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Omnea appoints Michael van Keulen as CPO in Residence. - Content Director Published: Aug 13 2026 Procurement technology company Omnea has appointed former Coupa Chief Procurement Officer Michael van Keulen as CPO in Residence, bringing nearly 30 years of procurement, finance and enterprise transformation experience to its product strategy and customer programmes. Procurement Leadership To Support AI Strategy Omnea, which provides an agentic operating system for procurement and supplier management, has appointed Michael van Keulen as CPO in Residence. Van Keulen will contribute to Omnea's product strategy and roadmap while working with customers on procurement transformation. Former Coupa CPO Brings 30 Years of Procurement Experience He brings nearly 30 years of experience across procurement, finance and enterprise transformation. Van Keulen previously helped build the procurement function at VF Corporation, the parent company of brands including The North Face, Timberland and Vans, before serving as Head of Procurement at Lululemon. He subsequently spent five years at Coupa, initially as Chief Procurement Officer and later as Practice Leader, advising organisations on procurement transformation and digital strategy. Michael van Keulen, CPO in Residence at Omnea, said: "This market has seen more innovation in the last three years than the previous twenty. The intake and orchestration players that took on Coupa while I was there intrigued me - the market needed that competition. "But the more I researched and spoke to my network, the more I saw a similar product architecture and approach, with a prettier front end. AI is a generational opportunity to do things genuinely differently, and a slightly shinier P2P wasn't enough for me. I wanted a truly AI-native solution. Omnea's name kept coming up. The deeper I dug, the more certain I became. This was it." Agentic AI Targets Procurement Transformation Van Keulen's appointment comes as Omnea develops its use of agentic artificial intelligence (AI) across procurement and supplier management. Ben Freeman, CEO and founder of Omnea, said: "MVK has seen this market from every seat, and nobody is better placed to help its customers seize what AI makes possible than someone who has led enterprise transformation from the inside. "He'll work shoulder to shoulder with our customers, and sharpen how we build our agentic operating system for procurement. Having him choose Omnea is a proud moment for us." Omnea Expands as Enterprise Adoption Accelerates Omnea said its revenue tripled in the 12 months to June 2026, representing its third consecutive year of more than threefold growth. Enterprises including PayPal, Just Eat and T. Rowe Price selected the platform during the first half of 2026. Global headcount increased 64 per cent during the same period, while its New York team grew 250 per cent as adoption in the US increased. Van Keulen added: "The next generation of procurement innovation won't be measured by how many workflows it automates or agents it implements. It will be measured by how intelligently it helps businesses make better decisions. I'm excited to build that future with Omnea." This article was produced by the editorial team at North America Outlook and published as part of the Outlook Publishing global network of B2B industry magazines. Outlook Publishing delivers industry insights, company stories, and sector coverage across manufacturing, mining, construction, healthcare, supply chains, food production, and sustainability. North America Outlook provides ongoing coverage of organisations and developments shaping industries across North America.

Smart Procurement World marks 20 years as Africa's Procurement & Supply Chain leaders reflect on two decades of transformation. August 5, 2026 Founders, sponsors and industry leaders gathered virtually to trace procurement's rise from a back-office afterthought to a boardroom priority, ahead of the 20th annual Smart Procurement World Indaba in September JOHANNESBURG, South Africa - Smart Procurement World marked the 20th anniversary of its founding with a virtual leadership roundtable on 29 July 2026, bringing together six of the profession's most influential figures in South Africa and across the continent to reflect on two decades of change and to look ahead to the future of African procurement and supply chain management. The hour-long, unscripted conversation, streamed live to more than 1,200 registered viewers from across Africa and beyond, brought together Debbie Tagg, CEO of Smart Procurement; Bernie Van Niekerk, Founder and Editor of Smart Procurement; Kgalaletso Tlhoaele, Enterprise Development Executive at Absa; Yashodh Singh, Regional Vice President for Africa at Coupa; John Karani, Kenya-based supply chain leader and Secretary General of African Supply Chain Confederation (ASCON); and Melita Ntsane, Chief Procurement Officer at African Bank. The panel was hosted and moderated by Jimmy, broadcasting from Johannesburg. The panelists traced Smart Procurement origins back to 2006, when Bernie Van Niekerk launched what began as a newsletter for around a thousand subscribers writing about strategic procurement - a concept he described as, at the time, "almost a bit of a dream" for the profession. Early gatherings drew just 100 to 150 people, some held during the load shedding of the mid-2000s. Two decades on, the platform has grown into a continent-spanning community, with Tagg - who joined the organisation 15 years ago - describing Smart Procurement World as "literally my third child." "If I could summarise it in one word, it's impact," said Bernie, reflecting on the organisation's growth. "I've progressed from an informal little network to a place of impact, which I'm really glad to see." COVID-19 as a turning point Panelists agreed that the COVID-19 pandemic, beginning with South Africa's lockdown on 25 March 2020, was the moment the procurement profession proved its strategic value beyond doubt. From sourcing ventilators and personal protective equipment to holding supply chains together through crisis, procurement teams moved from being viewed as "work prevention managers" - a phrase Bernie recalled from the profession's earlier, less strategic years - to being recognised as central to organisational survival. "Procurement was evident in showing itself as a change agent, as a superpower, and as a catalyst or transformer," said Melita Ntsane of African Bank. "The profession came out stronger and more pronounced, both strategically and operationally." Yash Singh of Coupa illustrated the divide the pandemic exposed between digitally enabled organisations, which continued operating seamlessly from home, and those still reliant on paper-based processes, which struggled with physical signatures and manual documentation. That gap, he noted, has only widened as artificial intelligence adoption accelerates: "AI is nothing without data," he said, adding that companies with strong digital foundations are now best placed to benefit from AI-enabled procurement tools. Technology, AI and the case for a strong foundation The conversation turned to the growing role of artificial intelligence in procurement, with panelists cautioning against over-reliance on the technology at the expense of core professional expertise. Yash urged emerging professionals to master procurement fundamentals before turning to AI tools: "AI is only as good as the person who's wielding it," he said. "You are the spark, and then AI will execute. AI is not the spark - it's not going to create the magic or the strategy." Melita Ntsane shared African Bank's own digital transformation journey, including its ongoing implementation of Coupa's procurement platform, describing the shift from "archaic, document-heavy" workflows towards agentic procurement capable of automatically connecting purchase orders, invoices and payment cycles. A pan-African outlook John, dialing in from Kenya, spoke to the founding in 2025 of ASCON, a new continental body for African supply chain professionals, describing it as "long overdue" after decades in which the continent's supply chain community remained fragmented along national lines. "We realised that we got to create local, regional and pan-African supply chains, because we can no longer depend on China," he said, linking the initiative to the wider ambitions of the African Continental Free Trade Area. Kgalaletso Tlhoaele of Absa, whose support of Smart Procurements enterprise and supplier development programme has supported an estimated 30,000 small, medium and micro enterprises (SMMEs) over some 15 years of partnership, said commitment to supplier diversity and localisation varies by sector but is steadily strengthening across corporate South Africa. "More and more corporates are starting to see the benefit of diversity in their supply chain," Kgalaletso said. "It's not necessarily only about transformation or inclusion - it is about diversity. You never know what is out there." Building the next generation Looking ahead, panelists emphasised the importance of developing new talent for the profession. Tagg highlighted Smart Procurement World's Future Leaders initiative, designed to expose younger professionals to the profession's technology, opportunities and impact, and to counter negative media narratives around government procurement and corruption with positive, achievement-focused stories. Asked to complete the sentence, "I hope the next generation of professionals never have to ...," panelists offered a range of reflections: from Kgalaletso's hope that they "never have to worry about procurement," to Yash's wish that young professionals "won't spend 10 years arguing about a seat at the table, because it's done," and Melita's hope that they "never have to shy away from technology, because it's amazing." Looking to September The roundtable closed with an invitation to the wider industry to attend the 20th annual Smart Procurement World Indaba and the 15th annual Absa Enterprise and Supplier Development Expo, taking place in September 2026. Organisers noted that more than 3,500 people attended the in-person event last year and encouraged the industry - sponsors, suppliers and procurement professionals alike - to help identify past contributors to the platform's 20-year history ahead of the celebration. "What I witnessed in the past 40 or 50 minutes was very different - this wasn't a panel, I was just talking to my friends," said host Dumi Jere in his closing remarks. "If the last 20 years were about earning a seat at the table, then perhaps the next 20 are about building a bigger table - for Africa, for our suppliers, for our SMMEs, for the young person in this room who doesn't know yet that they are about to change this profession."

Coupa receives a Customers' Choice distinction in 2026 gartner(r) Voice of the Customer for Source-to-Pay Suites. As the only vendor with a 99% Willingness to Recommend rate, Coupa Software believe Coupa continues to deliver innovative outcomes for customers with Coupa Compose and Catalyst for agentic AI success FOSTER CITY, Calif. - August 5, 2026 - Coupa, the leading platform for autonomous spend management, today announced its recognition as the only vendor named a Customers' Choice in the July 2026 Gartner Peer Insights(TM) Voice of the Customer for Source-to-Pay Suites report. Rated by verified Gartner end-user reviews, Coupa earned an overall rating of 4.9 out of 5.0 stars with 99 percent Willingness to Recommend rate: as of April 2026. "Coupa customers today can see on average 30 to 40 million dollars of savings for every billion of spend managed with Coupa," said John Frank, Chief Customer Officer at Coupa. "And we believe with Compose AI we can double or triple that return on investment. Capturing that opportunity in agentic AI is why we introduced Coupa Compose and Catalyst." To build on this customer recognition, Coupa Software believe Coupa continues to create a clear path to partner with customers on their AI-driven success and ROI. Coupa Compose delivers this through an agentic framework featuring Agent Studio, Intake and Orchestration, and Navi Connect. All of which were further accelerated through the company's recent acquisition of Tonkean. Compose's entire framework is supported by Catalyst transformation services to ensure workflow design and success. Rather than dealing with complex configurations, Coupa's white-glove Catalyst program pairs customers directly with elite Forward-Deployed Engineers and Forward-Deployed Business Consultants to build and deploy custom agents in harmony with their teams. According to the Gartner report, "As S2P becomes increasingly AI-enabled, value realization depends on robust data foundations, explainability standards and governance models. This note guides procurement technology leaders to learn from ratings and reviews shared by peers on Gartner Peer Insights." To address this market need, Coupa Software believe Coupa's integrated enterprise spend stack leverages recent acquisitions of Rossum and Tonkean to deploy AI agents that advise, assist, and act. These agents utilize a trusted, permissioned, and governed dataset derived from actual customer transactions. Currently, 350 customers globally use Coupa Navi agents to free up team members' time. The Expenses Receipt Parsing agent has seen the greatest adoption, and over 130 custom agents have been developed with Agent Studio. To address concerns over high AI implementation and training costs, Coupa is removing financial barriers. The company is offering special incentives for customers to adopt agentic AI risk-free, including promotional pricing models available through the end of the year. To read the full Gartner Peer Insights S2P Report, visit the Gartner S2P Voice of the Customer Landing Page here. Gartner Disclaimer Gartner, Voice of the Customer for, Source-to-Pay Suites, Peer Community Contributor, 20 July 2026 Gartner and Peer Insights are trademarks of Gartner, Inc and/or its affiliates. Gartner Peer Insights content consists of the opinions of individual end users based on their own experiences, and should not be construed as statements of fact, nor to the represent the views of Gartner or its affiliates. Gartner does not endorse any vendor, product or service depicted in this content not makes any warranties, expressed or implied, with respect to this content, about its accuracy or completeness, including any warranties of merchantability or fitness of a particular purpose. About Coupa Coupa is the leading platform for autonomous spend management. Celebrating its 20-year anniversary, Coupa uses its trusted, community-generated, $10 trillion dataset to bring evidence-based intelligence and autonomous AI agents to a network of 11M+ buyers and suppliers on a unified platform. Coupa seamlessly automates the purchasing and transaction process for buyers and suppliers alike, powering the #1 business trade network. With Coupa, you'll make margins multiply(TM). Learn more at coupa.com and follow Coupa Software on LinkedIn and X (Twitter).