AI in Procurement: When ERP Is Too Late Artwork

Resilient Supply Chain — How Leaders Keep Business Moving

Resilient Supply Chain is for supply chain, operations, procurement and technology leaders who need practical ways to manage disruption, reduce risk and keep business moving.

Each Monday, technology and sustainability analyst, keynote speaker and former SAP Global VP Tom Raftery speaks with the executives, operators, founders and innovators redesigning how goods, information and decisions move through global supply chains.

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Resilient Supply Chain — How Leaders Keep Business Moving

AI in Procurement: When ERP Is Too Late

July 06, 2026 • Tom Raftery • Season 2 • Episode 130

0:00 | 47:30

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What if your ERP only sees the supplier decision after the real battle is already over?

In this episode of the Resilient Supply Chain Podcast, I’m joined by Spencer Penn, CEO and co-founder of LightSource, a direct procurement AI platform. Spencer brings a practical view from high-pressure hardware and autonomous systems environments, and we look at why procurement, data, visibility, and supplier risk now sit right at the heart of supply chain resilience.

You’ll hear how direct procurement can still run, quietly and expensively, across Excel, email, and institutional memory — even inside companies that believe they’ve digitised the function. We break down why that matters for manufacturing speed, cost control, sustainability, and the ability to move before disruption hardens into margin loss.

We also explore where AI agents may add real value first: not by replacing procurement teams, but by helping them manage the decisions that can create or destroy hundreds of millions in value. Spencer shares how better sourcing workflows helped one automotive programme shorten sourcing cycles by 25% and cut cost creep by 37%.

And you might be surprised by his analogy: procurement is like running water. Nobody notices it when it works. Everyone notices when it stops.

🎙️ Listen now to hear how Spencer Penn and LightSource are rethinking procurement, supplier visibility, and the next phase of resilient supply chains.

If disruption hit tomorrow, would you know where your supply chain was most exposed? In 15 minutes my free scorecard helps you assess 27 resilience statements, calculate your score, and turn the result into three priorities and a 30 day action plan. You can download the scorecard free at tomraftery.com/scorecard.

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