Chemical procurement's complexity isn't news, but the pace of change – and risk – is climbing fast. With AI sweeping through every corner of the business, leaders charged with sourcing chemicals and raw materials have reached a fork in the road: modernize, or fall behind.

Dheev Arulmani, COO and co-founder of Valdera, brings deep chemical and consulting experience to this Provider of the Week episode of the ProcureTech Insider podcast. He shares how Valdera's AI-powered sourcing platform is transforming the end-to-end procurement workflow, empowering both seasoned category managers and less specialized teams to deliver better costs, reduced risk, and faster innovation.

If you want practical advice on what "AI-native" procurement looks like in chemicals and where the value is proven, this is an episode to queue up.

In this episode, Dheev discusses:

-Why "one size fits all" tech rarely delivers for chemical sourcing

-How to equip non-specialists to manage sophisticated materials at scale

-Digitizing high-impact steps like spec-sheet mapping, tariff estimates, and supplier feedback

-How to move quickly by starting small (then expand after proving ROI)

-Balancing cost, resilience, and innovation to drive measurable outcomes