What is the biggest headache that procurement professionals are facing in managing their organization's supply chain?

Some of the biggest challenges (headaches) for procurement professionals can either be due to internal / external factors or both. The top three reasons would be:

1 - Change in requirements (eg. specificataions, quantity, etc.) from the demand side are examples of internal factors

2 - Price Fluctuations owing to taxes, inflation, currency rates, external factors, etc. are examples of external factors

3 -Delays or deviation from delivery schedule due to logistical issues or from vendor side 

The main challenges are:

- Volatility  and Bull Whip effect in the demand

Other issues are:

- Getting support of (i) Senior management (ii) Finance (iii) I.T. 

- Lack of planning & precise forecasting

- Maintaining optimum cost over a period of time

- Operation flexibility

- Skills development of procurement professionals on an ongoing basis