisations, energy, facilities and intralogistics.  

Raj Patel - managing director UK&I, RS

Whilst many of the challenges echo the findings of the 2024 report, general levels of concern have grown, with Inflation and higher costs are still seen as the biggest challenge, cited by 62 per cent of respondents.

This year’s report also points to increasing concern around managing risk in the supply chain (up to 47 from 31 per cent last year); the impact of continuing global political uncertainty (up to 37 from 20 per cent) and the issue of attracting and retaining talent.

Amongst other key findings, respondents say that a key pressure is delivering annualised cost savings (a key issue for 40 per cent of the sample), whilst 35 per cent of those taking part flag ensuring contract compliance with preferred suppliers as a significant day-to-day issue.

Meanwhile, almost a third of respondents also report challenges managing stakeholders over multiple sites, an issue that 50 per cent of respondents intend to address by consolidating the number of suppliers they use.

The survey also points to a notable increase in initiatives around sustainable and ethical procurement and action on reducing carbon footprint (up from 21 per cent to 48 per cent). Almost two-thirds (64 per cent) of those surveyed say ESG (Environmental, social and governance) is important to the delivery of their company strategy, up from 52 per cent in 2024 whilst 51 per cent say they now see sustainable and ethical procurement as a business pressure which impacts how they do their job.

Commenting on this year’s findings Raj Patel, managing director for the UK&I at RS, said: “The results illustrate that people working in procurement are facing some of the most challenging conditions the profession has ever seen. Wrestling with external factors like inflation, geopolitical tensions and supply-chain disruptions is being compounded with an increasing pressure to make a tangible contribution to an organisation’s wider carbon-reduction efforts.

“Although an added pressure, it’s heartening to see the steps procurement is taking to improve the ESG credentials of their organisations, which will become a bigger focus as new legislation comes into force.”

The full 2025 Indirect Procurement report can be found here.