Agentic AI and the operating model shift : Redesigning enterprise procurement for the AI-native era
Abstract
The swift emergence of agentic artificial intelligence (agentic AI) signifies not merely a new trend in automation but a fundamental transformation in the design, governance and execution of work. Unlike preceding waves of machine learning and generative AI (GenAI), which predominantly offered recommendations or generated content, agentic AI introduces software agents capable of perceiving context, making decisions, executing tasks across various systems and learning over time. Procurement serves as an exemplary domain for demonstrating this paradigm shift. It operates at the confluence of finance, supply chain, legal, risk, environmental, social and governance (ESG) and business stakeholders, managing complex, rules-intensive, high-value decisions. This paper posits that agentic AI will profoundly overhaul the procurement operating model, transitioning it from function-centric workflows to an AI-native hub that orchestrates autonomous agents, human experts and interconnected data. It outlines the practical aspects of agentic AI, explains why procurement is central to its adoption, and describes how capabilities such as autonomous sourcing, negotiation, onboarding and compliance monitoring reshape processes, roles and decision-making rights. Furthermore, it proposes an operating model blueprint for AI-native procurement, encompassing governance, risk management and policy systems. It examines the skills, behaviours and organisational structures necessary for effective human–AI collaboration. Ultimately, it offers a pragmatic roadmap for chief information officers (CIOs) and chief procurement officers (CPOs) and considers implications for other enterprise functions. This framework enables the design of procurement organisations that leverage the value of agentic AI while maintaining control, resilience and trust.
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Author's Biography
Alan J. Rice is Managing Director of Caché Procurement and a leading voice in artificial intelligence (AI)-driven procurement transformation. He combines three decades of front-line procurement experience with deep technology expertise in generative AI (GenAI), agentic workflows, data pipelines and control automation to translate ambition into operational results. Alan helps Fortune 500 enterprises establish AI-first operating models that coexist alongside enterprise resource planning/procure-to-pay (ERP/P2P), compress cycle times from months to days, enforce policy compliance, expose multi-tiered risk and unlock new value in working capital and cost. His approaches are pragmatic: clean the data you have, instrument high-impact use cases (such as RFx drafting, supplier discovery, risk scanning, price prediction, and contract intelligence), build guardrails, and scale with measurable return on investment (ROI). A frequent keynote speaker and board adviser, Alan is known for translating leading-edge AI into credible delivery plans with clear owners, metrics and change-management paths that teams can execute.
Paula Glickenhaus is Senior Vice President and Chief Procurement Officer at Bristol Myers Squibb, where she leads the company’s global procurement organisation, overseeing strategy, value creation and supplier partnerships across a highly complex, regulated global environment. She is widely recognised for building high-performing teams, strengthening supply resilience and embedding operational excellence and sustainability into enterprise-wide sourcing models. Paula is also regarded as a pioneer in applying artificial intelligence (AI) and advanced analytics across the source-to-pay life cycle, accelerating decision making, increasing transparency and unlocking measurable enterprise value. Prior to joining BMS, Paula was a senior executive at Google, where she led Global Strategic Sourcing and Category Management, managing more than US$40bn in annual spend across 16 product areas, including YouTube and Google Maps. Her career spans senior leadership roles at Novartis, Bacardi, Mondelēz International and Colgate-Palmolive, where she consistently delivered large-scale transformations, measurable financial impact and modernised global operating models. Paula holds a Master’s degree in international affairs from Columbia University, is a graduate of Harvard Business School’s Leadership Advance Program and is a recognised advocate for inclusive leadership and advancing equity in the workplace.
