In December 2024, Satya Nadella triggered a global debate when he suggested the traditional SaaS application model was collapsing, leading some to conclude that SaaS is dead. The business applications we’ve relied on for twenty years — the CRMs, ERPs, S2P platforms — are, in his words, “CRUD databases with business logic” that will “collapse” as AI agents take over.
The industry scrambled to interpret what he meant.
I didn’t have to scramble. I’ve been saying the same thing since 1998 — just in procurement-specific language, and without a global microphone.
The Thesis Nadella Validated
When Nadella talks about the future, he doesn’t lead with technology. He leads with “data culture.” His 2014 Microsoft blog post made it explicit:
“A data culture isn’t just about deploying technology alone, it’s about changing culture so that every organization, every team and every individual is empowered to do great things because of the data at their fingertips. This means bringing together people, IT and developers to create a cultural shift that is just as important as systems and infrastructure.”
That’s not a technology-first position. That’s a foundation-first position.
Technology amplifies whatever foundation exists. It doesn’t create one.
The Procurement Translation
What Nadella is saying at the macro level — agents, data, AI — I’ve been operationalizing at the procurement level for decades:
- 1998 (RAM/DND): Solved a parent-child SKU nightmare not with technology, but by asking “what time of day do your orders come in?” The answer revealed agent behaviors that no system could have diagnosed.
- 2008 (CATA Alliance SAP White Paper): Documented why ERP implementations fail — not because of software limitations, but because of organizational readiness gaps.
- 2025 (Hansen Fit Score): Built a methodology that measures whether organizations have the governance, process alignment, and cultural readiness to absorb transformation — before they spend millions on platforms that will amplify their existing dysfunction.
Nadella is the macro voice on “agents + data.”
I’m the practitioner voice on “readiness + physics.”
Why This Matters Now
The procurement technology industry is about to go through a massive disruption. Agentic AI will replace interfaces. Traditional SaaS will increasingly collapse into data and orchestration layers. The platforms that defined the last two decades will either evolve or become obsolete.
But here’s what won’t change: AI agents will demand clean data, unified architecture, and governance maturity. They will expose every gap in your foundation — faster and more ruthlessly than any human audit ever could.
Organizations that aren’t ready won’t just fail at implementation. They’ll fail at an accelerated pace, with compounding consequences.
The Hansen Fit Score Opportunity
This is why the Hansen Fit Score exists — and why its timing couldn’t be more relevant.
Before you invest in the next wave of procurement technology, you need to know:
- Do you have the data governance to feed AI agents?
- Do you have the process alignment to absorb agentic workflows?
- Do you have the cultural readiness to trust machine-driven decisions?
The Hansen Fit Score doesn’t sell you technology. It tells you whether you’re ready for it.
Because Satya Nadella is right: the future is data and AI-first.
But only if you have the foundation to support it.
I’ve been building the methodology to assess that foundation for 27 years. Now the rest of the industry is catching up.
-30-
About the Author
Jon Hansen is the founder and CEO of Hansen and creator of the Hansen Fit Score methodology. His foundational frameworks — Strand Commonality, Agent-Based Modeling, and the Metaprise model — were developed through research funded by the Canadian Government’s Scientific Research & Experimental Development (SR&ED) program beginning in 1998. This work successfully transitioned into a fully operational solution platform for Canada’s Department of National Defence, achieving 97.3% delivery accuracy and leading to a $12 million company acquisition in 2001. Jon has maintained continuous documentation of the procurement industry’s evolution through Procurement Insights since 2007, creating what he calls “institutional memory” of the field’s transformation challenges and patterns. His current work focuses on helping organizations assess their readiness for technology transformation before they invest — not after they fail.
#procurement #AI #datagovernance #digitaltransformation #HansenFitScore #readinessfirst #SaaS #agenticAI #supplychainleadership
Procurement Insights
Procurement Insights Readers: When the World’s Most Influential Tech CEO Validates What You’ve Been Saying for Decades
Posted on December 3, 2025
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In December 2024, Satya Nadella triggered a global debate when he suggested the traditional SaaS application model was collapsing, leading some to conclude that SaaS is dead. The business applications we’ve relied on for twenty years — the CRMs, ERPs, S2P platforms — are, in his words, “CRUD databases with business logic” that will “collapse” as AI agents take over.
The industry scrambled to interpret what he meant.
I didn’t have to scramble. I’ve been saying the same thing since 1998 — just in procurement-specific language, and without a global microphone.
The Thesis Nadella Validated
When Nadella talks about the future, he doesn’t lead with technology. He leads with “data culture.” His 2014 Microsoft blog post made it explicit:
“A data culture isn’t just about deploying technology alone, it’s about changing culture so that every organization, every team and every individual is empowered to do great things because of the data at their fingertips. This means bringing together people, IT and developers to create a cultural shift that is just as important as systems and infrastructure.”
That’s not a technology-first position. That’s a foundation-first position.
Technology amplifies whatever foundation exists. It doesn’t create one.
The Procurement Translation
What Nadella is saying at the macro level — agents, data, AI — I’ve been operationalizing at the procurement level for decades:
Nadella is the macro voice on “agents + data.”
I’m the practitioner voice on “readiness + physics.”
Why This Matters Now
The procurement technology industry is about to go through a massive disruption. Agentic AI will replace interfaces. Traditional SaaS will increasingly collapse into data and orchestration layers. The platforms that defined the last two decades will either evolve or become obsolete.
But here’s what won’t change: AI agents will demand clean data, unified architecture, and governance maturity. They will expose every gap in your foundation — faster and more ruthlessly than any human audit ever could.
Organizations that aren’t ready won’t just fail at implementation. They’ll fail at an accelerated pace, with compounding consequences.
The Hansen Fit Score Opportunity
This is why the Hansen Fit Score exists — and why its timing couldn’t be more relevant.
Before you invest in the next wave of procurement technology, you need to know:
The Hansen Fit Score doesn’t sell you technology. It tells you whether you’re ready for it.
Because Satya Nadella is right: the future is data and AI-first.
But only if you have the foundation to support it.
I’ve been building the methodology to assess that foundation for 27 years. Now the rest of the industry is catching up.
-30-
About the Author
Jon Hansen is the founder and CEO of Hansen and creator of the Hansen Fit Score methodology. His foundational frameworks — Strand Commonality, Agent-Based Modeling, and the Metaprise model — were developed through research funded by the Canadian Government’s Scientific Research & Experimental Development (SR&ED) program beginning in 1998. This work successfully transitioned into a fully operational solution platform for Canada’s Department of National Defence, achieving 97.3% delivery accuracy and leading to a $12 million company acquisition in 2001. Jon has maintained continuous documentation of the procurement industry’s evolution through Procurement Insights since 2007, creating what he calls “institutional memory” of the field’s transformation challenges and patterns. His current work focuses on helping organizations assess their readiness for technology transformation before they invest — not after they fail.
#procurement #AI #datagovernance #digitaltransformation #HansenFitScore #readinessfirst #SaaS #agenticAI #supplychainleadership
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