Ivalua NOW 2025: Opening Keynote from CEO Franck Lheureux
Procurement leaders today face immense pressure due to market volatility, changing regulations and accelerating technological advancements.
While AI and automation promise efficiency and smarter decisions, many organisations have seen limited benefits so far, remaining at the initial stages of adoption.
At Ivalua NOW 2025, held at Caesars Superdome in New Orleans, transformation is taking centre stage. Under the theme "Innovate to Elevate," Ivalua’s new CEO, Franck Lheureux, who brings nearly two decades of leadership in enterprise software, shared his vision during an opening keynote.
With a rich career history including JDA Software, SAS France and Soft Solution, Franck has led supply chain transformations for Fortune 500 companies.
In his keynote, he emphasises not just technology adoption but the need to rethink procurement’s role in delivering value.
A new era begins
As Ivalua’s CEO, Franck is setting a new tone for 2025. He follows David Khuat-Duy, the former CEO who is now Chief AI Officer. David’s new role reflects the growing importance of AI in business operations, with David noting that this is "where going forward he can deliver the most value."
Franck acknowledges that the current global environment is challenging and underscores procurement’s critical role in this landscape.
“We sense procurement has never been that critical to company's success,” he claims, linking its importance to operational resilience and sustainability.
Modern supply chains are navigating uncertainty due to geopolitical tensions, regulatory changes and inflation. Procurement leaders are being urged to adopt a dual strategic approach.
Franck asked: “Are you pushing ahead the horizon of planning? Or just focusing on being resilient for the next month?”
This reality calls for both long-term strategic vision and immediate agility.
AI as a digital companion
Franck focused heavily on AI integration as a tool for easing workloads and enhancing decision-making processes.
He acknowledged to the audience, "your job has never been harder," noting the overwhelming complexity and documentation that procurement teams now face.
Ivalua offers AI-based tools as a ‘digital companion’ to support but not replace human expertise. This approach is aimed at reducing the administrative burden on procurement professionals.
Franck asked, "can it help and augment and bring insights that you are not aware of?", thereby advocating for AI's role in streamlining tasks such as contract summarisation and supplier qualification.
For these AI tools to be effective, Franck warned that organisations need to have a solid data foundation.
He stressed: “There is no right AI cases without a solid data foundation.”
Ivalua prioritises customer data privacy, assuring clients that "none of your data is going to be used to train any single LLM," addressing major security concerns in regulated industries.
Procurement and people connected
Franck’s vision extends beyond automation, aiming to embed procurement deeper into organisations while reconnecting it with a human-centric purpose. Ivalua’s AI solutions are designed to be customisable, using natural language for ease of use and reducing reliance on technical specialists.
He emphasises new AI-driven features that help organisations understand the broader supply chain, identifying risks and pre-empting disruptions. "Connecting procurement to the rest of the organisation," is a central goal, helping influence departments like HR, treasury and payables more effectively.
Ivalua is celebrating company achievements such as a 97% customer retention rate, which Franck describes as "a testament to the value we deliver... through the entire lifetime" of client engagements. He also highlights the firm's financial strength: "We are profitable. We have US$0 debt."
Concluding his keynote, Franck highlighted Ivalua’s commitment to service, honesty and sustainable long-term strategies, stating that the business is “here for the long run".
He finished: “Our purpose and our promise is to unlock the potential of AI... to elevate procurement impact.”
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