Our Procurement AI World Tour continued in Istanbul, in partnership with EY Türkiye, and the energy in the room was unmistakable. Across two sessions, procurement leaders leaned into a shared question:
How do we move from pilots and point automations to real, repeatable outcomes powered by AI?
Why Turkey, Why Now
Turkey’s procurement organizations are balancing familiar pressures—cost, continuity, and speed—alongside accelerating priorities like regulatory readiness, sustainability, supplier risk, and digital modernization. What stood out in Istanbul was the appetite to move beyond “tools” and toward operating-model change.
The Big Conversation: Procurement as a Competitive Advantage
In EY’s session (Arda Karacelebi’s keynote), the message was clear: procurement is shifting from execution to advantage—if capability-building keeps pace with technology.
A few themes that resonated strongly:
- Capability uplift is the priority: leaders are investing in process improvement, training, technology, and specialized talent—often in parallel.
- Tech roadmaps are changing: procurement teams are evolving from ERP/P2P dependence toward advanced analytics, RPA, AI/ML, GenAI, and orchestration.
- AI maturity is still early for most organizations: many companies are in the ideation/experimentation stages—meaning the window is open for fast movers to pull ahead.
The most repeated takeaway: AI isn’t the strategy—execution is. The winners will be the teams that translate AI into governance, workflows, and adoption.
Zycus’ Message: Beyond S2P to I2O — Intake to Outcomes
At Zycus, we reinforced a belief we’ve held for years: transformation doesn’t happen at the “source-to-pay” label level. It happens where work begins.
Intake is where procurement either gains control – or inherits chaos.
And when intake is fragmented (“Who approves this?”, “Where does this request go?”, “Which policy applies?”), outcomes downstream break—regardless of how strong the S2P modules are.
That’s why we focused on I2O (Intake to Outcomes) and how Merlin Agentic AI orchestrates procurement work from the first request through to measurable business results.
We explored how Agentic AI can:
- Guide users to the right path (policy + category + workflow)
- Auto-route approvals and tasks to the right owners
- Trigger sourcing, contracts, supplier actions, or buying channels automatically
- Provide visibility and accountability through a unified control plane
- Reduce manual handoffs that slow cycle times and erode compliance
The simple point that landed well: built-in orchestration beats bolt-on automation because integration should feel invisible to users.
What Leaders Asked (and Why It Matters)
The most practical questions we heard in Istanbul weren’t about “whether AI works.” They were about how to implement responsibly and sustainably:
- Where do we start for maximum impact—intake, contracts, suppliers, or operations?
- How do we ensure governance and auditability with AI-led decisions?
- How do we drive adoption beyond a small power-user group?
- What does a realistic AI roadmap look like for procurement teams today?
These are the right questions—because they signal a shift from curiosity to commitment.
A Cross-Industry Community Ready for Transformation
One of the highlights of the Istanbul stop was the mix of industries represented—creating a strong environment for benchmarking and shared learning.
We had leaders and teams across retail & fashion, airlines & logistics, manufacturing & industrial, automotive, pharmaceuticals & healthcare, consumer goods, and diversified conglomerates.
That diversity made the discussion richer: some came in focused on contracting and compliance, others on supplier performance and risk, and many on the operational reality of scaling transformation across business units.
Why This Stop Will Stay With Us
Turkey wasn’t about AI hype. It was about procurement leaders comparing notes on what actually works – from governance models to capability building, and from technology choices to adoption habits.
The collective momentum was clear: Procurement’s next leap won’t come from adding more tools.
It will come from orchestrating work end-to-end with AI embedded in how decisions and actions happen.
What’s Next
As the Procurement AI World Tour continues, one pattern keeps repeating across regions:
The future belongs to teams that can connect strategy + data + workflows + adoption into one operating rhythm.
To everyone who joined us in Istanbul—thank you for the engagement, the candor, and the ambition to rethink what procurement can become in an Agentic AI era.
For those who want to go deeper even before the next stop, you’re invited to take a tour of the Zycus Merlin Experience Center.
It’s the most immersive way to see how our Agentic Platform reimagines procurement end-to-end, connecting every intake to a measurable outcome. You’ll get a first-hand look at how intelligence, automation, and orchestration come together to deliver greater value, sharper visibility, and tangible savings across the entire Source-to-Pay journey.
Merlin will show you what’s truly possible.
Related Reads:
- Smart Cost Control for Procurement Managers: E-Procurement in Action
- Europe E-Invoicing Market: A Comprehensive Guide to Trends, Compliance, and Benefits
- How AI in Procurement Is Driving Analytics & Automation in the Nordics
- Maximizing Procurement ROI in the Nordics: Best Practices for Cost Reduction, Efficiency & Analytics
- How Supplier Management Software in the Nordics Enables Onboarding, Performance & Compliance
- The 2025 Buyer’s Guide to Procurement Software in Belgium: Trends, Tools, and EU Compliance
- Zycus & EY Brought AI-Native Procurement to South Africa
- Beyond S2P to I2O: What We Learned at the Procurement AI World Tour in London
