In a recent interview, I was asked if going against the flow of the equation-based ProcureTech first tide makes sense, given the challenges that it creates. Here is an unedited transcript from that discussion.
I have my work cut out for me; for example, the entire system is rigged to reward a tech-first, equation-based model, despite the past failures of this model. My instincts and logic are telling me to focus on identifying and working with high-functioning practitioner clients and ProcureTech solution providers who have been around a long time and are aligned with my agent-based approach.
Here are the specific “sound bites” that stand out:
The System IS Rigged Against You
Major analysts depend on technology vendors for revenue – they don’t profit from documenting implementation failures How Many Analyst Firms and Consultancies Shared This Information and These Numbers (2000 to 2025)?, and there’s no business model for failure analysis: There’s no revenue stream in studying what doesn’t work, only in promoting what vendors claim will work. How Many Analyst Firms and Consultancies Shared This Information and These Numbers (2000 to 2025)?
The Lance Younger** example perfectly illustrates this: ProcureTech 100’s primary role was ecosystem-building and digital innovation promotion, not third-party critical evaluation. How ProcureTech Solution Provider Commentary on Agentic AI Downsides Differs from Procurement Industry Experts and Analysts | Procurement Insights. Even supposed “independent” analysts are structurally incentivized to promote technology-first approaches.
** ProcureTech CEO Younger stresses we must change the negative narrative and focus on accelerating the positive.
Why Does Your Focus on Seasoned Players Make Strategic Sense?
1. Battle-Tested Experience
Long-term ProcureTech providers have lived through multiple implementation cycles. They’ve seen the 80% failure rate firsthand and understand that technology alone doesn’t guarantee success. They’re more likely to appreciate a methodology that improves their customer success rates.
2. High-Functioning Practitioners Are Our Natural Market
Skilled procurement professionals empower technology to deliver results Coming December 2025 . . . A New Era Begins For Procurement Practitioners – these practitioners already understand intuitively what the Hansen Method formalizes. They’ve likely experienced both successful and failed implementations and can recognize the value of our approach.
3. Mutual Value Alignment
Established solution providers need customer success to maintain their reputation and growth. The Hansen methodology essentially transforms procurement transformation from a high-risk gamble into a calculated investment with measurable success indicators. This directly serves their business interests.
The Strategic Advantages of This Approach
1. Proof of Concept Expansion
Working with seasoned players enables us to build even more case studies, demonstrating that identical platforms produce wildly different outcomes because success ultimately depends on the human capability layer, not the software features.
2. Natural Referral Network
High-functioning practitioners and successful solution providers have networks filled with others who’ve experienced implementation failures. They become natural advocates for our methodology.
3. Competitive Moat
While Gartner ranks platform capabilities and McKinsey calculates technology ROI, we’ve been documenting how masterful practitioners extract value from any system—and how unprepared organizations fail with the most sophisticated platforms. This positions us to take the lead in an area where the big players can’t compete.
Why Do You Initially Avoid the Conference Circuit?
The DPW/Lance Younger dynamic shows that mainstream industry events are structurally committed to the technology-first narrative. Establishing a clear-cut, definable separation of the roles between solution providers (sales & marketing) and the unbiased assessment of industry experts and analysts is impossible when the events themselves depend on vendor sponsorship.
Your Strategic Positioning
We fundamentally reject the vendor narrative that technology drives transformation. Our proprietary archives document the opposite truth—that procurement professionals, when properly equipped with process archaeology skills and agent-based thinking, consistently turn average technology into exceptional results.
This is exactly what seasoned practitioners and solution providers need to hear – and exactly what the mainstream industry can’t say due to their structural incentives.
The Long-term Play
Once we’ve added to our portfolio of success stories with high-functioning clients and established solution providers, we will be in an even better position to challenge the industry narrative. We want the market to consider what we provide to be ProcureTech implementation insurance! This value proposition will become increasingly compelling as more organizations experience the consequences of technology-first approaches.
30
BONUS COVERAGE
Procurement Insights
The road might be long, but the people-first, agent-based cause is justified (Interview Highlights)
Posted on September 15, 2025
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In a recent interview, I was asked if going against the flow of the equation-based ProcureTech first tide makes sense, given the challenges that it creates. Here is an unedited transcript from that discussion.
I have my work cut out for me; for example, the entire system is rigged to reward a tech-first, equation-based model, despite the past failures of this model. My instincts and logic are telling me to focus on identifying and working with high-functioning practitioner clients and ProcureTech solution providers who have been around a long time and are aligned with my agent-based approach.
Here are the specific “sound bites” that stand out:
The System IS Rigged Against You
Major analysts depend on technology vendors for revenue – they don’t profit from documenting implementation failures How Many Analyst Firms and Consultancies Shared This Information and These Numbers (2000 to 2025)?, and there’s no business model for failure analysis: There’s no revenue stream in studying what doesn’t work, only in promoting what vendors claim will work. How Many Analyst Firms and Consultancies Shared This Information and These Numbers (2000 to 2025)?
The Lance Younger** example perfectly illustrates this: ProcureTech 100’s primary role was ecosystem-building and digital innovation promotion, not third-party critical evaluation. How ProcureTech Solution Provider Commentary on Agentic AI Downsides Differs from Procurement Industry Experts and Analysts | Procurement Insights. Even supposed “independent” analysts are structurally incentivized to promote technology-first approaches.
** ProcureTech CEO Younger stresses we must change the negative narrative and focus on accelerating the positive.
Why Does Your Focus on Seasoned Players Make Strategic Sense?
1. Battle-Tested Experience
Long-term ProcureTech providers have lived through multiple implementation cycles. They’ve seen the 80% failure rate firsthand and understand that technology alone doesn’t guarantee success. They’re more likely to appreciate a methodology that improves their customer success rates.
2. High-Functioning Practitioners Are Our Natural Market
Skilled procurement professionals empower technology to deliver results Coming December 2025 . . . A New Era Begins For Procurement Practitioners – these practitioners already understand intuitively what the Hansen Method formalizes. They’ve likely experienced both successful and failed implementations and can recognize the value of our approach.
3. Mutual Value Alignment
Established solution providers need customer success to maintain their reputation and growth. The Hansen methodology essentially transforms procurement transformation from a high-risk gamble into a calculated investment with measurable success indicators. This directly serves their business interests.
The Strategic Advantages of This Approach
1. Proof of Concept Expansion
Working with seasoned players enables us to build even more case studies, demonstrating that identical platforms produce wildly different outcomes because success ultimately depends on the human capability layer, not the software features.
2. Natural Referral Network
High-functioning practitioners and successful solution providers have networks filled with others who’ve experienced implementation failures. They become natural advocates for our methodology.
3. Competitive Moat
While Gartner ranks platform capabilities and McKinsey calculates technology ROI, we’ve been documenting how masterful practitioners extract value from any system—and how unprepared organizations fail with the most sophisticated platforms. This positions us to take the lead in an area where the big players can’t compete.
Why Do You Initially Avoid the Conference Circuit?
The DPW/Lance Younger dynamic shows that mainstream industry events are structurally committed to the technology-first narrative. Establishing a clear-cut, definable separation of the roles between solution providers (sales & marketing) and the unbiased assessment of industry experts and analysts is impossible when the events themselves depend on vendor sponsorship.
Your Strategic Positioning
We fundamentally reject the vendor narrative that technology drives transformation. Our proprietary archives document the opposite truth—that procurement professionals, when properly equipped with process archaeology skills and agent-based thinking, consistently turn average technology into exceptional results.
This is exactly what seasoned practitioners and solution providers need to hear – and exactly what the mainstream industry can’t say due to their structural incentives.
The Long-term Play
Once we’ve added to our portfolio of success stories with high-functioning clients and established solution providers, we will be in an even better position to challenge the industry narrative. We want the market to consider what we provide to be ProcureTech implementation insurance! This value proposition will become increasingly compelling as more organizations experience the consequences of technology-first approaches.
30
BONUS COVERAGE
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