Art of Procurement

"If you're not completely sure about what you want to try to achieve, how will you know you ever achieved it?" - Joseph Postiglione, Sr., Author, Protecting Expected Outcomes in the Age of AI

AI investments are accelerating, but many organizations are still struggling to turn promising pilots into the business outcomes they expected. The technology may work as intended, but the original business case can q...

"The biggest risk today is not making the wrong AI decision. It is making no decision at all while everyone else is learning." Samir Khushalani, Senior Advisor, Art of Procurement

Procurement leaders now face more technology choices than ever, with new AI-enabled solutions emerging constantly. In this environment, picking the right tools can be overwhelming, and procurement often struggles with knowing where to start, ...

"Procurement's future is bright, when we continue to do it the right way for the right reasons." - Travis Hodge, Director of Enterprise Sourcing & Procurement at nVent

Procurement is no longer just a back-office function. As business models shift and digital transformation accelerates, procurement leaders face more pressure (and more opportunities) than ever to become true business partners. 

"Visibility is not the end goal. The end goal is how does that visibility enable me to make a quick decision." - Mohit Ahuja, Strategy & Transformation Leader, Caterpillar

Business leaders can no longer afford to think about digital procurement as "plug and play." This is especially true in manufacturing, where the risks of disruption run deep. Legacy systems, change-weary teams, and rapid-fire market ...

"It's amazing how you can rise to the top just by doing what you say you're going to do and being honest about what you can't do." - Anthony Clervi, Managing Partner, Una

Procurement teams today are under intense pressure to deliver savings, manage risk, and do more with less… all while digital transformation reshapes the landscape. For many, group purchasing organizations (GPOs) sound good on paper...

"If you build AI on top of weak foundations, you're going to have a very broken system." - Gaël De Martelaere, Chief Procurement Officer, Hexion

AI is driving enormous change in procurement, but success relies on more than just new tools. The real challenge is rebuilding the foundations (data, process, and team mindsets) while still delivering results for the business today.

In this episode, G...

"When you have a great partnership, the value that you can create is unbelievable if you know how to do it." - Kate Vitasek

Despite the best intentions, nearly 70% of business partnerships unravel within three years. 

Why is it so difficult to build relationships that deliver value, and what are the practical steps procurement leaders can take to break the cycle?

Kate Vitasek...

Chemical procurement's complexity isn't news, but the pace of change – and risk – is climbing fast. With AI sweeping through every corner of the business, leaders charged with sourcing chemicals and raw materials have reached a fork in the road: modernize, or fall behind.

Dheev Arulmani, COO and co-founder of Valdera, brings deep chemical and consulting experience to this Provider of the Week e...

"Resilience doesn't mean a supply chain that doesn't see risk. That's impossible. It means setting yourself up to withstand shocks and disruptions." - Harald Nitschinger, Co-founder and CEO, Prewave

Today's supply chains operate in a world of constant shocks, but the risks that matter most rarely show up on procurement's tier one dashboard. Often, the real trouble is buried further downstream, so procurement leaders ha...

"We need to evolve from procurement professionals into business leaders with procurement expertise." - Israel Santiesteban, Former Chief Procurement Officer and Head of Supply Chain

The next evolution of procurement is about so much more than cost savings. With new digital tools and relentless business change, leaders are being asked to deliver value in new ways and, as a result, develop talent for roles t...

"If your business is getting bigger, then supplier management is going to be ever more important to you." - Jesse Lee, Co-founder, CEO of Brooklyn Solutions

Procurement's role in managing suppliers is transforming fast: scope is growing, expectations are higher, and the risks are real. Getting supplier management right is essential to business resilience, especially when the entire organization depends on ...

"The future of procurement isn't actually AI. It's people using AI to improve business outcomes and improve their own value add." - Vishal Patel, SVP Product & Customer Marketing at Ivalua

Many procurement teams have adopted AI in some aspect, but only a few have figured out how to turn those early experiments into sustainable, scalable business value. With market expectations rising and teams overstre...

"I measure success by the number of executives that come to us before they make decisions." - Gary Mizhir, Senior Director Head of Innovation & Excellence, FIS

The pressure to move from tactical cost savings to strategic business impact is growing, especially as AI, data, and new business needs emerge faster than ever. 

But what does it mean to drive innovation with AI and still keep ...

In this Provider of the Week episode of the ProcureTech Insider podcast, host Jyothi Hartley speaks with Darshan Deshmukh, President of ProcureAbility.

ProcureAbility is a leading procurement and supply chain services provider, offering advisory, managed services, digital solutions, and talent support to help organizations drive measurable value and build sustainable procurement capabilities.

...

"You need to get visibility into the AI tokens, what workloads they are being used for, which users are using them, and what department they're coming out of. Most organizations don't have that visibility yet. They just get the bill." - Jon Winsett, CEO, NPI

AI tokens have gone from a niche curiosity to a major line item practically overnight. 

The cost models are new, spending is climbin...

"Don't overvalue the top procurement spot, and don't undervalue the tools and the budget required. It's an ecosystem." - Stephen Rauf, Global Head of Indirect Procurement, Zoetis

Delivering more value with fewer resources is an easy thing to want, but tough to execute consistently over time… unless procurement rethinks their entire approach, from operating model and team structure to technology and ...