THE PROCUREMENT INTERVIEW
AI has become the focal point and dominant force of today’ s business landscape. This includes procurement, where the technology is poised to power fundamental transformation.
Aatish Dedhia, Founder and CEO of Zycus, has been at the forefront of this revolution since 2001 – long before AI went“ mainstream”. His journey from solving data classification challenges to pioneering agentic AI in procurement offers valuable insights for leaders navigating the technological shift.
Aatish spoke to Procurement Magazine during Zycus Horizon at Dana Point, California.
“ We had a problem where our first customer – one of the largest companies in the world – had huge amounts of data”
Aatish Dedhia, Founder & CEO, Zycus
Solving real problems with machine learning When Zycus began its journey more than two decades ago, the company faced a specific challenge that would shape its future direction.
“ When we started Zycus in 2001, at that point we had a problem where our first customer – one of the largest companies in the world – had huge amounts of data,” Aatish recalls.“ At that point, they had people really sifting through the data, classifying the data and we said,‘ there has to be a better solution’.” Coming from an engineering background, Aatish approached the problem methodically. The solution lay in machine learning – then far from the force it is today.
20 November 2025