The next frontier: Autonomous, intelligent procurement Just a few years ago, many people in the industry thought we were still many years out from predictive models being common practice.“ Well, now we’ re in it,” says Kevin,“ The speed of adoption has surprised me most. Companies are already using predictive tools around critical assets and they’ re looking to expand that across the plant.”“ Humanoid robots and autonomous systems aren’ t as far away as people think. Once those systems connect directly to equipment, workflows are going to rapidly change, and more use cases for autonomous systems will be revealed. It has the power to truly change how businesses operate.”
Mita adds:“ We are moving beyond predicting what will happen to prescribing the best course of action. This will ultimately mean executing routine procurement decisions autonomously.”
A hands-off future is still years away, but businesses should be laying down the foundation today through networks of role-based AI agents that continuously monitor conditions, collaborate, recommend actions and automate execution where appropriate.
“ Crucially, procurement professionals should be excited about their role in a future built on a coordinated system of AI and human intelligence operating in tandem,” says Mita.
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