Monthly Top 5 - September 2025

91% of ProcureTech vendors now claim "Gen AI capabilities"... but true “Agentic AI” functionality is still rare.

Procurement functions building sustainable advantages with “AI” aren't buying into every shiny new feature. In fact, they’re not really thinking about an AI strategy at all to be honest… They're identifying their most valuable business problems and being ruthlessly selective about which vendors they explore to move the needle… If that’s AI-based, so be it. If it’s not, doesn’t matter. They just want the problem solved.

No. 1 - Vendors Claim AI Capabilities, But Most Are Just Fancy Chatbots

No. 2 - Why Customer-Centric Supply Chains Fail (It's Not Execution)

No. 3 - Why Your Materials Forecast Is Always Three Months Behind

No. 4 - Expedia Ditched Transformation Theater for Real Results

No. 5 - The Negotiation Signal That Makes Them Feel Like They Won

The Bottom Line: The “AI revolution” is about role redesign and increased output capacity per person, not replacement. Winners aren't chasing features, they're identifying which AI subdomains are optimal to solve different procurement use cases.

Action Item: Access to high quality data is an important key to unlocking “Agentic AI”. Audit your system stack with skepticism. Can you access every fields in every application easily via API? Is there data governance around key pieces of data to ensure consistently high levels of quality?

The Bottom Line: Customer-centricity fails because of misaligned incentives, not poor execution. Winners build control towers with real-time visibility, implement activity-based costing to expose true cost-to-serve, and ruthlessly segment customers to match service with profitability.

Action Item: Download the mindmap. Map which departments pull in conflicting directions. Pick one high-impact customer segment where Finance, Sales, and Supply Chain can align on shared KPIs. Prove the model there first.

The Bottom Line: This isn't a data problem, it's governance. Organizations moving to continuous forecasting with shared accountability make faster decisions with fewer surprises. The key isn't perfection, it's shortening the cycle from insight to action.

Action Item: If you're updating quarterly, you're flying blind. Push for continuous forecasting tied to sourcing calendars. Clear ownership: Finance owns end-to-end output, Procurement owns category assumptions and market intelligence.

The Bottom Line: When you answer "yes" to "Are we launching products faster?" and "Are we increasing customer satisfaction?", that's when you earn a seat at the table.

Action Item: Identify 2-3 C-suite metrics your executives actually care about (revenue growth, time-to-market, retention). Reverse-engineer how procurement moves those numbers. Rebuild your KPIs around those priorities.

The Bottom Line: A shift to non-monetary terms isn't a weakness; it's a strategic tool. By deliberately pivoting at the right moment, you signal constraint while demonstrating flexibility. They walk away satisfied that they extracted maximum value. You close at your target price.

Action Item: Before negotiations, list 5 non-monetary items that cost you little but hold perceived value for the other party (payment terms, co-marketing, longer contract duration, case study rights). When you've reached your price floor, make the deliberate shift to these non-monetary terms. The pivot itself becomes the close.