Procurement Voices: Real S2P Journeys in the Agentic AI Era with DRB-HICOM Berhad and CEWA

Procurement transformation takes on new complexity in diverse, multi-entity environments. In this APAC edition, leaders from DRB-HICOM Berhad and CEWA share how they built procurement from the ground up—moving from zero processes, siloed operations, and manual workflows to a unified, digitally enabled Source-to-Pay ecosystem.

Their journey highlights how organizations modernize procurement during disruption, evaluate the right platform, scale adoption across thousands of users, and prepare for the next leap with Agentic AI across spend, suppliers, and contracting.

Top Insights from This Session

• Why both organizations prioritized an organically built, end-to-end platform enabling unified processes, data consistency, and governance.
• How ease of use and guided procurement became mission-critical for CEWA’s 11,000 non-procurement users.
• How DRB-HICOM evaluated global systems (SAP Ariba, Coupa, JAGGAER) before choosing Zycus for native integration, AI capabilities, and scalability.
• The three-step transformation framework: Consolidation → Standardization → Optimization across multiple companies.
• How automation and ‘golden supplier records’ improved compliance, reduced risk, and eliminated repetitive work.
• How cycle times dropped dramatically—tenders moving from 2–3 months to 4–6 weeks with streamlined governance.
• What leaders see as the next leap: AI-guided procurement, autonomous negotiations, and AI-managed intake & supplier processes.