GEP Europe Tour 2025, London: Q&A with Prashant Ram
The GEP Europe Tour 2025 touched down in London with all the energy of a movement reshaping procurement through AI.
Set against the historic backdrop of St Ermin’s Hotel, once a meeting place for MI6, the event carried an air of intrigue, mirroring the excitement around AI’s growing influence in supply chain management.
Industry heavyweights took the stage, tackling key topics from digital payments to frictionless procurement.
A standout moment was the Procurement Leaders Panel, where experts like Simon Hannak (Costa Coffee) and Sarah Willmott (Nationwide) shared practical insights on AI-driven efficiency.
As one of 11 stops on GEP’s European tour, the London event reinforced the company’s mission to drive innovation.
Supply Chain Digital caught up with Prashant Ram, VP at GEP, to discuss its impact on the industry.
Please introduce us to the GEP Europe Tour - what is it all about?
So we do this every year and at the start of the year we put together our view of the way procurement is evolving around the world.
It's our way to tell the world what's going on. We typically go around about 15 cities in Europe and we tend to do this in North America and Asia as well.
It's just about telling the world what's happening in the world of procurement and informing them of the latest trends to look out for. Right now it's all about spend and AI, for example.
The GEP Europe Tour is growing at an impressive pace. Why is it so important to bring industry professionals together in one place?
I think back to maybe five years ago, when we used to do a lot of events like this and then after the pandemic it all died down.
A lot of people weren't coming into the office and if you think about just the city of London, it used to be dead and people weren't meeting in person.
I think that's part of the problem. This is just our attempt at trying to get people back, meeting each other face-to-face a little bit and just interacting.
I think for us as a company, we recognise we're not particularly well known, so it's nice to just get our name out there, get people in the room interacting and learning a bit about us.
Why do GEP solutions stand out when it comes to driving value for business?
As a company, unlike a lot of other firms, we have a laser focus on procurement and we do nothing else.
We’ve got a consulting practice, managed services and a technology practice and they’re all very much procurement focused.
I like to think we understand procurement better than most people do and I think for that reason we do stand out.
What does GEP hope to achieve from today's event?
I think it's about getting people together.
For a lot of people I've spoken to today, the first thing they say is ‘I haven't been to an event like this in five or six years,’ and I think that's true for most people.
Just getting out there, meeting your peers and understanding what's going on is so important.
I think we all get stuck in a little vacuum and it's nice to hear different perspectives and about what's going on in the world - I think that's how we all grow.
Why should companies join GEP in the era of enterprise AI?
As a firm we've always been at the forefront of technology. We've always liked to stay one step ahead of the game.
So AI is something we've been using in our solutions for close to a decade.
We are at the forefront of that breakthrough and I think it's just our way of connecting the world to some of the projects that we’re already working on.
Remaining tour dates
- Zurich, 25 February 2025
- Paris, 5 March 2025
- Geneva, 6 March 2025
- Copenhagen, 11 March 2025
- Stockholm, 12 March 2025
- Helsinki, 13 March 2025
- Lisbon, 19 March 2025
- Madrid, 20 March 2025
Explore the latest edition of Supply Chain Digital and be part of the conversation at our global conference series, Procurement & Supply Chain LIVE.
Discover all our upcoming events and secure your tickets today.
Supply Chain Digital is a BizClik brand.
