Arkestro AI helps companies “predict and execute” smarter procurement decisions on global supply chain – Rob DeSantis, Arkestro CEO

Amid the geopolitical tensions and market volatility, Arkestro’s AI tools are making giant strides, helping companies optimize procurement decisions and supply chain strategy.

In this interview, Rob DeSantis, CEO and co-founder of Arkestro, talks to Ndubuisi Micheal Obineme, Managing Editor, The Energy Republic, about the company’s AI tools and its notable success stories across the global supply chain.

In his words, Rob said the company’s AI enables energy companies and industrial leaders to save between 16% and 30% under supply chain management. This includes sourcing, spot buys, services, logistics, and more. Arkestro customers include Chevron, Nissan, Valvoline, Aramco, NextDecade, Koch Industries, and more.

Excerpts:

TER: Tell us about your expertise, track record, and your company’s value propositions for the energy sector.

DeSantis: I am the Chief Executive Officer and Co-Founder at Arkestro. I’ve been in the procurement space for 30 years, starting with co-founding Ariba in 1996. I ran sales, propelling the company to $250 million in revenue in four years and an IPO in 1999.

More recently, I’ve been investing and advising a small portfolio of companies, including Bloom Energy, HiQ Labs, Agiloft, USEND, and more. I was also an early angel investor and board member of LinkedIn.

With Arkestro, I saw enormous potential in the company, and our already-proven impact speaks for itself.

Energy companies deal with massive, complex, and volatile commodity prices. We help them move from a reactive “wait and see” posture to a proactive “predict and execute” model. By addressing the biggest
issues in supply chain—time and scale—Arkestro reduces friction and competitively prices every line item while taking all other decision factors into account.

In aggregate, we’ve helped energy and industrial leaders capture between 16% and 30% savings, driving that value straight to earnings per share while drastically reducing cycle times and allowing teams to capture 3x to 5x more spend under management. This includes sourcing, spot buys, services, logistics, and more. Our customers include
Chevron, Nissan, Valvoline, Aramco, NextDecade, Koch Industries, and more.

TER: What’s your assessment of the current state of the global supply chain? What are the challenges and emerging trends reshaping the energy supply chain ecosystem?

DeSantis: The global supply chain is permanently volatile, rather than characterized by temporary disruptions.

Over the past few years, geopolitical conflicts, climate events, and shifting trade dynamics have made resilience and efficiency a priority for energy companies and their partners. The most recent challenge is
the escalation of attacks on the Strait of Hormuz, which is one of the world’s most strategically important shipping passageways.

A significant portion of global oil and LNG exports passes through this
route, so any instability immediately reverberates through shipping rates, insurance costs, and energy prices.

At the same time, demand within the energy sector is evolving quickly with the rapid expansion of digital infrastructures. Data centers are becoming major electricity consumers and are reshaping energy
procurement strategies. They’re also evaluating how AI adoption fits into strategic plans and its ability to boost visibility, optimize logistics networks, and identify supplier risk earlier.

TER: What are the building blocks of Arkestro AI, particularly on supply chain management? How does it provide a predictable and resilient supply network?

DeSantis: Combining data science with human behavior science, Arkestro’s leading predictive procurement platform is built on three patented sciences:

1. Negotiation Science: Data-driven, transparent strategies that secure optimal pricing and terms with extreme speed and scale.
2. Supplier Science: AI-powered supplier selection, engagement, and feedback for maximum impact to both suppliers and buying organizations.
3. Process Science: Using modern, embedded architecture and patented process flows that accelerate procurement cycles at scale without extra effort.

With these capabilities, Arkestro helps shift traditional procurement to become a proactive, results-driven function. Teams are no longer stuck in prolonged negotiations or slow procurement cycles.

Instead, they can build stability and efficiency through smarter, strategic decisions grounded in rich historical data.

TER: How can Arkestro AI and predictive tools help companies optimize procurement decisions and navigate through the unprecedented challenges in the energy supply chain? Where have these solutions been deployed so far, and what are the success stories?

DeSantis: Right now, we’re helping energy companies navigate unprecedented disruptions in oil prices and availability.

Arkestro’s breadth of data allows buyers to make quick turns to less-impacted channels and suppliers.

For example, our customer, Koch Engineered Solutions (KES), was looking for a solution to transform its procurement process, where most of their line item spend was not competitively priced, and spot buys were so urgent, prices paid were at a premium.

With Arkestro’s predictive procurement platform, all line items—including spot buys, services, custom parts, and services— became manageable, reducing costs and saving time at scale. The paradigm shift around speed, scale, and ease of use allowed KES to roll out globally in their first year of use and then integrate with their Infor ERP system for even faster system communication in the second year.

KES was also able to use Arkestro in engineering for new product introductions. With the ability to establish suggested prices on all line items in a matter of minutes, KES could make both design and proposal decisions with substantially more confidence than ever before.

The result is a smoother, scalable global operation that maximizes value for KES, its suppliers, and its customers.

Arkestro allows for two paradigm shifts: Addressing all spend, not just the top 10-20%, due to the platform’s AI capabilities, speed, and scale.

The second is the fast time-to-value. Arkestro customers go “live in 5” days.

Twenty months ago, Chevron decided to try Arkestro to impact tangible cost savings, understand operational efficiencies, and, ideally, transform how they do business. In the first few days of use, Chevron drove tens of millions of sales through thousands of line items on the platform.

The speed and scale of this accomplishment in such a short time were transformative, and the tangible value received was so extreme that Chevron began an enterprise-wide rollout.

Based on compelling internal stakeholder testimony on fast time-to-value on EPS impact and ease of use, Chevron decided to roll out globally before any integration.

Users from Angola, the Philippines, Australia, and Thailand were all trained last year. Chevron chose to go global with Arkestro beyond its U.S. team because of our demonstrated results: oil and gas customers
realize an average tangible cost savings of greater than 20%.

Our partnership with Chevron helped them overcome the challenge of limited time and resources, enabling accelerated impact without overextending the team. In January, during their earnings call,
Chevron (like Valvoline) mentioned the use of predictive procurement as a contributor to EPS.

Because of Arkestro’s patented sciences, suppliers now have a much more elegant way of receiving requests from buyers. They also get dynamic feedback quickly, which allows them to make timely business decisions rather than the traditional way of using phone, email, spreadsheets, and P2P systems.

Our data-driven, game theory-based platform delivers huge value to both buyers and suppliers quickly.

This agility has been especially valuable during supply chain disruptions, when Arkestro’s adaptive model enables all parties to update and refine offers in real time based on changing market realities.

Projects can keep moving without delays.

TER: With disruption caused by trade wars, cybersecurity issues, and extreme weather conditions, what are the competitive advantages of Arkestro AI to help companies navigate through the market volatility?

DeSantis: Market volatility is the new normal in today’s global supply chain. Arkestro’s predictive procurement platform powers enterprises to move fast without losing control.

As a continuous, data-driven, and transparent system, Arkestro moves companies away from reactive, episodic sourcing to manage and maintain operations amid supply chain volatility. Our unprecedented platform unlocks material value in the supply chain that was never possible to achieve before, quickly and at scale.

Arkestro’s platform also gives procurement teams a breadth of knowledge. Predictive procurement is based on data: historical buyer/seller behavior, market context, and institutional knowledge.

Every new event builds upon that institutional knowledge, so Arkestro learns what your company’s particular supply needs are. Leveraging this institutional knowledge allows every individual to achieve the best outcome on every line item.

Arkestro takes out the day-to-day manual tasks that make negotiations so lengthy, allowing procurement teams to focus on critical decisions.

In particularly volatile times, that speed and visibility give Arkestro customers a significant advantage. With Arkestro, companies can move deliberately, at scale and speed, positioning themselves to absorb volatility rather than being exposed to it.

TER: What’s your outlook for the global energy supply chain in 2026 and beyond? What are the key factors to drive growth in the supply chain ecosystem?

DeSantis: The global energy supply chain has reached an inflection point, where adopting predictive procurement is the primary differentiator between market leaders and those remaining behind due to volatility.

We have moved past the era of reactive procurement, and a predictive enterprise is now the baseline for managing an energy business amid surging electrification demand, data center buildout, and a fragmented geopolitical landscape. In this environment, the most resilient companies are the ones that successfully transition from manual, back-office sourcing and procurement to predictive procurement cycles.

The industry is also shifting from AI adoption as an experiment to a deep operational function. At Arkestro, we’ve seen our predictive procurement platform deliver high-impact, cost- and time-saving
outcomes at scale for enterprises within days and weeks of adoption.

Past that timeframe, the value continues to deepen and becomes a core part of day-to-day functions.

Beyond AI, the key growth drivers in the supply chain ecosystem will center on supplier collaboration and spend intelligence at scale.

Together, they are transforming predictive procurement as a strategic competitive advantage, and the energy industry is one of the most important spaces where that shift is playing out in real-time. The key decision corporations now have to make is whether to bring in predictive procurement with a “land and expand” strategy or a transformational strategy.

Ultimately, transformation is the most competitive and collaborative methodology in today’s fast-moving supply chain world.

Arkestro’s AI-powered platform, patented sciences, and “live in 5 speed” enable enterprises to execute that transformation in days, not years.