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Takeaways from a CIPS facilitated webinar on 21 April 2026 explored new resilience strategies for the profession in response to the Middle East crisis. A key takeaway? Sustainable procurement is increasingly being reframed as a core resilience strategy.

Some say that by 2028, entry-level roles will be obsolete. Others believe these roles will fundamentally evolve. As AI blurs the line between code and reality, can human connection survive in procurement and supply? How will the profession respond?

When you’re talking about the effect of AI on jobs in a South African context, you need to realise that there are fundamental differences between South Africa and other regions. These differences are particularly apparent when comparing South Africa with Europe or the US and can be traced back to the fact that labour costs are so much lower.

Arm introduced AI into its procurement function to automate routine tasks and gain better insights from large volumes of suppliers. Right now, we’re using it for triaging support requests.

AI is unlikely to cut jobs in procurement. Data entry tasks might be different. Once you have automated data entry and have bots up and running that can provide customer support and answer questions like 'where is my invoice?' or ‘where is my payment?’

Technology, and its adoption and integration into our business processes, is moving at an extraordinarily fast pace and the pace is accelerating each year. The supply chain is not exempt from these rapid changes.