How agentic AI can deliver profound transformation in procurement

The one constant of the dynamic world of AI is change — and the latest surge of innovation in this space could transform the enterprise workforce. 

AI agents are capable of collaboration and decision making without human intervention.

That’s a step change compared with generative AI, which can produce human-like text, generate insights, and automate tasks, but only works with human prompts.

As organizations seek to become more agile and efficient, using AI agents across their procurement and supply chain function offers a pathway to growth in challenging economic conditions.

What are AI agents?

As Grant Gross writes in CIO.com, agentic AI can be thought of as a more operational, business-specific way of leveraging genAI. It moves beyond genAI’s creational capabilities toward autonomous decision-making in enterprise workflows.

Agentic AI, at its core, is designed to automate a specific function within an organization’s myriad business processes, without human intervention.^[1]

Procurement teams today often grapple with reams of data, leading to slow decision-making and missed opportunities. They’re also held back by manual processes that prevent them from monitoring real-time supplier risks and compliance issues.

Enter AI agents, which can help teams rapidly understand large datasets, monitor supplier performance in real time, and automate repetitive tasks, reducing cycle times by as much as 30%, according to The Hackett Group.^[2] Agentic AI can also automatically enforce procurement policies to help businesses control costs. 

“AI agents are set to revolutionize procurement by addressing existing challenges, enhancing efficiency, and paving the way for a more strategic and proactive procurement function,” says Santosh Nair, GEP’s chief product officer. “Organizations that embrace this technology stand to gain a competitive edge in the evolving business landscape.”

Due to these transformative benefits, it comes as no surprise that Gartner expects 33% of enterprise software applications will include agentic AI by 2028 — a massive uptick from less than 1% in 2024.^[3]

Meanwhile Author Brian Hopkins, vice president of the Forrester emerging tech portfolio, says: “AI agents are now leveraging advanced language models to perform complex tasks, make decisions, and interact autonomously on behalf of enterprises or individuals,” he writes. “This shift from purely generative AI to ‘agentic AI’ promises more sophisticated and less brittle automation capabilities.”^[4]

AI agents in procurement

By implementing agentic AI into their operations, procurement teams will have new decision-making partners that work at lightning-fast speeds with laser-like precision.

“AI agents can handle routine procurement activities, freeing up human resources for strategic tasks,” Nair explains.

Here are some of the ways agentic AI promises to transform procurement:

• Managing supply chain volume and complexity. Agentic AI can process vast amounts of procurement data, optimizing inventory levels, automating order fulfillment, and identifying and rectifying supply chain inefficiencies.
• Real-time decision-making. By continuously analyzing market conditions, pricing fluctuations, and supplier performance, agents help procurement teams make data-driven decisions instantly, minimizing delays and reducing costs.
  
• Enhanced supplier collaboration. AI agents can automate negotiations, track supplier performance, and facilitate seamless communication — all of which Nair believes will add up to deliver better procurement outcomes.
• Risk mitigation through predictive analytics. By identifying potential disruptions, fraud risks, and compliance gaps before they escalate, agentic AI helps teams proactively safeguard operations and ensure supply chain resilience.

“AI is projected to significantly reduce procurement costs and optimize processes, driving substantial savings,” Nair says.

Learn more about how AI can optimize your supply chain, end to end.

¹ _{CIO.com, Agentic AI: Decisive, operational AI arrives in business, August 2024}

² _{Coupa.com, Digital Transformation Reduces Strategic Sourcing Costs and Cycle Time By 30%}

³ _{Gartner.com, Intelligent Agents in AI Really Can Work Alone. Here’s How, October 2024}

⁴ _{CIO.com, Agentic AI: Decisive, operational AI arrives in business, August 2024}