From Strategy to Supplier ... Without Losing Context!
Procurement has no shortage of ambition — to drive innovation, reduce risk, enable sustainability, and deliver measurable business value.
But the way work gets done today still tells a different story.
Category strategies are often built in isolation — as static documents, filled with assumptions, built in PowerPoint, and disconnected from real-time data or cross-functional input. They’re treated as annual exercises rather than living tools that guide decisions.
Then, when it’s time to act, supplier discovery starts from scratch — often manual, filter-based, and completely removed from the strategy that was just developed. The context is lost. The continuity is broken. And the strategic intent behind the plan rarely makes it into the final sourcing decision.
This disconnect isn’t just inefficient — it’s structural.
Strategy and execution live in separate worlds. Procurement remains fragmented. And value is lost at every step. This session is about changing that.
Join Christoph Flöthmann (Co-founder & CPO, akirolabs) and Aiko Wiegand (CEO & Co-Founder, Matchory) as they show how to build smarter, more dynamic category strategies and bring them to life through AI-powered, contextual supplier discovery — fully aligned from the start.
In This Session, You'll Learn:
- Why most procurement teams still struggle to connect strategy and execution
- What happens when category planning and supplier discovery are part of the same workflow
- How akirolabs and Matchory are integrating strategy and supplier search in a truly contextual process
- A live use case showing how strategy-first sourcing works — from planning to supplier match
Who Should Attend
This session is for procurement and supply chain professionals who are ready to move beyond tactical sourcing and drive end-to-end strategic impact.
Especially relevant for:
- Procurement Leadership & Centers of Excellence
- Category & Commodity Managers
- Procurement Transformation Leaders
- Digital Procurement & Technology Teams
- Strategic Sourcing & Supplier Relationship Managers
Key Takeaways
✅ How to eliminate the disconnect between strategy development and supplier discovery
✅ How to move from static strategy decks to living, collaborative category plans
✅ What a truly contextual, AI-powered supplier discovery process looks like
✅ How to integrate category strategy and supplier data in a single, real-time workflow
Aiko Wiegand is the CEO and Co-Founder of Matchory, a German ProcureTech startup revolutionizing supplier discovery through AI-driven automation. With a background in industrial engineering from Technische Universität Darmstadt and San Diego State University, Aiko has always been passionate about leveraging technology to drive innovation in supply chains.
Since co-founding Matchory in 2019, he has led the development of a platform that enables real-time identification of global suppliers, enhancing transparency and efficiency in procurement processes. Under his leadership, Matchory has secured significant funding and recognitions for its contributions to digital procurement.
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 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.
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.
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.
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 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 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 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.
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 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.
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