It’s fair to say that DPW Amsterdam has taken the procurement world by storm over the last five years. Founder Matthias Gutzmann developed the concept for Digital Procurement World in 2019, after discovering that existing procurement conferences lacked originality and investor interest. The kernel of an idea for something inspiring and innovative to fill the void formed then, while Gutzmann was working in New York.
Returning to his home country of Germany later that year, Gutzmann poured all his savings into launching DPW. The first conference, in September 2019, brought in over 400 industry leaders from across 33 countries – an incredible feat for a brand new concept. That response just goes to show that the industry was starved of a truly exceptional procurement conference.
DPW NYC: The inception
Since then, DPW has gone from strength to strength. Last year’s Amsterdam event attracted over 5,000 attendees and the event has won multiple awards. It seems apt, then, that this incredible growth journey should see DPW coming to its spiritual home of New York for 2024. On the 12th of June, 2024 DPW hosted its first NYC event which dug deep into AI and what it can do for procurement – something that was a natural step for the organisation.
“New York has the highest density of CPOs in the US,” explains Gutzmann. “If you do well in Europe – which DPW has – the next big market is North America. New York is low-hanging fruit with so many pharma and financial services companies.”
As such, it made sense for Gutzmann to launch DPW in New York, where demand for conferences focused on digital transformation and technology is high. “CPOs in the US are looking for something new,” he continues. “They’ve heard about DPW Amsterdam and they’re ready for it here.”
Held in an ultra-cool penthouse in NeueHouse Madison Square, New York City, this intimate event brought together 128 procurement professionals for a day of talks hosted by experts in the field. The goal was to have 100 people, and several others had to be turned away at the door, such was the popularity of the event. The term of the day was ‘artificial intelligence’, the talks focused primarily on what advanced technology and AI can do for procurement – and how the human touch can be maintained.
Thoughts on DPW NYC
“The event has been exceptional from a networking perspective, and really understanding all the challenges that other leaders in similar positions are facing. It’s really heartening to know we’re not the only ones dealing with some of these situations.” – Ajay Khosla, Director, Procurement Digital Experience, Google
“It’s great to hear about what is available in the marketplace from new technology and procurement perspectives, as well as how generative AI is changing procurement as a function.” – Al Williams, Global Chief Procurement Officer and Corporate Services, Invesco
“The intimacy of this event has generated so many amazing conversations between companies. I think this is the perfect sized audience when you’re talking about innovation.” – Danielle McQuiston, Chief Customer Officer, Candex
“It feels like DPW is really starting to build a community and a network. The more of those we have in this space, the more we’re going to get done.” – Gabe Perez, Chief Strategy Officer, RiseNow
Inspiring sessions
Gutzmann opened the day alongside Herman Knevel, CEO of DPW, the attendees buzzing with anticipation. Gutzmann explained DPW’s backstory and how the point of the concept was to nourish the future of the latest thinking in procurement and AI. Where the question was once ‘what is AI?’, it’s now ‘what can AI do for me?’. Gutzmann urged attendees to lean into AI and embrace it and how it can support procurement.
The first in-depth talk of the event was ‘The radical impact of AI’, led by DPW’s Chairman, Mark Perera, in conversation with Scott Belsky, Chief Strategy Officer at Adobe. The two asked: what makes humans stand out? The answer is ideas. The key to positive change through AI lies within its ability to support humans, not replace them.
Belsky stated that the deployment of productivity tools will evolve people’s ability to change minds and influence, and people themselves will always be necessary. AI tools give us the confidence to express ourselves creatively and unlock better personalisation. Belsky explained how he has watched the AI landscape evolve from low-end automation to decision-making, and as a result, procurement is low-hanging fruit from an AI perspective.
Belsky’s hope is that AI becomes a layer of understanding and more accessible within procurement, raising the bar further for humans. It’s time for 10x thinking, rather than 10% thinking, in his words.
Orchestration at play
The marrying of AI and people power continued with the next session, hosted by Shachi Gupta, VP Strategy, Oro Labs, in conversation with the Digital Procurement Futurist, Dr. Elouise Epstein. The session – ‘AI-powered humanized experience: Procurement orchestration at play’ – delved into the ways in which we can invest in and evolve procurement.
The pair discussed how AI enables us to innovate and improve on what we already do. Dr. Epstein reflected on when procurement was nascent, with CPOs who didn’t know why they were in their roles or what they should focus on. Change only really accelerated during the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, and it solidified the CPO role at the same time. Which begs the question: how can procurement improve the topline as well as the bottom line?
Dr. Epstein and Gupta talked about lessons learned from the pandemic – including that procurement needed to speed up and become more efficient, since squeezing of costs is an ongoing issue. They stated that UX and data are the focus, while AI is the umbrella, and that procurement orchestration is now absolutely vital. Dr. Epstein boldly stated that the suite providers are over; they’re the old paradigm, and it should be the case that systems learn users, not the other way around. Orchestration is something procurement is only now wrapping its head around, she concluded, but it’s firmly the next generation of procurement.
Five steps to apply AI in your business
David Rogers, author of ‘The Digital Transformation Roadmap’, stated in his talk that five vital steps to apply AI in your business are:
- Define a problem to solve
- Find your customer
- Validate a definition of success
- Experiment to see what works
- Share what you learn
Procurement has a seat at the table; so what’s next?
Then came ‘Next-gen tech: Managing complexity and delivering user simplicity’, hosted by Airbase’s VP Procurement Strategy, Mathew Schulz. The session focused on user experience, and saw Schulz deep in conversation with Christina Howlett-Perez, AVP Head of Procurement at Definitive Healthcare, and Pierre Mitchell, Chief Research Officer and MD at Spend Matters.
They discussed the fact that, with procurement now having a seat at the table, you need to understand where your company’s at when it comes to updating the procurement side. The solution needs to be tactical and cost effective. The group’s solution was to focus on gen AI, intake, and – as Dr. Epstein and Gupta had mentioned already – orchestration.
The thing to remember, Schulz et al added, is the need for transparency for both the end-users and top leadership. This requires adaptable tools, meaning that procurement needs people who have a deep understanding of data.
The ongoing theme of people – and how they’re still at the core of procurement – was continued by David Rogers, author of ‘The Digital Transformation Roadmap’. His session – ‘Fuelling AI adoption with a transformation mindset’ – focused on the fact that digital transformation is less about technology and more about strategy and mindset.
The afternoon brought with it breakout sessions in smaller groups, with each group involved in lively, innovative discussions surrounding the main topics of the day and presenting their conclusions for everybody to muse upon. This was followed by Rujul Zaparde, Co-Founder and CEO of Zip speaking to Katie Streu, Senior Director Strategic Sourcing at Coinbase, and Guru Mohan, VP Global Procurement at Toast.
The trio brought together the much-dissected topics of AI and orchestration and delved into the best strategies for making them work well together and achieve improvements across the board. They also talked more broadly about practical applications of AI within procurement processes, and the results thereof.
Thoughts on DPW NYC
“The size of the event is good, and despite how small the group is, the DPW team has managed to keep the vibe of the Amsterdam event. It’s really engaging and forward-looking, and you also get the chance to talk to everybody. I think that’s really great.” – Johan-Peter Teppala, Chief Customer Officer, Sievo
“It’s been phenomenal. The content, the fact that it’s an intimate group, and the quality of the people here. DPW is setting the standard for events.” – Rujul Zaparde, Co-Founder & CEO, Zip
“It feels like home. I feel like everything we’re discussing about solving procurement problems in more innovative ways, and taking a digital lens to everything – these are things I’ve been a crusader for for the longest time. I’m so glad it’s gained momentum and power so that we have this great community now.” – Shachi Gupta, Vice President of Strategy, ORO Labs
AI: Close up
Excitingly, the final session of the day involved everybody wearing a VR headset and being taken on a tour of the metaverse by Clive Teal, CEO of LavinirAI. This involved showing the users around the metaverse, demonstrating its applications, and digging into the benefits from a procurement perspective via multiple fascinating use cases.
Then, Tony Philippone, Chief Research Officer at HFS Research, closed out the day with some brilliant insights and sobering reminders for the rapt attendees. In his words, a lot of the technology we used today is dead. We’ve spent the last 5,000 years advancing what we’ve always done in procurement, and it demands people-driven as it has advanced. And yet, four big debts remain: people, process, data, and technical.
Gen AI has changed the game and AI assistants will change things even further, Philippone explained. He also added that implementing gen AI is not a slam dunk. Success requires the right strategy, quality data, and prioritisation to help meet procurement goals.
With a rapt, engaged, and lively audience from start to finish, DPW NYC 2024 was a huge success. Many attendees went on to join the DPW team for the after party at the rooftop of Arlo NoMad where the stirring conversations continued and positive feedback flowed. The event felt like the start of something even bigger for DPW NYC, with Gutzmann, Knevel, Perera, and the whole team openly excited for what’s next. And we at CPOstrategy can’t wait to see how this event evolves, too.
