When Novonesis began its AI Enablement journey in Procurement, the organisation was already ahead of the curve in one important way: there was openness.

Teams were curious about AI, leadership supported experimentation, and the topic was actively discussed. Yet despite this positive starting point, AI remained fragmented in practice. Some employees experimented independently, others avoided it altogether, and many were unsure how AI could be used safely and meaningfully in a highly professional procurement environment.

What was missing was not motivation — it was structure.

A Deliberate Decision for Enablement

Instead of rolling out AI as a generic digital initiative, Novonesis decided to approach it as a capability-building programme — tailored to procurement roles, responsibilities, and decision-making realities.

Together with PMA Academy, the organisation designed an AI Enablement journey consisting of two online learning sessions followed by a dedicated, company-specific Promptathon. The separation was intentional: learning first, application second — at full depth.

The goal was clear from the start: not faster experimentation, but better procurement work.

Learning That Translated into Action

During the online sessions, procurement professionals developed a shared foundation: how large language models work, how prompts influence outcomes, and where AI’s limits lie — especially in sensitive procurement contexts.

Crucially, learning was anchored in Novonesis’ reality. Participants worked with examples from their own procurement environment, exploring how AI could support tasks such as supplier discovery, offer comparison, sourcing strategies, and internal stakeholder communication.

In addition to the team’s online sessions, Novonesis hosted an onsite Promptathon that brought together a broader group of employees from across the organisation. While two participants from the original programme joined, the session intentionally expanded the circle to include new perspectives and roles.

The Promptathon became the moment where theory turned into confidence. Participants worked intensively on real procurement challenges, refining prompts, comparing outputs, and learning how to critically assess AI-generated results. What surprised many was not how powerful AI could be — but how significantly results improved once prompts were anchored in clear context, intent, and evaluation criteria.

The format accelerated learning across the wider organisation and demonstrated how AI capability can scale beyond a single team when knowledge is shared through hands-on experience.

What Changed after PMA Academy Training

After the programme, AI usage at Novonesis looked fundamentally different.

Procurement teams no longer used AI randomly or individually. Instead, AI became a shared working tool, embedded into preparation, analysis, and decision-making processes. Teams developed common approaches, reusable prompt structures, and a clearer understanding of when AI added value — and when human judgement was essential.

Confidence increased across experience levels. Even participants who had been sceptical at the beginning reported feeling empowered rather than overwhelmed. AI was no longer perceived as a risk or black box, but as a support system that could be controlled, questioned, and improved.

Leadership, in turn, gained visibility into how AI could support Procurement Excellence — not as a future promise, but as a present capability.

The Measurable Impact

The impact was tangible:

• Preparation times for key procurement tasks were reduced.
• Outputs became more consistent and structured.
• Teams collaborated more effectively by using shared AI-supported frameworks.
• Most importantly, AI moved from isolated experimentation to collective competence.

As one participant summarised after the Promptathon: “This was the first time AI actually felt useful for my real work — not just interesting.”

Why It Worked

Because Novonesis did not treat AI as a tool rollout. By separating learning from deep application, and by giving teams space to experiment with their own use cases, the organisation created psychological safety, clarity, and momentum at the same time.

The result was not just better prompts — but better procurement decisions.

AI Enablement at Novonesis proved that when structure meets curiosity, AI stops being an experiment and starts delivering value.

Check out our AI Enablement for Corporations courses.