We know AI is here to stay, but the real question is: what does procurement look like when AI isn’ t just a tool on the side, but is integrated into the operating model?
Ashley Hetrick, BDO USA: That’ s a fun one because I get the opportunity to look at a lot of different organisations and how they deploy tech. I’ d say the biggest limiter we see right now is pilots. Pilots kill everything. Choose one thing and go all in on it.
The companies that are really embracing AI are saying, I need people solving smart; I need people having human interactions, conversations with business partners and solving hard problems. People do the people things, and let’ s pick a couple of tools that create all of the noise and let’ s architect our organisation around them.
It has to be all or nothing in this experimentation mode. We’ re seeing so many wasted investments from someone saying, I could use that, or I could keep doing what I’ ve been doing for 10 years.
Bavik Pathak, Alstom: In my view, AI, of course, we can use on a day-to-day basis to avoid repetitive tasks. We can reduce the effort in bid normalisation, RFX drafting, PO work, etc. but what we are missing is the human value of it, like in complex negotiations. AI won’ t help me there.
Of course, I can do some groundwork. I can rely on certain information, data analysis and all that, but certain negotiations won’ t be helped by AI.
Another thing is that strategic sourcing buyers and everybody else are trying to adopt AI, but two things are missing right now, and these are what we need to work on in our industry: value and risk. Buyers these days have to be value- and risk architected rather than just
94 June 2026