It’s definitely a great show, Karthik Rama — I was disappointed I couldn’t make it this year to join the panel with Shaun Syvertsen and Sheena Smith.
That said — and maybe not yet heard around the world — the biggest game-changer in procurement just happened, led by IBM and Anthropic – https://bit.ly/3Wrvr94.
Think of DPW Amsterdam in the same light as the incredible car shows of the 1950s and ’60s.
All the great models — with their chrome, color, and innovation — had distinct appeal. But every one of them shared the same core: a combustion-engine framework. Without it, you’d have nothing more than shiny objects that couldn’t move.
That’s where IBM and Anthropic come in.
While DPW showcases the bodywork — the beauty and diversity of the ProcureTech ecosystem — this partnership introduces the engine framework: governance, interoperability, and readiness.
And that’s what will finally get procurement where it’s been trying to go for years.
Welcome to the future.
TODAY’S TAKEAWAY: Today’s ProcureTech solutions are sleek and beautiful, but without the underlying engine, they won’t take you far.
30
BONUS COVERAGE: CANONICAL RAILS PRIMER
Canonical Rails: The Procurement “Connector Tissue”
Think of Canonical Rails as the underlying tracks that hook everything together — across systems, stakeholders, and workflows.
They ensure that:
- Data moves in a consistent, standardized form (no translation loss).
- Processes flow along governed pathways (no policy drift).
- Agents, tools, and humans interact with shared context (no misalignment).
In a multi-platform procurement stack — Coupa, Scoutbee, TealBook, SAP Ariba, etc. — the rails do the heavy lifting:
- They normalize supplier and spend data across applications.
- They enforce governance logic (policy gates, risk checks, compliance triggers).
- They support AI agents and MCP adapters, ensuring readiness and traceability.
Without canonical rails, every integration is a one-off bridge — brittle, inconsistent, and hard to audit. With them, you get seamless interoperability, behavioral alignment, and readiness at scale — the prerequisites for high Hansen Fit Scores.
“Canonical Rails hooks everything together — safely, consistently, and measurably.”
Procurement Insights
DPW Showcases the Body — IBM and Anthropic Just Introduced the Engine
Posted on October 9, 2025
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It’s definitely a great show, Karthik Rama — I was disappointed I couldn’t make it this year to join the panel with Shaun Syvertsen and Sheena Smith.
That said — and maybe not yet heard around the world — the biggest game-changer in procurement just happened, led by IBM and Anthropic – https://bit.ly/3Wrvr94.
Think of DPW Amsterdam in the same light as the incredible car shows of the 1950s and ’60s.
All the great models — with their chrome, color, and innovation — had distinct appeal. But every one of them shared the same core: a combustion-engine framework. Without it, you’d have nothing more than shiny objects that couldn’t move.
That’s where IBM and Anthropic come in.
While DPW showcases the bodywork — the beauty and diversity of the ProcureTech ecosystem — this partnership introduces the engine framework: governance, interoperability, and readiness.
And that’s what will finally get procurement where it’s been trying to go for years.
Welcome to the future.
TODAY’S TAKEAWAY: Today’s ProcureTech solutions are sleek and beautiful, but without the underlying engine, they won’t take you far.
30
BONUS COVERAGE: CANONICAL RAILS PRIMER
Canonical Rails: The Procurement “Connector Tissue”
Think of Canonical Rails as the underlying tracks that hook everything together — across systems, stakeholders, and workflows.
They ensure that:
In a multi-platform procurement stack — Coupa, Scoutbee, TealBook, SAP Ariba, etc. — the rails do the heavy lifting:
Without canonical rails, every integration is a one-off bridge — brittle, inconsistent, and hard to audit. With them, you get seamless interoperability, behavioral alignment, and readiness at scale — the prerequisites for high Hansen Fit Scores.
“Canonical Rails hooks everything together — safely, consistently, and measurably.”
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