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One of the foremost advantages of AI in the enterprise is ensuring that leadership decisions are made based on a solid foundation of data-based evidence. As an enterprise discipline, data-driven decision-making becomes as much a human achievement as a technological one.
MIT research reports that data-driven decision-making is linked to a 3% average increase in productivity across firms. Such a productivity gain is comparable to investing an additional $5 million in IT capital or $60,000 per employee over five years without extra spending on technology.
Like other industries, supply chain and logistics can capitalize on the advantages of data-driven strategies. Elsewhere, research from the University of New South Wales highlights how AI enhances problem-solving, increases efficiency, improves forecasting accuracy, provides real-time visibility, and reduces costs in supply chain management.
Emerj Senior Editor Matthew DeMello recently sat down with Luke van der Waals, Demand-to-Deliver Value Stream Owner at SLB, and William Seagrave, SVP of Product Solutions at Arkestro, to talk about how automation and AI can enhance procurement processes by improving negotiation strategies and decisions, ultimately driving cost savings and transforming procurement teams into strategic assets.
SLB is a provider of technology and services for reservoir characterization, drilling, production, and processing in the oil and gas industry. Arkestro is a tech company that provides clients with a predictive orchestration platform that leverages machine learning and data science to optimize procurement processes.
The following analysis examines two critical insights from their conversation:
- Data-driven negotiation using behavioral insights: Empowering procurement teams with AI-driven data to counter supplier arguments and secure better deals, prioritizing interactions with sales representatives likely to offer better prices for significant savings.
- Transforming procurement into a strategic asset: Redesigning workflows to focus on supplier development, network design, and sustainability goals to position the procurement function as a competitive advantage for the company.
Guest: Luke van der Waals, Demand-to-Deliver Value Stream Owner, SLB
Expertise: Digital Procurement, Supply Chain Strategy, Supply Chain Management
Brief Recognition: Serving at SLB for over two decades, Waals now leads the expert team responsible for digital strategy and the global operating model for planning and supply chain, including systems, data and visualization, and global process design. He earned his Master’s Degree in International Business from Aston University.
Guest: William Seagrave, SVP of Product Solutions, Arkestro
Expertise: Supply Chain, Procurement, Sales Execution
Brief Recognition: William Seagrave is the SVP of Product Solutions at Arkestro. In his over 30-year career, he has launched new products, creating new revenue growth exceeding $10 billion in annual sales. He has multi-industry experience with product lines, including supply chain, manufacturing, procurement, financial services, biotechnology, enterprise applications, big data analytics, networks, and others.
Data-Driven Negotiation Using Behavioral Insights
William opens the conversation by stressing the need for a more pragmatic approach in oil and gas procurement, where inefficiencies trap billions of dollars. He explains that relying on catalogs and requisition systems makes purchasing easy but needs more effective negotiation, missing cost-saving opportunities. Current methods using phone calls, emails, and spreadsheets are outdated, and some end-users bypass procurement entirely, creating inefficiencies and added costs.
He argues that inefficiencies exist because current processes do not allow for quick decision-making. As a result, enterprises sacrifice better outcomes, like intelligent decision-making and competitive negotiation, for the sake of expediency.
To solve the problem, he explains the effectiveness of automation and AI models to assist with strategic planning, as human teams cannot manage the massive amount of demand and data on their own. William affirms his belief in machine models to help provide the necessary information and make processes more efficient.
Luke agrees with William’s view on the challenges of negotiating at scale in procurement and highlights the importance of better negotiation to drive significant savings. He points out that for large organizations, even a slight improvement — like shaving half a percent off a $20 billion spend — can result in enormous value.
That value affirms Luke’s belief that the ability to negotiate effectively at scale is key to transforming procurement teams into strategic assets. He connects his optimism for AI-driven negotiation scalability to William’s insistence, from the beginning of the discussion, that these technologies can help make procurement teams an organizational asset for their enterprises rather than always being thought of as a cost center:
“I think being able to negotiate at scale is where a procurement organization can come back to being an asset for an organization, as Bill was saying at the start. And I think there are different ways of achieving that outcome. One is that I’ve trained teams to negotiate in some of the nasty downturns that the oil industry goes through, and realizing that the teams didn’t necessarily have the depth of negotiating experience I needed for them to do that.
The other part of it is: How do you equip them to be better than whoever’s across the table? With the right information, you can say, ‘Okay, this is what you’re saying. You’re saying X is happening to steel, and therefore, that’s what we should do.’ How can I give them the information to be able to respond to that and ideally even help them come up with what that counterargument would be?”
–Luke van der Waals, Demand-to-Deliver Value Stream Owner at SLB
Beyond training, Luke also emphasizes the importance of equipping teams with the right information to counter supplier arguments effectively. He envisions AI playing a crucial role here, providing procurement teams with data and best practices to enhance their negotiation capabilities. Data provision, to him, is where AI can add real value to procurement, helping professionals make stronger, more informed arguments during negotiations.
William agrees with Luke and highlights the need for automation in procurement to negotiate every contract line with equal importance, which is impractical on a manual basis. He underscores the value of using AI for bid analysis, intelligent counteroffers, and speeding up decision-making.
William also gets excited about AI’s ability to modify human behavior in negotiations by analyzing sales representatives’ behavioral patterns — favoring those who offer better prices faster. He believes combining different AI models can significantly enhance negotiation outcomes, acting as a “force multiplier“ for added value.
Transforming Procurement into a Strategic Asset
Luke shares his experience of working with global sourcing centers that handle strategic, high-value negotiations. These teams are highly skilled, but there are many lower-value transactions they need to manage. He points out that while strategic negotiations are crucial, improving outcomes in these smaller transactions also adds up, given the overall scale of spending.
However, it’s unrealistic to hire more expert negotiators, so Luke suggests equipping less experienced staff with the right tools, information, and training to help them negotiate effectively. He emphasizes that negotiation requires not only skills but also the drive to push for better outcomes. With the right mindset and tools, less experienced negotiators can improve their performance.
William, in response, highlights the scalability of automation, noting that while a skilled negotiator can only handle a few deals per month, a system with autonomous decision-making can handle thousands daily. The system would automate time-consuming tasks like document preparation and intelligent counteroffers, allowing buyers to focus on analysis and strategic decisions.
Scaling automation instead of human negotiators, William explains, creates an efficient and effective marketplace that handles both high-value and everyday transactions without wasting human resources.
Towards the end of the conversation, Luke shares that he envisions the routine procurement processes will be increasingly automated, with much of the current offline work moving entirely online and integrated into procurement ecosystems, likely built around ERP systems like SAP.
He believes that generative AI (GenAI) will revolutionize procurement, particularly through conversational agents that assist with tasks like preparing for negotiations, gathering data, and launching RFPs (requests for proposals), leaving professionals to focus on final negotiations and strategic decisions.
“I still absolutely believe that there is significant space for talented supply chain and procurement professionals in this, and frankly, I think their jobs will become way more interesting. I’ve been doing this for 20 years, I started with a big spreadsheet of purchase orders that I had to phone companies up and say, ‘Where’s my stuff?’ Procurement in the future is not going to be that kind of drudgery. It’s going to be a lot more interesting. It’s going to be answering questions like, ‘How do I design this network, so it really makes sense, how I can maximize my availability of supply, and minimize my carbon footprint?'”
– Luke van der Waals, Demand-to-Deliver Value Stream Owner at SLB
Luke closes his point by reinforcing for business leaders that the ensuing transformation in procurement will elevate procurement teams into assets that contribute to a company’s competitive advantage, especially for organizations that embrace these technologies early.
Arkestro invites procurement leaders and executives to join an exclusive virtual event on December 12 dedicated to de-risking supply chains in 2025 and mitigating potential disruptions. In today’s landscape, procurement plays a pivotal role in achieving cost savings through strategic partnerships. Arkestro’s event focuses on identifying hidden vulnerabilities, enhancing supplier relationships, and safeguarding operations from costly surprises.
Take advantage of this opportunity to discuss balancing costs with performance and learn how procurement and supply chain teams are driving innovation and efficiency through proactive risk management and optimized supplier collaboration. Click here for more information and to reserve your spot today.
