The procurement technology conversation has shifted. A year ago, the question was “should we invest in AI?” Now it’s “how do we reorganise around it?”
That shift is visible in the programme for ProcureTECH 2026, the region’s largest independent eProcurement event, hosted by our friends at PASA on 26th March in Sydney. Across the keynotes, showcases, and practitioner sessions, five questions keep surfacing, and they’re the same ones we’re hearing from procurement leaders in the field.
If you’re evaluating, implementing, or trying to build the internal case for procurement technology, these are the questions worth getting right.
1. How Should We Redesign Our Organisation for AI, Not Just Deploy It?
Most procurement functions have experimented with AI. Fewer have thought about what it means for how the team is structured.
Gartner’s Jeremy Suter will address this directly at ProcureTECH, asking procurement leaders to confront three uncomfortable questions: How do you prepare employees for a future where AI is a strategic thought-partner? How do you build teams made up of both human and digital agents? And how do leaders support their people through that transition?
This isn’t about automation replacing roles. It’s about operating model design. The functions that get this right will look structurally different from those that simply bolt AI onto existing workflows.
If your AI strategy starts and ends with tool selection, you’re solving the wrong problem first.
2. Why Do 83% of eProcurement Business Cases Fail, and Is Yours Next?
Gartner research revealed that 83% of eProcurement business cases for technology budgets actually fail. Not because the technology is wrong, but because procurement struggles to frame the investment in terms the business understands.
This is a theme we’ve explored at Comprara: the gap between how procurement talks about value and how executives evaluate it. If your business case leads with compliance metrics and savings percentages, you’re speaking procurement’s language to an audience that thinks in terms of risk, cash flow, and strategic capability.
The closing session at ProcureTECH tackles this head-on, how to build a business case that actually gets funded. If you’ve been through a failed budget cycle, this session alone is worth the trip.
For a deeper look at this challenge, our recent article on how procurement leaders use data to shape strategy breaks down five principles for turning procurement data into executive-ready narrative.
3. Is Your Contract Management Approach Fit for Purpose, or Just Familiar?
Deloitte’s Brad West will pose a question many procurement leaders avoid: what problem does your current contract management system actually solve? And is the answer “not enough”?
The options have expanded significantly. Build internally. Buy a specialist platform. Bolt on a module to your existing suite. Leverage AI for extraction and obligation tracking. Go offshore. Each has trade-offs in cost, speed, integration complexity, and ongoing maintenance.
The real challenge isn’t choosing a tool. It’s defining the criteria clearly enough to make the right choice for your organisation’s complexity, risk profile, and maturity. Too many procurement functions select technology based on features rather than fit.
If your contract management decision has been deferred because the options feel overwhelming, that’s a signal the evaluation criteria need work before the vendor shortlist does.
4. How Exposed Are You to AI-Enabled Supply Chain Cyber Crime?
Procurement’s attack surface has expanded. AI hasn’t just given your function new tools, it’s given bad actors new tools too.
Eftsure’s Jonathon Stead will walk through how AI is enabling a new frontier of supply chain fraud, from sophisticated business email compromise attacks to deepfake invoicing. The session includes real case studies of how organisations have been defrauded, and, more usefully, what strategies different sectors are deploying to fight back.
This matters for procurement specifically because P2P systems and supplier onboarding processes are primary targets. If your cyber risk conversations sit entirely with IT, you’re missing the procurement-specific exposure. The question isn’t whether your security team is good. It’s whether your procurement processes have been designed with these threats in mind.
5. Are You Buying AI, or Just Buying Software With AI Written on the Box?
Every SaaS vendor now claims AI capability. But what does that actually mean for your contract, your data, and your costs?
Vertice’s Jordan Tang will tackle the practical side of procuring AI-enabled software: how to evaluate whether AI features deliver real value, how to navigate consumption-based pricing that can escalate unpredictably, and how to negotiate agreements that protect your organisation on data rights, compliance, and cost control.
If you’ve encountered AI upsells, vague promises of “AI-powered outcomes,” or pricing models you can’t forecast against, this session provides a framework for cutting through the noise. It’s one of the more commercially practical sessions on the programme, less about what AI can do in theory, and more about what it costs you in practice.
Why ProcureTECH Is Worth Your Time
We don’t say this about many events. ProcureTECH is one we consistently recommend because it’s independent, practitioner-focused, and structured to give you genuine comparison rather than a parade of sales pitches.
The format helps: a keynote programme running alongside six technology showcases and pre-scheduled one-on-one meetings with vendors. You can compare platforms side by side, hear from Gartner, Deloitte, and Spend Matters in the same room, and walk away with a clearer view of where the market is heading.
Now in its 16th year, it’s earned its reputation as the region’s leading eProcurement event. If you’re making technology decisions this year, or building the case to, it’s a day well spent.
When: Thursday 26th March 2026
Where: The Pullman Hotel, Hyde Park, Sydney
Format: Full-day, triple-stream programme + networking drinks
Eligible procurement professionals can attend free through the Hosted Buyer Programme, complete three pre-scheduled vendor meetings and your ticket is covered.
View the full programme →
Register now →
Comprara is proud to partner with PASA to support ProcureTECH 2026. If you’re attending and would like to connect, get in touch.
