Zycus concluded the Agentic AI Procurement Summit 2026, a virtual event drawing 1,500+ procurement leaders from 50+ countries. The summit focused on agentic AI in procurement, featuring keynotes, analyst sessions, and live demonstrations, while releasing research reports from Forrester and The Hackett Group.
-- Virtual summit on 13 May drew more than 1,500 procurement leaders from over 50 countries. Research reports and session recordings are available on demand.
BENGALURU / GLOBAL — Zycus on 13 May concluded the Agentic AI Procurement Summit 2026, a virtual event focused on the use of agentic AI in enterprise procurement. The summit drew more than 1,500 senior procurement leaders from over 50 countries across the Americas, EMEA, and APAC, and was structured around how autonomous AI should be designed, governed, and scaled within the procurement function.
Recordings of all sessions — including the founder's keynote, analyst presentations, live platform demonstrations, and the EY-anchored practitioner panel — are available on demand through the Zycus summit hub and the company's LinkedIn and YouTube channels.
Research Released at the Summit
Two research reports were released during the event and are now available to procurement leaders:
- Forrester — Don't Delegate AI. The report argues that procurement's AI strategy should sit with the CPO rather than be delegated to the IT function or to vendors, and that the CPO should set direction, define guardrails, and own outcomes.
- The Hackett Group — Agentic AI in Procurement Adoption Index 2026. The study draws on responses from more than 250 global CPOs and benchmarks where procurement organisations currently sit on agentic AI adoption, including the gap between pilot deployments and enterprise-wide implementation.
According to the research presented, 58% of procurement leaders expect agentic AI to have a material impact on their organisations within the next twelve months, while a significant share of activity remains at the pilot or experimentation stage. Sessions across the day examined where ownership of AI strategy should sit within the enterprise and what is required to move from pilot to scaled deployment.
Keynote
Aatish Dedhia, Founder and CEO of Zycus, delivered the opening keynote, describing agentic AI as a change in how procurement work is orchestrated, governed, and trusted, rather than an extension of existing automation.
"AI will not reward organisations that automate blindly. It will reward those that design autonomy with intent — where humans define the boundaries and machines act with purpose."— Aatish Dedhia, Founder and CEO, Zycus
Speaking during the analyst session, The Hackett Group highlighted current confidence levels among procurement leaders:
"Less than 50% of CPOs feel confident in their ability to monitor and control Agentic AI technology." — Chris Sawchuk, Principal and Global Procurement Advisory Leader, The Hackett Group
Platform Demonstrations
The summit included live demonstrations of the Zycus Merlin Agentic AI Platform, covering:
- The Autonomous Negotiation Agent (ANA), which runs supplier negotiations with limited human involvement.
- Merlin Intake, which orchestrates intake-to-pay activity across the procurement lifecycle.
- Merlin Analytics, which provides spend analytics at enterprise scale.
Agenda and Attendee Feedback
The agenda included analyst sessions from Forrester and The Hackett Group; consulting perspectives from EY and IBM on governance, readiness, and operating-model design; and practitioner-led discussions on moving agentic AI deployments from pilot to production.
Attendees rated the event 4.5 out of 5 overall, with feedback citing the practical orientation of the sessions and the relevance of the live demonstrations.
"There are multiple AI solutions being brought to market and are also quickly evolving. The challenge is to make sure the correct partner is selected for this AI journey."
— Basil Peetz, Procurement Leader, Assore Ltd
Summit Themes
The summit was structured as a decision forum for procurement leaders, focused on three questions: how their agentic AI maturity compares to global peers; which AI decisions should remain with the CPO; and how to close the gap between experimentation and enterprise-wide deployment. Sessions examined what procurement functions should own, what they can delegate, and what they should design deliberately as agentic AI moves from assisted automation toward greater autonomy.
Access the Research and Session Recordings
The Forrester Don't Delegate AI report, The Hackett Group's Agentic AI in Procurement Adoption Index 2026, and recordings of every session are available via the Zycus on-demand summit hub.
About Zycus
Zycus is a global pioneer in agentic AI software for procurement. Its platform combines AI-guided intake, an agentic execution layer, and an integrated source-to-pay (S2P) core, a category Zycus describes as Intake-to-Outcomes (I2O). The Merlin Agentic AI Platform includes autonomous agents such as Merlin Intake, the Autonomous Negotiation Agent (ANA), and Merlin Analytics. Zycus is recognised as Leader in research from Gartner®, Forrester™, IDC, and Gartner Peer Insights.
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Organization: Zycus
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