How Procurement Can Ensure the Survival of Category Management?
Join Bernard Gracia, Founder of EIPM, and Kai Weber, CPO at Actega (an Altana division), for an insightful 60-minute session on how procurement leaders can secure the future of category management in today’s evolving landscape. Learn how both academia and industry experts are addressing current business challenges and turning procurement into a key driver of sustainable value.
Key Takeaways:
- Why traditional approaches are falling short: Understand the limitations of old-school methods and why they no longer meet the demands of today’s procurement landscape.
- How strategic scenario modelling drives greater value: Learn how to harness scenario modelling to unlock new business value beyond savings
- AI's role in transforming strategic procurement: Discover how AI is enabling procurement professionals by filling the capability gap and hence empowering strategic decision-making in procurement.
Who Should Attend:
- CPOs, Procurement Leaders, and Decision-Makers: Executives who oversee procurement departments and seek to future-proof their organizations.
- Category Management Professionals: Experts focused on optimizing category strategies, delivering value beyond cost savings, and improving supplier relationships.
- Procurement Transformation and Excellence Specialists: Professionals tasked with transforming procurement, driving excellence, and implementing new technologies.
- Supply Chain and Procurement Teams: Cross-functional teams aiming to enhance procurement processes by integrating AI, strategic thinking, and digital tools.
- Purchasing and Sourcing Managers: Individuals responsible for supplier management and strategy, and optimizing sourcing strategies to align with organizational objectives.
Success Story Spotlight:
Hear from Kai Weber from Actega, an Altana divison, about how AI-augmented and strategically built strategies have breathed new life into their category management. Discover how they’ve successfully navigated the shift to AI-led procurement, revitalizing their processes, and driving competitive advantage. You’ll leave with actionable insights that can be applied to your own organization.
Why This Session is a Must:
Hosted by Jessica Ojelabi, this session promises to provide you with actionable insights and proven strategies to ensure the survival and transformation of category management in your organization. Don’t miss this chance to learn from industry leaders and gain the tools you need to lead the next era of procurement.
Register Now and secure your spot to learn how to lead the way in modern procurement!
Kai Weber is a seasoned procurement and supply chain executive with over 20 years of international experience across industries such as Packaging, Plastics, Biotechnology, and Chemicals. As Chief Procurement Officer at Actega, an Altana divison, Kai is known for driving transformational change, optimizing supply chain operations, and delivering strategic business growth. With a leadership philosophy rooted in trust, integrity, and respect, he empowers high-performance teams across Europe, the US, and Asia to achieve operational excellence. Kai's expertise spans global procurement, complex negotiations, and continuous improvement, making him a trusted business partner and a key driver of sustainable value for organizations.
Bernard Gracia is a pioneering figure in the field of procurement and purchasing management, with over four decades of experience. In 1990, he founded the European Institute of Purchasing Management (EIPM), where he launched the world’s first MBA in Purchasing Management and built a global reputation for advancing procurement education and research. Bernard has worked with multinational companies like ArcelorMittal, Axa, Bayer, and Nokia, developing strategies and training programs that drive corporate value. Known for his visionary leadership, Bernard has played a key role in shaping procurement standards worldwide, and through EIPM, he continues to lead research, education, and strategic initiatives in purchasing excellence.
What metrics does akirolabs impact?
akirolabs positively impacts several key metrics including time-to-strategy (reduced by streamlined workflows), stakeholder satisfaction (improved through collaborative processes), strategy execution success rates (enhanced by better alignment), and procurement influence (expanded through strategic positioning).
What technology integrations are available with akirolabs?
akirolabs integrates with various procurement and enterprise systems. We use API connections to AI market intelligence providers to curate content on categories from the web, and our platform is designed to complement existing sourcing, supplier management, and spend analytics tools.
What results have customers achieved with akirolabs?
Customers have reported significant improvements in strategy development speed, stakeholder alignment, and value delivery beyond savings. The platform has helped teams digitalize strategic procurement workflows, accelerate strategy development and execution, enhance compliance and traceability, and boost category manager productivity.
What specific challenges does akirolabs solve for procurement teams?
akirolabs addresses key challenges including fragmented strategy development processes, limited stakeholder engagement, inconsistent approaches across teams, difficulty scaling strategic capability, and the struggle to demonstrate procurement's strategic value beyond savings.
Can akirolabs grow with us globally?
Absolutely. akirolabs is multi-lingual, multi-region, and built to scale across business units and geographies without additional configuration or pricing penalties.
Does akirolabs replace our existing tools?
No, akirolabs doesn't replace your existing tools. It acts as a strategic layer that sits upstream - seamlessly integrating with and complimenting your sourcing, supplier, analytics, or intake-to-pay systems among others to unlock greater value across the procurement lifecycle.
Is akirolabs for specific industries and categories?
No - akirolabs is category- and industry-agnostic. Whether you're managing direct materials, logistics, IT, marketing, or complex cross-functional spend, our platform adapts to your taxonomy and workflows.
How does akirolabs ensure alignment with corporate strategy?
Every strategy in akirolabs is developed with business input through structured workflows and stakeholder engagement tools. Our Strategy One-Pager and governance features ensure strategies directly support overarching company goals like cost leadership, innovation, ESG, or risk mitigation.
Does akirolabs integrate with our existing procurement systems?
Yes. akirolabs is designed to complement—not replace—your existing systems. We integrate via APIs or iFrames with tools such as spend analytics, supplier management, and intake-to-pay platforms to ensure seamless data flow and strategic alignment.
What is the Strategy One-Pager feature?
The Strategy One-Pager simplifies communication between procurement teams and cross-functional stakeholders by translating complex strategies into clear, concise narratives aligned with business objectives. Using visual elements like charts and summaries, it ensures stakeholders from various departments can easily understand and engage with procurement strategies, fostering alignment and collaboration.
What is akiroAssist, and how is it different from generic AI tools?
akiroAssist is our proprietary AI engine designed specifically for procurement strategy. Unlike general-purpose AI, it’s trained on procurement logic, equipped with a prompt library, value levers, risk signals, and always-on strategy context. It enhances—not replaces—category managers by helping them move faster, spot risks, and surface smarter options without losing control.
What makes akirolabs different from other procurement solutions?
Unlike tools based on traditional frameworks like the Kraljic Matrix, akirolabs offers a transformative, business-driven methodology that repositions procurement as a strategic enabler. Our approach integrates holistic value dimensions into category strategies, prioritizing long-term impact over short-term savings to deliver 4.4x higher value through our industry-recognized Category Strategy Workbench.
What is Strategic Scenario Modeling in akirolabs?
Strategic Scenario Modeling in akirolabs allows procurement teams to visualize and evaluate the outcomes of various strategic options. This capability enables category managers to simulate multiple scenarios based on different value dimensions of business importance, facilitating informed trade-offs that align category strategies with overarching business objectives.
How does akiroAssist work?
akiroAssist is our proprietary AI engine built on a specialized large language model (LLM) designed specifically for procurement. Rather than attempting to fully automate strategic decisions, akiroAssist augments human intelligence by providing tailored recommendations and strategic guidance throughout the strategy creation process, helping procurement professionals make better, more informed decisions.
What is the akirolabs Category Strategy Workbench?
The Category Strategy Workbench is the core engine of akirolabs — a guided, modular workspace that enables teams to analyze data, develop collaborative strategies, and ensure execution with measurable impact.The three phases — Analyze, Strategize, and Realize — reflect the complete strategy lifecycle: from insight generation, through structured planning, to execution and value tracking. This ensures continuity, governance, and business alignment throughout the strategic process.
Ready to Transform Your Procurement Strategy?
There’s a better way to do procurement. This is IT.
.avif)