Keelvar: Helping Procurement Navigate Volatility

Keelvar is an agentic sourcing platform designed to help procurement teams achieve more with fewer resources. By combining intelligent automation with advanced machine learning optimisation, the platform transforms sourcing best practices into scalable, repeatable workflows while delivering analytical capabilities far beyond traditional spreadsheets and manual processes.

The result is faster sourcing cycles, more informed decision-making and measurable value from the very first sourcing event.

Trusted by more than 150 global enterprises, Keelvar supports sourcing across direct materials, logistics, services and other spend categories. Its customer base includes leading organisations such as Nestlé, Siemens, Maersk and Mars.

The need for technology is now more essential than ever, as the company’s report, Procurement at an Inflection Point, found that organisations that have adopted AI and/or sourcing automation in the past 12 months were 3.7 times less likely to suffer major demand contraction during periods of geopolitical and tariff-driven disruption than those that had not.

They were also more likely to maintain stable or growing demand, a pattern that held regardless of the source of disruption, pointing to a structural rather than situational advantage.

AI adoption separates leaders from laggards

"The data this year is the clearest signal we've seen that procurement technology adoption isn't a nice-to-have – it's what separates organisations that absorb volatility from those that get hurt by it," says Alan Holland, Founder and CEO of Keelvar.

"The performance gap between leaders and laggards is real, measurable and widening. What is most concerning in the data is how many organisations are sitting out not because they lack budget or capability, but because they've convinced themselves they already understand AI well enough to conclude it's not for them. That's a dangerous position to be in."

Keelvar’s latest research highlights the growing pressure on procurement leaders to make faster, better decisions in an increasingly volatile environment. While 65% of respondents identified inflation and rising costs as their top external concern, an even greater proportion (69%) said decision-making speed and quality represented their biggest internal challenge.

The study found that 53% of organisations without procurement technology remain trapped in reactive firefighting, whereas businesses that have successfully deployed both AI and automation have largely moved beyond process inefficiencies and are instead focused on strategic cost management.

Governance drives technology adoption

Governance also emerged as a key differentiator: only 10% of organisations with executive-led technology mandates had adopted neither AI nor automation, compared with 52.5% of those relying on bottom-up adoption.

Among the most advanced organisations, nearly 80% are now planning investments in advanced sourcing optimisation, signalling a growing shift from digital transformation to procurement intelligence.

"Vendors and partners can't just point to capability," adds Alan.

"Procurement teams are operating under real pressure and need to show results fast. The question CPOs are asking vendors isn't 'what does your product do?' – it's 'how quickly can you get us to measurable impact?' That's the bar the market is setting."

Recognition for sourcing innovation

Keelvar is establishing itself as a leader in the space, having been named in the 2026 Gartner Market Guide for Sourcing Applications across two categories: Advanced Sourcing Optimisation and Autonomous Sourcing.

Keelvar is the only representative vendor offering both Advanced Sourcing Optimisation and Autonomous Sourcing, a combination that allows procurement teams to manage both complex, high-value sourcing decisions and high-volume, repeatable events on a single platform.

Keelvar addresses both strategic complexity and operational scale through a unified sourcing platform. Its Sourcing Optimiser enables procurement teams to evaluate complex award scenarios involving thousands of line items, analyse multiple trade-offs simultaneously and make data-driven decisions across high-value spend categories.

Meanwhile, Autonomous Sourcing automates recurring sourcing events from event creation and supplier engagement through to bid analysis and award recommendations, significantly reducing the manual effort required from procurement teams.

Because both capabilities operate within the same platform, organisations can match the right level of sophistication to each sourcing event. Strategic sourcing initiatives benefit from advanced optimisation, while high-volume, repeatable categories can be managed autonomously at scale, freeing teams to focus on higher-value activities.

Expanding agentic AI capabilities

In 2025, Keelvar expanded its agentic AI capabilities with the launch of Kai, an AI orchestration agent designed to coordinate a suite of specialised sourcing agents throughout the procurement workflow.

These include the Optimal Close Agent, which uses machine learning to identify the most advantageous moment to close a sourcing event, and the Autonomous Rate Refresh Agent, which automatically launches new market engagements when contracted rates expire or fall below predefined benchmarks.

Importantly, these capabilities are already being deployed by Keelvar customers today, demonstrating the company’s focus on delivering practical, production-ready AI rather than future-looking concepts.