AI IN PROCUREMENT
“When a procurement team spends all their energy chasing down paperwork... they become a glorified back-office utility instead of a strategic powerhouse”
Joel R. Klemmer Director of Procurement and Chief Procurement Officer Gallup-McKinley County Schools
“ They can automate procurement so aggressively that they reduce it to a transactional machine, or they can use automation to move procurement into the centre of the organisation. I believe the second path creates far more value.”
Future procurement functions could become the organisation’ s hub for supplier strategy, external intelligence, risk, funding decisions, contract performance and market access. The system can show not only the lowest price, but the likely lifecycle cost, supplier exposure, operational effect and return. Both Rakesh and Joel provide a clear warning to leaders: sitting on the fence is an active, high-risk decision.
Technology will continue to advance regardless of an organisation’ s readiness, and competitors are already building their advantage.
“ Start small, prove value fast, then scale. The companies that move now will set the pace others are forced to follow,” says Rakesh.“ The answer is not to automate everything without control, but to begin building the data, standards, workflows, governance and leadership capability now. No one can know exactly what the next decade will bring, but procurement has the opportunity to become faster, more strategic, more influential and more central to how organisations create value than it has ever been before,” concludes Joel.
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