AI IN PROCUREMENT
Instead of thinking ahead, they are stuck running from fire to fire, leaving the entire company exposed to sudden supply shocks, bloated costs and missed opportunities.” Joel adds that it’ s not just a time problem; it is an information problem too. When buyers spend their days entering data and chasing missing paperwork, the organisation is not just losing hours; it is losing visibility. By the time procurement pieces together data scattered across purchase orders, contracts, invoices and email, that picture is often already out of date. Contract expirations get missed, off-contract spend continues unnoticed and fragmented demand stays hidden.“ That is how procurement becomes reactive,” he says.“ It responds to the next request instead of shaping demand before the request reaches the market.”
What made manual procurement unsustainable? Back in 2020, COVID-19 exposed how fragile global supply chains were. The volatility that followed meant procurement needed real-time visibility and speed that manual processes simply couldn’ t deliver.“ Almost overnight, the hidden dangers of running ultra-lean, single-source global supply chains were exposed,” says Rakesh.“ That massive wake-up call, followed by a non-stop wave of geopolitical tensions, shipping bottlenecks and chronic chip shortages, made one thing obvious: you cannot manage a complicated global network using rear-view-mirror quarterly updates. The pandemic forced a massive reckoning.”
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