In most organizations, no one person knows everything there is to know about AI. That means everything related to its selection, implementation, use, and impact has to be managed in a team setting. This creates an opportunity for procurement to keep the business focused on their core objectives, and to properly and thoroughly evaluate every new piece of technology.

In this episode of the #LoveProcurement podcast host Vishal Patel welcomes Dr. Cari Miller to the show. Dr. Miller is the Executive Director of the AI Procurement Lab, an organization with a mission to create, share, and promote best-in-class AI procurement practices, frameworks, guides, and tools.

During the conversation, Dr. Miller and Vishal talk about:

• How to tell the difference between "bad AI" and "responsible AI"
• How AI plays into overall digital transformation projects, and therefore the relationship between procurement and IT
• Forward looking trends she is seeing related to public v. private sector procurement and the cost of audits

Links:

Dr. Cari Miller on LinkedIn

Vishal Patel on LinkedIn

For an in-person event to be a powerful gathering, the content and structure must reflect and support the needs of the attendee community. For procurement, this means actionable advice, connecting locally and globally, and keeping up with all of the changes they will have to face once the event is over.

In this episode of the #LoveProcurement podcast, host Kelly Barner welcomes Alex Saric to the show. Alex is Ivalua's Chief Marketing Officer, which means he has the inside line on the upcoming Ivalua NOW in-person events.

Alex shares how procurement's ever-evolving role is driving the plans for Ivalua NOW:

• The advantage of meeting globally as well as having more targeted, localized events
• Why the company is actively bringing more CIOs to Ivalua NOW, and how that will influence topics and discussions
• Where this year's events will be taking place

Q4 is always an interesting time of year - like standing between two worlds. On the one hand, everyone is pressing forward, trying to hit or exceed current year targets. On the other hand, it is very hard not to let your imagination wander ahead to the brand new year getting closer by the day.

In this episode of the #LoveProcurement podcast host Vishal Patel welcomes Ari Stone, Ivalua's Global SVP of Value Engineering, Solution Consulting & Services, back to the show to identify and describe what he sees as the biggest trends in procurement this year before looking forward to 2026.

Ari and Vishal share their perspectives on:

• The developing concept of 'digital employees' that is rising out of the AI and automation trend, and what it means for human talent
• Business expectations for the increased autonomy of processes and systems
• The pervasive problem of data quality, and how it continues to be the lynchpin of agentic AI ROI
• Continuing ups and downs of global trade and geopolitics

If you are not prepared to deal with the unexpected and continually challenge yourself, then maybe procurement is not the right place for you to work. But… if you thrive on opportunity and adventure, there is no better part of the business to work in.

In this episode of the #LoveProcurement podcast host Kelly Barner welcomes Jan-Hendrik Sohn to the show. Jan-Hendrik is Ivalua's Vice President of Sales for Central and Northern Europe.

Jan-Hendrik joins the show to share unique trends, successes, and challenges from his part of the world:

• How he went about building and then scaling Ivalua's team and brand in Central and Northern Europe
• What drives procurement decision makers to move away from legacy platforms
• What sets leaders apart from the pack and how their leadership changes what they need from digital solutions

There has been no shortage of news headlines related to aerospace and defense in recent years, whether that is world events driving demand or news coming out of manufacturers themselves. This industry is used to dealing with risk, but it seems like the stakes - and procurement's role in finding a way forward - have never been higher.

In this episode of the #LoveProcurement podcast host Paul Zammit welcomes Kevin to the show. Kevin is a Business Architect Manager at Accenture, where he is focused on supply management in the aerospace and defense industry.

Kevin and Paul talk about how current trends in aerospace and defense has affected the procurement teams at those manufacturers:

• How companies are solving the need for transparency in supply chains that could be as many as 10 tiers deep
• Strategies for managing the supplier base, both to secure what the company needs and to accelerate the acquisition process
• The incentives to streamline regulatory compliance without increasing supply chain risk
• Procurement's role in supporting sales activity and revenue growth

Italy is currently going through a time of accelerated change as companies embrace a second wave of procurement digitization. Now that the basics are in place, a large number of mid-market companies are building on their accomplishments by leaning into source to pay, supplier visibility, sustainability, and data capture.

In this episode of the #LoveProcurement podcast, host Kelly Barner welcomes Andrea Cozzi to the show. Andrea is Ivalua's Country Sales Manager for Italy, and he joins the show to share the unique trends, successes, and challenges, from his part of the world.

Andrea speaks about the trends he is seeing play out in Italian procurement teams today:

• The current state of the Italian procurement technology market, and what a rejection of the status quo suggests about procurement's priorities
• How stakeholders, suppliers, and even procurement skillsets have to be considered in the effort to drive digital transformation
• His insights on the priorities of procurement at some of the world's most famous luxury fashion brands, including supply chain risk and sustainability

Although many professionals have the opportunity to work with global colleagues, striking the right balance between international business management and local or regional culture and connections takes some additional effort. Fortunately, that is easily achievable when procurement and sales teams recognize what they have in common and what they can learn from each other.

In this episode of the #LoveProcurement podcast, host Kelly Barner welcomes Laura Smith back to the show. Laura is Ivalua's Vice President of Sales for North America where she has the opportunity to be part of the international business world and also to study the unique trends, successes, and challenges facing procurement in North America.

Laura shares her observations from years spent working with and listening to procurement organizations:

• How the current economy is impacting companies and the priorities they set for their procurement teams
• Interesting trends, like the embrace of AI, that are impacting procurement technology decisions as well as talent and operating model considerations
• What it is like to work as a sales professional in a procurement company, including the characteristics of healthy procurement/sales relationships, what to do when friction occurs, and why procurement should make every effort to build a relationship with their own company's sales team

There are any number of news stories today that affect manufacturers, including global trade, regulations, and supply chain disruptions. At the same time, manufacturing is not a monolithic industry. Each segment has its own priorities and challenges - not to mention opportunities to take a leading position. Smart companies don't just plan or prepare for constant change - they optimize for it.

In this episode of the #LoveProcurement podcast host Paul Zammit welcomes Luis Avila. Luis is the Managing Director of Strategy, Enterprise Transformation, & Technology Enablement at BDO USA, where he focuses on the complex and highly regulated aerospace and defense space.

During their conversation, Luis and Paul discuss how effective supply management is allowing BDO to navigate today's choppy global business waters:

• The multitude of factors influencing decisions about where sourcing is done and how those decisions are being made
• Three pillars that every procurement professional should keep in mind to safeguard supply chain integrity and overcome global challenges
• How enterprise transformation is critical for companies that want to build and defend competitive advantage

AI is progressing and changing at a rate unlike anything we've seen before - and with this pace can easily come confusion. When are claims about AI as good as they sound, and when are they just well-placed smoke and mirrors? Procurement must be able to tell the difference, both for their own platforms and for the other technology spending they support on behalf of the company.

In this episode of the #LoveProcurement podcast, host Vishal Patel welcomes Pascal Bensoussan, Chief Product Officer at Ivalua, back to the show. He has seen firsthand how AI has not just been embedded into the Ivalua platform, but also embraced organization-wide.

Pascal returns to bring the audience up to date on 12 months of AI innovation and evolution:

• Why incorporating AI in software will quickly go from cutting edge 'nice to have' to a prerequisite for operational viability
• The added capability enabled by agentic AI, both in terms of contextual processing and also for its ability to reference additional sources of data
• Real world procurement applications of AI that are driving meaningful business impact, such as responding to tariffs and onboarding suppliers

When this episode's featured guest first stepped into his current role, he made a point of meeting with all of the different business units and support functions. He found that many of procurement's most transactional processes were almost entirely manual. Rather than seeing this as a problem, it was seized as an opportunity to improve efficiency and the company's supplier experience at the same time.

In this episode of the #LoveProcurement podcast host Stephen Carter welcomes Adam Lalani to the show. Adam is the Chief Technology Officer at Alliad, a global leader in integrated services in emerging markets around the world.

Adam and Stephen talk about the growing role of digital in corporate strategy and what it means for the IT-procurement relationship:

• Why Alliad made the decision to digitize and automate the supplier journey from beginning to end
• How the success of that effort inspired them to continue digitally transforming procurement
• The ongoing effort to re-engineer their processes to take full advantage of the latest digital capabilities