If it ever seems like technology has a mind of its own, you’re not as far off as you might think. Artificial intelligence has dominated the conversation in the supply chain sector over the last few years, and in the future, the only thing that will change is how transformative it will be.
Agentic AI – which is more autonomous and goal-driven than the ChatGPT and Claude versions most people use today – is a monumental technology that many believe will reinvent procurement through automation and augmentation.
Bryan Doepken, managing director with Accenture, said the path toward this transformation begins with data, which comes in two forms: explicit and implicit.
Explicit data is collected from suppliers, contracts, spending habits and points of sale — all areas where AI can help with analyzing information.
Implicit data, on the other hand, is the knowledge a worker has gained through experience, such as negotiation strategies and understanding of the business.
“Start to think about how you get that,” said Doepken. “Both that explicit data, but also start to capture that implicit data, because that’s what’s going to be the big unlock.”
Doepken, speaking during the Amazon Business Reshape conference, said companies must also become AI-native organizations, meaning the use of AI becomes second nature and a regular part of their workflow — a trait that is becoming more common in younger workers.
“Kids aren’t coming into procurement the same way we all came into procurement; they’re AI native,” he said. “They don’t want to work in the tools the way we did. They don’t want to do stuff the same way we’ve done it.”
Finding people within an organization who are passionate about learning how to better use AI is one way to get the ball rolling, if they are given the opportunity to explore what the technology is capable of.
This will also lead to a stronger focus on measurable results and a better understanding of where agentic AI works — and where it doesn’t.
“We don’t talk about AI to design an existing process or to fix an existing process,” said Doepken. “You can do that. It works for a time, but it’s kind of like putting Band-Aids on top of your existing processes. Use this as an opportunity to rethink how you do things.”
Businesses should use agentic AI as a way to rethink their current processes rather than simply automating existing practices.
Procurement excellence
When it comes to establishing excellence in procurement, AI is not the only area companies
should focus on.
Beth Hill, general counsel and COO of The Shop/FordDirect, believes any strategy must mesh with an organization’s broader goals — and the key to that is communication.
“I always say, there’s never too much communication to make sure everyone’s aligned and clarified of where the organization is going and how you can help.”
– Beth Hill, general counsel and COO, The Shop/FordDirect
Communication is also essential to building and developing high-performing teams that are properly trained and have the skills necessary to succeed.
“The things that we do very well, or I would say more like the hard skills — RFPs, sourcing, negotiations, contracts. I think those are really fundamental elements to building out a robust procurement supply chain organization,” said Kurt Shafer, senior director of global procurement at Jabil. “I think where we are now focusing a lot of our attention is on the soft skills.”
Shafer said his approach to employee management is to encourage people to ask questions and challenge the status quo.
“I don’t want to be the same organization today this time next year, I want to be better,” he said. “But this is a collective. It’s not just me making decisions from a hierarchical perspective and going, ‘hey look, we’re going to adopt this because I said so.’ It’s more of a grassroots type model.”
Hill added that she is a big believer in principles, pointing to what she called a “Day 1 mentality” that focuses on the customer.
The three principles Hill said her business follows are to put the dealers (their customers) first, and to do so with excellence and integrity.
“Everybody on the team, there’s foundational skills so that you have your competencies, and you have to like the Kool-Aid that you’re drinking, and everybody likes it because we are so obsessed with doing the right thing for our customers,” she said. “Those soft skills and those people skills are important, and I don’t think they are ever going away.”
Despite the focus on people and communication, both Hill and Shafer know that AI plays a major role in their companies’ success.
At Jabil, AI is used for such things as intake forms and data analytics, and the company is taking a more proactive approach when it comes to agentic AI.
“We have so much knowledge and expertise in supply chain and procurement,” said Shafer. “We have 3,500 practitioners, and when you marry that with an AI firm… that is going to bring forth some really, really cool technology.”
Shafer said he takes a cautious approach to adopting AI, as he sees himself as a people-person who runs an organization the old-school way.
“Some of the things that I’m concerned about is an over-adoption of AI, kind of moving more toward agents speaking with suppliers,” he said. “You move from where you naturally would have the engagements in the conversations to more of transactional system conversations.”
Hill said the automotive industry is where consumers make the second-largest purchase in their lives, and it is an industry susceptible to disruption.
“Just being nimble and aware all the time that these things are on the horizon is critical for pretty much any business that we’re in today,” she said.
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