Ardent Partners: From AI experimentation to governed execution

Most procurement teams will hand AI the authority to act before they've decided what it's allowed to do. 61% of CPOs expect agentic AI across multiple procurement processes within two years, but only 19% have prioritized AI governance in 2026.

New research from Ardent Partners founder Andrew Bartolini shows procurement leaders how to expand AI's authority, while ensuring they can also govern it.

What you'll get:

• The Governed Execution Framework, a four-stage model that matches controls to the authority AI holds.
• A definition of 'AI Governance Debt' and the early decisions that create it, like a pilot with no owner.
• Four disciplines for putting governance into practice, from decision rights to functional ownership.
• Five recommendations for CPOs, starting with an inventory of where AI already runs.