How Agentic AI is Propelling Procurement Forward
AI use in procurement is in the midst of an important transition.
Traditional AI has helped to automate routine tasks, but the emergence of agentic AI represents a leap forward ā creating intelligent systems that think, adapt and act with unprecedented autonomy.
These sophisticated agents don't simply follow pre-programmed rules; they learn from every interaction, make complex decisions in real time and collaborate seamlessly with human teams.
As procurement leaders meet at Procurement & Supply Chain Live London 2025, agentic AI is sure to be one of the most popular topics of conversation.
Leaders form Vodafone, Reach and Icertis will take part in the Agentic AI in Procurement panel on Day 1 of the event.
To secure your tickets and hear from these procurement experts, click here. āāāāāāā
Industry leaders predict autonomous future
One in three enterprise software applications will include agentic AI by 2028, according to Gartner.
The consulting giant also asserts that, by 2028, at least 15% of day-to-day work decisions will be made autonomously through agentic AI, up from 0% in 2024.
Zycus' Founder and CEO Aatish Dedhia has previously express a belief that the future of procurement is centred on the emergence of agentic AI, signalling a new era for the profession.
"The year 2025 marks the dawn of agentic AI, not just in procurement, but globally across industries," Aatish stated. He envisions a future where procurement operations run autonomously, achieving in a single day what previously took a month.
While generative AI applications simply understand and generate content, agentic AI represents another significant leap forward.
Aatish explained: "Agents are autonomous systems designed to accomplish multi-step goals and make decisions within procurement processes."
Market leaders deploy purpose-built solutions
Numerous procurement technology leaders ā Zycus, Coupa, Zip and Tonkean, to name a few ā have released game-changing solutions powered by agentic AI.
Agentic AI leverages LLM capabilities while mitigating inaccuracy risks through targeted use-cases and refined data.
Coupa's agentic AI tool Navi, for example, harnesses LLMs for specific tasks within well-defined sectors, democratising AI across the design-to-pay (D2P) spectrum.
Zip recently announced its intention to provide procurement teams with even more tools to improve their processes, with 50 purpose-built AI agents harnessing the company's agentic AI suite.
These will help to remove millions of hours of tedious, manual work plaguing departments across the enterprise ā from tariff assessments to contract reviews, compliance checks and more.
"Zip is cutting through the agentic AI hype with AI agents that actually work," said Rujul Zaparde, Co-Founder and CEO of Zip.
"Not vague chatbots. Not generic assistants. Real, specialised AI agents that do one job and do it perfectly. Zip's approach to agentic AI is going to make global companies more secure, save them millions of hours of laborious work, and generate billions in hard-dollar savings."
Idan Cohen, Technology Procurement specialist at Wiz, one of the first companies to harness the use of Zip's tool, added: "We live in a world where procurement leaders need to utilise AI for our advantage, and Zip's approach to agentic AI does exactly that.
"We'll save so much time on the technical work and day-to-day tasks that we need to do as part of the procurement process, and be enabled to really focus on what we're supposed to do – being a true partner to the business and to our vendors."
Industry experts share real-world insights
At Procurement and Supply Chain LIVE London, a trio of procurement leaders will share first-hand experiences of implementing autonomous procurement agents, revealing both breakthrough successes and hard-learned lessons.
They are:
- Sarah-Jane Peden, Head of Procurement at Reach
- Mihaela Ambrozie, Head of Operations, Vodafone Procurement Company
- Martin Mohr, Vice President Alliances at Icertis
About Procurement and Supply Chain LIVE London 2025
Procurement & Supply Chain LIVE is returning to the Business Design Centre in London for its annual Global Summit.
This unmissable event is aimed at facilitating knowledge sharing and connections among the world's procurement and supply chain leaders.
Those attending can enjoy inspiring keynotes, engaging panels and exclusive workshops covering a diverse range of topics, including supply chain transformation, procurement technology, sustainability and ESG, AI, finance, logistics and supplier relationship management.
To secure your tickets, click here.
