Thriving Amid Disruption Means Starting Now
Summary
At CPO Outlook 2025, Suzana Drakulic from Google Workspace delivered a closing session that held a mirror up to Nordic procurement’s AI adoption journey. Her message was direct: the Nordics are lagging behind in AI adoption, and the cost of status quo is higher than most organizations calculate. Drawing on her experience inside one of the world’s leading technology companies, Suzana explored what changes when AI becomes infrastructure rather than initiative — and why the human elements of trust, psychological safety, and bold leadership matter more than ever. This article integrates her insights with findings from both the CPO Outlook 2025 and EBG | Xperience surveys to explore what it takes to move from awareness to action.
A Different Vantage Point
When Suzana Drakulic took the stage to close CPO Outlook 2025, she brought a rare combination to the conversation: deep procurement experience, digital transformation leadership, and now an inside view from one of the companies actually building the AI-enabled future being discussed throughout the summit.
Before joining Google, Suzana spent over a decade in procurement leadership roles — including strategic sourcing, category management, and vendor management at BT and Stretch. She has sat in the seats of the audience she was addressing. Then she led enterprise-wide Google Workspace implementations from the customer side before moving to Google itself. This progression gives her perspective unusual credibility: she understands procurement’s challenges from within, has led transformation as a customer, and now works inside a company that has fundamentally changed how work happens.
Her message to the Nordic procurement community was both encouraging and urgent: the transformation everyone has been talking about is achievable — organizations have crossed the threshold and are thriving on the other side. But the Nordics, despite their reputation for progressive workplace culture, are falling behind.
From Periodic Reviews to Continuous Insight
Suzana opened with a practical example that illustrates what changes when AI integration actually happens. At Google, quarterly business reviews — a ritual familiar to most organizations — have fundamentally transformed. Where teams once spent weeks preparing documentation, gathering data, and validating information, the process now takes minutes.
This isn’t magic. It’s what happens when data exists in structured, accessible form and AI can synthesize it against strategic goals. The shift moves leadership work from preparing for insight to acting on it.
This example speaks directly to what the CPO Outlook 2025 survey revealed: a substantial majority of procurement organizations describe themselves as at “developing” digital maturity — some digitalization but limited integration. The EBG | Xperience survey found the same pattern across Stockholm, Gothenburg, and Copenhagen.
The Emerging Critical Skill
What does effective work look like in an AI-enabled environment? Suzana identifies a specific competency: the ability to question and augment AI outputs.
At Google, the valued contributors aren’t those who gather information fastest. They’re the ones who prompt most effectively — who understand how to work with AI as a conversational partner rather than a search engine. The skill isn’t using digital tools; it’s partnering with AI systems.
Interestingly, Google’s data shows that IT professionals aren’t leading this adoption. Marketing, procurement, and sales — functions closest to external relationships and dynamic decision-making — demonstrate the highest AI fluency. This should encourage procurement leaders: the boundary-spanning nature of procurement may actually position teams well for this shift.
Measuring What Matters
Suzana introduced a measurement philosophy that challenges conventional thinking about AI return on investment. At Google, measurement is extensive — from canteen food satisfaction to optimal printer placement for step counts. But her point isn’t about measurement volume. It’s about measurement sophistication.
She offered a specific example: document revision frequency as a quality indicator. When AI generates strong first drafts and teams don’t need extensive revisions, that’s evidence of effective prompting capability. The organization’s AI fluency shows up in reduced iteration cycles.
This connects to what procurement leaders shared in the CPO Outlook survey about operational bottlenecks. Resource overload topped the list — too many tasks, too reactive, insufficient time for strategy. Suzana’s measurement approach offers a different lens: rather than measuring how many tasks get completed, measure how well the first output lands. Quality over throughput. Fewer cycles rather than faster cycles.
Trust as Infrastructure
Perhaps the most important element Suzana addressed doesn’t appear in typical digital transformation roadmaps: trust.
Both surveys revealed substantial collaboration friction and cross-functional alignment challenges. The EBG | Xperience workshop mappings showed teams that are “skilled but stuck” — possessing capabilities but lacking empowerment to act.
Suzana frames trust as infrastructure for AI adoption. Employees must believe data generated through AI-assisted work won’t be used against them. Psychological safety isn’t a nice-to-have; it’s a key organizational element for innovation.
This echoes what procurement leaders expressed in their open-ended survey responses: they want to stop firefighting and internal politics, to start building sustainable solutions and long-term partnerships. But those aspirations require environments where experimentation is safe and honest assessment of progress doesn’t create vulnerability.
The Nordic Challenge
Suzana’s most pointed message concerned regional adoption rates. The Nordics, she reported, significantly lag behind in AI adoption — behind the US, behind broader Europe.
This contradicts what many Nordic organizations might assume about themselves. The region has long prided itself on technology adoption and progressive workplace culture. Suzana’s data suggests that self-perception may not match reality.
Her explanation touches on familiar themes: bias, risk aversion, and the pull of status quo. The CPO Outlook survey found zero respondents considering themselves at “leading” digital maturity. The EBG | Xperience survey found the same pattern. Awareness hasn’t translated to acceleration.
Suzana shared a striking data point: 96% of new Nordic startups choose Google Workspace when selecting collaboration platforms. Companies without legacy systems, without established patterns, choose differently than established enterprises. The implicit question: what is the real cost of staying with what’s familiar?
Organizational Ambidexterity
One concept Suzana introduced deserves particular attention: organizational ambidexterity — the ability to focus on current operations while simultaneously innovating. Very few companies succeed at both, she noted.
This maps directly to what the surveys revealed about the tension between performing and transforming. Workshop participants showed a clear pattern: individuals often feel more capable than their organizations enable them to be. Transformation vision exists but organizational structures constrain bandwidth.
Suzana’s argument is that AI changes this equation. By handling operational work, AI frees human capacity for relationship building, innovation, and strategic thinking. The ambidexterity challenge becomes more manageable when the operational baseline requires less human attention.
This connects to what leaders said about what they’d stop and start doing. The “stop” list was heavy with administrative tasks. The “start” list centered on strategic activities: supplier relationships, data-driven insights, long-term planning. Suzana’s point is that AI makes this shift practical rather than aspirational.
What We’ll Wish We’d Started
When asked what we’ll wish we’d started doing today when we meet again in 2030, Suzana’s answer was disarmingly simple:
First, that we just started. Second, that we were more bold. Third, that we understood the real cost of status quo.
Organizations calculate the cost of change — technology investment, training, disruption, risk. They rarely calculate with equal rigor the cost of not changing: opportunity lost, competitive position eroded, talent frustrated, potential unrealized.
The surveys are full of strategic frameworks, maturity models, and implementation roadmaps. All valuable. But Suzana’s message cuts through: the primary barrier isn’t knowing what to do. It’s the decision to begin.
The Path Forward
Suzana’s closing vision — a world of abundance where technology enables more sustainable, equitable outcomes — might seem disconnected from procurement’s daily concerns. But there’s a through-line worth noting.
The surveys show procurement leaders want work that matters. They want to build relationships rather than process transactions. They want to develop capabilities rather than manage constraints.
Suzana’s testimony from inside Google offers evidence that this isn’t fantasy. The tedious elements can be removed. Work can focus on human capabilities for human purposes — relationships, judgment, innovation, meaning.
Whether Nordic procurement chooses to pursue it remains the open question. But as Suzana reminded the CPO Outlook 2025 audience: please start immediately. Don’t be afraid. The other side exists, and organizations are already there.
What EBG | Network Do
EBG | Network enables procurement, finance, and supply chain professionals to learn from peers and experts through summits, webinars, and online conferences. Since 2010, we have brought together thousands of professionals eager to exchange experiences and challenge ideas in an informal yet focused environment.
We believe change cannot happen as a single event in a single function. Our approach bridges organizational silos and recognizes that transformation requires both strategic vision and practical exchange with those facing similar challenges.
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Ready to be part of the conversation? Connect with Nordic procurement leaders, access exclusive insights, and stay informed about upcoming summits and events. Apply now to join EBG | Xperience 2026 in Helsinki, Stockholm or Malmö.
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