AI in Sourcing Optimization: The Day After Tomorrow (Part 2)

In the first article of this Spend Matters PRO series, we recounted the state of artificial intelligence in optimization so far — or, more accurately, the lack of AI in optimization. While AI in its most base form of "assisted intelligence" is readily available in many modern procurement and sourcing platforms, as evidenced in our previous series on AI in Sourcing and Procurement, it has not yet creeped into optimization.

But that doesn't mean that AI will not creep into sourcing optimization tomorrow. While we may not see AI creep into any of the current platforms on the market (for different reasons for each vendor), that certainly doesn't mean that the next vendor to bring an optimization solution to the market won't learn from the oversights of their predecessors. In fact, in looking to get an edge over the existing, established platforms, it will assuredly be the case that tomorrow's optimization platforms will not only have a greater focus on UX and automation, but on AI.

And while AI won't be embedded in the optimization engine tomorrow, it will surround it and make AI more usable. And while the story may not change much the day after tomorrow, the surrounding capabilities and usefulness of the platform as a whole will continue to increase.

In Part 1 of this briefing, we indicated — taking a queue from our pieces on AI in Procurement the Day After Tomorrow and AI in Sourcing the Day After Tomorrow — that we will see tail spend elimination, automatic opportunity identification, real-time strategy alignment, end-of-life (EoL) recommendations and performance improvement — which we will detail in this article.

But that won't be all. What else? Read on.