What Did We Learn from the AI-Powered Procurement Webinar?
Procurement and finance leaders today face a perfect storm of challenges: tightening margins, increasing compliance demands and the ongoing struggle to do more with fewer resources. While AI and Generative AI offer unprecedented opportunities, many organizations are still in the early stages of adoption, questioning where and how to start.
During our recent EBG | Network webinar, Anna Bjärkerud tackled these questions head-on with procurement AI experts:
- Frank Cappel, VP EMEA Solutions Consulting, Coupa
- Michal Łuckiewicz, Managing Director – Sourcing & Procurement, Accenture
- Yuriy Danylchenko, Lead – Procurement Analytics, Accenture
Their message was clear: AI is not the future—it’s happening now. Companies leveraging AI today are already seeing significant efficiency gains, risk mitigation and better decision-making. Take a look at what they showcased!
Did You Miss the Webinar?
No worries! Take a look at the >>On Demand recording for all details and reflections as well as live demos.
Poll Results: Where Are Companies in Their AI Journey?
Throughout the webinar, attendees shared valuable insights into their current AI adoption status and priorities via two live poll questions.
Poll 1: What is your primary goal for AI in procurement?
📊 52% – Automating repetitive tasks and processes
📊 25% – Improving decision-making with reliable data insights
📊 10% – Enhancing risk management and compliance
📊 10% – Optimizing supplier relationships and sourcing strategies
📊 2% – Other priorities
What This Means: The majority of attendees see AI as a tool to reduce manual workloads and increase efficiency. This aligns with global procurement trends where AI is primarily used for process automation, document management and approvals.
🗣 Michal Łuckiewicz (Accenture) stated “This is exactly what we’re seeing in the market. AI is a co-pilot, helping teams clear repetitive tasks so they can focus on strategic decision-making.”
Poll 2: What are the biggest challenges to AI adoption in procurement?
📊 51% – Trust in data
📊 47% – Technical and integration challenges
📊 36% – Lack of internal understanding and skills
📊 23% – Complexity and lack of transparency in decision-making
📊 15% – Compliance concerns
What This Means: Trust in AI-generated insights remains a top barrier. Procurement leaders worry about AI accuracy, data security and explainability, which slows adoption.
“AI must be transparent. If procurement professionals don’t understand how AI reaches conclusions, they won’t trust or use it. That’s why solutions like Coupa Spend Guard provide explainable risk assessments and AI-driven fraud detection.” Frank Cappel (Coupa)
AI in Action: Where Can AI Transform Procurement Today?
The webinar showcased real-world use cases of AI already making an impact in procurement.
💡 How AI is Solving Key Procurement Challenges:
✨ Automating Source-to-Pay Processes
AI is eliminating inefficiencies in sourcing, purchasing, invoicing and payments, enabling teams to focus on strategy over administration.
🗣 Frank Cappel (Coupa) stated “The biggest struggle for many procurement teams is repetitive tasks. AI eliminates manual bottlenecks, allowing procurement to focus on decision-making, not firefighting.”
🚀 Building Trust in AI-Driven Decisions
Many organizations hesitate to trust AI-generated insights—but Coupa’s AI Assistant Navi is built on $6 trillion in ethically sourced spend data and a network of 10+ million suppliers, ensuring accurate, unbiased recommendations.
🗣 Frank Cappel (Coupa): “AI is only as smart as the data it learns from. With millions of suppliers contributing to our ecosystem, our AI insights are based on real-world procurement patterns—not theory.”
🛡 Enhancing Risk and Compliance Management
AI tools like Coupa Spend Guard proactively detect fraud, flag contract anomalies and ensure policy compliance—before issues escalate.
🗣 Michal Łuckiewicz (Accenture): “Data integrity and compliance are at the heart of AI adoption. Without trust in AI-generated recommendations, adoption will stagnate.”
🤝 Balancing AI with Human Judgment
AI isn’t replacing procurement professionals—it’s enhancing their capabilities. AI provides data-backed insights, but human expertise is still critical for supplier relationships, negotiations and complex decision-making.
Live AI Demo: How AI Works in Procurement
Frank Cappel (Coupa) gave a live demonstration of how AI is already embedded in procurement workflows:
✔️ Navi, Coupa’s AI Assistant, helps users find and approve requisitions, reducing manual effort.
✔️ AI-powered Intake Solutions guide employees to the right procurement channels without needing prior system knowledge.
✔️ Spend Guard proactively flags risk patterns, surfacing fraud risks and contract compliance issues before they escalate.
“The AI tools we’re showcasing today aren’t ‘coming soon’—they’re already helping companies cut procurement cycle times, reduce risk and drive better decisions every day.” Frank Cappel
Final Takeaways & The Future of AI in Procurement
📌 AI adoption in procurement is still low, but as the technology matures, companies must move beyond experimentation to full-scale implementation.
📌 Trust in AI is key—without strong data governance and explainability, adoption will stall.
📌 Companies must overcome integration challenges—with 47% of webinar attendees citing technical complexity as a major barrier.
📌 AI won’t replace procurement professionals—it will free them up for strategic decision-making.
“By 2025-2026, AI will move from experimentation to full-scale deployment, making procurement more predictive, proactive and strategic.” Michal Łuckiewicz (Accenture)
AI-driven procurement will soon integrate across ERP systems, contract management, risk assessment and supplier analytics, creating an end-to-end intelligent procurement ecosystem.
What this means for you
Companies that start investing in AI now will be positioned for:
✅ Faster decision-making
✅ Lower procurement costs
✅ Better supplier risk management
✅ Increased compliance and transparency
About Coupa
Coupa makes margins multiply through its community-generated AI and industry leading total spend management platform for businesses large and small. Coupa AI is informed by trillions of dollars of direct and indirect spend data across a global network of 10M+ buyers and suppliers. We empower you with the ability to predict, prescribe, and automate smarter, more profitable business decisions to improve operating margins. Coupa is the margin multiplier company. Learn more at coupa.com and follow us on LinkedIn and X (Twitter).
About Accenture
Accenture is a leading global professional services company that helps the world’s leading organizations build their digital core, optimize their operations, accelerate revenue growth and enhance services—creating tangible value at speed and scale. They are a talent- and innovation-led company with approximately 774,000 people serving clients in more than 120 countries. Technology is at the core of change today, and Accenture is one of the world’s leaders in helping drive that change, with strong ecosystem relationships.
They combine their strength in technology and leadership in cloud, data and AI with unmatched industry experience, functional expertise and global delivery capability. Their broad range of services, solutions and assets across Strategy & Consulting, Technology, Operations, Industry X and Song, together with their culture of shared success and commitment to creating 360° value, enable them to help their clients reinvent and build trusted, lasting relationships. Accenture measure their success by the 360° value they create for their clients, each other, their shareholders, partners and communities. Visit us them at accenture.com