My first trip to Amsterdam came with two things I was excited about: exploring a city I’d never visited and attending my first DPW conference. The canals and flower markets lived up to everything I’d imagined, and wandering through the canal district with a stroopwafel in hand was a lovely way to get to know the city. Even the weather cooperated during DPW, which felt like an extra gift for a first visit.

Stroopwafels by day, Amsterdam palaces by night

Walking into DPW with the Zavo team felt a little surreal. I’m still early in my procurement career, and here I was, hearing directly from leaders shaping the industry. I was especially interested in how they were thinking about the future of procurement, and what that might mean for my own career.

AI came up in nearly every conversation. People wanted to use it, but with so many tools emerging and changing so quickly, they were still working out what would help their teams. At our booth, the question got more specific: how could AI help with the work their teams were struggling to keep up with?

From the DPW floor: manifesting traffic, delivering demos 🤝

Team leaders talked about requests arriving from different places with no clear front door, making it difficult to keep track of what was in progress. Others brought up the effort of tracking renewals manually. The interest in AI was real, and so were the problems they wanted it to help solve.

One attendee put the urgency plainly:

“Get on the bus, or get run over by it.”

My biggest takeaway: the pressure to adopt AI is real, but what people want most is clarity on where it actually helps.

At the end of day one, we hosted a dinner with procurement leaders. Away from the event floor, the conversations became more personal, and hearing how they'd built their careers gave me plenty to think about going into day two.

These conversations gave me a clearer sense of purpose in my own work. I spend a lot of my time demoing and helping shape our platform, and it can sometimes feel abstract. I could relate to the day-to-day and strategic problems people described, and connect it more strongly to why we are building Zavo.

I left Amsterdam with new connections and a clearer sense of what I want to learn and contribute next. And while I wouldn’t mind a few more mornings by the canals, I’m excited to bring that perspective back to Chicago.

Kayla Wang is a Solutions Consultant at Zavo, based in Chicago. With a background in procurement consulting, she helps teams simplify their procurement processes through technology. In her free time, Kayla enjoys painting, traveling, and trying new recipes.