What is Autonomous Procurement?

Introduction

Autonomous Procurement is transforming the spot buying process. Under your supervision and according to your own rules and criteria, the technology uses AI and behavioral science to significantly increase planning productivity and reduce freight spend.

What is Autonomous Procurement?

Introduction

Autonomous Procurement is transforming the spot buying process. Under your supervision and according to your own rules and criteria, the technology uses AI and behavioral science to significantly increase planning productivity and reduce freight spend.

Instead of chasing bids, you set the parameters—and the system does the rest. It sends tailored rate offers to each carrier, based on their individual profiles and behaviors, instantly zeroing in on the price they’re most likely to accept. The result? Lower costs, faster decisions, and a dramatic cut in manual workload—freeing your team to focus on strategic priorities, not procurement firefighting.

The Spot Market Is Broken — and the Industry Knows It

Even back in 2021, 75% of logistics leaders said it loud and clear: procurement must change. The message from 360 industry executives, in a survey led by Adrian Gonzalez and Adelante SCM, was clear — the old way is holding us back. Transformation sounds bold—and risky. The fear of disrupting operations or losing your edge is real. So how do you modernize without sacrificing performance? The answer is via a happy union of cutting-edge technologies. When the big data from network-based transportation management platforms is combined with artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning you get AI-powered sourcing automation, or autonomous procurement.

0%

Of respondents agreed that the time has come to transform the transportation procurement process.

This adds up to a massive win in today’s highly competitive, volatile and unpredictable global commercial environment. It highlights the enormous power of data in unlocking the challenges facing today’s logistics landscape.

Autonomous Procurement sounds complicated. Take comfort – it isn’t.

Autonomous Procurement plays a huge role in your freight strategy. While we learned what it is, let's also delve into what it is NOT:

Autonomous Procurement is NOT the same as automated procurement.

Autonomous Procurement is NOT designed to replace people.

Autonomous Procurement is NOT the same as automated procurement.

Autonomous Procurement is NOT designed to replace people.

We'll explain what we mean by these two statements a bit later - continue on!