By Bob Rosetta and Lalit Bakshi
Chief Procurement Officers (CPOs) today are under pressure to move faster, cut deeper, and think more strategically about the function. Artificial intelligence (AI) offers a powerful way forward for this transformation, but many organizations remain stuck, and adoption continues to stall. Not because of the tech-readiness, but because legacy systems, entrenched incentives, and incumbent supplier interests seem to resist change.
Why Procurement Struggles to Embrace AI
Business often claims to want innovation, but in practice it clings to the familiar. Some of the loudest voices advocating for transformation are also the ones working hardest to delay it. Across the discipline, the pattern is familiar: bold claims about technology followed by endless cycles of assessments, pilots, and vendor roadmaps that never seem to land. This is rarely accidental; it is often by design.
Too many traditional suppliers have a vested interest in slowing down true transformation. They sell process checks instead of real change, emphasize risk over value, and protect legacy contracts by keeping clients reliant on outdated processes that should have been retired a decade ago. The real risk today is not AI. The real risk is staying stuck in the past.
AI in Procurement: Ready to Deliver
AI has now reached a point where it can deliver meaningful gains in procurement – significant cost takeout, technology modernization, and new business value for customers and shareholders. Industry experience already shows this in action: A global Fortune 1000 firm was able to improve customer experience and customer retention at much lower cost by using Generative AI to stay ahead of its competitors. And yet, in too many boardrooms, these outcomes are pushed aside. Incumbent providers bring up compliance risks, stir fears about job losses, and play up integration hurdles. In truth, this is less about real risk and more about controlling the pace of change and protecting the size of the services pipeline.
What Procurement Leaders Must Do
It is time for procurement leaders to take the wheel.
AI adoption cannot be outsourced. The responsibility and the opportunity rest with CPOs. That means asking the hard questions: Who stands to gain from our current processes staying the same? And who actually benefits if we modernize? The answers may not always be comfortable, but they are necessary.
The organizations that win in the AI era will be those that stop waiting for consensus and start building momentum whether that means partnering with next-generation firms, upskilling teams, or challenging long-standing supplier relationships. For years, procurement has been seen as the department of “No”: too slow, too cautious, too reactive. AI offers a way to change that narrative and reposition procurement as a driver of agility, insight, and strategic value. But that shift will not happen if leaders remain passive.
The Cost of Delaying AI in Procurement
Resistance from traditional suppliers is more than a roadblock. It is a tax on progress. Every month spent debating AI’s “readiness” or wrestling with legacy systems is a month in which competitors are gaining ground. Enterprises that embrace AI-driven procurement are unlocking millions in value. Not just through cost savings, but through strategic agility. One global B2B specialty materials manufacturer used AI to rethink sales operations, enabling faster responses to market shifts than its peers.
But the window for action is closing. Traditional suppliers will keep pushing incremental tweaks, layering on half-baked AI features, and calling it innovation. That is not transformation. CPOs must demand partners who are all-in on AI, who prioritize outcomes over excuses, and who are willing to co-create solutions that break the mold.
AI and Procurement: A Defining Moment
Across industries, suppliers have promised the world and delivered delays. Procurement has wrestled with the politics of transformation, the inertia of legacy systems, and the fear of change. The time for half-measures is over. AI isn’t something that’s 5 years from now. It’s today. It’s a tool that’s ready to redefine procurement, if only we stop letting the legacy systems hold us back.
CPOs today face a choice: continue playing defense or seize this moment to transform procurement into a strategic powerhouse. The organizations that act now will set the pace for the next decade. Those that don’t will be left explaining why they are still stuck in the middle.
The question is no longer whether AI will transform procurement; it’s whether CPOs will lead that transformation or risk being left behind.
Lalit Bakshi (L) Bob Rosetta (R)
*This article has been co-authored by Bob Rosetta, former Chief Procurement Officer at Citi, and Lalit Bakshi, Co-founder and President of USEReady. Drawing on decades of procurement leadership and enterprise AI experience, the authors highlight how procurement leaders can reposition their function as a driver of agility and strategic impact in the AI era.