Throughout CPO Outlook 2025, delegates returned to a paradox: procurement’s workload is multiplying, but resources are not. Roundtable discussions on operating models, supplier management, and AI kept circling back to the same question: How do we cope?
In his keynote, Yannick Thiry at Bain & Company answered that question with clarity — not by downplaying the challenge, but by showing how structure and technology can re-balance it.
“Procurement must find a multiplier”
Procurement faces more and more expectations while resources are still the same — or sometimes even less. That reality makes one thing essential: finding a multiplier. For Bain, that multiplier is GenAI — the technology capable of absorbing routine work and amplifying decision‑making across the value chain.
From categories to capabilities
To meet future expectations, organizations will need to flex to business priorities, not the other way around. That means moving away from categories as the center of gravity. Instead, they should organize around multi‑disciplinary teams, modular delivery towers assembled around value‑led initiatives.
The evolving team
Tomorrow’s teams will combine business partners, supplier managers, and data scientists. Business partners shape demand and align KPIs, supplier managers lead performance and ESG partnerships, and data scientists provide analysis and scenario modeling. This will require significant upskilling and talent renewal. This point was echoed in many CPO Outlook sessions on competencies and AI readiness.
The automation dividend
Bain’s analysis shows that automation can compress today’s procurement workload dramatically. If next‑generation AI and automation are applied, many activities performed today could be completed in less than one hour.
This will leave time for new value‑adding activities — centered around business collaboration and cross‑functional teaming.
Yannick Thiry, Bain & Company
The digital foundation
Yannick described GenAI as the glue and catalyst transforming fragmented systems into an integrated, AI‑orchestrated ecosystem. This shift moves procurement from manual to embedded compliance. It also transitions reactive to predictive and autonomous decision‑making, and tactical KPIs to enterprise‑wide measures of value.
The results are already measurable: +20–30% spend under control generating +3–7pp savings, up to 60% reduction in cycle time, and +40% increase in user satisfaction (NPS).
This is not science fiction — these are real results we see with companies today.
Yannick Thiry, Bain & Company
Starting the journey
Yannick closed with a call to act: diagnose where impact is limited, design for what moves the needle, and build momentum through visible wins. “Yesterday was the best time to begin. Today is the second best.” Across CPO Outlook’s 36 roundtables, that quote became a touchpoint. It was echoed by leaders discussing AI pilots, supplier collaboration, and new operating structures.
Procurement’s workload will not shrink — but its leverage can grow. The future‑ready function manages more with less not by stretching people thinner, but by redesigning how work happens. The key, as Yannick put it, is to let AI take the heavy lifting. This allows humans to focus on the human side of value.
Networking with EBG
Each EBG gathering is about creating time — to pause, reflect, and learn from one another.
If you want to continue these conversations, join us at CPO Outlook 2026 in Stockholm on October 14–15. There, peers, experts, and solution providers will meet to explore what “future-ready procurement” really looks like in practice.
Before then, our EBG | Xperience 2026 workshops will offer smaller, interactive sessions. These sessions connect insights to real-world challenges — helping turn inspiration into concrete actions.