And I’m so glad I’m not the only one saying it!
The (Strategic Sourcing Decision Optimization [SSDO]) Grand Master himself Paul Martyn recently wrote a great post on LinkedIn that made this exceptionally clear and how the real problem is knowing what to do.
Paul starts off with three critical statements:
- AI can tell you what’s happening
- AI can’t tell you what to do
- In sourcing (procurement) the hard part isn’t visibility, it’s choice.
More specifically, it’s making a decision when every decision has tradeoffs, constraints, and (sometimes dire) consequences.
Unless you have an operating model to make those decisions, powered by technology that can actually help you adhere to the constraints, make the tradeoffs, and understand the consequences, the best case with AI is you get overwhelmed with the complexity of what’s happening.
So if you want to be buried in data and complexity and pretend you know what you are doing, there are dozens of BS AI players ready to help you.
But if you want the ability to make good decision, understand tradeoffs, restrict your inquiries to scenarios that adhere to constraints, and model the potential consequences when things go wrong, you need decision optimization with multi-objective capability. That’s Coupa (Trade Extensions). Or Jaggaer (Bravo Solution). Or Keelvar (just Keelvar). Not some BS AI startup offering nothing more than a clod or chat, j’ai pété LLM wrapper.
And if you want to know how to build the right operating model backed up by the right multi-objective optimization model(s) (and save millions while reducing risk and increasing quality), you contact Paul Martyn. He’s saved Billions. (Whereas in 94% of companies, AI has effectively saved 0.)
Now for those who don’t know, not only am I one of the last original (independent) analysts standing in our space (20 years doing SI next month), but I am likely the last original strategic sourcing decision optimization model builder left standing too. (Mindflow [acquired by Emptoris], 2000. First multi-line item model. Before CombineNet [acquired by SciQuest, renamed Jaggaer]. Before Emptoris [acquired by IBM and sunset]. Before all of them. Twelve years before Keelvar. First model to do more: Trade Extensions, acquired by Coupa.)
So unless Thomas Sandholm or Arne Andersson want to come out of retirement and recommend someone better — it’s Paul Martyn. No one still active in our space goes as far back or has worked with as many platforms as he has. (And I helped a PM/Consultant who worked at 2 different optimization providers get hired at 3 others over the past 20 years, and even that doesn’t match Paul’s resume!)