Delivering AI-powered, next-gen category strategy at scale
Our Partnership
Sourcing Champions combines deep category management expertise with akirolabs’ AI-powered platform to deliver transformational category strategies. Our mission is to turn global sourcing and procurement into a true competitive advantage for every company.
The powerful combination of akirolabs and Sourcing Champions transforms category management from a tactical function into a strategic one, enhancing the recognition of category management as a key driver of added value. Companies will be able to track, measure and act on a range of category initiatives that result from an AI-powered strategy development and supplier management. Sourcing Champions and akirolabs together strengthen procurement transparency to give rise to strategic initiatives for improved and measurable results.
About akirolabs
akirolabs is a next-generation, AI-powered SaaS platform that transforms category management through a strategy framework shaped by in-depth category analysis. akirolabs ensures category strategies are easy to track and fully aligned with corporate objectives by capturing business requirements and integrating them into the planning process.
Achieve strategic procurement goals through akirolabs’ AI-powered framework that covers 3 steps of analyzing, strategizing, and realizing.
By integrating company insights with real-time supply market data, akirolabs creates a strategy-ready environment that delivers transparency, clarity, and actionable outcomes. The platform supports a deep analysis of internal and external factors: combining stakeholder collaboration, market intelligence, business environment insights, and spend data to build a solid strategic foundation. With this groundwork, akirolabs helps users strategize by identifying high-impact value levers, evaluating supplier dynamics, and managing risk, all while aligning with overarching business goals. From there, akirolabs supports seamless realization of strategies through purpose-driven procurement, value tracking, business reporting, and versioning, ensuring initiatives are implemented, monitored, and adapted for lasting impact.
akirolabs outcomes: Collect a clear, real-time company overview on procurement data and spend analysis, to take accurate and precise actions and accelerate, amplify and sustain business value. akirolabs collects, processes, and synthesizes data from across the organization to support planning, innovation, and the execution of responsible, purpose-driven strategies. The software allows you to plan, track and innovate on procurement initiatives to make your category operations responsible.
“Turn strategic thinking into routine”
Programs
Full Implementation – Strategic Category Management & Governance
This is the foundational phase where Sourcing Champions supports your organization in establishing or elevating a structured, strategic approach to managing procurement categories, whether you’re building Category Management from the ground up or strengthening existing practices.
Using akirolabs as the enabling platform, our team of experts guides the development and governance of high-impact category strategies through a combination of consulting, coaching, and AI-driven insights.
- Comprehensive category strategy development across key spend areas
- Establishment of governance frameworks for strategic decision-making
- Embedded mentoring and coaching by Sourcing Champions consultants
- Mid-term check-ins and final strategic presentations
- Hands-on guidance to build internal capabilities and adoption
- Designed to institutionalize Category Management as a strategic function, powered by akirolabs
Light Implementation – Strategic Activation / POC
Light Implementation is used after a Full Implementation to support new strategic cycles in categories or regions that don’t require deep governance or intensive coaching. It enables organizations to expand the use of akirolabs in a more agile and focused way, while still maintaining strategic structure and expert support.
It may also be applied in earlier stages as a pilot to test the approach on a smaller scale before full adoption.
- Supports additional waves, categories, or geographies with lighter needs
- Focus on initiating or refreshing strategies with targeted guidance
- Strategic input from Sourcing Champions without full-scale involvement
- Leverages akirolabs to ensure alignment and continuity
- Enables efficient scaling of Category Management practices
Roll-Out – Scaling Category Management Across the Organization
The Roll-Out phase focuses on expanding the reach of strategic category management to new regions, business units, or waves of categories. This phase ensures the consistent application of strategies, tools, and governance established in the initial implementation.
A key outcome of the Roll-Out is increasing the share of high spend under strategy, helping the organization achieve broader impact, better alignment, and stronger value delivery.
- Activation of new categories or regions not covered in earlier phases
- Application of consistent strategic frameworks using akirolabs
- Support from Sourcing Champions to ensure strategy quality and adoption
- Onboarding and enablement of new stakeholders
- Drives higher overall spend coverage with structured strategies
- Strengthens cross-functional alignment and global procurement maturity
