FINANCE & SPEND
One way procurement leaders are tackling these challenges is the use of real-time visibility into their data. Five years ago, real-time visibility meant a dashboard that was already a day old, but today it is catching duplicates, flagging supplier risks and actually seeing invoices that don’ t fit the tidy version of the process.
Donna says:“ Here’ s the thing most people won’ t say out loud.‘ No PO, no pay’ is a great policy on paper, but a meaningful share of what AP processes every day arrives with no PO, no contract, nothing behind it, and this isn’ t a maturity problem. We see it inside some of the largest, most sophisticated procurement organisations in the world, the ones running every major system out there. The policy says one thing and the daily reality is another. Real-time data is what lets you see that gap instead of pretending it isn’ t there.“ The shift isn’ t about speed, because speed on its own just gets you to bad decisions faster. It’ s about having data you can act on instead of data you can only look at.”
How AI can deliver measurable ROI AI systems have made it easier than ever to analyse, combine and even agentically pull data across datasets. But Spencer Penn, CEO and Co-founder of LightSource, highlights that you get out what you put in:“ There’ s a feedback loop from spend analytics and decision-making. If you only look at your spend once a year, or once a quarter, that’ s the speed at which you’ re reacting to changing conditions within the business.
56 September 2026