About akirolabs:

akirolabs is a leading ProcureTech company delivering innovative solutions for strategic procurement. Trusted by leading enterprises across industries, the akirolabs Category Strategy Platform empowers procurement teams to transform category management — unlocking up to 5x greater business value and up to 50% higher efficiency. Powered by proprietary AI and a groundbreaking methodology, akirolabs enables teams to develop smarter, faster, and more business-aligned strategies — all within a single, collaborative, AI-augmented workspace. Headquartered in Berlin, akirolabs was founded in 2021 by a team of procurement veterans and experts, and is backed by top-tier investors and innovation grants. To learn more, follow akirolabs on LinkedIn.

akirolabs

Procurement has no shortage of ambition — to drive innovation, reduce risk, enable sustainability, and deliver measurable business value.

But the way work gets done today still tells a different story.

Category strategies are often built in isolation — as static documents, filled with assumptions, built in PowerPoint, and disconnected from real-time data or cross-functional input. They’re treated as annual exercises rather than living tools that guide decisions.

Then, when it’s time to act, supplier discovery starts from scratch — often manual, filter-based, and completely removed from the strategy that was just developed. The context is lost. The continuity is broken. And the strategic intent behind the plan rarely makes it into the final sourcing decision.

This disconnect isn’t just inefficient — it’s structural.

Strategy and execution live in separate worlds. Procurement remains fragmented. And value is lost at every step. This session is about changing that.

Join **Christoph Flöthmann** (Co-founder & CPO, akirolabs) and **Aiko Wiegand** (CEO & Co-Founder, Matchory) as they show how to build smarter, more dynamic category strategies and bring them to life through AI-powered, contextual supplier discovery — fully aligned from the start.

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### **In This Session, You'll Learn:**

*   Why most procurement teams still struggle to connect strategy and execution
*   What happens when category planning and supplier discovery are part of the same workflow
*   How **akirolabs** and **Matchory** are integrating strategy and supplier search in a truly contextual process
*   A **live use case** showing how strategy-first sourcing works — from planning to supplier match

***

### **Who Should Attend**

This session is for procurement and supply chain professionals who are ready to move beyond tactical sourcing and drive end-to-end strategic impact.

Especially relevant for:

*   Procurement Leadership & Centers of Excellence
*   Category & Commodity Managers
*   Procurement Transformation Leaders
*   Digital Procurement & Technology Teams
*   Strategic Sourcing & Supplier Relationship Managers

***

### **Key Takeaways**

✅ How to eliminate the disconnect between strategy development and supplier discovery

✅ How to move from static strategy decks to living, collaborative category plans

✅ What a truly contextual, AI-powered supplier discovery process looks like

✅ How to integrate category strategy and supplier data in a single, real-time workflow


From Strategy to Supplier ... Without Losing Context!

**Design for Impact: How Procurement Can Lead from the Front**

> *A Humans of Procurement Executive Dialogue ; #Episode 1*

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Procurement has never had more potential — or more pressure — to drive real business outcomes. But while many teams talk about being “strategic,” few have built the structure and cross-functional muscle to lead from the front.

This session brings together two of the most accomplished CPOs in the world — **Richard Crane (CPO, Haleon and Ex-CPO GSK, Philips)** and **Fredrick Spalcke (former CPO, Philips, Huawei and Unify)** — for a candid conversation on how they’ve made strategic procurement real: through early involvement, supplier-enabled design, and decision-making that spans the full product lifecycle.

**Bridging their experience is Christoph Flöthmann**, Co-founder and CPO at [akirolabs](https://akirolabs.com/). He’ll distill the practices into a repeatable framework — helping you see what separates teams who “get it done” from those stuck chasing influence. Christoph brings the structure behind the strategy: how to connect stakeholders, model trade-offs, digitalize strategic procurement, and orchestrate value — not just measure savings.

Moderated by **Jessica Ojelabi**, this conversation will challenge outdated procurement playbooks and offer a clearer path to impact.

***

## **Who Should Attend**

This conversation is for **everyone in procurement and supply chain** — whether you’re shaping procurement leadership, managing categories, enabling transformation, or simply working to make better decisions every day in procurement.

To make it more specific, If you're in roles such as:

*   **Procurement leadership or CoE**
*   **Category management**
*   **Procurement excellence or operations**
*   **Digital procurement or transformation**
*   **Sourcing, buying, or purchasing**

…then this session is especially for you.

***

## What You’ll takeaway

✅ How world-class CPOs structure for early involvement

✅ What happens when procurement is involved at the point of design — not just sourcing

✅ Why most cross-functional efforts fail — and how to fix them

✅ What separates teams who talk strategy from those who actually deliver it

✅ What akirolabs enables that traditional procurement tooling doesn’t

***

## \*\*About the Series\*\* - Humans of Procurement

*Humans of Procurement* is akirolabs’ flagship thought leadership series to celebrate the voices in procurement.

It’s where the most forward-thinking minds in procurement share what’s really working, what’s not, and where we go from here.

Each session brings together bold ideas, tested frameworks, and honest conversations that elevate the role of procurement in shaping the future of business.


Design for Impact: How Procurement Can Lead from the Front

Join **Bernard Gracia, Founder of EIPM,** and **Kai Weber, CPO at Actega (an Altana division),** for an insightful 60-minute session on how procurement leaders can secure the future of category management in today’s evolving landscape. Learn how both academia and industry experts are addressing current business challenges and *turning procurement into a key driver of sustainable value.*

### Key Takeaways:

*   **Why traditional approaches are falling short:** Understand the limitations of old-school methods and why they no longer meet the demands of today’s procurement landscape.
*   **How strategic scenario modelling drives greater value:** Learn how to harness scenario modelling to unlock new business value beyond savings
*   **AI's role in transforming strategic procurement:** Discover how AI is enabling procurement professionals by filling the capability gap and hence empowering strategic decision-making in procurement.

### Who Should Attend:

*   **CPOs, Procurement Leaders, and Decision-Makers**: Executives who oversee procurement departments and seek to future-proof their organizations.
*   **Category Management Professionals**: Experts focused on optimizing category strategies, delivering value beyond cost savings, and improving supplier relationships.
*   **Procurement Transformation and Excellence Specialists**: Professionals tasked with transforming procurement, driving excellence, and implementing new technologies.
*   **Supply Chain and Procurement Teams**: Cross-functional teams aiming to enhance procurement processes by integrating AI, strategic thinking, and digital tools.
*   **Purchasing and Sourcing Managers**: Individuals responsible for supplier management and strategy, and optimizing sourcing strategies to align with organizational objectives.

## Success Story Spotlight:

Hear from **Kai Weber** from **Actega, an Altana divison**, about how AI-augmented and strategically built strategies have breathed new life into their category management. Discover how they’ve successfully navigated the shift to AI-led procurement, revitalizing their processes, and driving competitive advantage. You’ll leave with actionable insights that can be applied to your own organization.

## Why This Session is a Must:

Hosted by **Jessica Ojelabi**, this session promises to provide you with actionable insights and proven strategies to ensure the survival and transformation of category management in your organization. Don’t miss this chance to learn from industry leaders and gain the tools you need to lead the next era of procurement.

> **Register Now** and secure your spot to learn how to lead the way in modern procurement!


How Procurement Can Ensure the Survival of Category Management

Category management was designed to be strategic. Yet in many organizations, what passes for strategy has flatlined — or worse, lingers on as a **“zombie strategy”**: technically alive and in use, but lifeless, valueless in practice.

Procurement aspires to drive innovation, resilience, and sustainability while unlocking measurable business value. But the reality is that too many strategies:

*   are built once, in isolation, then shelved,
*   obsess over cost while sidelining broader value levers,
*   rely on outdated frameworks and siloed manual tools,
*   and fail to evolve as business and market conditions change.

The result? Strategies that look good on paper but deliver little impact — disconnected from the enterprise agenda, ignored by business partners, and abandoned when disruption strikes.

This session conducts the autopsy. We’ll examine:

*   **The brain** → outdated thinking rooted in 1980s cost-power models.
*   **The heart** → diseased by a fixation on savings at the expense of real business goals.
*   **The lungs** → suffocating under PowerPoint, Excel, and disconnected processes.

But this is not just about what died. It’s about what survives.

Category management can, and must, evolve into a **living and Next Gen discipline**: continuously refreshed, digitally enabled, co-created with the business, and aligned to enterprise value drivers.

Join **Sabrina, Michael, and Robert** as they dissect the past, expose the warning signs of “dead” category strategies, and prescribe the practices that will bring category management back to life, but as a true driver of growth, resilience, and competitive advantage.

***

**Zombie Strategy**

> A Zombie Strategy is a procurement or category strategy that continues to exist in name, documentation or actual practice but lacks real vitality, alignment, or impact. Like its namesake, it is outdated, mechanical, and mindlessly repeated —appearing active in use by procurement while delivering little to no business value. Zombie Strategies are typically cost-obsessed, siloed, and reactive, leaving organizations vulnerable to disruption, value leakage, and strategic irrelevance.
