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Heat. Heat. Heat. Hey, Heat. Hey, Heat. Heat. Heat. Hey, heat. Hey, heat. Good afternoon everyone. Thank you for joining us for today's event, resilient growth, navigating procurement complexity presented by Amazon business. My name is Shafali Kapadia. I'm a business journalist and contributing editor with Business Insider and I'll be moderating to today's discussion. We would love for our audience to join the conversation on social media. You can use the hashtagbive and if you're joining us here on businessinssider.com, you can also submit questions for our panelists through the Q&A box. We have a great panel of experts here to share their insights on resilient procurement operations, real-time visibility, and the role of AI in today's procurement function. Sandia Deer is the head of new solution development at Amazon business. Paula Glickenhouse is the chief procurement officer at Bristol Meyers Squib and Sheila Gunderson is the managing director of global procurement and sourcing at SMBC Americas. Thank you all so much for joining me today. We've got a lot to cover today, so let's go ahead and jump right in. There's been a huge amount of transformation in procurement over the last five years in particular, and I'll start off with you, Paula. What do you think has been one of the most pivotal shifts that you've seen in procurement especially as it relates to this concept of resilience? Thank you Shafali. I for me AI uh AI is here to to stay. Uh it came rap and you know rapid it was fast uh approaching all our processes and I believe for the procurement organizations it became almost like adopted so you can go faster. um jump on the boat early right there. I believe there are two organizations uh in every company that will be literally you know shaken by the revolution. One of them being procurement and the other one very close by being probably the legal department. So um for me in the past year it's been a a rapid surge of AI solutions and also an interest from stakeholders to understand how can procurement use AI to differentiate how we service the business how we give them faster solutions how we provide analytics forward so um it's been an interesting year so far definitely an interesting timela what are you seeing at your organization is AI a big part of it or are you seeing other shifts AI is a big part of it for sure. Uh I I'd say for us also being a bank, we would probably also say the need for resilience and the ability um you know for our suppliers also to maintain um a resilience. So so that's kind of like getting embedded in everything we do and how we think here at SMBC. and Sandia with the businesses that you work with what kind of transformations and shifts are you seeing with procurement and resilience? Yeah, thank you. So a pivotal shift we have been seeing with our customers is this focus on digital transformation which we define and encompasses several factors including shifting from manual to integrated dig digital processes implementation of end-to-end transaction models integration of e- procurement systems with existing platforms certainly AI and ML technologies to improve buyer efficiency uh and increase cost savings and then ultimately ensuring access to your own spend visibility and anal analytics. Absolutely. And Sheila, I know that you mentioned suppliers and I think that's a big thing that has certainly changed sort of the relationship and the nature of that with procurement and that supplier relationship management piece. What kind of changes have you seen as it relates to working with suppliers and also diversifying those networks? I I think you know if if co and other things taught us anything it is the need to diversify our supply base and to also understand like our our strategy around the supply base whether from a category buying strategy but also just diversification in general. So where does it need to be? How do you kind of keep a champion challenger mentality? How do you build that resilience into the supply chain so that whether it's from diversification or collaboration with the suppliers on resilience uh that that you still you feel more comfortable and competent than than maybe you did a few years ago. So I I think that's probably what we're seeing throughout um the banking industry. And Sheila, do you see sort of a shift from more risk focus and reactive planning to more of a proactive and resilience focused approach when it comes to supplier relationships? Absolutely. So I I think you know probably most of us built our our our risk management programs on our supply bases around more reactive. We have definitely transitioned to figuring out how to be more proactive, what tools and capabilities there are, whether it's from AI andor other ongoing monitoring tools. Um, so definitely being able to build that into the supply chain management, risk management function is important. Um, I think I think that's where everybody is is moving and trending. Paula, would you agree? Do you see that that is sort of the direction that everyone is moving and trending including maybe your own organization? Yes, absolutely. And I I want to uh double click on something that Sandia said earlier which is this move to like you know using data and analytics and I think for risk management in the past you will have the event and then you will need like hours to basically react like let's take something recently you know as a few hours ago with that tsunami warnings around the world and then immediately now with the systems and datas that we have you can have a map of the whole world and see how is this going to impact your supply chain. I think five years ago that was probably a dream for for some of us and right now it's a reality. Do you have real data that can help companies you know make decisions and say okay if you have trick scenarios where is this going to impact me where are my my supplier base but also do they have any alternative places that they can be you know supplying my business from so I think in ours right now we can make decisions and then elevate those decisions um it's I think this is helping a lot procurement to have a better positioning in companies as a gatherer of data and then being able to analyze this data and provide this analysis uh to senior leaders so that they can make the right decisions. That's such a great point. The the data and the amount of information that's available, Paula, is so different than it was in the past. Are there ways that you are using those to gain visibility into the supply network or look at diversification which I think has certainly become a more important topic especially over the last few years. Absolutely. I I was having a conversation with someone this week and uh reminding like 20 years ago you will have to go into like a whiteboarding and basically have a map of the world and they start thinking okay who do I have in Eastern Europe? who do I have it literally almost like with sticky notes and start mapping you know and then creating solutions like today literally you know looking into your computer right there you have a you know a tableau probably dashboard uh we're all very familiar with you know tools where they immediately will tell you red zones you know any changes political landscape uh so the availability of data um now I also heard from someone and this is very true we're getting uh you know it almost like analysis paralysis. We have so much data, so much data and so many dashboards that right now what we need to create is almost like an in almost like an internal intelligence into like where do I go for my data right and which dashboard do I use and who do I share them with and what do I do with that data so it's almost like our uh skills as b as business leaders have changed and they're demanding that we are more flexible into how we use the the data How often do we refresh this data? Um, also you know like data is data and and there are parts of the data. I don't think any anyone has 100% uh reliable data. So I think keeping your data clean, you know, making sure that you are doing the right connections with the right systems that you take away the complexity of the systems behind the data. Um, so I've seen a lot of change around this and how we use data. Absolutely. Sandia, I know data and AI come up a lot when it comes to procurement and they can feel like sort of words that we're throwing around. Um, but how are you sort of seeing companies use AI to improve efficiency and really use data and IA and AI in their procurement networks? Yeah. Uh, great question. So one clear area for opportunity with AI is with inefficient manual workflows or approval chains that result in bottlenecks and oversight uh that can greatly benefit from automated tools. So for example, AI can auto adapt to or learn each client's data and assign tasks within a workflow based on capacity or priority and internal resources. Workflows can automatically adapt based on user metrics and potential inefficiencies. And then on top of that, a solution can also leverage Gen AI and create guidance for resolution resolutions such as recommendations of actions. Sheila, are those similar ways that your uh function and and company are using AI or how else are you looking at some of these tools? Yeah, I think we we definitely are looking at it from a source. you know, the the traditional source to pay workflow, uh, and how we can embed it into be smarter, faster, while still maintaining a good risk profile. Uh, we're probably a little behind, um, an Amazon on how much we embed AI into into our decision- making um, you know, as a bank. So, so I'd say that's that's something we're looking at. We're probably not a first adapter or a or you know running ahead on that, but um we'll be a trailer, but definitely looking to see how as we take something through the supply chain, we can make it quicker, smarter, faster um based on some of those good decision- making, but also at the same time, we we very much have a third party risk um mindset embedded in. And so, we also want to be able to make sure we're looking at it from that point of view, like even from supplier intake and onboarding. Can we do those checks of the supplier in a faster, smarter way so that we can get our our internal clients what they need quicker? And Sheila, I think the mindset point that you bring up is so important and for you as a procurement leader, a lot of that is not only yourself but also your teams. So, how do you work with your teams and even across departments, other organizations to kind of shift that mindset to one of faster, smarter, um, but still very efficient and accurate processes? Yeah, you know, it's tough. Uh, everybody has their role to play and kind of their box to check and so it does have to be a very collaborative whether you're talking with our, you know, with our compliance folks, our risk folks, but our business partners. um but even more collaborative with our suppliers so that they understand you know what what it is we need in order to move things forward but that also our business partners all understand how we need to work together what our mindset is about the risk adoption uh across each of the various portfolios so what do we need to do and then how can we do it and make it happen faster so so it's definitely a a collaboration thing and I think you know one of the things that SNBC does really well is that collaboration. So, um we've we've pulled together those teams to talk about it. You know, we've had whole meetings just um to sit and say, "How are we doing it? How can we do it better, smarter? What would be the tools we would need to input into this process? And then how do we make sure that those tools, you know, have the extra set of eyes on them that that SMBC requires?" Paula, what kind of strategies have you used at your organization when it comes to shifting this mindset and really getting the teams on board with this approach to resilience and a very proactive approach in procurement? I love the question about listening to Sheila and thinking of course you work for a financial organization so risk is at the core uh as I understand of of of you know how you make decisions. So I think the most important thing is to try to as a procurement organization we're a service organization and we aim to provide the best service possible and then you link that to the organization you are working for in my case BMS where we are all about savings patients lives. So I think the best connection for my organization is when we make the connection between what we are doing internally and how this is going to expedite that we get to more patients faster. So for example you were asking how do we select AI tools. So then we say okay what is going to take the noise out of the user so that they can have more time dedicated to reaching out to patients and in the moment that you shift and pivot towards the mission of the company I think people rally behind I mean who wouldn't right like when you're talking about patients human lives then immediately you find like okay I need to find an efficiency of my process because for someone for a scientist it's taking too long to create a PO it's taking too long to get a contract executed, you know, like a science, you don't want a scientist having to answer to a supplier, did I get my invoice paid? You want to really be with the sales in the lab. So, um I think the resilience inside the teams for me has been linking the world of procurement with the purpose, whatever that purpose is. um that has worked extremely well for for the teams uh at BMS and I'm I'm very proud of the work they're doing and how now in meetings they all connect okay we're doing this and we believe you know it used to take us 78 days now it's taking us 32 days to close a contract that means you know we have more time to dedicate to patients so um it's it's been great to see uh the changes in in people's philosophy and Sandia with the businesses that you work with you know how do you recommend that procurement teams start to shift their mindset and and take more of this proactive and resilient approach. Yeah, absolutely. So, we there are three broad themes we recommend. So, the first is to build a foundation of supply chain resilience which has already come up. Um and so we see that through moving from a single supplier dependency to a diverse supplier network uh implementing digital procurement platforms that provide access to multiple vendors. uh and creating robust contingency planning strategies with clear processes. The second theme is leveraging technology and data for proactive decision-making which mean uh enables datadriven inventory management and forecasting utilizing real-time analytics and interactive dashboards and implementing automated approval workflows and guided buying policies. And then the third is fostering a culture of strategic cost management. And this is everyone from, you know, your supply chain leadership to empowering your individual buyers. This includes implementing different tools like budget management and spending controls, utilizing quantity discounts and competitive pricing opportunities, uh, and streamlining streamlining processes to reduce the administrative burden like contract management uh, which Paula was just addressing. I love that you brought up cost management, Sandia, because obviously that is such a pivotal part of the procurement profession. At the same time, I feel like we're hearing a lot about other priorities that are coming up as well and not necessarily the lowcost at all cost mentality for everything, but really balancing some of those other priorities. What do you see as some of those other priorities that have risen up in the procurement profession alongside cost? Yeah. So if you interview procurement leaders today, they're going to say cost reduction, sustainability, risk management are key, but by 2030, um according to Gartner, the most important priority for CPOS is is innovation. Uh and so we place this evolution will place procurement at the heart of the business strategy. So one example I'll give is with one of our customers uh a top insurance provider. So Allstate protection plans, Allstate helps their customer base protect everything from smartphones to appliances, TVs to furniture. And so if a customer has a claim, getting a replacement is top of uh top of their mind and a big indicator of customer service and then their um their perception of their of All State. So we use this term innovate on behalf of our customers at Amazon and this is a great example of that. So in response to this rising customer ex expectation and increasing complexity of these protected devices uh we helped all state streamline their replacement part pro process and enabled fast shipping uh for timely delivery directly to the the person that needed that replacement part. So this partnership ensures that the customer experiences minimal disruption and quick product restoration. And so now we have two customers, right? We have both Allstate, our customer, and then we have their own customer. Uh, and so this is an opportunity, an example of supply chain kind of beyond just the procurement within the organization, but expanding to their own customer base or their end user base. That that's such a great example and like you said, really an example of of the chain and procurement kind of in its larger focus. Sheila, are you also seeing innovation rise to the top of your priority list or is cost still up there? What else is is high on the list for your company? I think cost is always going to be important. It's it's, you know, it's fundamental to being, you know, in procurement and sourcing. Um, I I do see though that this idea of innovation and and I will take it a step like into supplier collaboration, which I think was somewhat what Sano was saying too. um this ability to collaborate with our suppliers. You know, sometimes it's it's opening that conversation and that door and they have really great ideas that, you know, sometimes they're throwing against the wall at at too many people inside of the company and then but not really landing anything. And I think it's having those innovation discussions and sessions and that's kind of like where you know we want to head with our most strategic suppliers. We want to be seated at a table and whether we are talking about innovation or we're talking about resilience that we're working together. And what about you Paula? Is cost at the top of the list or another factor? Um so I think I wouldn't say at the top of the list I would say at the core and the reason why I want to do the differentiation is because procurement as a cost savings machine has become a given to the point that if you think about aonomous negotiations there are tools out there that will negotiate better than your team can right they will run scenarios for you and then they will go you know you have companies like Walmart that five years ago started doing all negotiations with autonomous negotiation tools. So if you think from that point of view, yeah, cost is at the core. It becomes a given. It becomes the one that you have to deliver no matter what. And then I will say top of mind. Absolutely innovation. Um you know absolutely innovation. I think the ability to use that we have been talking about technology to be able to you know one of the question was like how does procurement sit at the table? It's been the biggest question. I think I've been asked that question I don't know how many times in my in my procurement life and we're always like you know how do we get a seat at the table? How do we get invited? And honestly the answer is you don't get invited. You take the seat and the way you take the seat is you come forward with data and solutions that the business units are not seeing. So think about it if you are in procurement and you see everything the company buys everything. every material that goes into the drugs, every service that you are, right? Every third party relationship, you know, you heard Sheila saying relationship with the third parties. We see everything. Imagine we take all that information and then we come forward and say there is a business unit that right now is having a strategic relationship with suppliers and they're able to advance technology that able to advance clinical trials and then you go to the next business unit and you use that example for them to almost replicate. So you know then then you're saving money again that's a given but then you are also maybe talking about revenue right like moving uh procurement to be a revenue like who who who talk about revenue and procurement in the past no one we were never seen as as an organization that could literally touch the revenue line and I believe we are there I mean not in every company but I've seen many of my peers CPOS who are having conversations like 360 conversations right uh around around revenue. Yeah, I I totally agree with Paula. Like you see this massive shift of this the procurement role previously focused on cost savings like this kind of back function mindset and now like what you just described is like a true comp key competitive advantage that the seauite cares about and driving growth and building resilience for the entire organization and I I thought that was like a perfect example. So, totally agree, procurement is at is at the table, not not just striving to get a seat. The procurement is there. And to Paula's point, if you don't feel like you have that seat, grab it uh and and take advantage now. And Sheila, what do you think? Is is procurement officially at the table? Yeah, I think they are, but I I think you put yourself at the table, too, when you bring your knowledge. So I I think you know so many times when I do hear someone say how do I get a seat um then I wonder you're not doing your homework you know you're not gathering the data you you have it all at your fingertips and if I'm not you know empowering my team to get that data then shame on me because what I try to do is to make sure that whether it's through you know data and AI and peer networking but just even just a general curiosity that they get that that's the kind of team I bring to the table so that they're out there doing that homework, understanding the space, uh, understanding how we buy, how other companies are buying, and then being able to bring that to drive that value to the table. That's the homework and the and the hard work that I think if you're naturally curious, you'll do really well in this space. Um, but that's what you bring to the table when you go there. It it's having done all of that. I totally agree with these ladies. Yeah. and and Sheila for your fellow procurement professionals who maybe are struggling to start with that homework or how they even bring all of that and and start to make their way to the table. What kind of advice would you give them? Yeah, look, we all struggle, right? So, everybody's trying to do, you know, the day-to-day job and and how much time do you spend on that versus how much time do you spend on uh you know, the homework, the gathering the data. So, it's trying to find that that spot. I know we all have a lot of work to do, but it is finding that spot, finding that time um and giving it to yourself in order to go out there and gather the data and make it make sense. You know, I I always say people are like sigh when you say, "Oh, we need a good category strategy or or we don't need category." You all still need a category strategy. You still need to understand what you're buying, how you're buying it, and how others are buying it. Um if we're not doing that then then we're not going to have the seat at the table. Um that's that's kind of core of what we bring. So taking the time to do that I think is one of the most important um things I could tell folks to do. So it sounds like the fundamentals and that back to basics of core procurement is still really really important despite all of the changes that have happened over the last 5 10 even 15 years. Paula, what would your advice be to a fellow procurement professional who's looking to increase the resilience in their operations and get that seat at the table that you think is, you know, worth getting there? So, Chal, I love the question. I was thinking, you know, as I heard she like giving her explanation. I'm like, I think procurement in the past like if you think about the pri priorities of a company, right? priority is everything that hits the revenue line and then as I mentioned before we were not playing a role we try to we need to move and try to play a role the closer you get to the revenue line um the more you know you're going to be a prominent uh decision making in your company now we in procurement have to do a lot of the basics you heard that from Sheila and if you ask me what happened is this takes a lot of time and a lot of people but this is where technology is going technology is going on alleviating the competitive type of work and having it ready at your fingertips now it becomes one problem and it is how are you going to fund it right because if you are let's say you are your the IT department and then you look at the P&L again whoever is hitting the revenue line will get the money first so I love to introduce a concept which is self-funding and for me as a leader it is where do I take cost out of my own organization and self-fund so that I can go faster in areas that maybe in the past it would have taken me a long time to go into. Um so I'll give you an example. What we did is we had a third party that was uh running like 80% of our processes and we decided to insource and we insourced that with a promise of we're going to insource with 50% of the resources but my ask to the CFO was allow me to reinvest in technology so that I can do it with less people and that has become like almost like a magic. The moment you are thinking like that, the moment you are thinking like a business, the moment you are thinking about reinvesting versus having to ask funds, then and then you come come with these technologies because think about it. These technologies that are out there, you can implement very fast. You know, we're not talking about SAS implementations. We're not talking about like big chunky fiveyear implementations. We're talking about months and some of them is just accessing a dashboard, right? So think about category, right? category managers in the past will spend months creating powerpoints. You have tools out there that you know like when especially when it's a commodity then you know the the category is almost the management of the category is almost the same independent of the company that you work for and you can have it at your fingertips. So you give this to your procurement teams then they have more time to do the thinking right and then they can step back use that data and then go and talk to a business unit and said listen I realize we've been buying this same type of packaging from the same supplier for the past 10 years and I see these trends in the industry but I also see other trends outside of the industry and let me show you this dashboard right and let me show you how this is going to affect our supply chain resiliency and and the moment you start talking like that then literally the stakeholders are like wow it's almost like having an analyst you know providing you services versus having someone that's doing the equation of price and quantity you know let me save you this let me show you how to buy less you know or how to buy the same for less money um so I think that's how you create the resilience as an organization we have to morph from this cost cutting idea to almost like an enabler uh for the organization and I believe it's different for every organization. answer your question of what is my advice stay close to the company's mission because if you think about it you know Sheila's mission is different than my mission you know like her appetite for risk and my appetite for risk are totally different our risk profiles are totally different um you know I'm in an an industry that does a lot of acquisitions so that means I need to generate cash you know so stay close to the core of what your company is about and the moment you do that then I think that you know That's it. It's is it's is granted to you. You know, you will you start getting the invitation more invitation that you can take. Yeah. Paula, you said something about the data analytics in there, too. And I think it's, you know, it's taking the data analytics and I think telling that story inside your business, right? So, it's all great that we can get the data. It's can you relay it and make it part of what is the business trying to buy and how does this pertain to them? So, I think, you know, that's definitely a skill set. totally agree that's going to be needed going forward. And Paula, something else that you mentioned which I thought was so great is figuring out when to use an AI tool for something repetitive versus when do we need a human and when do we need those really uh relationshipdriven things that only people can really do. So Sheila, I'll toss it to you. How are you sort of balancing these two of figuring out, hey, we should really use technology for this or no, this really needs to stay with the team and and with a person. I think that I think kind of getting back to what we were just talking about though, it's that it's all great to go gather the data, but can you make the data tell the story and or make the data relevant to your business stakeholder? And and I think that's the the folks that that's where you embed the human, right? So you can get a lot of data. You can get a lot of you know from even risk and resilience and proactive monitoring but making it real um and pertinent to your own business areas and and different business areas even inside whether your bank or pharmaceuticals or or whatever you are. each even different lines of businesses have different um not different risk profiles but different needs and different ways of how they need to go drive to the market and so it's being a I think that's where you embed the the human touch and um make the data tell a story we do have a couple of questions coming in from the audience that I would love to ask our panelists and just a reminder if you're joining us uh on businessinssider.com you can put any questions that you have into that Q&A box there. Uh we do have a question for Paula. You spoke about building resilience in your procurement operations. How do you tailor that approach in a highly regulated industry like pharma where both speed and compliance are critical? That's I love that question. I wonder if someone from my team sent it my way. Um, so when you are highly remember what I mentioned before is staying close to the to the mission of the company, the core of what the company is about. And I think for me the resilience is into pieces. You have to first identify what the pain points are, right? And we are pharma. We're highly regulated because you're talking about clinical trials and you're talking about human lives. So then that's one part of what you do. And then you have the other part which is everything that procurement buys that is not touching this patient. So it's almost like you have to commit to the part that is not touching your core in this case the patient should be flawless. That should be your first aim. Whatever is not so talking about risk and all of this that right. So for example dealing with consultants right you have to make sure that you have a process in place that you have the right people that you have the right data so that this is so flawless that your team can then pay attention to the rest. So for me that's how you find the resiliency the basics you get it done right that's super important never forget the basis and then you try to even in in highly regulated you still need visibility right and you heard Sandia before like you need visibility into where your supply chain is and this is independent of the how regulated you are and I think the resilience is both visibility access to the data but you heard Sheila before what do you do with that data And I think the resilience of your internal organization is how you upskill your teams. Right? We we mentioned before we are going away from being this cost cutting you know like cost ccentric type of organization into talking about revenue talking about digitalization innovation doing things different. So then how do you upskill your teams so that they're ready for what is being asked from them? Because if I give them an amazing dashboard and they can take the dashboard and not read it and you know and be able to translate it into a business decision then the dashboard is not good. So I think you create resilience that way you upskill your teams you fix your basics and then you have the tools at hand that will give them immediate access to critical information. I think Sandia mentioned earlier like even when you when when you can map where your supply chain is. I think you mentioned that Sandy earlier for me that's that's the dream right if you can see where I mean of course Amazon sorry like you can go right now click on Amazon and if you order something yesterday you know where that is the order has been placed the warehouse is picking and you will receive it in two days so that's almost like like the dream and then that's I believe that's how you create the resilience with the visibility and the ability to make decisions based on data so it sounds like resilience visibility ility very much going hand in hand. Is AI part of that as well? Paula, are you seeing that AI is helping us gain visibility not just into tier one and two but even beyond that and and kind of mapping the network? Absolutely. We're also connected. I mean I mentioned before what happened not to go fast with you know the earthquake yesterday and the tsunami and looking at the heat maps and you know like the ability to have that data that in the past you will have to like basically make a phone call to someone and say you know you're in Russia you know when this is hit and right now you can go immediately into a map look at the heat map and then start making decisions based on this heat map. Uh so absolutely for me that's that's I mean that's where you place AI. Um you also asked a question that I think is super important. It is where do you put AI and and then for me and for my leadership team has been around there are two pain points usually in procurement. We have our own pain points right and our own pain points are around you know uh should cost analysis category management understanding my supply chain uh visibility into payments like that's my internal pain and then you have the external pain and the external pain is the users your stakeholders and also your suppliers so I think if you have these three actors you understand where the pain points are. For me, our um ability to use AI to solve for the pain points has been critical and to also make quick wins so you gain credibility and then you keep moving forward. So I remember a few years ago uh our CFO told me that he was being told externally that we were it was hard to make business at BMS and with BMS. So if you deconstruct this that means that what I should be putting AI is to take pain away from doing business with BMS. So who do we do business with? Who are our customers? And at BMS meaning who do I interact with if you want to map it as a supply chain you know the whole procurement end to end procurement process as Sandy mentioned earlier that one of the priorities is understanding this whole end to end process so that you can basically automate it as much as you can. Um so I think that's that's how you decide where you put AI any pinpoint any repetitive uh data. Um and I believe with aentic AI even cases that we're not thinking today you know give them six months and they will become a reality. So I think it's here uh we have to embrace it and basically upskill our teams to see to see it the same way that we see it so that we can be like Garner said you know visionaries the visionaries of the company. One one thing I'll add I I totally agree with Paula. I I keep these two things at the front of my mind when I think about should I use AI at this moment. And the first is is it something I'm doing literally more than once? If I'm doing it more than once, then that's when I need to start exploring AI tools. And the second, which I think is really useful, especially right now, expect it to take longer at first as you figure out the right prompts or the right tool or even creating the mechanism. and and it's worth the investment in the short term. So those have really helped me um think through just even daytoday how to use AI. I like that Sandy expect to take longer. Yes. And Sandia, have you seen um the sort of you know visibility in supplier networks? Has that changed over the years? And has AI played a role in that sort of shift? Yeah, totally. I mean the lack of real-time insights leading to stockouts, unexpected delays, uncontrolled spending of course uh COVID was you know exemplified this for the entire the entire world. Um according to the 2025 we did a state of procurement report uh 18% of senior leaders and one in five decision makers report ineffective systems to monitor and manage various risks whether geopolitical, environmental or regulatory. So this good news is it creates opportunity to improve spend visibility. Um I've mentioned some of these but there are a couple like mechanisms and tools that we recommend. The first is of course systems integrations. So things like punching into your e-rocurement system to gain insights into your spend. Empower your organization to make better purchasing decisions. Reducing rogue spend by providing easy access to products within your spend policies. um and then receiving line nine trans transaction details to speed up reconciliation while improving transaction transparency and accuracy. Um the second is um comprehensive spend visibility tools. So this is a lot of where the AI comes into this like we just launched a tool called spend anomaly monitoring which allows you to stay top of on top of your team's spend and receive alerts for an unusual purchase. Um then we have traditional tools, budgeting, budget management, approvals, and then of course we've talked so much about data, your own analytics where you can easily see trends um and locate compliance issues. This is important because if you are able to drill into spend, let's say at an individual persona level or location level, you can then adjust and make different budgeting decisions or maybe you need to add in more trainings and and and put in the tools to support and enhance change management. Um, and the last is advanced supply chain management tools. So, real time order tracking and delivery updates, which Paula mentioned is something that we know like our consumer base loves when they place orders on Amazon. And then curated product cataloges tailored to an organization needs back to the B2B side of things. Uh, and things like, you know, free, fast, convenient deliveries. And then, of course, visibility into like where's my shipment. Yes, absolutely. that visibility from a consumer standpoint is is so important and I'm sure from a businessto business standpoint absolutely important as well. We have another audience question. This one is for Sheila. You mentioned balancing cost with new priorities like sustainability and supplier diversity. How do you navigate those trade-offs within a global financial institution especially under tight regulatory or economic pressures? Yeah, I mean I think it it goes to fundamentally doing the right thing. I think you know whether it is um required by your your shareholders and stakeholders um or not it it's kind of that diversification still brings a lot of different um suppliers to the table. Sometimes they're niche suppliers, sometimes uh they're not. But having an expectation around how you want a company to run um is important. whether you are an American company, a European company, global company. So, and and I think embedding that into um all of your purchasing um really does bring thoughtfulness to the approach, transparency to um your shareholders and stakeholders of of what we buy and how we buy and that we buy it appropriately. So, um it it's something that we do. Um it's something that we'll continue to do and and you know I I think it's just gets down to fundamentally the right thing to do. And one thing I'll add um yeah we we see hear this from our clients all the time like how can you better support us um on um different goals we have whether that's buying local maybe diverse suppliers and uh one thing we think about is if like you take this organizational compliance and purchasing goal it might be at the organizational level might be at the board level there could be state requirements um and it's like how can you create a seamless process so that you can easily access those suppliers and then not Not only can your, you know, senior leaders know like what the options are, but how do you get that individual buyer to get like a visual signpost in their buying experience that like I'm looking for something? Um, or we have a policy around local purchasing. Here's an easy accessible way to fix to find the core three or four suppliers that we want you to source from first. And so creating those tools once again, whether that's AI or digital transformation, uh, is something that we u we hear a lot from our customers and clients. And I think something to to SA um that I you know when as we become visionaries I have to say you know you and your company are giving us an aspiration. It's almost like every end user wants the Amazon like experience and the Amazon visibility that I mentioned before and if Amazon can do it what can we so uh I think it's been it's been critical as we try to dream you know this vision of what it is in the future I think that's what our users want like if I can go as I mentioned before if I can go on order and I can know what it is you know which credit card was used to pay you know who am I paying for what my options where you know what other users are thinking so why can I not get that inside so I just wanted to say thank you for being our inspiration for for being I'm going to push it back on you we we work backwards from our customers that is like a core Amazon leadership principle none of this would be built without direct feedback working together orig you know starting with our BTOC business and then now our B2B business and so please like that that if if if anything keep giving us feedback keep telling telling us what your requirements are. That that's how we build. It's it's directly from our customers. You know, not being um a company that buys things, but rather we're indirect sourcing. I would still say though, Sonia, what I'm trying to deliver constantly, and I think Paula kind of said it best, is the Amazon-like experience. So if you do a consulting deal and and we're working on it, how do you see where it is in the process and when it will be finally delivered that contract etc. So So I think um I we we use that phrase. It's kind of like you're getting that you're getting that phrase from all probably chief procurement officers as we try to streamline, be smarter, better, faster, um but still keep a a risk profile. But that transparency through the process is super key. Yeah, I I was going to say the word that comes to mind is transparency. I totally agree. That is a perfect segue into another audience question that we have. Uh and this is for all speakers. I'll throw it to you first, Sheila, but anybody feel free to jump in. Given how visibility into supplier networks has improved, have you ever been surprised by what the data revealed? And how did that insight change your strategy or your supplier relationships moving forward? Uh, I guess I'm going to say I'm lucky to say not surprised. Um, more so just, you know, directionally I think it helps you understand where you might have less flexibility in your supply chain or where you might need diversification, but um, I don't know that I was necessarily surprised. I think you can just get to a place where you feel like you probably have an overdependency in some space on something and then therefore you need to build that resilience in or build that champion challenger type thing in or or do something to to modify that space. But I I I do think it it helps us determine um the path that we need to take forward. And would anyone else like to to weigh in on data that maybe surprised you or an insight that it revealed that you acted upon? So for me um it's almost like a realization I think we talk about this of the the necessary partnerships with your suppliers so that when you get data you can validate and you know like sometimes you get data but you cannot you know as I said before like I wish all our data everywhere was 100% reliant we can rely on all of this data you know and And I think the what's going to be almost like the gate keeper of our innovation is our ability to have the right data at the right time. And for me, the more data I have, I think it makes and here now I have the ability to sit with suppliers with my own data and do a validation and also an understanding, right? So that if my team has a concern or if something hits the news and we believe there is a reputational risk then that you can sit immediately with the supplier look at both sides of the data and then jointly try to come up with a solution. This idea of two heads think better than one is is key in a strategic partnership with suppliers. So more than surprises um I think is how do you use your network to be able to react faster and I think co I think you mentioned that before co basically told I mean it was a huge teaching for me and I'm sure for many of us of how reliant we are on each other you know it's almost like your network and and your it's almost like your community at home then at work you know your network suppliers is basically your community that you rely on to keep functioning. So very important as well. And I Yeah. And I I one thing I'll add in terms of like lessons from co uh in addition to of course like the insights from your own data. I think like there's so much opportunity in terms of sharing data uh and and creating that transparency with within peers of within your industry that's made a huge difference especially like in industries like healthcare and manufacturing. Um I don't have a perfect answer for how or exactly what mechanisms but I I truly believe there there is opportunity still there so we can bring both visibility within the individual organization but but visibility within the entire industry both whether it's on sourcing pricing all all the different pieces that go into making these p purchasing decisions. Uh and and so the good thing is is when you're in when you're in times of kind of this disruption, it like really allows procurement leaders or any any supply chain leader, you're you have the opportunity to think differently and and demand and request more from from your partners and your peers. So I have a lot of hope and conviction that that there's more to come on that front. And I think all of you have mentioned the effect of COVID just on how procurement organizations are run and and how things are thought about. Um what about macro factors today? What is sort of top of mind in terms of maybe changing how procurement is functioning and macro factors to be aware of? And I'll start with you Sandia. Yeah. Yeah. I and and this is kind of leading from my my last comment with it's like you have these um constrained environments and it really support leaders thinking differently and so you know for for from our perspective like one one for sure is that like this heavy contracting process that we see is very common in supply chain um and so when we think about the challenges on relying on these like traditional supplier networks um we think about like supplier diversity and how can that how that leads to like a limited uh supplier base can lead to operation delays, impaired productivity, cash flow constraints and so this conventional approach to onboarding it's time consuming resource and labor intensive especially I think Paul had mentioned like lab uh commodity categories um that you know you might not need such a complex process which then ultimately can leave your organization vulnerable to supply chain disruptions um and so when we think about like how to lean into these digital options and digital solutions both on the direct product cost savings but also these cost savings like time managed. Um and so a couple of ways that we work with our clients certainly expanding the supplier network by getting access to hundreds if not thousands of sellers globally millions of products available through a single source. This certainly mitigates the single source risk which is especially critical in industries where we're kind of highlighting healthcare, manufacturing, defense. But this can also support compliance with those purchasing policies that have also been brought up. Whether that's diverse um suppliers, local businesses, um US-made and then we also support organizations streamlining supplier management overall reducing the administrative burden on like vendor onboarding and management especially these like low complex commodity categories. Um and administrators can then use AI and ML tools. I think we talked about this a little bit. It's like how can I create those visual signposts for my buyers so that an individual buyer in like one location of your organization knows exactly what's approved to purchase and what isn't through technology versus manual trainings or constant reminders that may or may not be remembered or could get ignored. Um and then lastly is strategic value creation with competitive pricing across your vast seller network. Now that you've diversified your supply chain, you should have access and benefit to, you know, the most co cost competitive pricing. Um, and then certainly volume based savings uh opportunities and and this is, you know, ideally not through vendor contracts. This is available to you at any moment in time through any buyers within your network for um for the categories. That makes sense. Great. And we've just got time for a few more questions. One thing I wanted to ask all of you is what's a procurement myth that you think is floating out there that you would love to just squash and hope that it's eliminated? I'll start with you uh Paula. A procurement myth. Um huh. So one that is is very close to my heart right now it is that procurement would be disrupted to AI to a a point of you know people feeling that there would be no more need for procurement professionals and with what I've seen I have to tell you it's totally different what it means is we are the fastest at least I'm seeing it in my team the fastest adopters of AI I and we're going to become to be the upskilled workers that the companies are going to need in the future. So um I get asked a lot like do you see a future of procurement with AI coming? And I say absolutely we're going to learn before others how to create our own agents and how to have you know our own a aentic AI organizations and then we're going to go and teach the other business units how to do the same. So that would be the myth. Sheila, what do you think? What's a big myth that's out there that you would love to just go away? Oh, I think you know like kind of like that old like we're just there to do an RFP and get in your way and take too much time. Uh I think what we're trying to do is get you the best value or the best service uh as quick as we can with maintaining still a risk profile. And I think I think if we can get out of our own way a little bit. Something Sonia just said, not everything has to be sourced in a certain way. Some things can actually be sourced, you know, let's take a risk-based approach and a good understand the commodity and then drive certain things simpler, faster, easier, better instead of kind of the one-sizefits-all. So I think we we've got to continue to do that in real life for our business stakeholders so that they start to feel it. And Sandia, what's a myth that you see in procurement? Well, I got lucky because one of them was just mentioned, which is that moving to restrictive multi-year contracts builds resiliency. That's not always true. But the but actually what one thing I do want to surface maybe not so much a myth but like a friction or a dichotomy in our in our in our function which is that supply chain has to do this perfect dance between balancing improving cash flow to reduce inventory on hand and at the same time investing capital to establish buffers in case of fluctuations. So it's like h how do you address that friction? Um and and and I there's so much opportunity. We've talked a lot about this, but like the tools that we need to give procurement and supply chain to take your disparate data sources into like a unified data lake and improve that endto-end visibility. Um, so more so a friction and h how do we address it and um and truly believe that we have a lot of the tools already and it's really like getting them and bundling them together so that we can create that overall supply chain resilience of organizations of all sizes. I've got one final question that I'd like to ask all of you. We've talked a lot about how procurement has changed, how it's changing in this moment, but what I want to know is what excites you about the future of procurement, the profession, and just everything that uh the capability holds. Sandia, I'll start with you. Yeah, actually I think it's similar to what I just said to me like this the what I'm most excited about is this interconnection between procurement and data utilization. And so uh and and it's you know it's it's a combination of like actively partnering and supporting our clients and our customers leveraging all the different solutions that we can provide at Amazon both on the procurement side or maybe that's with AWS supply chain solutions and really creating that forecast accuracy end toend visibility and and the resilience. So that's what I'm most most excited about is how do we really get the data utilization. Um and then so much of it is is about like the ownership and controllership over the data that I you know customers like truly demand demand that from um your supply partners like make that like a clear clear expectation um so that like you have that clean and connected accessible data when you need it and how you need it. Paulo, what excites you about the future of procurement? For me, it's the digital revolution that's going to help us move from a back office to the forefront of being disruptors and innovators. And Sheila, you have the last word. What excites you about the future of procurement? I think it is it's it's a combination of all of what they just said, but driving that innovation through and streamlining the process to delivery so that we have speed to delivery, bringing, you know, our buys, our our deals uh through to our supply or to our to our internal customers quicker, better, faster. Perfect o note to end on there. I'd like to really thank all of my guests, Sandia, Paula, and Sheila for sharing their insights today as we discussed how procurement can transform into a competitive advantage. And in many ways, it's already there. Thank you as well to our presenting partner, Amazon Business, and as well to our audience. Thank you so much for joining us. Remember to share any of your thoughts on social media using the hashtagbi. We'll also continue to cover these topics of procurement, resilience, and supply chain of business insider. So, please be sure to follow us. Thank you again for joining and have a wonderful rest of your day. for me. Hey Hey. Hey. Hey.