883: The CPO Agenda: Scaling AI Beyond the Pilot W/ Darshan Deshmukh

"It's all about building that momentum, creating the value, testing the hypothesis, and then continuing to challenge us to take it to that next level." Darshan Deshmukh, President at ProcureAbility

AI adoption in procurement is accelerating, but experimentation alone does not equal transformation. With organizations launching pilots, testing new platforms, and exploring agentic capabilities, procurement leaders need to keep a clear connection between the technology they adopt and the business outcomes they are trying to create.

In this episode, Kelly Barner is joined by Darshan Deshmukh, President at ProcureAbility, for a CPO-level discussion about moving from AI experimentation to meaningful procurement transformation.

Darshan shares what he is seeing across procurement organizations as AI maturity increases, including why so many teams remain focused on efficiency and productivity and what separates those efforts from more intentional transformation. He and Kelly also discuss the importance of starting with a business problem rather than a technology or use case, as well as the evolving role of agentic AI, data quality, human judgment, and organizational culture.

Listen to this episode, to hear Darshan discuss how to:

-Move beyond isolated AI pilots, and toward intentional transformation

-Start AI initiatives with the business problem and desired outcome

-Use AI to identify risk signals and accelerate decision-making

-Build trust through stronger data, transparency, and measurable results

-Expand procurement's contribution beyond cost and risk

-Create a culture where experimentation and learning can happen without fear of failure

Links:

Darshan Deshmukh on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/darshan-deshmukh/

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