SAP NOW AI TOUR
If there was one takeaway from the SAP NOW AI UKI event this year, it’ s this: AI isn’ t just influencing procurement – it’ s fundamentally changing how the function works and what it’ s capable of. And it’ s happening faster than many organisations are prepared for.
Procurement leaders at the event shared the same experience: you’ re being pushed to do more, respond faster and operate with far greater clarity than in the past. Yet the tools and processes that many teams still rely on weren’ t built for the pace and complexity of today’ s environment.
That’ s why the 2025 Economist Impact report, produced with SAP Ariba, resonates so strongly. It highlights a shift that CPOs have been feeling for some time:
• 68 % of executives say AI skills are now a top priority for procurement
• 78 % say procurement is increasingly trusted to manage external risk – up more than 35 points in a year
• Geopolitical disruption is now the number-one concern for 64 % of procurement leaders.
These numbers tell a clear story: the expectations placed on procurement have scaled dramatically – and AI is the way the function keeps pace without burning out its people.
At SAP NOW AI UKI, the conversation wasn’ t“ what is AI?” or“ should we explore it?”.
We’ re past that. The real discussion was about application:
• How do we remove noise from the intake process?
• How do we use predictive insight to prevent supplier issues before they hit?
• How do we get stakeholders out of email chains and into guided flows that help them?
This is where SAP and Next-Gen SAP Ariba are shifting the dial. We’ re moving from process-heavy procurement to intelligence-driven procurement, with embedded AI co-pilots, Gen AI and agents making everything simpler, faster and more intuitive. Approvals, risk checks, supplier insights, category guidance are all becoming automated, integrated and insight-led – and managed through in-suite orchestration as well as complex process and landscape orchestration for the enterprise.
For CPOs, this represents more than a technology upgrade; it’ s a strategic reset. The role is tilting away from firefighting and manual control toward shaping outcomes: resilience, speed, sustainability and commercial impact.
As you move through the insights from our incredible speakers, one theme stands out: AI isn’ t replacing the fundamentals – it’ s supercharging them. And it’ s giving you a chance to redesign your function for what comes next, not just optimise what came before.
procurementmag. com 69