The PennZone

SAN FRANCISCO - PennZone -- Bid Ops unveils practical skills workshops at Optimal: The AI Conference for Procurement Teams, a one-day virtual conference for modern procurement teams focused on real-world use cases of AI. Procurement teams will take away the latest best practices, process templates and toolkits designed to empower various roles within the procurement and sourcing organization to upskill as they embark on their digital transformation journey.

"In today's digital age, immersing oneself in proven best practices and the latest technologies is more critical than ever to keep pace with the increasing velocity of the industry," said Edmund Zagorin, Bid Ops CEO. "These will provide conference attendees with the skills and proven practices to foster a culture open to adopting AI technologies to ensure procurement success."

More on The PennZone

• Crosswalk Ministries USA Announces 2026 Child and Family Well-Being Conference in Stockbridge, Georgia
• Autism Podcast Helps Parents Understand Why Behavior Is Communication, Not Defiance
• Filmmaker Preston A. Dent to Premiere "Harrisburg-The Movie" at Whitaker Center for the Arts
• Pollock Begg Family Law Attorneys Earn 2026 Pennsylvania Super Lawyers Honors at Every Level
• Research reveals "The Borderless Pay Standard," a 48-point gap between multinational employers and workers on transparent pay expectations

Optimal workshops will be led by both industry peers and accredited subject matter experts in procurement analytics, process transformation, digital road mapping, negotiation strategy, sales and operations planning, remote collaboration, supplier diversity, and sustainable and social impact sourcing. Those who participate in select training workshops will have the opportunity to attain CE (continuing education) credits.

• The Business Case For Sourcing Productivity - Dr. Elouise Epstein, Partner at Kearney
• Using Data To Win Digital Business Negotiation - Matthias Schranner, CEO and founder of the Schranner Negotiation Institute
• "The Dangers of Dirty Data for Strategic Sourcing...and how to spot it" - Susan Walsh, Founder at Classification Guru
• Overcoming Three Common Obstacles To Implementing AI In Procurement - Dr. Karsten Machholz, Professor for Supply Chain Management and Procurement at the University of Applied Sciences
• Digital Procurement Operations Best Practices - Dominic Harris and Emma Jennings-Frisby Co-Founder at Harler and CarbonQuota and Sanjay and Agrima Agarwal, Founders at Proacure
• How the Power of Machine Learning is Transforming Sourcing - Ben Leiken, CTO at Bid Ops and Chandra Khatri, Chief Scientist and Head of Conversational AI at Got It AI
• How to Evaluate the Best in Procurement Tools - Rajiv Gupta, Founder at Procurement League and Anders Lillevik, Founder and CEO at Focal Point Procurement Solutions

Beyond practical workshops and peer-led sessions, Optimal will also feature keynotes from procurement thought leaders and technology pioneers including Zuora CEO Tien Tzuo, transformation thought leader and author Joanna Martinez, and procurement futurist Dr. Elouise Epstein.

More on The PennZone

• Global.ai Appoints Freedomtech Solutions as Specialist Partner for Agentic AI
• Communities In Schools of Eastern Pennsylvania's Ready, Set, Graduate! Celebrates Over 100 Students in Two Ceremonies
• Lansdowne Photographer Steven Weisz Selected for Philadelphia City Hall Exhibition
• Federal indictments bring new scrutiny to SPLC practices and highlight the real‑world impact of its designations on nonprofit groups, including NCFM
• Shedrack Anderson Releases New Album

"We are so excited to have such influential figures come together to share their perspectives on the impact of technologies from the cloud to AI on procurement today and into the future," explained Kait Ries, Bid Ops Marketing leader.

Attendees can register for free by clicking on this link.

Procurement professionals interested in speaking, joining a panel, or hosting a workshop should contact Kait Ries: kait@bidops.com.