Why Teams That Report Impact Win – and Why Those That Don’t Fall Behind

As procurement continues to evolve from a back-office function to a value-driving force, Economic Impact Reporting is no longer optional. Over the last year we’ve seen a 3x increase in leaders reporting the impact of their programs.  This year’s data indicates impact reporting has gone from interesting to critical.  Teams that track and report the value of their sourcing programs are securing leadership support, protecting budgets, and driving measurable change. Those that don’t are seeing budgets cut and support pulled. 

Here’s what the data makes clear: not reporting impact is a risk to relevance, resources, and reputation. 

What is Economic Impact Reporting? 

Economic Impact Reporting quantifies the real-world outcomes of your procurement spend, like jobs created, wages supported, tax contributions, and local economic growth. It connects your sourcing decisions to measurable business and community value, giving you a clear story to share with executives, boards, and stakeholders. 

The case for Economic Impact Reporting: What the data shows 

New insights from Supplier.io’s latest research reveals how procurement leaders are prioritizing Economic Impact Reporting and what happens when they don’t: 

• 43% of leaders already utilize economic impact on communities as a key measure of their programs to stakeholders. 
• 34% of procurement leaders plan to increase their economic impact reporting in the next year. 

Jennifer Johnston, Supplier Diversity & Sustainability Leader at Intuit, shared with our team that, “Economic Impact is one of the critical outcome metrics for our program, and one that we expect to do storytelling around.” 

Do vs. Don’t: What’s the difference? 

Why are so many leaders turning to economic impact reporting? They find the simple and intuitive data more accurately captures the value of their program and resonates better with executives.  When we compare teams that are actively doing Economic Impact Reporting (“doers”) versus those that aren’t, the results are stark: 

Leadership support grows with Economic Impact Reporting: 

• 27.8% of teams that are doing Economic Impact Reporting say executive support has grown this year 
• In contrast, 25% of teams that aren’t reporting economic impact report losing executive support. 

Budget confidence improves with Economic Impact Reporting: 

• While few teams across the board are increasing budgets, those doing Economic Impact Reporting avoid the declines and uncertainty seen in other groups. 
• Teams planning to do “more Economic Impact Reporting” were 19% more likely to report expecting a budget increase in the coming year. 

This link between economic impact transparency and strategic investment is increasingly evident. As Natily Santos, Associate VP of Specialty Supply Chain at Aramark, noted, “Economic impact data was a critical game changer in how I was able to continue to build up my team and make sure that we can maintain and advance progress. It helped me fight for resources and budgeting to make sure that we have impactful numbers that we maintain, because that’s something important to our client base.” 

Economic Impact Reporting correlates with momentum, not stagnation: 

• Teams producing Economic Impact Reporting are more likely to receive leadership backing, set clearer goals, and move faster with executive-ready metrics. 
• Non-doers? They’re stuck trying to prove value with spreadsheets and assumptions. 

The hidden cost of inaction 

Procurement teams not doing Economic Impact Reporting are facing: 

• Eroding executive trust: Without proof, support slips. 
• Stalled budgets: No data, no dollars. 
• Falling behind peers: With 65% of teams already prioritizing Economic Impact Reporting, non-doers are no longer the norm—they’re the laggards. 

What leaders are doing differently 

Procurement teams that succeed with Economic Impact Reporting focus on four things: 

• Metrics-first reporting: They lead with clear, defensible metrics—jobs, wages, taxes—and export them directly to CFO-ready reports. 
• Automating insights: They stop relying on outdated spreadsheets and manual self-reporting, instead turning to platforms like Supplier.io for always-on data enrichment. 
• Strategic storytelling: They use Economic Impact Reporting to move the conversation from compliance to business impact, showing how small suppliers create value for the communities they are serving. 
• Business impact: They leverage this reporting through competitive RFP wins and marketing campaigns aimed at driving positive consumer sentiment. 

Ready to stop losing ground? 

If you’re not reporting the economic impact of your small supplier spend, you’re already falling behind. But it’s not too late. 

Teams using Supplier.io’s Economic Impact Reporting prove their program’s value and unlocking new executive support. With automated, audit-ready reports and access to the most accurate small supplier data, it’s never been easier to lead with results. 

Don’t risk standing still. Start measuring what matters. 

Want to see how economic impact reporting can work for your team? 
Request a demo and explore how real-time, CFO-ready impact reporting can help you protect your budget, win buy-in, and lead with purpose.