From buyer to orchestrator : how AI is changing the future of procurement

AI agents no longer just answer questions. They do the work. Yet most Nordic procurement teams still start from Excel, Power BI and several ERPs, and few AI pilots have made it into daily use.

This session looks at what changes when AI stops suggesting and starts doing. The buyer moves from running every step to directing the work. They set the goals, the rules and the checkpoints, while agents handle the volume.

Hosted with SILF, the session brings together two speakers. Christian Werngren, CEO of Sourca AB, covers how the buyer’s role, the procurement team and the CPO agenda are changing. Casper Hoeholt, Regional Director at Zycus, shows what this looks like in practice for Nordic teams today.

What you’ll learn:

• Where Nordic procurement really stands with AI today, and why so many pilots never reach daily use
• What AI agents take over first, from tail spend and tender documents to contract renewals and supplier risk alerts, and what stays with people
• How the buyer’s role shifts to orchestrator, and the new roles and skills procurement teams will need
• What it takes to trust an agent: good data, human checkpoints, and many small agents with one job each rather than one large one
• How Merlin Autonomous Sourcing (MAS) and the Merlin ANA build human checkpoints into sourcing and tail spend: agents recommend, people decide
• How to start: pick one process, keep your ERP, show a result and take it to the steering group before the next budget cycle

The session closes with a panel discussion between both speakers.