Why 80% of Procurement Technology Initiatives Fail—And What Timeless Lessons Reveal About the Path Forward
Jon W. Hansen | December 29, 2025
Everyone wants to win the race. Very few want to train.
That single observation explains why 80% of procurement technology initiatives fail. Organizations chase the brass ring—Digital World Class® status, 2.6x ROI, autonomous AI agents—without asking whether they’re ready to compete at all.
Over the past 48 hours, a series of LinkedIn exchanges, historical interviews, and personal reflections converged on a single thesis: The brass ring doesn’t exist without preparation. And the entire procurement technology ecosystem is optimized to sell race entry, not race readiness.
What follows is the audit trail—timestamped conversations that reveal a pattern documented across two decades. These aren’t new insights. They’re timeless lessons the industry keeps ignoring.
The Governance Gap: Marty Martin’s Seven Frameworks
December 28, 2025 — LinkedIn Exchange
Marty Martin published a comprehensive set of AI adoption frameworks built from his experience with NIST, IEEE, and federal agency implementation. Seven frameworks covering CEO strategy, policies, procedures, workforce, human-in-the-loop, user risk, and self-assessment.
Serious work. Audit-first framing. Standards-aligned.
I asked a simple question: Where in the seven frameworks does the organization assess whether it should adopt a specific AI solution at all?
Marty’s response was honest: “My stance on the frameworks is the organization has already decided to adopt specific AI solutions.”
There it is. His frameworks—however excellent—sit downstream of the decision that causes 80% of failures. He governs the race. He doesn’t ask whether you trained for it.
“If the adoption decision assumes readiness that doesn’t exist, even excellent governance can’t recover it.”
Lock-In Migration: Vera and Canda’s Warning
December 28, 2025 — LinkedIn Exchange (Nico Bac / Duncan Jones Thread)
The Kingfisher story broke: a $10B+ retailer told SAP “no” to S/4HANA, citing a 20x cloud cost increase. They kept ECC, moved to Google Cloud, extended support via Rimini Street, and built an API-driven modular architecture.
Canda Rozier nailed it: “Kingfisher didn’t reject technology—they rejected lock-in. And lock-in highlights lack of readiness and exacerbates failure.”
Then Vera Rozanova went deeper: “I’ve seen companies that avoided ERP lock-in, only to recreate it through system integrators, middleware vendors, or AI platforms. If an organization cannot replace a critical vendor without halting operations, then lock-in already exists.”
Vera identified lock-in migration—the pattern where organizations escape one proprietary cage only to build another. This happens because lock-in isn’t a vendor attribute. It’s an organizational condition. You can’t solve it by switching vendors. You solve it by owning the orchestration layer.
Her question—”Are organizations truly ready to govern any complex digital ecosystem?”—is the Phase 0 question stated differently.
The Bobsled Team: Judy Bradt’s Timeless Lesson
Circa 2012 — Procurement Insights Interview
A decade before this week’s exchanges, I interviewed Judy Bradt, author of Government Contracting, about why 90% of government contract wins are “decided” before the RFP is issued.
Her response reframed the entire question:
“Think about the winning bobsled team. They’re not the guys who just happen to have a really good graphite sled strapped to the top of the Volvo and were driving past Whistler on the day of the competition. No—they found teaming partners, tried them out, had auditions, looked at the competition, did trial runs, practiced, trained. So that 90% of what went into deciding who the winner was happens before they cross the starting line.”
That’s Phase 0 in government contracting language.
The “starting line” is the RFP release—or in procurement technology, the deployment date. The 90% before is readiness, relationship building, understanding the buyer, knowing constraints, and building capacity.
Judy also referenced Ian Burdon from e-Procurement Scotland: “One of the biggest mistakes government makes is believing automation is the magic bullet. Automation is a tool that needs to be leveraged only after you have an effective process of engagement in place.”
Automation doesn’t fix broken processes. It scales them.
This interview happened over a decade ago. The lesson hasn’t changed. The industry still hasn’t learned it.
The Personal Proof: My Running Journey
2021-2024 — Personal Experience
I started running again in my late 50s. At 59, I couldn’t run 100 meters without being winded.
None of that happened because I “showed up” on race day. It happened because I committed to the unglamorous work of training—conditioning my body, building endurance, respecting limits, and progressing deliberately.
Phase 0 isn’t a show-up-and-compete process. It’s the training phase organizations want to skip—until they wonder why they’re exhausted, injured, or dropping out halfway through transformation.
The procurement technology industry is telling 59-year-olds who can’t run 100 meters: “Here’s a world-class racing shoe. Here’s a GPS watch. Here’s a hydration vest. Sign up for the marathon. You’ll figure it out on race day.“
That’s the 80% failure rate. They’re selling gear to people who haven’t trained.
The Final Truth: Bob Sievert’s Wisdom
Circa 2010 — Virginia Department of General Services
Years ago, Virginia’s Bob Sievert said something that has stayed with me ever since:
“Not everyone’s best is the same. Trying to align your best with a single standard is foolish. Your standard of best outcome is not going to be the same as someone else’s best outcome. But it will be the best that you can achieve, and it will return the same level of reward and satisfaction.”
The industry sells a single standard: Digital World Class®. Best-in-class. Top quartile performance. 2.6x ROI.
But not everyone’s best is the same.
An organization that goes from “can’t run 100 meters” to completing a 5K in 30 minutes has achieved their transformation—even if someone else ran it in 22 minutes.
The reward isn’t beating someone else’s benchmark. The reward is achieving your best outcome given your starting point, your constraints, your capacity.
The Synthesis: What These Conversations Reveal
Across 15 years and multiple domains, the same pattern emerges:
The thread is clear:
- You can’t win a race you didn’t prepare for (Judy)
- You can’t finish a race you didn’t train for (My running)
- You can’t measure success against someone else’s best (Bob)
- Lock-in reveals—and amplifies—lack of readiness (Canda, Vera)
- Governance without readiness assessment governs the wrong things (Marty)
The Brass Ring That Doesn’t Exist
The entire procurement technology industry is structured around selling entry to a race that most organizations aren’t trained to run.
Vendor economics: Sell the sled. Revenue recognized at contract signing. Whether the team wins the race is someone else’s problem.
Consultant economics: Implement the sled. Bill hours during deployment. Whether the team was ready to race is out of scope.
Analyst economics: Recommend the sled. Collect inquiry fees. Whether the team can absorb the sled isn’t part of the Magic Quadrant.
Organization economics: Buy the sled. Report “digital transformation initiative launched.” Whether the race was won gets buried in “change management challenges.”
No one in this value chain is paid to ask: “Can you win this race?”
That’s why the 80% failure rate persists. The ecosystem is optimized for selling race entry, not race readiness.
What Phase 0 Actually Does
Phase 0 is the honest assessment at 59—before you sign up for the marathon:
- Where are you now? (Can’t run 100m)
- What’s your target? (Half marathon)
- What’s the gap? (Massive)
- What’s the training plan? (Progressive conditioning)
- What’s the timeline? (3 years, not 3 months)
- What are the intermediate milestones? (5K, 10K, 15K)
- What’s the go/no-go at each stage? (Did you hit the milestone before advancing?)
Phase 0 doesn’t promise you’ll become Digital World Class®. It promises:
- An honest assessment of where you are
- A realistic understanding of what you can absorb
- A training plan that builds capacity progressively
- Milestones calibrated to your organization
- A finish line that represents your best outcome
The Close
The brass ring the industry is selling—autonomous AI, frictionless procurement, 2.6x ROI—exists. But not for organizations that skip the training.
Phase 0 doesn’t sell you someone else’s finish line.
It helps you find—and cross—your own.
And when you cross that finish line—whether it’s a 5K or a half marathon—the reward and satisfaction are the same. Because you earned it. You trained for it. You achieved your best.
That’s what the 80% who fail never experience. They bought the sled, skipped the training, chased someone else’s benchmark, and crashed before the first turn.
Stop chasing a brass ring that doesn’t exist.
Start training for the race you’re actually capable of winning.
— Jon W. Hansen Creator, Hansen Method | Founder, Procurement Insights December 29, 2025
Procurement Insights
STOP Chasing A ProcureTech Brass Ring That Doesn’t Exist!
Posted on December 29, 2025
0
Why 80% of Procurement Technology Initiatives Fail—And What Timeless Lessons Reveal About the Path Forward
Jon W. Hansen | December 29, 2025
Everyone wants to win the race. Very few want to train.
That single observation explains why 80% of procurement technology initiatives fail. Organizations chase the brass ring—Digital World Class® status, 2.6x ROI, autonomous AI agents—without asking whether they’re ready to compete at all.
Over the past 48 hours, a series of LinkedIn exchanges, historical interviews, and personal reflections converged on a single thesis: The brass ring doesn’t exist without preparation. And the entire procurement technology ecosystem is optimized to sell race entry, not race readiness.
What follows is the audit trail—timestamped conversations that reveal a pattern documented across two decades. These aren’t new insights. They’re timeless lessons the industry keeps ignoring.
The Governance Gap: Marty Martin’s Seven Frameworks
December 28, 2025 — LinkedIn Exchange
Marty Martin published a comprehensive set of AI adoption frameworks built from his experience with NIST, IEEE, and federal agency implementation. Seven frameworks covering CEO strategy, policies, procedures, workforce, human-in-the-loop, user risk, and self-assessment.
Serious work. Audit-first framing. Standards-aligned.
I asked a simple question: Where in the seven frameworks does the organization assess whether it should adopt a specific AI solution at all?
Marty’s response was honest: “My stance on the frameworks is the organization has already decided to adopt specific AI solutions.”
There it is. His frameworks—however excellent—sit downstream of the decision that causes 80% of failures. He governs the race. He doesn’t ask whether you trained for it.
Lock-In Migration: Vera and Canda’s Warning
December 28, 2025 — LinkedIn Exchange (Nico Bac / Duncan Jones Thread)
The Kingfisher story broke: a $10B+ retailer told SAP “no” to S/4HANA, citing a 20x cloud cost increase. They kept ECC, moved to Google Cloud, extended support via Rimini Street, and built an API-driven modular architecture.
Canda Rozier nailed it: “Kingfisher didn’t reject technology—they rejected lock-in. And lock-in highlights lack of readiness and exacerbates failure.”
Then Vera Rozanova went deeper: “I’ve seen companies that avoided ERP lock-in, only to recreate it through system integrators, middleware vendors, or AI platforms. If an organization cannot replace a critical vendor without halting operations, then lock-in already exists.”
Vera identified lock-in migration—the pattern where organizations escape one proprietary cage only to build another. This happens because lock-in isn’t a vendor attribute. It’s an organizational condition. You can’t solve it by switching vendors. You solve it by owning the orchestration layer.
Her question—”Are organizations truly ready to govern any complex digital ecosystem?”—is the Phase 0 question stated differently.
The Bobsled Team: Judy Bradt’s Timeless Lesson
Circa 2012 — Procurement Insights Interview
A decade before this week’s exchanges, I interviewed Judy Bradt, author of Government Contracting, about why 90% of government contract wins are “decided” before the RFP is issued.
Her response reframed the entire question:
That’s Phase 0 in government contracting language.
The “starting line” is the RFP release—or in procurement technology, the deployment date. The 90% before is readiness, relationship building, understanding the buyer, knowing constraints, and building capacity.
Judy also referenced Ian Burdon from e-Procurement Scotland: “One of the biggest mistakes government makes is believing automation is the magic bullet. Automation is a tool that needs to be leveraged only after you have an effective process of engagement in place.”
Automation doesn’t fix broken processes. It scales them.
This interview happened over a decade ago. The lesson hasn’t changed. The industry still hasn’t learned it.
The Personal Proof: My Running Journey
2021-2024 — Personal Experience
I started running again in my late 50s. At 59, I couldn’t run 100 meters without being winded.
None of that happened because I “showed up” on race day. It happened because I committed to the unglamorous work of training—conditioning my body, building endurance, respecting limits, and progressing deliberately.
Phase 0 isn’t a show-up-and-compete process. It’s the training phase organizations want to skip—until they wonder why they’re exhausted, injured, or dropping out halfway through transformation.
The procurement technology industry is telling 59-year-olds who can’t run 100 meters: “Here’s a world-class racing shoe. Here’s a GPS watch. Here’s a hydration vest. Sign up for the marathon. You’ll figure it out on race day.“
That’s the 80% failure rate. They’re selling gear to people who haven’t trained.
The Final Truth: Bob Sievert’s Wisdom
Circa 2010 — Virginia Department of General Services
Years ago, Virginia’s Bob Sievert said something that has stayed with me ever since:
The industry sells a single standard: Digital World Class®. Best-in-class. Top quartile performance. 2.6x ROI.
But not everyone’s best is the same.
An organization that goes from “can’t run 100 meters” to completing a 5K in 30 minutes has achieved their transformation—even if someone else ran it in 22 minutes.
The reward isn’t beating someone else’s benchmark. The reward is achieving your best outcome given your starting point, your constraints, your capacity.
The Synthesis: What These Conversations Reveal
Across 15 years and multiple domains, the same pattern emerges:
The thread is clear:
The Brass Ring That Doesn’t Exist
The entire procurement technology industry is structured around selling entry to a race that most organizations aren’t trained to run.
Vendor economics: Sell the sled. Revenue recognized at contract signing. Whether the team wins the race is someone else’s problem.
Consultant economics: Implement the sled. Bill hours during deployment. Whether the team was ready to race is out of scope.
Analyst economics: Recommend the sled. Collect inquiry fees. Whether the team can absorb the sled isn’t part of the Magic Quadrant.
Organization economics: Buy the sled. Report “digital transformation initiative launched.” Whether the race was won gets buried in “change management challenges.”
No one in this value chain is paid to ask: “Can you win this race?”
That’s why the 80% failure rate persists. The ecosystem is optimized for selling race entry, not race readiness.
What Phase 0 Actually Does
Phase 0 is the honest assessment at 59—before you sign up for the marathon:
Phase 0 doesn’t promise you’ll become Digital World Class®. It promises:
The Close
The brass ring the industry is selling—autonomous AI, frictionless procurement, 2.6x ROI—exists. But not for organizations that skip the training.
Phase 0 doesn’t sell you someone else’s finish line.
It helps you find—and cross—your own.
And when you cross that finish line—whether it’s a 5K or a half marathon—the reward and satisfaction are the same. Because you earned it. You trained for it. You achieved your best.
That’s what the 80% who fail never experience. They bought the sled, skipped the training, chased someone else’s benchmark, and crashed before the first turn.
Stop chasing a brass ring that doesn’t exist.
Start training for the race you’re actually capable of winning.
— Jon W. Hansen Creator, Hansen Method | Founder, Procurement Insights December 29, 2025
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