Procurement Skills You Need Now & Next | Dual Source Discourse #64

THE CAPABILITIES EVERY PROCUREMENT PRO SHOULD KNOW TO LEVEL UP AI is transforming procurement from tactical execution to strategic business impact. Sarah and Dr. Elouise lay out the core capabilities modern teams must build—data and digital literacy, AI collaboration, including prompt craft and agent-building, ethical and transparent use of AI in supplier decisions, scaled-yet-human SRM, negotiation and scenario planning, and cybersecurity/third-party risk awareness. They also spotlight “human skills” that rise in value—critical thinking, change management, EQ, and storytelling—and close with pragmatic next steps: jump in, experiment, and build a personal AI playbook to work smarter. Key Points: • From tactical to strategic: Source-to-pay work is trending toward full AI automation—freeing procurement to drive business outcomes. • Fluency in data, prompts, and managing AI “agents” will define productivity—beyond dashboards and legacy apps. • Keep the human in the loop: Ethical AI in supplier selection, trust-building SRM, and creative negotiations remain distinctly human advantages. • Risk is real (and rising): Cybersecurity and third-party risk—especially AI-enabled fraud—are board-level priorities procurement must own. ✨Highlights✨ 00:00 “The two procurement nerds are back”—listener question from Australia sets the agenda 03:05 Source-to-pay becomes an “AI factory”/black box; buying gets “Amazonified.” 07:40 Who drives change? It’s not just CPOs 12:30 Fighting alert overload with what actually matters. 21:10 Prompt craft and “every employee a manager of agents” 26:45 Ethical & responsible AI 30:15 SRM at scale 33:40 Reverse auctions’ comeback, long-term value, and procurement as a revenue generator 37:20 Supplier weaknesses, and why this stays budget-proof 40:05 “AI flattens the world Please make sure to subscribe so you don’t miss an episode and, as always, submit questions and topics suggestions for future podcasts ⁠⁠here: https://shorturl.at/PbNi6 Follow us on YouTube for episode video recordings: https://rb.gy/t5hbw8 Hosts: Sarah Scudder and Dr. Elouise Epstein Producer: Sabrina Mougin