Monday, September 14, 2026 / 03:00 PM - 07:00 PM PST
California Ballroom 8 Foyer
Discover cutting-edge tools, diagnostics and actionable resources at the Gartner Showcase. Visit our demo space for a personalized walkthrough of our business and technology insights platform and learn how Gartner's leading tools like Procurement Budget & Efficiency Benchmark, BuySmart, and AI Use Case Insights can help you make faster, smarter decisions on your mission-critical priorities.
Monday, September 14, 2026 / 03:00 PM - 07:00 PM PST
California Ballroom 1
Registration and Information hours for the day.
Tuesday, September 15, 2026 / 07:30 AM - 09:30 AM PST
California Ballroom 2
Join other attendees for breakfast before the day's sessions.
Tuesday, September 15, 2026 / 07:30 AM - 06:15 PM PST
California Ballroom 8 Foyer
Discover cutting-edge tools, diagnostics and actionable resources at the Gartner Showcase. Visit our demo space for a personalized walkthrough of our business and technology insights platform and learn how Gartner's leading tools like Procurement Budget & Efficiency Benchmark, BuySmart, and AI Use Case Insights can help you make faster, smarter decisions on your mission-critical priorities.
Tuesday, September 15, 2026 / 07:30 AM - 09:30 AM PST
California Ballroom 2
Welcome to the conference! Start making new connections right away with your peers at this informal networking breakfast. Tables will be arranged by topic - Cost Optimization, AI Transformation, Strategic Sourcing & Category Management, Supplier Collaboration & Performance, Sustainability & Risk Management - select yours and join the conversation! (Please note that space is limited, and participation will be first come, first served.)
Tuesday, September 15, 2026 / 07:30 AM - 07:30 PM PST
California Ballroom 1
Registration and Information hours for the day.
Tuesday, September 15, 2026 / 09:30 AM - 10:15 AM PST
California Ballroom 7
Join Gartner’s Opening Keynote to discover how CPOs and procurement leaders can reimagine their operating models, harness emerging technologies and position their teams to lead their organizations confidently into the augmented era.
Tuesday, September 15, 2026 / 10:15 AM - 11:00 AM PST
Exhibit Showcase, California Ballroom 6 & 8 Foyer
Join us for refreshments in a brief break between sessions.
Tuesday, September 15, 2026 / 10:15 AM - 07:30 PM PST
California Ballroom 4
Visit the Exhibit Showcase to evaluate industry offerings that can move your business forward. Engage with your peers, Gartner analysts, and exhibitors. Attend a theater session to see technology in action.
Tuesday, September 15, 2026 / 10:30 AM - 10:50 AM PST
Exhibit Showcase Theater, California Ballroom 4
Software vendors are becoming more aggressive as SaaS sprawl, AI tooling, and consumption-based licensing make audits harder to manage. In this session, procurement executive Martina Borck shares a practical playbook for software audit defense, drawing on experience leading enterprise software negotiations & audit engagements. Attendees will leave with a framework to identify warning signs, take control early, and strengthen their audit response.
Tuesday, September 15, 2026 / 11:00 AM - 11:30 AM PST
California Ballroom 5
AI is reshaping procurement roles. This session covers evolving skills — from digital dexterity to human‑AI collaboration — and how CPOs can build teams for an AI‑driven operating environment.
Tuesday, September 15, 2026 / 11:00 AM - 11:30 AM PST
California Ballroom 6
This session explains how CPOs and procurement leaders can optimize external technology spend using a time‑phased approach. It focuses on short‑term cost containment through inventory control, targeted negotiations and demand management. It also covers midterm savings via streamlined, data‑driven sourcing and vendor consolidation, and long‑term cost avoidance through AI contract optimization, team upskilling and total cost of ownership (TCO) discipline.
Tuesday, September 15, 2026 / 11:00 AM - 11:30 AM PST
California Ballroom 8
Regionalization strategies are used to diversify supply chains for risk and trade impact among other factors, but they often hide costs in supplier transitions, compliance and logistics. This session will focus on what are the hidden costs with regionalization and how can they influence your procurement and sourcing strategy.
Tuesday, September 15, 2026 / 11:00 AM - 11:30 AM PST
California Ballroom 7
Procurement applications suites have been the backbone of procurement digitalization for over 25 years. But the emergence of orchestration capabilities and agentic AI is promising a different future. In this session, we will discuss how the market for procurement technology is changing with the introduction of new technologies and new solution providers.
Tuesday, September 15, 2026 / 11:00 AM - 11:20 AM PST
Exhibit Showcase Theater, California Ballroom 4
Explore the digital technology and business consulting services market with a focus on the latest Magic Quadrant. This session reviews leading vendors, their strengths and cautions, offering insights into industry trends and practical guidance for selecting the right digital technology and business consulting services and drive organizational success.
Tuesday, September 15, 2026 / 11:45 AM - 12:15 PM PST
California Ballroom 5
AI has reshaped how procurement and finance teams work, but not every company is adapting at the same pace. That divide is the clearest signal in Zip's second annual State of AI in Spend report, a survey of 1,000+ global leaders. Sherrie Schaufele, Senior Director, Strategic Sourcing at Western Digital, joins Zip to talk through what separates the teams seeing real returns from the ones still mapping their route, and where procurement goes next.
Tuesday, September 15, 2026 / 11:45 AM - 12:15 PM PST
California Ballroom 6
Source-to-pay should be a competitive advantage - yet limited visibility, manual workflows, and system fragmentation quietly erode value at every step. Next-gen SAP Ariba changes this fundamentally. Built as an AI-native platform, it moves beyond AI as a feature inside an application and redefines it as an intelligent layer across your entire business landscape, working seamlessly with both SAP and non-SAP systems to deliver greater resilience, lower costs, and faster decisions. Hear from a leading customer and SAP product leadership on what AI-native procurement delivers in practice.
Tuesday, September 15, 2026 / 11:45 AM - 12:15 PM PST
California Ballroom 7
What if procurement didn't just save money, but actively orchestrated margin expansion? Agentic AI is turning procurement into a growth lever- and customers can start anywhere and scale outward. In this session, SMBC shares how they're navigating real-world data constraints and internal resistance to scale AI workflows across a global organization. Hear from SMBC on how they turned everyday spend into a repeatable framework for enterprise growth.
Tuesday, September 15, 2026 / 11:45 AM - 12:15 PM PST
California Ballroom 8 Foyer
Despite two decades and millions of dollars spent on ERP, procurement suites, and RPA, roughly 20% of invoices still land on human desks as exceptions. Blocked invoices, failed 3-way matches, and missing POs stay manual because they take tribal knowledge spread across siloed systems. Drawing on live Fortune 500 deployments, this session shows how AI agents deploy onto systems as they are and resolve exceptions end-to-end in days.
Tuesday, September 15, 2026 / 12:30 PM - 01:00 PM PST
California Ballroom 5
Change is inevitable, ongoing and endless. But is it making a difference? Procurement organizations are transforming, but how well are we embedding those changes and shifting the status quo? Join this session to take change from an input to an outcome.
Tuesday, September 15, 2026 / 12:30 PM - 01:00 PM PST
California Ballroom 7
This session will walk you through how sourcing and procurement leaders can use a negotiation cheat sheet with 10 innovative and powerful negotiation tips/techniques as an integral part of the negotiation planning process. This cheat sheet can serve as your at-a-glance negotiation playbook for all significant technology negotiations for cost optimization and risk mitigation. Attendees will receive this cheat sheet as a take-away from this session.
Tuesday, September 15, 2026 / 12:30 PM - 01:00 PM PST
California Ballroom 8
As the pace of change accelerates, Chief Procurement Officers face an increasingly complex and dynamic risk environment. This session will provide a forward-looking view of the evolving risk landscape, highlighting emerging threats and opportunities that will shape procurement strategies in the coming years.
Tuesday, September 15, 2026 / 12:30 PM - 01:00 PM PST
California Ballroom 6
At AstraZeneca, Procurement has moved beyond the traditional mandate of delivering savings, to become a recognized driver of enterprise growth and innovation. Rather than fighting for a seat at the executive table, the function actively uses its position to influence global business strategy, orchestrating enterprise value through a robust supplier ecosystem. This session showcases what a highly advanced, fully integrated procurement organization looks like in action. CPO Natasa Vidmar, will share how she and her team reinvented the value of Procurement across the enterprise, leading from the front to deliver tangible benefits. Attendees will walk away with an actionable framework for elevating their own function into an indispensable, top-line growth partner for the broader business.
Tuesday, September 15, 2026 / 12:30 PM - 12:50 PM PST
Exhibit Showcase Theater, California Ballroom 4
CPOs are under increasing pressure to digitally transform procurement. This session leverages the Source-to-Pay Magic Quadrant to help you confidently assess S2P suites in a shifting market and select a vendor and solution best equipped to drive savings, compliance, end-user adoption and overall digitalization of your procurement processes.
Tuesday, September 15, 2026 / 01:00 PM - 02:30 PM PST
California Ballroom 2
Head to California 2 to join other attendees for lunch and take advantage of the opportunity to network and catch up on the day's activities so far. For specific dietary needs, please visit the dietary table located within the meal space for further details and assistance.
Tuesday, September 15, 2026 / 01:00 PM - 02:30 PM PST
California Ballroom 4
Join us for a dessert reception on the Exhibit Showcase where you can engage with peers, Gartner experts, and exhibitors while enjoying delicious treats. Evaluate industry offerings that can move your business forward. Attend a theater session to see technology in action.
Tuesday, September 15, 2026 / 01:15 PM - 01:35 PM PST
Exhibit Showcase Theater, California Ballroom 4
Procurement teams are buried in contracts, suppliers, and risk, leaving no time to keep pace. This session shows AI doing the work in real time: surfacing supplier risk, flagging contract exposure, and sharpening negotiation. Walk away knowing what AI-native procurement actually looks like in practice, not in theory.
Tuesday, September 15, 2026 / 01:40 PM - 02:00 PM PST
Exhibit Showcase Theater, California Ballroom 4
Only 17% of organizations can prove AI ROI, yet leading enterprises are putting Zip’s governed AI platform to work and seeing real results. Meet Zip Superagents: the first governed AI workforce purpose-built for procurement and finance. With a live demo, you’ll see how Superagents review contracts, unblock approvals, code invoices, and research vendors–all inside your approval controls and with a complete audit trail.
Tuesday, September 15, 2026 / 02:05 PM - 02:25 PM PST
Exhibit Showcase Theater, California Ballroom 4
Run more sourcing events, close contracts faster, and catch supplier risk earlier, all with the team you have. In this session, we explore how AI Agents can take on the administrative work from intake through signature, so procurement gets time back for higher-value work. We believe this is where the industry is heading: AI Agents that understand the full context of your process can act on it, putting autonomous procurement within reach.
Tuesday, September 15, 2026 / 02:30 PM - 03:00 PM PST
California Ballroom 7
This session introduces a capability‑driven approach to sourcing AI services safely and at scale. IT SPVM leaders will learn how to align AI ambition with organizational readiness, control scope and consumption risk. Evaluating suppliers across five capability dimensions and translating gaps into sourcing and contracting decisions that reduce risk, strengthen governance and protect long‑term value.
Tuesday, September 15, 2026 / 02:30 PM - 03:00 PM PST
California Ballroom 6
Most organizations define supplier performance too narrowly, measure it in silos, and never connect it to real decisions. This session breaks down four building blocks that top companies use to run effective supplier performance programs, along with actionable steps you can put in place immediately.
Tuesday, September 15, 2026 / 02:30 PM - 03:00 PM PST
California Ballroom 8
CPOs aiming to take advantage of emerging technologies for their own functions also need to broaden their view on how they can lead that transformation across the enterprise. This session will provide steps CPOs need to take to enable their organization to be successful in the AI era
Tuesday, September 15, 2026 / 03:15 PM - 03:45 PM PST
California Ballroom 5
In 2025, Paul Hastings had no P2P system - invoices ran through a travel-and-expense tool, contracts sat in an unindexed folder, and "the entire firm acted as accounts payable." In this session, McCarthy shares how the $2.6B law firm went from zero to a live source-to-pay foundation with Zycus in 15 months, why Merlin Intake inside Microsoft Teams drove adoption, and the firm's roadmap toward autonomous, AI-agent-driven procurement.
Tuesday, September 15, 2026 / 03:15 PM - 03:45 PM PST
California Ballroom 6
Procurement leaders face new pressures as cloud marketplaces reshape how organizations source software. In this session, learn how enterprises achieved faster procurement and shorter discovery time using AWS Marketplace—from single AI model purchases to multimillion-dollar deals. We'll move beyond common myths and show how agentic AI delivers measurable results across the purchasing lifecycle.
Tuesday, September 15, 2026 / 03:15 PM - 03:45 PM PST
California Ballroom 7
Learn how JLL partnered with Arkestro to scale Predictive AI across 80 countries. Moving beyond AI hype, this session details the data challenges and adoption hurdles they overcame to accelerate sourcing and achieve savings. Discover the trade-offs managed to free teams for strategic work, and leave with grounded lessons for operationalizing AI in complex global enterprise environments.
Tuesday, September 15, 2026 / 03:15 PM - 03:45 PM PST
California Ballroom 8
AI is reshaping the SaaS cost curve. Spend is up 291% YoY and 90% of AI deals close above market rate, with buyers overspending by 22% on average. It's no surprise 80% of CFOs now rank AI as the top risk to their 2026 financial targets. Join Vertice for a practical look at the procurement levers, contract terms, and negotiation tactics turning that risk into measurable savings – including a real deal that cut AI costs by 58%.
Tuesday, September 15, 2026 / 04:00 PM - 04:30 PM PST
California Ballroom 6
AI is reshaping the future of procurement talent, creating new opportunities and challenges for Chief Procurement Officers. This session delves into how AI is redefining the skills, roles, and capabilities required in procurement teams. Explore the real-world implications of AI on talent management, emerging trends in workforce transformation, and actionable strategies CPOs can use to attract, develop, and retain top procurement talent in an AI-driven environment. Gain insights to help your organization build a future-ready procurement team and leverage AI for a competitive edge.
Tuesday, September 15, 2026 / 04:00 PM - 04:30 PM PST
California Ballroom 5
In today’s rapidly evolving procurement landscape, post-purchase dissatisfaction can significantly impact organizational performance and stakeholder trust. CPOs and procurement leaders must proactively minimize buyer’s regret to maximize value and stakeholder confidence. We discuss actionable strategies for expectation management, supplier transparency and continuous performance improvement. Learn negotiation and risk assessment techniques to address total value, hidden costs and service delivery gaps.
Tuesday, September 15, 2026 / 04:00 PM - 04:30 PM PST
California Ballroom 8
Major technology vendors play a critical role in many organizations' digital strategies. This session examines how IT leaders can engage effectively with these providers, set the foundation for productive partnerships, align expectations, and maximize their influence to achieve strategic outcomes.
Tuesday, September 15, 2026 / 04:00 PM - 04:30 PM PST
California Ballroom 7
Procurement leaders face global disruptions, regulatory uncertainty, and rapid tech change. Addressing these challenges requires investing in both mature and emerging technologies to boost agility, efficiency, and transparency. Join this session to discover top procurement tech trends and actionable insights from Gartner’s Hype Cycle.
Tuesday, September 15, 2026 / 04:30 PM - 05:15 PM PST
Exhibit Showcase, California Ballroom Foyer, Lagos Foyer
Join us for refreshments in a brief break between sessions.
Tuesday, September 15, 2026 / 04:45 PM - 05:05 PM PST
Exhibit Showcase Theater, California Ballroom 4
Every piece of supplier data you protect with encryption today can be broken by quantum advances by 2030. Leading procurement teams are already building quantum readiness into supplier risk programs. See how they are embedding controls in onboarding, running proactive scenarios, and safely deploying agentic AI to catch complex supplier threats. The window to get ahead of this is closing. This session tells you where to start.
Tuesday, September 15, 2026 / 05:15 PM - 06:00 PM PST
California Ballroom 7
Storytelling is the #1 business skill necessary to connect, motivate, and lead people in today’s world. Stories compel us to engage in experiences, learn lessons, and define our values and ourselves within our organization. Matthew Luhn, a 30-year Pixar story veteran, will share his experience creating and developing 10 blockbuster films at Pixar, and provides practical strategies that will teach and inspire you to connect more effectively with others on an emotional level. Matthew uses the power of storytelling to bridge the gap between business and heart, driving your story toward one unforgettable selling point. This session is made available for replay for 30 days.
Tuesday, September 15, 2026 / 06:00 PM - 07:30 PM PST
California Ballroom 4
Join us for a networking reception on the Exhibit Showcase where you can engage with your peers, Gartner analysts, and exhibitors while enjoying delicious food and beverages. Evaluate industry offerings that can move your business forward. Attend a theater session to see technology in action.
Wednesday, September 16, 2026 / 07:30 AM - 09:00 AM PST
California Ballroom 2
Join other attendees for breakfast before the day's sessions.
Wednesday, September 16, 2026 / 07:30 AM - 05:00 PM PST
California Ballroom 8 Foyer
Discover cutting-edge tools, diagnostics and actionable resources at the Gartner Showcase. Visit our demo space for a personalized walkthrough of our business and technology insights platform and learn how Gartner's leading tools like Procurement Budget & Efficiency Benchmark, BuySmart, and AI Use Case Insights can help you make faster, smarter decisions on your mission-critical priorities.
Wednesday, September 16, 2026 / 07:30 AM - 09:00 AM PST
California Ballroom 2
Start making new connections right away with your peers at this informal networking breakfast. Tables will be arranged by topic - Cost Optimization, AI Transformation, Strategic Sourcing & Category Management, Supplier Collaboration & Performance, Sustainability & Risk Management - select yours and join the conversation! (Please note that space is limited, and participation will be first come, first served.)
Wednesday, September 16, 2026 / 07:30 AM - 05:00 PM PST
California Ballroom 1
Registration and Information hours for the day.
Wednesday, September 16, 2026 / 09:00 AM - 09:45 AM PST
California Ballroom 7
David Epstein’s keynote, inspired by his book Inside the Box, turns conventional wisdom on its head by showing that unlimited freedom and resources don’t necessarily lead to greater creativity and success. Through engaging research and vivid case studies, from Silicon Valley to Dr. Seuss, Epstein demonstrates that the right constraints are powerful tools for focusing teams, solving problems, and achieving breakthroughs.
Wednesday, September 16, 2026 / 09:45 AM - 10:30 AM PST
Exhibit Showcase, California Ballroom 6 & 8 Foyer
Join us for refreshments in a brief break between sessions.
Wednesday, September 16, 2026 / 09:45 AM - 03:45 PM PST
California Ballroom 4
Visit the Exhibit Showcase to evaluate industry offerings that can move your business forward. Engage with your peers, Gartner analysts, and exhibitors. Attend a theater session to see technology in action.
Wednesday, September 16, 2026 / 10:00 AM - 10:20 AM PST
Exhibit Showcase Theater, California Ballroom 4
Join Toyota and K&B Global as they share a transformation journey from vendor sprawl to sustainable value. Learn how Toyota addressed fragmented sourcing, inconsistent service delivery, and limited visibility through vendor consolidation, governance, and a managed services model. The result: $250M in savings over five years, improved SLA performance, greater accountability, and a scalable foundation for long-term IT and business success.
Wednesday, September 16, 2026 / 10:30 AM - 11:00 AM PST
California Ballroom 5
Procurement has undergone significant change in response to global volatility and rapid AI advancement. Supporting this ongoing transformation requires that foundational processes and decision guardrails to be simple and clear. This session outlines how leaders can address complexity in their procurement process and position their procurement teams for future success.
Wednesday, September 16, 2026 / 10:30 AM - 11:00 AM PST
California Ballroom 6
AI and GenAI are more costly for vendors to deliver than typical software or SaaS applications. This creates margin risk for vendors, who then pass it on to unsuspecting customers through pricing and packaging. Attend this session to learn four ways you can mitigate risks and prevent a costly budget shock.
Wednesday, September 16, 2026 / 10:30 AM - 11:00 AM PST
California Ballroom 8
Geopolitics is reshaping global tech access. The "Greenland Effect" shows U.S. technology may face policy‑conditioned limits, pressuring U.S. and multinational buyers to build sourcing optionality, diversify vendors and strengthen resilience across regions and architectures.
Wednesday, September 16, 2026 / 10:30 AM - 11:00 AM PST
California Ballroom 7
CPOs encourage their teams to explore AI capabilities within procurement workflows and activities. However, the maturity of AI solutions varies widely, making it challenging to identify which technologies to approach with caution or to view as experimental. Avoid delays to effective transformation by carefully evaluating the readiness and potential impact of capabilities before making significant investments.
Wednesday, September 16, 2026 / 10:30 AM - 10:50 AM PST
Exhibit Showcase Theater, California Ballroom 4
Explore the Contract Life Cycle Management market with a focus on the latest Magic Quadrant. This session reviews leading vendors, their strengths, and cautions, offering insights into industry trends and practical guidance for selecting the right CLM solution to streamline contract processes and drive organizational success.
Wednesday, September 16, 2026 / 11:15 AM - 11:45 AM PST
California Ballroom 6
Procurement leaders face tremendous pressure to deliver expanded value with leaner teams. AI alone is not the answer. Join accomplished leaders, Warren and Fred, to learn how to bring together organizations, services, AI, and automation to drive greater efficiency and affordability. Key takeaways: transform operations by uniting technology and expertise, scale AI for leaner teams, and turn your valuable data into actionable business intelligence.
Wednesday, September 16, 2026 / 11:15 AM - 11:45 AM PST
California Ballroom 7
Procurement leaders are no longer just managing people - they are orchestrating hybrid teams of humans together with AI agents, delivering speed and efficiency at scale. Join your peers to discuss new operating models, decision rights, and skill shifts required to lead effectively in this new environment, sharing perspectives on adoption challenges, governance, and lessons learned in scaling agent-driven workflows without losing control or trust.
Wednesday, September 16, 2026 / 11:15 AM - 11:45 AM PST
California Ballroom 8
AI in procurement is too often judged by speed and productivity alone. This session reframes the goal around better outcomes across negotiation, optimization, and contracting. See how one enterprise team used AI to sharpen supplier decisions, reduce contract risk, and advance ESG commitments, turning productivity gains into measurable value. Leave with a practical framework for applying AI where it changes results and improves efficiency.
Wednesday, September 16, 2026 / 11:15 AM - 11:45 AM PST
California Ballroom 5
Every procurement leader has been asked to innovate; few have been given a roadmap for doing it well. Drawing on Rush’s real-world journey, this session explores what it actually takes to scale AI across contracting and procurement. Learn the lessons and trade-offs that helped Rush cut contract processing from 70 days to 18, reduce off-contract spend 80%, and cut legal review by two-thirds.
Wednesday, September 16, 2026 / 12:00 PM - 12:30 PM PST
California Ballroom 5
AI, autonomous sourcing and shifting business expectations are redefining what procurement does and who does it. This session explores the emerging questions procurement leaders are navigating today, how they may impact the function, and what actions can be taken now to prepare.
Wednesday, September 16, 2026 / 12:00 PM - 12:30 PM PST
California Ballroom 6
Procurement organizations face extreme headwinds in managing cost, threatening their ability to drive their central value proposition. We now see category management teams pioneering new approaches to drive value creation alongside traditional cost optimization. We describe how the role of the category manager is changing and how to position them for success in meeting strategic business goals.
Wednesday, September 16, 2026 / 12:00 PM - 12:30 PM PST
California Ballroom 8
As the critical infrastructure of the global financial markets, The Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation (DTCC) provides clearing, settlement, and information services for quadrillions of dollars in securities transactions annually. Supporting an operation of this macroeconomic scale relies on a massive, highly complex technology ecosystem. DTCC's procurement leadership recognized that traditional "cost savings" metrics were fundamentally failing to accurately capture and communicate the function's true strategic impact to the Board of Directors and executive leadership. This highly strategic session details the journey of entirely abandoning outdated savings classifications in favor of a modern, FP&A-aligned value framework. Attendees will learn how DTCC shifted the narrative by implementing distinct, business-centric KPIs that accurately reflect procurement's true financial and operational impact. Exploring these new capital efficiency metrics alongside non-financial contributions like risk mitigation and speed-to-market, participants will leave with a proven blueprint for elevating procurement's reporting from basic cost reduction to undeniable enterprise value creation.
Wednesday, September 16, 2026 / 12:00 PM - 12:30 PM PST
California Ballroom 7
Procurement is capturing only 64% of potential data and analytics (D&A) value, limiting the ability to achieve strategic objectives and improve decision making. Learn how leading procurement functions in D&A are overcoming challenges including data quality, talent deficits, and building a culture of data & analytics within procurement.
Wednesday, September 16, 2026 / 12:30 PM - 02:00 PM PST
California Ballroom 2
Head to California 2 to join other attendees for lunch and take advantage of the opportunity to network and catch up on the day's activities so far. For specific dietary needs, please visit the dietary table located within the meal space for further details and assistance.
Wednesday, September 16, 2026 / 12:30 PM - 02:00 PM PST
California Ballroom 4
Join us for a dessert reception on the Exhibit Showcase where you can engage with peers, Gartner experts, and exhibitors while enjoying delicious treats. Evaluate industry offerings that can move your business forward. Attend a theater session to see technology in action.
Wednesday, September 16, 2026 / 01:10 PM - 01:30 PM PST
Exhibit Showcase Theater, California Ballroom 4
Join Spinnaker Support to explore the internal resistance and supplier constraints faced during major software renewals. Moving beyond a pricing exercise, discover the practical frameworks they used to secure better AI terms. Walk away with an actionable playbook to reduce costs and strengthen your negotiating power in complex vendor deals without sacrificing flexibility.
Wednesday, September 16, 2026 / 01:35 PM - 01:55 PM PST
Exhibit Showcase Theater, California Ballroom 4
This isn't about replacing your team - it's about what your team becomes when AI agents handle the rest. Why can we talk about this? Because we built the world's first multi-agent system for procurement, already live at 150+ global enterprises: creating PRs, turning them into POs, sourcing vendors, and negotiating terms - all simultaneously. Used by 1 Mio.+ daily users, internationally awarded, and backed by a16z, the world's leading AI investor.
Wednesday, September 16, 2026 / 02:00 PM - 02:30 PM PST
California Ballroom 6
As AI shifts from stand-alone tools to embedded enterprise capability, CPOs face fragmentation, hidden risks and cost opacity. This session introduces the AI Orchestrator, a new cross‑enterprise role unifying AI demand, sourcing, economics and governance. Learn how leading organizations evolve operating models to reduce duplication, prevent lock‑in and turn AI investments into measurable business value. This session equips CPOs to create clarity and control, and achieve their enterprise's AI ambitions.
Wednesday, September 16, 2026 / 02:00 PM - 02:30 PM PST
California Ballroom 5
Organizations are asking suppliers for more: better performance, faster response, more reliable data and stronger compliance. When suppliers don’t respond, escalation and “more governance” become the default, with limited impact. This session introduces a decision framework to help you pinpoint why behavior isn’t changing and choose the most effective actions to improve outcomes without wasting time on approaches that won’t work.
Wednesday, September 16, 2026 / 02:00 PM - 02:30 PM PST
California Ballroom 8
As volatility rises, procurement and sourcing leaders need a business‑led way to assess risk and engage the business around what truly matters. This session demonstrates how to map revenue impact, appetite gaps and mitigation costs to transform risk debates into aligned business decisions using Gartner’s Risk Register and Value‑Appetite matrix.
Wednesday, September 16, 2026 / 02:00 PM - 02:30 PM PST
California Ballroom 7
American Airlines operates at a massive scale, connecting more than 700,000 customers every day across thousands of daily departures. To support the reliability and cost discipline of this global network, their procurement organization is currently undergoing a multi-year evolution to shift from a decentralized function into a unified, strategic business partner for the enterprise. This session will detail exactly how American Airlines is executing this transformation by anchoring their strategy on advanced technology, streamlined processes, and team upskilling. They will share practical use cases of their digital enablers, including AI-driven intake orchestration to centralize requests and autonomous negotiation tools that eliminate manual work for tail-spend. Attendees will also get an inside look at their targeted supplier scorecard strategy covering roughly $5 billion in spend, walking away with a realistic roadmap for scaling their own procurement capabilities and driving enterprise value.
Wednesday, September 16, 2026 / 02:45 PM - 03:15 PM PST
California Ballroom 5
From cloud overspend to unexpected SaaS renewals and now rising AI costs, the story repeats: by the time the invoice arrives, the economics are already fixed. This session explores how Procurement can step in earlier as a strategic advisor, why keeping alternatives open is the real path to leverage, and how a lightweight governance approach can speed decisions instead of adding overhead. You'll walk away with practical next steps and the skills to make earlier involvement pay off.
Wednesday, September 16, 2026 / 02:45 PM - 03:15 PM PST
California Ballroom 6
Disruptions and alerts keep rising, while the capacity to act does not, leaving procurement reactive and resilience budgets driven by habit, not risk. Agents need real context to quantify disruptions, prioritize action, and put budgets to work. See how our clients like Siemens, Lear, Magna, Hilti and Kärcher are already doing it.
Wednesday, September 16, 2026 / 02:45 PM - 03:15 PM PST
California Ballroom 7
Negotiated value can disappear after signature. Discounts, rebates, price protections, SLA rights, and renewal leverage are often buried in contracts and disconnected from the teams responsible for realizing them. This session explores how procurement, legal, and finance can turn contracts into active commercial tools—and how AI can surface the next best action to capture savings.
Wednesday, September 16, 2026 / 03:15 PM - 03:45 PM PST
Exhibit Showcase, California Ballroom Foyer, Lagos Foyer
Join us for refreshments in a brief break between sessions.
Wednesday, September 16, 2026 / 03:45 PM - 04:15 PM PST
California Ballroom 6
Learn how Chief Procurement Officers can drive exceptional team performance in the AI era by fostering psychological safety. This session explores proven approaches to building trust, encouraging innovation and empowering teams to adapt and thrive alongside emerging technologies.
Wednesday, September 16, 2026 / 03:45 PM - 04:15 PM PST
California Ballroom 5
AI disruption and a slowing SaaS market have created a perfect storm for IT buyers. Because vendors now crave long-term backlog revenue and AI adoption, the standard deal mold is breaking. Join this session to learn how to exploit this shift for new agreements and proactively shield your captive legacy IT budget against forced AI repackaging and extreme repricing.
Wednesday, September 16, 2026 / 03:45 PM - 04:15 PM PST
California Ballroom 8
Working with IT vendors always carries some degree of risk. Managing these risks and pressing vendors to comply with internal and external standards and regulations only solves one part of this risk. Evaluating vendor responses to adverse events offers a more complete view into a provider’s fit in your organization.
Wednesday, September 16, 2026 / 03:45 PM - 04:15 PM PST
California Ballroom 7
Markets, stakeholder expectations and business priorities are shifting faster than traditional indirect category management can keep up. Learn how to build modern, insight driven indirect and IT subcategory strategies that respond to market volatility, anticipate business needs and strengthen stakeholder engagement. Evolve category management into a proactive, business aligned capability that delivers sustained value in a constantly changing environment.
Wednesday, September 16, 2026 / 04:30 PM - 05:00 PM PST
California Ballroom 6
CPOs often look for an off the shelf structure they know will work, but value falls short when it does not reflect their organization’s realities. This session shows how to tailor your procurement structure to your environment. Walk away with practical ways to shape a procurement structure that delivers real results.
Wednesday, September 16, 2026 / 04:30 PM - 05:00 PM PST
California Ballroom 5
Procurement leaders seeking to demonstrate their value to the business frequently rely on dashboards that do a good job of demonstrating the performance of the function. However, these dashboards often fail to answer a vital question for business partners about what they should do with it. This session will showcase how procurement leaders can build more prescriptive, actionable dashboards.
Wednesday, September 16, 2026 / 04:30 PM - 05:00 PM PST
California Ballroom 7
In today’s business environment, maintaining strong vendor relationships is essential — but sometimes, challenges arise. This session will help you understand how to spot and address issues with vendors that may be affecting your business negatively. We’ll share practical tips for communicating effectively, resolving conflicts and protecting your interests, so you can turn difficult vendor situations into productive partnerships.
Wednesday, September 16, 2026 / 04:30 PM - 05:00 PM PST
California Ballroom 8
The risk and impact of ethical and compliance exposure from uncontrolled bias and lack of transparency in AI and GenAI software is growing. This session discusses how IT SPVM leaders can ensure vendors are contractually bound to deliver responsible and interpretable AI.