Agentic AI–Powered Procurement:Skills, Processes & Technologies to Prioritize in 2026

As agentic AI rapidly reshapes the procurement landscape, leaders face a critical question: Where is real value emerging today—and how should teams prepare for a future where autonomous AI agents play an active role in operations and decision-making?

Join us for a forward-looking conversation on how procurement organizations can harness Agentic AI to elevate decision-making, streamline workflows, and free teams to focus on higher-value, strategic work.

In this session, we’ll cut through the hype and focus on what’s actually possible with today’s agentic AI technologies. Hear firsthand how procurement roles are evolving, what tasks AI agents can reliably own end-to-end, and how practitioners are redesigning their processes to allow humans and autonomous AI to operate side by side. We’ll share insights into the capabilities delivering value right now—as well as what’s approaching fast on the horizon.

Together, we’ll explore the concrete skills, processes, and technology investments procurement teams should prioritize in 2026.

Moving beyond surface-level talking points, we’ll discuss how organizations are upskilling their workforce for a future where AI agents increasingly manage operational decisions—while humans focus on judgment, strategy, collaboration, and relationship-driven outcomes.

You’ll gain practical examples of effective change management from leaders who have guided their teams through this transformation.

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Key takeaways:

Where agentic AI is delivering measurable value in procurement today
How to navigate fast-moving technology change (and avoid common pitfalls)
How procurement roles are shifting—and the critical skills needed next
Real-world examples of team upskilling and process redesign in an AI-agent–driven model
What technologies and capabilities should top your 2026 roadmap

meet the panelists

HOST: Andreas Welsch

Chief AI Strategist and Founder

Intelligence Briefing

Lawrence Kane

Head of Procurement

Transamerica

Pankesh Betala

AVP of Product Management

Zycus

Puneet Jain

Sr Manager

Accenture Strategy & Consulting

speaker bios

Andreas Welsch is an internationally recognized AI leader, advisor, and speaker known for helping the world’s leading enterprises turn technology hype into business outcomes. He is the Founder & Chief AI Strategist at Intelligence Briefing, the best-selling author of the “AI Leadership Handbook,” and the creator of several popular LinkedIn Learning courses on AI agents for business leaders.Over the last 23 years, including in global leadership roles at SAP, he has advised Fortune 500 leaders on realizing business value from AI, accelerated the integration of AI across enterprise applications, and positioned SAP as the leader for Business AI. Before that, Andreas led global IT process automation projects. Outside of work, he contributes to academia as an Adjunct Professor at West Chester University of Pennsylvania and serves on the Editorial Board of the Journal of AI, Robotics, and Workplace Automation.Andreas is a frequent keynote speaker and expert panelist, and has been named a LinkedIn Top Voice, DataIQ’s AI Leader of the Year, Thinkers360’s Top 10 Thought Leader in Artificial Intelligence, Generative AI, and Agentic AI, The Futurum Group’s Top 14 AI Influencer, PEX Network’s Top 30 AI Leader, SwissCognitive’s Top 50 Global AI Ambassador, and engatica’s Top 200 Worldwide Business & Technology Innovator.

Lawrence Kane was inducted into the SIG Sourcing Supernova Hall of Fame in 2018 for visionary leadership in strategic sourcing, procurement, supplier innovation, and digital transformation. In 2023 he earned an EPIC Award for lifetime achievements in indirect procurement from ProcureCon. He was recognized in the AI in Procurement Champion Index by CPO Strategy in 2025.

He built global sourcing and vendor management programs from the ground up, institutionalizing world-class practices that earned the Global Excellence in Outsourcing award from IAOP, seven Future of Sourcing innovation awards from SIG, and a Boeing Knowledge Network award for Talent Management, among other honors. A member of the SIG University Advisory Board and IAOP Think Tank, he helped create many of the industry’s leading practices and regularly advances thought leadership as a keynote speaker at procurement conferences.

The bestselling author of 32 books, he co-wrote The Contract Professional’s Playbook and contributed to the Outsourcing Professional Body of Knowledge and Strategic Sourcing in the New Economy, among other works.

Pankesh Betala is the AVP of Product Management at Zycus, leading product strategy for Supplier Management and Risk Management. He is currently focused on building agentic AI solutions to transform the supplier lifecycle—enabling intelligent onboarding, performance and risk management, anomaly detection, and supplier relationship management.

At Zycus, he has also driven product initiatives across eInvoicing and Contract Management, leading AI-powered innovations such as Contract Risk Monitoring and Contract Template Comparison to help enterprises automate risk assessment and improve decision-making.

Prior to Zycus, Pankesh was at Chargebee, where he helped build the subscription commerce platform from the ground up, and earlier worked across startups building and scaling products.