The theme of DPW New York 2026 – Recode – could hardly have been more appropriate. Across conversations with procurement leaders representing industries as diverse as financial services, media, pharmaceuticals, luxury retail, technology, industrial manufacturing and commercial real estate, one message emerged repeatedly: procurement is entering the most significant period of transformation in its history.

Artificial intelligence may dominate the headlines, but for practitioners leading transformation programmes inside global organisations, the conversation has already moved beyond the technology itself. Instead, attention is turning towards operating models, organisational design, talent, governance and the role procurement will play as businesses navigate increasingly complex commercial environments.

Rather than viewing AI as the destination, many see it as the catalyst for fundamentally redesigning procurement.

For several of the speakers CPOstrategy spoke to, ‘Recode’ wasn’t simply about software, it was about rethinking the function from the ground up.

Rina Patel, SVP – Chief Procurement Officer at Versant Media, described the company’s recent spin-off from Comcast NBCUniversal as an opportunity to reshape procurement into a trusted advisory function involved in deciding whether initiatives should happen in the first place, rather than simply executing purchasing decisions.

Others echoed that sentiment. Danielle Salyers, VP for Strategic Sourcing & Enterprise Contracting, at Allied Solutions, who has built procurement organisations from scratch on multiple occasions, viewed the theme through the lens of establishing entirely new operating models. At Semrush, VP for Global Procurement Alejandro Fernandez is living through a different kind of recode as the company’s procurement organisation becomes integrated into Adobe, forcing a rethink of how teams, processes and technologies come together.

Despite the different business contexts, the conclusion was remarkably consistent: procurement’s traditional operating model no longer reflects the realities of modern business.

Beyond Cost Savings

If there was one topic that united almost everyone we spoke to, it was the growing belief that procurement has outgrown its historical identity as a cost-cutting function.

Savings remain important, but few leaders now see them as sufficient for measuring success.

Patel argued that procurement should instead be judged on whether supplier decisions generate genuine business value, improve return on investment, enable revenue and support broader organisational objectives. Salyers similarly described cost savings as an output of procurement rather than its defining purpose, pointing instead to resilience, supplier strategy, risk management and business enablement as the measures that matter most.

Mercury’s Head of Procurement Bobbi Bachynski perhaps captured the changing mindset most directly. Working in a fast-growing fintech business, she sees procurement less as a savings function and more as business development tool, measuring success through the speed at which the organisation can launch products, enable teams and support growth.

That broader definition of value reflects the changing pressures organisations face today.

From geopolitical instability and tariffs to ongoing supply chain disruption, procurement has increasingly become central to helping organisations manage uncertainty. Angela Zou, Chief Procurement Officer at Cushman & Wakefield, noted that global disruption has elevated procurement’s importance within executive discussions, while Marc Behring, Director – Procurement Excellence at Messer Americas, explained that procurement’s ability to respond quickly to changing market conditions has become just as valuable as negotiating favourable contracts.

The profession is steadily moving away from being measured purely on how much money it saves towards how effectively it enables organisations to operate.

AI Starts with Better Processes

Despite the excitement surrounding artificial intelligence throughout DPW, one point generated almost universal agreement. AI cannot repair broken procurement.

Again and again, the executives we spoke to stressed that organisations must first simplify processes, improve governance and clean their data before expecting technology to deliver meaningful transformation.

Fernandez described AI as a magnifying glass that simply exposes existing weaknesses. Deploying sophisticated technology on top of poor-quality processes only embeds those problems more deeply into the organisation.

Others used even stronger language. Salyers warned that “if you automate chaos, you just get chaos faster,” while Zou argued organisations must “clean house before you automate or optimise”. Bachynski cautioned against allowing excitement around AI to distract organisations from building strong procurement foundations, preferring what she described as a measured and intentional approach rather than chasing hype.

Several leaders also highlighted the importance of data quality.

Behring believes that process and data remain the essential foundations for successful AI adoption because intelligent systems can only generate meaningful outcomes when they are built on structured, consistent information. Without that foundation, organisations risk investing significant time and money only to conclude that AI itself has failed, when the real issue lies in poor underlying processes.

The message from DPW was clear: successful transformation begins long before organisations deploy their first AI agent.

Humans Remain at the Centre

Although AI dominated almost every conversation, none of the procurement leaders we spoke to suggested technology would replace human expertise. Instead, the future appears to be one of partnership.

Routine, rules-based and transactional work is increasingly expected to migrate towards automation, freeing procurement professionals to focus on judgement, creativity, negotiation, supplier relationships and strategic decision-making.

Fernandez believes relationship management and stakeholder trust remain fundamentally human activities. Salyers described the ideal future as automating repeatable work while preserving human involvement wherever judgement, ethics and commercial trade-offs matter.

Sandeep Dhar, Senior Director – Center Global Category Management Leader at Johnson & Johnson, sees the operating model evolving into one where AI agents perform tactical activities while procurement professionals concentrate on strategy. Sean Park VP – Procurement, AP & Transformation at Arm similarly views AI less as a replacement than as a decision-support capability, enabling procurement teams to analyse suppliers, identify strategic partners and generate insights more rapidly than traditional reporting tools allow.

A Different Kind of Procurement Professional

As technology changes, so too does the profile of the procurement professional.

Several of the leaders we spoke to suggested that tomorrow’s procurement teams will require fundamentally different capabilities from those traditionally associated with category management and sourcing.

Fernandez believes the rise of large language models will reduce dependence on narrow category specialisation, instead rewarding analytical thinkers, creative problem-solvers and builders who are comfortable experimenting with new technologies.

Behring agreed that procurement professionals will increasingly need to understand how AI works, develop stronger technology skills and continuously adapt as new capabilities emerge. For him, the challenge extends beyond technology itself to identifying what the future procurement skillset should actually look like.

That evolution also requires organisations to rethink how they develop talent. Zou spoke about freeing procurement professionals from routine work so they can build stronger judgement and advisory capabilities, while Dhar argued that curiosity, continuous learning and asking better questions will become defining characteristics of successful procurement leaders.

Several executives also highlighted the importance of confidence. Patel encouraged procurement professionals at every level to become bolder, understand the businesses they support more deeply and build the commercial credibility needed to influence decision-making. Rather than waiting to be invited into strategic discussions, procurement leaders should demonstrate why they belong there by speaking the language of growth, revenue and business outcomes.

Technology is Changing, but Leadership Matters More

Despite AI dominating conference agendas, many leaders suggested that technology alone will not transform procurement.

Leadership remains the decisive factor. Gary Levitan, VP – Head of Procurement at Louis Vuitton, argued procurement earns influence through a compelling vision rather than software. Digital tools may strengthen procurement’s ability to execute, but they do not secure executive credibility on their own.

Others made similar observations. Several leaders stressed every organisation faces different priorities, making it dangerous simply to copy another company’s technology roadmap. Bachynski warned against benchmarking blindly, arguing that procurement functions should be designed around the unique commercial realities of their own businesses rather than following industry trends.

For Park, transformation succeeds when stakeholders understand the entire journey rather than experiencing disconnected process changes over time. Bringing employees into the transformation early, explaining the bigger picture and managing change carefully are just as important as selecting the right technology.

That emphasis on governance, communication and organisational change repeatedly surfaced throughout our conversations. AI may accelerate procurement, but successful implementation still depends upon people understanding, trusting and adopting new ways of working.

Why DPW Matters

While technology formed the backdrop to almost every conversation, many attendees described the greatest value of DPW as something far more human. Connection.

Time and again, these leaders spoke about the opportunity to compare experiences with peers facing similar challenges, distinguish genuine innovation from marketing hype and learn from successes as well as failures.

Fernandez described the event as an opportunity to separate “signal from noise” by hearing directly from practitioners rather than relying solely on vendor demonstrations. Zou highlighted the value of seeing collaborative customer and supplier transformation stories while building relationships with peers on similar journeys.

For Bachynski, DPW represents procurement’s “Super Bowl”. Not because of the product demonstrations, but because it creates opportunities for honest conversations about what is really happening inside organisations. Those candid exchanges help procurement leaders avoid repeating mistakes while accelerating successful transformation.

Others shared similar experiences. Behring pointed to the importance of understanding how peers are deploying AI and evaluating emerging technologies, while Park noted discussions with fellow procurement leaders often proved just as valuable as conversations with software providers. Dhar reflected on DPW’s rapid growth over recent years as evidence that procurement itself has become a far more influential discipline than it once was.

Perhaps the strongest message came from Salyers, who described DPW as a place where people challenge conventional thinking, inspire one another and return to their organisations better equipped to lead change.

Procurement’s Defining Moment

Although each executive represented a different organisation, industry and stage of transformation, they revealed an unusually consistent picture of procurement’s future.

The function is no longer content with measuring success purely through cost reduction. Instead, procurement leaders are redefining their role around business enablement, resilience, commercial insight, supplier innovation and enterprise growth.

Artificial intelligence will undoubtedly accelerate that evolution, but only where organisations first establish strong processes, clean data and effective governance. Automation will increasingly handle transactional work, allowing procurement professionals to concentrate on the uniquely human capabilities that technology cannot replicate: judgement, relationships, creativity and strategic thinking.

The challenge now is not simply adopting AI. It is recoding procurement itself.

That was the unmistakable message running through DPW New York 2026. The organisations that succeed will not necessarily be those deploying the greatest number of AI tools. They will be those prepared to rethink operating models, develop new skills, redefine success and position procurement as an indispensable strategic partner to the business.

For a profession long associated with purchasing and cost control, that represents a profound shift. If the conversations at DPW are any indication, procurement’s next chapter has already begun. And this time it is writing the code rather than simply following it.

Read more of our DPW coverage in the latest issue of CPO Strategy