1. Hey Stephen, could you explore how procurement is changing as a field in response to the advent of smarter AI and increased automation?
Stephen Day: “Imagine a spectrum of everything procurement handles. At one end are the highly transactional, tightly regulated tasks. This is like raising requisitions, securing approvals, issuing purchase orders, receiving goods or services, and processing payments. In my view, AI is well suited to take over this straightforward, rules-based flow. It streamlines operations, reduces costs, and minimises manual tasks across the buying journey.
“But procurement’s role is expanding far beyond those basics. From advancing sustainability goals to managing supply chain risk, and from ensuring security to verifying payments, today’s Chief Procurement Officer (CPO) has far more on their plate. That’s exactly why this kind of intelligent automation is needed to enable procurement teams to increase their influence across the enterprise and help drive more strategic business outcomes.”
2. Does a world where machines analyse, negotiate, and buy increasingly autonomously run the risk of weakening the procurement process, even if it saves money?
Stephen Day: “Not in the slightest. Procurement will always set the rules and guardrails within which AI Agents can carry out those tasks. What AI can do is handle the heavy analytical lifting: evaluating options, uncovering spend patterns, mapping supply markets, and more. By processing complex data at speed, AI will significantly boost productivity.
“What we’re doing at Kantar is embedding these insights into tools and workflows. We are also enhancing decision-making and enabling our teams to make those decisions much more quickly. But, we are not replacing the human touch. As an example of this, earlier this year we adopted Globality’s AI-powered platform to drive that process. The AI Agent – Glo – enables our teams to compete work among our supplier base for every sourcing event, automating proposal comparison and price negotiation to identify the right provider for that particular project quickly and easily with full compliance and guardrails in place.”
3. Do emotional intelligence and negotiation still have a place in an AI-augmented procurement landscape?
Stephen Day: “There will always be a place for humans to add that layer of emotional intelligence, even in an increasingly automated procurement process. Negotiation will still require an understanding of what matters in the context of our business – and also in the supplier’s.
“What we’re doing is empowering our people by providing them with the latest tools and technology to get the full benefits of AI, creating a more streamlined pricing and approval process both for our teams and our suppliers.”
4. Why can’t automation replace human judgment?
Stephen Day: “AI is a very powerful tool in procurement – it generates real-time, actionable analytics by automatically aggregating and analysing vast amounts of spend data which enables our teams to make faster, smarter decisions that improve sourcing strategies, identify cost-saving opportunities, and mitigate risk.
“But relationship-building – both with stakeholders within the business and external suppliers – is a key human attribute that high-performing procurement teams will increasingly require to complement the insights and data that AI provides them with.”
5. What does this mean for procurement at a career path?
Stephen Day: “I genuinely believe procurement is one of the best career paths out there. It’s served me incredibly well. If any university graduates are wondering where to begin, I’d say skip finance, marketing, or law—go into procurement or supply chain. That’s where the real business action is happening today.
“Even better, the learning never stops. You’ll keep growing, stretching, and evolving throughout your career. And with AI taking on much of the analytical heavy lifting, the role is expanding to include sustainability, supply chain risk, security, payment verification, user experience, and more.
“At Kantar, like many others, we hire for expertise—but we know expertise can be taught. What truly matters is attitude: resilience, curiosity, and a growth mindset.”
6. In what ways is procurement taking the lead in advancing DEI targets?
Stephen Day: “The least effective approach to diversity and inclusion, in my view, is treating it as a standalone procurement initiative or isolating it within a separate DEI function. It must be fully embedded into your sourcing strategy. Everyone in procurement—category managers, regional leads, and even systems and process teams—needs to see DEI as a shared responsibility.
“At Kantar, our goal is for 12% of our spend to go to diverse and inclusive suppliers. We’re making strong progress – currently at 9% – and we’re committed to reaching that target as soon as possible.
“And Globality’s platform is one way we can do this – enabling both procurement and the business to mandate that a certain number of diverse suppliers are included in the shortlist for a specific sourcing event or project.”