THE PROCUREMENT INTERVIEW

final negotiated prices from multiple vendors before making decisions. As organisations gain confidence, they can progressively reduce human intervention.

One Zycus customer began with full human oversight but eventually authorised autonomous decisions for items below US $ 20,000, within established guardrails.

“ It’ s very important for us to have customers build trust in AI,” adds Aatish.“ It just requires one wrong thing for AI to get a bad name.”

The system supports human-in-theloop and fully autonomous operations, allowing organisations to progress at their own pace.

The strategic elevation of procurement Looking ahead, Aatish envisages a fundamental shift in procurement’ s organisational role.

He asserts:“ Procurement is really going to evolve from a more tactical function to a strategic function. A lot of the tactical stuff will now be done by AI.”

example threshold for purchases where people typically don’ t have time to negotiate, but AI can capture savings

This transformation will free procurement professionals to focus on strategic activities: building supplier relationships, innovating and identifying new vendors for product introductions.

Additionally, AI promises to transform procurement’ s internal reputation.

Business stakeholders often view procurement as an obstacle, rather than an enabler. However, AI-powered instantaneous responses and streamlined flows stand to enhance satisfaction.

“ It should elevate the image of procurement within the organisation,” Aatish predicts.

The quick wins strategy For procurement leaders uncertain about AI adoption, Aatish recommends a pragmatic approach focused on quick wins:“ It’ s best to start off with some quick wins. Take something which is lower risk, which AI can do comfortably well, and start doing that. Then you can go to higher and higher value-adding cases.”

Examples of suitable starting points include autonomous negotiation for tail spend and AI-powered evaluation of vendor RFP responses.

Aatish concludes:“ Once you prove the value, then everybody’ s a convert. And once you convert, then you can start taking other agentic flows, which can deliver more and more value.” More advanced applications – autonomous supplier onboarding or autonomous contract management – can follow once initial successes build organisational confidence.

26 November 2025