Levelpath attended DPW New York last week and the energy was incredible. With a focus on accelerating innovation and impact, the event brought together procurement professionals to discuss how to put AI to work.

As a proud sponsor, Levelpath was thrilled to contribute to the conversation around the importance of being AI-native in procurement. With our booth in the Expo hall and a session with Congruex on the Discovery stage, we showcased how the Levelpath platform is easily implemented, immediately valuable, and provides efficiency gains throughout the entire procurement process.

A Shared Mission to Future-Ready Procurement

The Levelpath booth had a steady flow of attendees eager to explore AI-native solutions. One group on a “tech safari,” visited the Expo Hall to hear more about innovative technologies and stopped by to learn about the leading AI-native platform from Levelpath. Conversations focused on what procurement can become when intelligence is built into every step of the process rather than added on after the fact in non AI-native solutions.

That theme continued on the main stage, where Levelpath President and Co-founder Stan Garber joined Congruex’s David Hurtado for a discussion on procurement excellence. Stan shared Levelpath’s mission to future-ready procurement by making it more intelligent, efficient, and truly user-friendly. Drawing on his experience in building procurement technology, Stan emphasized that the next generation of AI platforms must deliver more than incremental improvements.

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Defining AI-Native Procurement

One takeaway we have from DPW New York is the growing divide between platforms built before 2022 that bolt-on AI to systems and those that are AI-native from the ground up. Many procurement tools were built before the Generative AI era and rely on workflows and interfaces designed for manual control. Adding AI to these existing systems results in disjointed and convoluted experiences that cannot scale effectively.

This evolution mirrors earlier shifts in technology. Cloud-native platforms replaced on-prem systems by making infrastructure lighter and more scalable. Mobile-native platforms followed, designed to take advantage of mobile capabilities rather than simply shrinking desktop software. At each stage of technology evolution, the solutions that eventually win are those that take native advantage of the new technology’s capabilities.

Now, procurement teams are entering the AI-native era, where platforms are built with intelligent automation, context-specific adaptation, and data models that learn over time. Older platforms lack these foundations and the flexibility needed to keep up with AI innovation. Efforts to integrate AI into legacy technologies introduce complexity, increase training requirements, and limit the overall impact and productivity of AI.

AI-native platforms like Levelpath are different. Intelligence is built into every layer of the system, from data structures to user interfaces. This allows procurement teams to operate faster, make smarter decisions, and deliver high-value outcomes without relying on manual intervention or spending months to align outdated technologies to the best AI enablers.

As Levelpath demonstrated at DPW New York, this is not a future vision. Levelpath is already delivering results through faster implementations, greater efficiency, and stronger alignment with strategic procurement and supplier management goals.

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Real Results at Congruex

During our session, The Executive Lens: Vision for Procurement Excellence in a New World of AI, David Hurtado, SVP of Operational Finance, Procurement, and Supply Chain at Congruex, spoke about the real results they have seen with Levelpath. Congruex implemented Levelpath in under a week and started achieving results quickly after launch.

One of the first areas of focus was gaining visibility into tail spend. David reviewed purchase requisitions across the company, covering everything from zero-dollar entries to high-value purchases, to evaluate whether spending aligned with company priorities. Levelpath’s direct view into the data allowed them to address the tail spend more intentionally.

To accelerate sourcing, Congruex used Levelpath’s AI Assistant to generate RFP questions. David described entering a simple prompt such as “ice cream” and immediately receiving a list of 13 to 15 relevant questions. This capability proved especially valuable when users were not subject matter experts in a given category but needed to submit the request.

Vendor evaluation also became more efficient and intelligent. Levelpath enabled Congruex to receive supplier responses in a variety of formats and apply AI to analyze pricing, compare responses, and identify opportunities to reduce cost without compromising quality or service.

These improvements supported the development of a scalable category strategy. Each month, the team selects new categories, issues targeted RFPs, and uses the responses to drive down operating costs. By embedding intelligence throughout the process, Levelpath helped Congruex achieve measurable procurement impact with speed, structure, and minimal manual effort.

Building Trust and Executive Alignment

David described three pillars that he believes define a successful procurement function. The first is relationship-focused leadership. Procurement must earn trust across the organization by listening to stakeholders, aligning with executive priorities, and delivering measurable outcomes. The second is systems and integration fluency. Teams must ensure that technology tools connect effectively so that data is accessible and actionable. The third is smart data and analytics. Procurement must be able to translate data into insights that support category strategies and guide better decision-making.

Recent research from Gartner ® validates this need to build trust and alignment with the executive team. According to Gartner ®, 42% of C-suite executives say that influence within the executive leadership team depends, at least in part, on the individual’s relationship with the CEO. Many Chief Procurement Officers face a gap between their capabilities and their level of influence with executive leadership, not due to a lack of performance but a lack of connection. Download the paper, Build CEO Rapport: Top 3 Actions for CPOs to get more insights today.

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Key Takeaways from an Energizing Day at DPW New York

We are grateful to DPW New York for creating a high-impact forum to share Levelpath’s vision for AI-native procurement and to engage directly with forward-thinking leaders in the field. Our CEO and Co-founder Alex Yakubovich took a few minutes in the closing session to share his personal north star around why AI-native procurement is the future, rounding out a great event.

Procurement professionals are looking for solutions that combine true intelligence with exceptional usability. They want to work with clarity, speed, and confidence. Most importantly, they want to elevate procurement into a strategic force within the business. Levelpath is proud to be part of that shift.

At Levelpath, we focus on improving procurement impact by making teams more efficient with AI-native tools so they can operate with clarity, speed, and flexibility. Request a demo today or join one of our monthly sessions to see how we can help make procurement a delight.

–Rose

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