Procurement’s AI Wake-Up Call: It’s Not What You Think

Reshape the practitioner, not the tech stack

There’s a quote doing the rounds that I keep coming back to:

“I want AI to do my laundry and dishes so that I can do art and writing, not for AI to do my art and writing so that I can do my laundry and dishes.”

In today’s procurement world, that sentiment feels salient.

AI is here and, all around us, we’re hearing about how it’s going to change everything we do: next-gen our category management; source more and better - mostly with and for us (but sometimes without us!); help us analyze our contracts and identify massive potential; drive far better supplier management; and on and on and on.

But many practitioners are having an ‘existential’ moment.

Instead of seeing AI as freeing us up to do the creative, strategic work we’ve always wanted to do, it’s making us question what we even can do anymore - or worse, whether we’ll even have a job to do in a few years?

(To be fair, a good number of folks in Procurement have been having such conversations for some time - with a few very progressive thinkers even questioning whether (and how) the function can stay relevant in the (not too distant) future.)

I think the answer to this question lies in the fact that AI is not just another tech wave. This isn’t like e-sourcing in the 2000s or cloud migration in the 2010s - all fantastic developments that, to be sure, changed the game for practitioners and providers alike. AI is deeper than that.

The current wave of Procuretech being developed and delivered promises to change the way we think about and do our work, to an extent that I’m not sure many have come to grips with.

And so they react in the ways humans always react in these sorts of situations: they blank it out and keep plugging away, or they get worried and have an existential crisis.

Or they decide to do something about it.

This post (and my new site, Proquria) is my opening salvo to get to the bottom of what we can do about it.

The Buzz (and the B.S.)

Look, I get it. We’re in a hype cycle. I can feel it. You can feel it.

New product releases just about every week. Sky-high valuations. LinkedIn flooded with “AI-first” everything. SaaS platforms claiming to be “AI-enabled”, “AI-native”, “AI-augmented”. VC investments breaking records. One-person companies building agents that do everything under the sun. Talk of AGI either coming for all of us or coming to save all of us (I can’t quite tell which).

It’s all overwhelming.

Conversations have moved from automation to “agentic workflows.” Traditional service providers are suddenly, now, AI platforms. Boutique firms are calling themselves AI consultancies. Everyone’s rebranding.

But, beneath the buzz (and, yes, plenty of BS), something real is happening:

• Autonomous sourcing agents are generating RFQs, inviting approved suppliers, analyzing responses and recommending optimal award scenarios

• AI-powered tools are reviewing SOW’s against RFPs, highlighting negotiation areas, redlining contracts and prepping all outgoing comms

• Supplier Risk monitors are leveraging real-time data to monitor risk factors, scoring suppliers and suggesting mitigation actions

This new breed of Technology (which, by the way, isn’t just about Gen AI or agentic systems, but encompasses rules-based automation, workflow orchestration, traditional RPA, and decision support tools) promises to restructure the way Procurement work is done.

We can’t ignore it. In fact, we have to expect it.

If we look at how Procurement work is structured, in a simple sense, there are three layers:

1. Strategic activity (strategy development, supplier partnerships, stakeholder alignment)

2. Cognitive or Decision support work (running RFPs, implementing strategies, data synthesis and analysis)

3. Transactional work (PO processing, invoice matching, triage, etc.)

The Procuretech revolution of the last few decades has shown us that the transactional work is going the way of the machine and AI is simply accelerating this trend.

But what’s new is that AI is now promising to take on a ton of the work in bucket 2 (and some of bucket 1) as well. Decision-making is being expedited and better informed by Generative AI. AI can simulate/guide negotiation outcomes more fruitfully. It can even provide guidance around alternative category strategies.

ROI Lags (For Now)

That said, we’re still early.

For all the excitement, many organizations are still struggling to get past the pilot phase. Leaders talk about AI strategy, but most deployments are siloed, underfunded, or misaligned with how the function actually operates. Here’s what I’m seeing:

• Top-down mandates: Executives want AI efficiencies, but often don’t think beyond implementing tools

• Vision issues: Teams trying to create or stitch together solutions without clear maps, ownership or training

• Overhyped expectations: Trying to go big too fast leading to underwhelming results

• Security concerns: Data governance and confidentiality fears that delay adoption

• Buy or Build: The perennial debate about DIY versus buying expertise. all he more prominent given the rise of vibe coding

• Lack of skills: Practitioners who are AI-curious, not AI-confident, and then limited by some or all of the above

For all of the above reasons, the short-term payoff isn’t clear yet.

Long-Term: Still Wildly Underhyped

BUT, for all the noise, the long-term potential of AI in Procurement is still underhyped, because the nature of Procurement work makes it incredibly well-suited for intelligent systems. From supplier discovery to risk modeling to contract intelligence, the opportunities are enormous - and the value is massive.

Done right, AI can help the function:

• Shift us from ‘Spend Policers’ to ‘Value Orchestrators’

• Free up time to focus on human-centered challenges such as stakeholder influence and SEI

• Serve as true advisors to the business

But, of course, we won’t get there just like that, and it won’t be because of the tech.

It’s Not About the Tech

The biggest barrier is us.

It isn’t about the tech stack, it’s about the practitioner - or to temper the subtitle to this post just a little:

We need to reshape the practitioner, not just the Tech stack.

As AI becomes more powerful, expectations of Procurement will only increase.

• The C-suite will demand more: more insights, more speed, more “AI-ification”

• The CFO will expect sharper business cases and fewer headcount asks

• Stakeholders will want smarter, more embedded support

Meanwhile, the function itself will (be expected to) shrink - at least in terms of headcount. (I’m not the first person to say this but we are likely past peak employment in traditional Procurement roles.) Tools will become easier to use. Platforms will be abundant. Plug-and-play options will proliferate.

So what’s going to matter will be the human at the center of this operating system. And that human will be a results-focused architect and orchestrator.

Are Practitioners Ready?

In my informal conversations with leaders and practitioners, there’s a shared concern: many of today’s Procurement professionals aren’t prepared for what’s coming. Estimates (non-scientific, admittedly) for how many, range as high as 80%, but never fall below 60%, at least in my conversations.

And this goes beyond simple concepts such as AI literacy and technical proficiency, which is just one part of the equation. It’s also about:

• Relationship management

• Narrative building

• Creative problem-solving

• Comfort with ambiguity

• Enterprise thinking

• New expansive definitions of value

• And a host of other factors that influence our ability to become the orchestrators and architects of the future - including alternative definitions of the Procurement “org chart” and operating model (including the end of “fiefdoms”)

In other words, what is the practitioner going to do when there’s no more admin work and far less fire-fighting? Are you really ready to optimally do all of the above?

So What Now?

This isn’t a call to panic. The good news is that we’re still early. The transformation is still unfolding and, honestly, no one is an expert. We’re all learning at the same time - the pace of innovation ensures that will be the case.

But it is coming and we need to be ready if we want to stay relevant, as individuals and as a function.

That’s what Proquria is here to explore. It’s a call to prepare, and also understand how.

So, let’s start asking better questions. Let’s figure out how we prepare the Procurement practitioner, and not just the tools, for the brave new world ahead.