The procurement and supply chain management profession will need to adapt to systems powered by AI, which can already perform a range of procurement subfunctions.

Procurement and supply chain professionals will need to demonstrate digital fluency, technology curiosity, adaptive intelligence, systems thinking and ecosystem orchestration.

“Your job will have to change to coexist with what AI will perform,” said financial services firm Standard Bank Group CIO Khomotso Molabe at the Chartered Institute of Procurement and Supply (CIPS) Africa 2025 conference, in Johannesburg, on August 6.

There were e-procurement software and e-auction systems already available, as well as spend analytics, enterprise resource planning (ERP) and material requirements planning (MRP) solutions, among others, procurement and supply chain management advisory company Behanda MD Andrew Hillman pointed out.

“I can list a lot of AI solutions that are available; some do specific things while other agentic AI solutions are already being used by multinational companies. We should not be scared by the pace of change, but we must be ready to transform,” he advised.

AI would generally replace tasks, and not jobs, but professionals needed to reskill and upskill themselves to suit the jobs to come, said deepwater engineering services company Africa Oceaneering senior regional director Edson Marcos.

“This is because it is not about the profession, but about the job requirements. In addition to emotional quotient and intelligence quotient, we will need to develop our adaptability quotient.

“Practitioners must lean into the change and lean into using AI and other digital solutions. Continuous learning is the first step.”

Companies should develop AI strategies based on how the technologies could impact on the organisation and help it to gain a competitive advantage. This required people with suitable skills sets to be in a position to manage and adapt processes, he said.

Further, Hillman recommended that procurement professionals learn as much as they could about AI and to experiment with available tools.

“There are agentic AI that can already perform functions within ERP and MRP systems that can reduce a buyer's intervention by almost 80%,” he noted.

However, organisations, regulators, governments, industry and leaders need to take the lead in ensuring that the ethics around AI are properly addressed. They must also ensure they help people to understand how AI technologies are implemented and how decisions made by AI systems are reached.

“It is about autonomy and human control. How far should we allow AI to be autonomous without regulations or corporate policy or human control? We need human control over AI,” he adds.

AI GOVERNANCE
Africa was not being left out of the changes underpinned by shifts in technology, but it was lagging in adopting AI into industry, said rail transport systems manufacturer Alstom Group head of procurement Kgosi-e-tsile Musi.

There are pockets of excellence in AI application in Africa, but the continent does not have the financial muscle to compete with China and Silicon Valley, in the US, in developing AI.

“However, Africa can become a leader from an AI governance perspective. We can take the tools and influence the development of ethical AI solutions. In terms of policies, processes, skills and innovations, the challenge for Africa's leaders is to ensure that value is created for the businesses responsibly,” he said.

Separately, software technology firm Specno chairperson Daniel Novitzkas called on Africa’s technology leaders to seize a historic opportunity to shape the ethical future of AI for the continent and the world.

“AI will transform every aspect of our lives, from education to healthcare, but without ethical guardrails, it could just as easily become a tool of exploitation. Africa has a once-in-a-generation opportunity to lead in defining a people-first, rights-based approach to AI governance, which will require vision, courage and urgent action,” he said in a statement on August 6.