Redesigning Supply Talent in the Age of AI

Supply talent is no longer about procurement skills, functional process expertise, or traditional supply chain operations. In a market-driven, AI-enabled world, organisations need people who understand how value is created across the entire commercial ecosystem, from customer promise through market demand, pricing, product design, supplier capacity, and multi-tier commitments.

It is not only AI which is driving this shift, but the movement from analog, fragmented data to digitally generated, continuously flowing data. That shift is dissolving the old view of supply chains as sequential pipelines with poor visibility and replacing it with data-integrated ecosystems where customer, supplier, operational, and financial signals circulate in near-real time.

This demands a different kind of talent – people who can think, decide, and act across boundaries, using AI and data to shape commitments, not just manage processes. It also changes the way that relationships are formed and managed, resulting in a different approach to contracting.

So as we head rapidly into 2026, these changes will be a big focus for our research and publications. The shift itself will require planning and preparation – it’s time to get started.