通过人工智能采购优化成本、速度和弹性-GEP

Beyond the Hype: Making AI Work for Your BusinessIn boardrooms and war rooms alike,procurement is being reimagined, notthrough theory but through necessity.Forward-thinking companies are notjust tweaking procurement; they arerebuilding it for speed, resilience, andintelligence.Artificial intelligence (AI) is help-ing a consumer goods company spotsupplier risks weeks in advance byscanning financial reports, weather,and political events, allowing teamsto act before shipments are delayed.An automaker uses predictive analyt-ics to adjust sourcing based on globalevents. A pharmaceutical firm hasused AI to cut contract cycle times by30%, giving teams more time to focuson innovation and patient care.These aren’t lab experiments. They areoperational realities and, increasingly,competitive imperatives.The traditional procurement model,designed to manage costs andenforce policy, worked in an era ofrelative stability. But in today’s envi-ronment of inflation shocks, tradevolatility, sustainability pressures,and supplier instability, predictabilityis a luxury. Procurement teams mustnow navigate more risk and complex-ity than ever before.AI is not a silver bullet. But used well,it shifts procurement from reactive toproactive, from compliance-focusedto value-oriented. It enables teams toanticipate disruptions, model deci-sions, and guide the business withthe speed and confidence only data-driven intelligence can provide.Still, the use of AI isn’t just a technol-ogy upgrade. It’s an operating modelredesign. The companies realizingmeaningful returns from AI are doingmore than deploying tools. They arerethinking workflows, reskilling talent,reorganizing teams, and investing indata governance. They treat AI not asa pilot but as infrastructure.Leadership is essential. Organizationsthat approach AI as an isolated proj-ect often stall in fragmented usecases. Those that embed it into theDNA of how procurement works andlink it to business outcomes are build-ing capabilities that endure.Equally critical is choosing the rightpartner. Deploying AI in procurementis not about platforms alone. It’s alsoabout aligning insights with impactand making AI useful, usable, andfully embedded across a fragmentedprocurement landscape. The rightpartner brings not only technology but also deep domain fluency and changemanagement muscle to deliver trans-formation at scale.This report, developed by GEP in asso-ciation with Harvard Business ReviewAnalytic Services, explores howprocurement is being transformed byAI. It offers insights into the practicalsteps and structural shifts required tomove from experimentation to impactand how organizations can positionthemselves for long-term success.Santosh NairChief Product OfficerGEP HARVARD BUSINES S RE VIEW ANALY TIC SERVICES1Optimizing Cost, Speed,and Resilience ThroughAI-Enabled ProcurementMany companies are finding success with artificialintelligence (AI) across various areas of procurement andsupply chain management, including spend analytics, suppliermanagement, and demand forecasting. Where spend analyticscan help organizations find cost savings, demand forecastingcan alert companies to changing purchasing patterns.Companies are using AI tools for theanalysis, comparison, and review ofcontracts. Procurement orchestration,which is the coordination of procure-ment processes, resources, and tech-nology across an organization, is beingsimplified through the collaborationthat AI-driven platforms provide. Evensustainability efforts improve, sinceAI can give organizations insight intosuppliers with eco-friendly practicesand give them the ability to track theirown environmental, social, and gover-nance (ESG) performance.To be sure, procurement and sup-ply chain managers have embracedAI as a key tool for better businessoutcomes. According to a surveyof 802 senior business executivesby the University of Pennsylvania’sWharton School of Business and NewYork-based marketing consulting firmGBK Collective in October 2024, gener-ative AI (gen AI) spending on averagehas increased by 130% since 2023. Ofthose surveyed, 72% said that their genAI budgets will increase in the nextyear, with most of them saying thatjump will be over $5 million.1“AI is really causing a renaissancefor procurement and supply chainmanagement,” says Sopan Shah,senior vice president and global chiefprocurement officer (CPO) for IHGHotels & Resorts, a hospitality com-pany formally known as InterConti-nental Hotels Group plc and head-quartered in Windsor, England, with20 hotel brands and 6,600 hotels inover 100 countries. “It’s a renaissancebecause we believe the potential of AIis still in its infancy and we have only HIGHLIGHTSThe more companies adoptartificial intelligence (AI) toolsandtechnology for procurementandsupply chain management,the more use cases will becomeavailable for organizations tounderstandthe value they canderive from them.Integrating data and managingit isoften a challenge that companiesface when it comes to using AI.It’s a