NEW WEBINAR: AI Rising 2026: The State of Procurement AI
Ardent Partners and Zycus are hosting a webinar on April 30 to unveil the "AI Rising 2026: The State of Procurement AI" report. The session will explore how artificial intelligence is reshaping procurement, from data analysis to supplier engagement. Researchers will present adoption trends, measurable impacts, and practical steps for building an AI‑enabled procurement function. Speakers include Andrew Bartolini of Ardent Partners and a Zycus expert, offering insights for leaders seeking to boost efficiency and resilience.
Winning 2026: The CPO 45-Second Briefing – “The Genesis of Autonomy: Procurement’s Year Zero”
Andrew Bartolini, founder of Ardent Partners, is debuting a new 45‑second video series titled “Procurement 2026: Big Trends and Predictions.” The first episode, “The Genesis of Autonomy: Procurement’s Year Zero,” spotlights the emergence of autonomous sourcing platforms and examines how judicial...
NEW WEBINAR: Beyond Invoice: AI, Payments, and Risk in Modern AP
The upcoming Emburse webinar, "Beyond Invoice: AI, Payments, and Risk in Modern AP," will be held on April 16 from 11:00 AM to 12:00 PM ET. Speakers Andrew Bartolini of Ardent Partners and Landon Gordon of Emburse will discuss how finance leaders...
Procurement Predictions 2026 (Part Two): Spend Visibility to Decision Augmentation
Procurement leaders are shifting from traditional spend visibility to AI‑enabled decision augmentation, where platforms not only report spend but also recommend next actions. Advanced analytics ingest real‑time supplier, market, and demand data to model scenarios and guide procurement choices. This...
Winning 2026: The CPO 45-Second Briefing – “The Low-Grade Fever: Persistent Inflation”
Andrew Bartolini, founder of Ardent Partners, has launched a new 45‑second video series titled “Procurement 2026: Big Trends and Predictions.” The inaugural episode, “The Low‑Grade Fever: Persistent Inflation,” warns that inflation will remain modest yet enduring, pressuring cost structures across supply...
Procurement News — April 1, 2026
General Mills elevated Jonathan Ness to chief supply chain officer, cementing a nearly two‑decade internal career that spans strategy, finance, manufacturing and procurement. nVent appointed Mellinda Devese as executive vice president and CSCO to steer its global, end‑to‑end supply chain...
Winning 2026: The CPO 45-Second Briefing – “Supplier Risk Management Becomes a Core Operating Discipline”
Andrew Bartolini, founder of Ardent Partners, has launched a new 45‑second video series titled “Procurement 2026: Big Trends and Predictions.” The first episode, “Supplier Risk Management Becomes a Core Operating Discipline,” highlights a shift from annual to daily supplier risk assessments....
ProcureTech Pulse — March 25, 2026
The ProcureTech Pulse roundup highlights four major moves in the procurement technology space. Levelpath introduced Agent Orchestration Studio, a no‑code platform that lets business users build custom AI agents for the entire sourcing lifecycle. Fairmarkit partnered with Zip to deliver...
LevelUp 2026: How Levelpath (and Its Customers) Are Rewriting the Procurement AI Playbook (Part 1)
Levelpath hosted its first LevelUp 2026 conference in San Francisco, unveiling an AI‑native procurement platform built from the ground up. The company, now 160 employees strong, has raised $100 million to deliver a unified system of record that spans intake, sourcing,...
Winning 2026: The CPO 45-Second Briefing – “Savings Tops the CPO Priority List (Again)”
Andrew Bartolini, founder and chief research officer at Ardent Partners, has launched a new 45‑second video series called “Procurement 2026: Big Trends and Predictions.” The inaugural video, “Savings Tops the CPO Priority List (Again),” underscores bottom‑line savings as the leading metric...
NEW WEBINAR: Uniting Intake to Payment to Drive 2026 Performance
Ardent Partners and Zip are hosting a webinar on March 26 to show chief procurement officers how to bridge the intake‑to‑payment gap that hampers spend visibility and speed. The session, led by Andrew Bartolini and Nick Heinzmann, will outline a unified,...
Procurement Trends 2026 (Part One): Thriving in an Age of Structural Volatility
The 2026 procurement outlook emphasizes a shift to "permanent beta"—an operating mode that accepts continuous volatility as the norm. Traditional multi‑year roadmaps are giving way to iterative strategies that are constantly tested and refined. Procurement is repositioned as an early‑warning...
Procurement News — March 4, 2026
Sourceability appointed Sam Stephens as chief procurement officer to lead data‑driven sourcing worldwide, emphasizing analytics and scalable processes. Lucid Group named Neil Marsons, former Rolls Royce procurement chief, as senior vice president of supply chain to bolster its EV production in...
Analyst Insight – Generation Next: SAP Ariba’s AI Rebuild (III)
SAP Ariba announced a full architectural rebuild of its Source-to-Pay suite, targeting a February 2026 release. The new platform will be AI‑native, leveraging SAP Business Technology Platform and introducing Joule agents for tasks like bid analysis and intake management. Existing customers...
Winning 2026: The CPO 45-Second Briefing – “Category Management Evolves Into Category Intelligence”
Andrew Bartolini, founder of Ardent Partners, has launched a 45‑second video series called Procurement 2026, spotlighting the shift from traditional category management to what he calls Category Intelligence. The latest clip explains how AI‑driven analytics and real‑time market data are turning...
