Maximising the benefits of technology in the social infrastructure sphere

Replacing fragmented, manual processes with streamlined digital alternatives can result in improved visibility, accountability and auditability across the planning, procurement and project management lifecycle.

Procurement teams which have gone this route report the same compelling suite of benefits, namely, cost savings, efficiency gains and improved collaboration within the stakeholder group.

Some 43% of global social infrastructure procurement professionals cite cost reduction as the top benefit of digitalisation, while for a further 41%, it’s the hundreds and thousands of hours that digitisation and automation can shave off the procurement timeline.

Meanwhile, for government agencies charged with overseeing the delivery of social infrastructure initiatives, technology’s capacity to facilitate improved communications is viewed as its chief advantage.

That’s hardly surprising, given the intensively collaborative nature of a well-run procurement process. For a sizeable project, the stakeholder group is likely to include government bodies, developers, contractors and sub-contractors, legal teams and financiers, as well as the community the asset under development is intended to serve.

Unifying the interests of so many parties is an easier proposition when project related documentation and communications are centralised, via a secure, well-designed platform which can function as a single source of truth.

These are some of the findings contained within Procure’s Social Infrastructure Outlook 2025 Report , developed in partnership with Infralogic. A snapshot of the current status quo, it incorporates survey responses and commentary from 150 infrastructure leaders from around the globe.

Overcoming the obstacles to successful digital transformation

Despite the obvious benefits, switching from disjointed manual processes to optimised, automated alternatives is not necessarily a straightforward proposition.

Very often it is not and 40% of survey respondents pin the blame for that squarely on siloed data.

If vital documentation is stored across multiple disconnected systems, fragmentation is the inevitable result and when it occurs the consequences can be negative and far reaching. They range from version control issues to missing information and an approvals process rendered highly inefficient by protracted exchanges occurring in manual or semi manual mode.

Deficits in digital literacy can act as an impediment to digital transformation too. This is cited as a challenge by 43% of government agencies whose procurement teams are less than confident they have the technical wherewithal to implement and manage digital procurement solutions effectively.

The question of cost

And then there are the ever-present concerns about funding, with budget constraints identified as a barrier to adoption by more than a third of survey respondents. Tight budgets are a hallmark of social infrastructure projects the world over but a refusal to invest in enabling technologies because of the upfront cost entailed can be shortsighted in the extreme.

In fact, there’s a growing body of evidence that shows the significant savings a public authority stands to amass over the lifecycle of a project, from reduced overheads to a lower incidence of expensive errors.

It’s technology that typically pays for itself several times over, Andy Potter, Business Development Director EMEA, Ansarada observes.

“We consistently find that the cost savings technology delivers far outweigh its price,” he says. “When clients take the time to build a business case that fully accounts for the efficiency gains of fit-for-purpose procurement technology, they often realise that the savings exceed the investment – making the decision a no-brainer.”

Getting serious about cyber-security

Meanwhile, there’s another less commonly considered benefit embracing digital technologies can deliver: effective protection from hackers, cyber-criminals and other bad actors seeking to gain unauthorised access to highly sensitive data.

The procurement process involves plenty of the latter, from supplier contracts and financial records through to bidder details and valuable intellectual property.

A single data breach can lead to financial losses, legal penalties and long term reputational damage – nothing distorts competition and erodes trust faster than the accidental leakage of bidder pricing during an RFP – and when manual processes and practices are the order of the day, it’s all too easy for one to occur.

Procurement professionals are cognizant of the risk. Just 21% report being completely confident in the data security of their processes. Confidence levels do, however, vary significantly between regions. In the Americas, 50% of survey respondents express high confidence in their safeguards, while across the pond in EMEA, that figure drops to 38%.

Proactive risk mitigation measures including end-to-end encryption, multi-factor authentication and strict access controls can be a game changer for procurement teams that are battling to maintain the integrity of their social infrastructure procurement exercises.

Those that invest in premium procurement software in the form of a single, secure AI-powered platform, will find these features come standard.

Open to innovation?

While 74% of all survey respondents agree or strongly agree that their organisations are open to enhancing the procurement process, willingness to pursue wholesale digital adoption varies considerably across the social infrastructure sphere.

34% of transaction advisories, for example, strongly agree that they’re open to the prospect, compared with just 24% of privately owned social infrastructure developers.

Inertia and the familiarity factor can deter procurement teams from exploring opportunities to do things differently. Those that have followed the same workflows for years and decades can be loath to abandon old processes and practices.

The relatively small scale of many social infrastructure projects may tamp the sense of urgency too. If past projects have been completed without major missteps or disruption, the perception that whatever processes, practices and platforms currently in place are ‘good enough’ can prevail.

Concern that automation could lead to job losses can also be an impediment to progress. Change management is frequently needed to combat this perception and convey the message that digital tools are not designed to replace skilled procurement specialists but, rather, to free them up to focus on higher value tasks.

“Operationally, there’s some resistance due to concerns about job security,” David Hurrell, Associate Director, Infrastructure NSW says. “Overcoming this requires demonstrating how these tools enhance outcomes, improve workflows, and support rather than replace team members.”