From Automation to Augmentation
When Emma Papakosta, Head of Purchasing Development & Digitalization at NCC, took the stage on Day 2 of CPO Outlook 2025, she asked the room to pause and reflect on what technology really means for procurement.
“AI is when machines replace humans,” she said. “IA — Intelligence Augmentation — is when machines help humans do their jobs better.”
That distinction shaped her message. Procurement’s digital journey, she argued, is not about replacing people but enabling them to make faster, better, and more confident decisions. “Human and AI — not human or AI,” she said.
From Data-Driven to Decision-Driven
Emma described how procurement has already become data-driven — but that’s no longer enough.
“The next step is to become decision-driven,” she explained. “To combine human judgment with digital insight so decisions happen closer to the work, with higher quality.”
Rather than imagining a future where bots negotiate or evaluate suppliers, she challenged the room to envision one where digital tools enhance expertise: “Imagine if purchasers received real-time feedback during a negotiation — not a bot negotiating for them.”
Insights from EBG | Xperience Stockholm 2025
Earlier in the year at EBG | Xperience Stockholm 2025, that Emma joined, digital maturity emerged as one of procurement’s biggest development areas.
Nearly all participants described themselves as developing. They stated they (60%) were “Exploring AI & automation: Researching but not widely implemented”, and many voiced curiosity rather than certainty about its role.
Those findings framed Emma’s reflections in Stockholm and at CPO Outlook alike: progress is real, but confidence is still growing. Digital transformation, she said, must evolve at the same pace as competence.
Building Competence While Creating Value
Emma introduced three design principles for sustainable digital transformation:
- Build competence as we go – Every project can teach us something about AI.
- Focus on new value, not just lower cost – Let’s solve problems we couldn’t solve before — not just do the same things faster.
- Design with IA from the start – Don’t treat AI as a tool, but as a teammate — something that helps us think, decide, and grow.
These principles, she noted, come from experience — and from research. She explained that companies focusing on augmentation rather than automation outperform over time. “Automation can cut costs” she said, “but it limits creativity and resilience.”
Human + AI collaboration creates new value but cost-cutting automation is easy to copy.
The Human Advantage
Emma’s reflections tied naturally to the message shared by Yannick Thiry at Bain & Company on Day 1 — that impact comes from designing for what moves the needle.
Her interpretation was practical: “Technology can make us faster, but people make us relevant.”
At NCC, that means ensuring every digital initiative supports decision-making, learning, and collaboration.
She concluded with a reminder that progress in procurement is never purely technical. “Tools don’t transform organizations — people do,” she said. “The question is how we help them use what’s available, not how we replace them.”
Networking with EBG
Continue these conversations at CPO Outlook 2026 in Stockholm on October 14–15, and during the EBG | Xperience 2026 Focus Days — smaller, hands-on sessions that turn shared experience into concrete action.