It’s Time for Procurement to Embrace AI

No procurement professional wants to go through a 2020 scenario ever again. Historically long lead times, parts shortages, demand spikes, and lots of stress.  So what is everyone doing about it? As it turns out, not enough.

Many procurement organizations still depend on spreadsheets and other manual processes to manage spend, suppliers, and parts. But if you’ve read any news publication over the past year, you know that artificial intelligence (AI) is poised to reshape our work processes—so why not procurement?

As it turns out, AI-powered decision intelligence platforms such as LevaData create enormous value almost right out of the gate. So it’s timely that Kevin O’Marah, cofounder of Zero100, authored an insightful article about how AI can augment chief procurement officer-led human intelligence.

Kevin calls it Smart Sourcing and makes a great case for using AI to accelerate the impact procurement teams can have working alongside AI. It seems ridiculous that in a day and age with so much technology available to accelerate procurement’s impact on the bottom line that more companies are not investing in these types of platforms for their procurement teams. Companies don’t bat an eye at implementing platforms for other parts of their organizations such as marketing, finance, and HR. So why is procurement different?

Holding on to a legacy mindset about procurement will not bode well for an organization. The automation, insights, and astounding volumes of data AI-powered sourcing platforms consume in real time make them more than worth the short-term investment. These platforms literally have the power to transform procurement’s influence within a company. Those organizations that lag their peers will simply not compete.

That’s why this is such an important topic. If your organization is on the fence about investing in an AI-powered direct materials sourcing platform, you should read Kevin’s insightful article, Smart Sourcing: AI Can Amplify CPO-Led Human Intelligence. Beyond the points outlined in this article, Kevin highlights some of the emerging factors that make investing in AI-powered direct sourcing platforms even more important than ever. You really cannot afford to wait.