Agentic AI in procurement · Analyst conversation · First reveal

Procurement at the speed of AI. The mid-market shift from agents to autonomous flow.

First look at Ardent Partners' new mid-market study. Andrew Bartolini in conversation with James Johnson, Zycus.

Andrew Bartolini
Andrew Bartolini
Founder and Chief Research Officer, Ardent Partners
James Johnson
James Johnson
Director, Customer Success, Zycus
14th July 2026
11 AM EDT
60-minute conversation
Overview

The shift is real. The question is who moves first.

Mid-market procurement is moving faster than its tools. Lean teams are being asked to deliver enterprise-scale outcomes, with manual processes, fragmented intake, and limited visibility into the savings they are already creating.

Andrew Bartolini's new Ardent Partners research makes the picture unmistakable. The era of bolted-on agents is closing. The era of autonomous, end-to-end procurement flow is opening. Mid-market is uniquely positioned to make the leap first.

This is a conversation about that shift, with the analyst who is calling it.

What you'll learn

A sharper read on where mid-market goes next.

  • The 2026 mid-market headlines, first

    Andrew Bartolini reveals the findings of the new Ardent Partners study before they're widely published.

  • A diagnostic for the agents-to-autonomous curve

    Where lean teams sit today, and what separates first movers from the rest.

  • The author's own 12-month playbook

    What to fix, what to scale, and what to leave alone in 2026.

  • An unfiltered analyst and vendor exchange

    What's hype, what's working, and what mid-market teams are actually adopting today.

  • A clear view of the first-mover lane

    Why mid-market gets to move before enterprise, and what that means for the next 12 months.

Why this moment matters

The mid-market 2026 reality, in 4 numbers.

Where mid-market procurement actually stands today, according to new Ardent Partners research.

24%
can prove the savings they deliver. The other 76% cannot.
56%
of core procurement processes still run entirely manually.
17%
have adopted intake management. The first-mover lane is wide open.
73%
expect AI to be transformational within two years.

Featuring research from Ardent Partners' Velocity of Value 2026 mid-market study, underwritten by Zycus.

Inside the 60 minutes

A two-voice conversation built for mid-market CPOs.

No slides and monologue. No vendor pitch. Just the analyst who wrote the report, in conversation with a peer who has seen what mid-market teams are actually doing about it.

Act 1 · The 2026 Reveal ≈30 min · Andrew Bartolini

The new mid-market reality

  • The 2026 headlines, revealed for the first time
  • Where mid-market procurement is winning, and where it is stuck
  • The shift from agentic AI to autonomous flow, in Andrew's words
  • The 90-day path for lean teams
Act 2 · The Conversation ≈25 min · Andrew and James

What leaders are doing about it

  • What's hype and what's actually working in 2026
  • How first-mover teams are operationalizing agentic AI
  • Where mid-market gets to leapfrog enterprise
  • Live Q&A from the audience
Plus two quick audience polls to benchmark yourself live against peers.
Ardent Partners and Zycus · Webinar

Be in the room for the first reveal.

60-minute conversation · No demo · No pitch · Replay sent to all registrants.

Register for Webinar