“I just would hate for us to lose focus on what procurement is being asked for and what our value proposition is by what potentially could be a slightly glamorous, shiny thing on the side, the AI conversation. I know that might not be a popular narrative.”
Twenty minutes with James Bentley, Senior Vice President and Regional Lead Nordics at Proxima, ahead of the Theme Discussion Proxima hosts at CPO Outlook 2026. EBG’s Anna Bjärkerud asked; he answered. No slides. The full conversation is below, and the text is a short guide to what was asked, with his own words at the points that matter most.
EBG | Network in conversation with James Bentley, Proxima. Recorded 24 August 2026, around 20 minutes.
What EBG asked, and what he said
- Proxima has been working with Nordic companies for several years. What has it been like so far? (2:40)A region full of successful, diverse businesses that he finds culturally forward-thinking — and running global supply chains.
- Proxima’s research finds that around 85% of the world’s largest companies carry a publicly stated cost reduction target. Underneath everything else — what are your clients actually asking procurement to deliver right now? (5:12)His answer is two things, and he argues neither has changed.
- Your Global Supply Chain survey puts the acceptable cost uplift for resilience at 17.3%. How can cost reduction and a cost uplift coexist? (7:48)Listen for what he says about supplier cost increases that do not stack up.
- Across your Nordic clients, where has AI made a meaningful business impact, and where hasn’t it? What are you hearing from CPOs? (11:14)
“And that’s all great, but ultimately, it is not going to move the needle in terms of measurable P&L impact that the businesses are looking for. I guess I do have a slight worry that this conversation is almost like a dumbing down of procurement, and we’re not raising the capability and the emphasis of what the procurement value proposition should be.”
James Bentley, on off-the-shelf AI tooling (15:00) - You know other markets. How does the Nordic market compare with the UK or other European markets? (16:21)
“We find that Nordic companies are more globally connected than many of their European peers. And I think mostly that’s because they’ve had to build international supply chains and customer bases right from the outset. And so what we find is the leadership team are forward-looking, they’re commercially sophisticated, and importantly for us as a partner to work with, they’re super receptive to new ideas.”
James Bentley (17:15) - What is the question you want to bring to the room at CPO Outlook? (18:12)
“How do we keep procurement as relevant as possible to the leaders of our businesses when we’re being pulled in so many different directions? Where do we focus? Where do we go deep on our value proposition? We’re being pulled from AI to resilience to savings. And I would love to have a conversation about do we feel that we’re really at risk of eroding the edge, the value that procurement brings because our focus is being spread so thin on so many different things at the moment?”
James Bentley (18:47)
About James Bentley
Senior Vice President at Proxima, where he leads the Nordic business and the private equity practice. His procurement career started in retail, moved into industry leading UK procurement at WPP, and returned to consultancy at Proxima four years ago, shortly after Bain & Company acquired the firm. He describes Proxima as the procurement delivery and implementation part of Bain: a group of category experts, many of whom have held the same roles as the clients they work with. Proxima currently works across Denmark, Sweden, Norway and Finland.
The Theme Discussion
The last quote above is the table. It runs twice on Day 1, same topic, a new group each time. James opens with a short presentation to set the tone; the table does the rest. Participants prepare nothing and bring what is true in their own organisation.
Cost down, resilience up — what has AI moved, and what hasn’t
With the ongoing global complexity; it’s not surprising CEOs and CPOs are demanding more resilience. Procurement teams face two competing demands: take cost out, and keep the business standing when something breaks. Proxima’s research finds that around 85% of the world’s largest companies carry a publicly stated cost reduction target. Proxima’s Global Supply Chain survey puts the mean acceptable cost uplift for greater supply chain resilience at 17.3%. Asked how that uplift would be funded, CEOs split three ways: 38% from cost savings elsewhere in the business, 35% from price passed to customers, 26% absorbed in margin. Even at the top, there is no settled answer to who carries it.
AI is almost mandatory in every conversation, but as a question rather than an answer: has it moved either number yet? Across EBG’s procurement surveys 2025–2026 most functions place themselves at “developing” maturity, and only around 5% have integrated AI into decision-making. On the CEO side, Proxima’s research finds roughly half saying AI delivers measurable value in supplier risk monitoring, cost modelling and procurement automation — with data quality, skills and ROI clarity named as the barriers to more. But is AI really driving a step change in value creation or giving procurement a tangible edge it didn’t have two years ago?
This table stays on the work itself. Where a cost increase actually lands, what would carry the business through a disruption, and where — if anywhere — AI has contributed to either. Proxima brings what it sees across engagements; the table brings what is true inside their own functions.
- How are you balancing the cost of resilience and meeting savings targets?
- Are there new demands falling onto your procurement team? What is the impact of this change?
- How are you going bigger and bolder on cost transformation? Where are you finding the incremental value?
- Where has AI truly delivered business impact and where have you got it wrong?
Meet Proxima at CPO Outlook 2026
14–15 October, Hotel Birger Jarl, Stockholm. Two days with the most senior procurement audience in the Nordics. See the full programme or register to attend.
About Proxima
Proxima is a global procurement and supply chain consultancy that is part of the Bain procurement ecosystem. We work alongside some of the world’s largest and most successful businesses to help them spend their money wisely, solving cost, capability, and sustainability challenges. As delivery specialists, we turn bold ideas into big results, making purposeful and profitable change happen.
About CPO Outlook 2026
CPO Outlook is EBG | Network’s Nordic procurement leadership summit, running since 2010 and built on one premise: ask senior practitioners what they need to discuss, and build the days around the answers. The 2026 theme is From Strategy to Practice: Making Procurement Transformation Real. Read the full programme at cpooutlook.com/programme-2026.
- Interview with James Bentley, Proxima, by Anna Bjärkerud, EBG | Network, 24 August 2026. Quotes verbatim from the recording.
- Proxima — The Global Supply Chain Resilience Outlook (July 2026)