“For procurement, now is the time to raise your hand and sit at the table where your company is deciding on AI use cases, because that is going to transform your trajectory in the industry and the company.” - Mary Purk, Co-Author of "Growing Up: Navigating Generative AI’s Early Years – AI Adoption Report" by AI at Wharton
It’s been two years since ChatGPT literally and symbolically democratized AI technology access. Since then we’ve seen a steep acceleration of AI-driven innovation, opportunity, and concern. Procurement, just like every other area of the business, is on their own unique AI journey, and the ways teams are experimenting and adopting are hardly uniform.
In this podcast episode, I spoke with Mary Purk, co-author of the recently published AI adoption report “Growing Up: Navigating Generative AI’s Early Years” by AI at Wharton and GBK Collective. The annual report provides data on AI adoption trends within businesses and across functions, including procurement, and the impact that AI is having and will have in the future. As the authors put it, the report is a yearly pulse-check on how organizations, teams, and individuals are implementing AI.
In our conversation, Mary discussed what the data reveal are some of the biggest opportunities for procurement to drive digital transformation in 2025 and beyond. It all starts, she says, with middle management – the key players in today’s race to AI.
The Keys to the Castle Are in the Hands of Middle Management
“Right now, middle management is in charge of AI,” said Mary. While data from their report showed AI adoption increased at accelerated rates in 2023, we’re still early enough in the AI evolutionary process that consultancies and c-suite leaders are often still largely hands-off. Mary says this has created a golden window of opportunity for procurement, middle management specifically, to experiment, adopt, and influence with AI with a kind of freedom and autonomy that most certainly will not last forever.
“CEOs, boards… they have other things they’re worried about. They consider this a new technology, so they’re not experimenting with it,” said Mary. “And they haven’t called in the consultants to lead the change management and rein it in.”
The report also shows excitement around AI and active engagement with the technology from middle managers, who seem to be the driving force behind developing use cases and scenarios… for now. The concern around changing job skills or roles also seems to be on the periphery as labor shake-ups have yet to materialize in any wide-spread way – “employees are excited about the technology, and they’re not as worried about it taking over their jobs just yet because companies haven’t figured out how to do that.”
All of this, she says, combined with the fact that middle managers show a marked increase in their AI experimentation since 2023 and that procurement reports the highest weekly use of AI technology in the business, has created the perfect environment for procurement middle managers to take the lead on AI.
Time to Step Up and Speak Up, Before It’s Too Late
Middle managers should step into that decision-making vacuum while they have the chance, she said, because it won’t always be there: “It’s time to raise your hand and sit at the table where your company is deciding on use cases because that is going to transform your trajectory in the industry and the company. You’re not always going to have that opportunity because soon enough, consultants are going to come in and they’ll decide. But, right now, there are open seats at the table, so I would learn more about AI, grab one of those chairs, and raise your hand. Do not wait to be asked.”
Based on the trends the report has shown since it was first conducted in 2023, Mary says procurement middle managers likely have ample opportunity to drive their organization’s AI adoption strategy for the next 12 to 18 months before executive leadership and consultants steer the ship.
“Right now, middle managers can really elevate their status in the company until CEOs and c-suites and consultants start to run the show,” said Mary.
Middle Managers Are the Ultimate AI SMEs
It makes sense, she said, that procurement middle management should drive AI transformation in these early years. Their proximity to the business, to operations, and to teams gives them a level of subject matter expertise that is needed for successful and sustainable digital transformation and change management. Their ability to influence and make an impact with AI at this stage of digital maturation is, says Mary, a value add for the business.
“Middle managers and their teams are the best SMEs – better than the consultants,” she said. “They’re really good at what they do and they can problem solve. And if your company has access to good quality data, then middle managers can really soar with this technology.”
