At this year’s DPW Amsterdam, negotiation technology was everywhere. But what surprised me was people's definitions of AI negotiation varied wildly and one consultant I spoke to mentioned how they had had to speak to 10's of providers before they found one which offered the service they needed - initially they all sound the same but underneath the buzz words they all do something different so this week, I did the research so you don't have to!
From autonomous agents to sourcing optimisers and data intelligence tools, “negotiation tech” is starting to fragment into distinct camps....
Everyone claims to “help you negotiate better,” but how they do it is wildly different. Below is a snapshot of how the biggest and most established players break down:
Negotiation tech isn’t one market – it’s three. Right now, most providers fall into one of these silos: automation (doing the deal), optimization (structuring the event), or intelligence (preparing the data). Each tackles a different part of the problem, often with little overlap.
AI is driving vertical specialization. Tools like Pactum, Nibble, and Gain are pushing toward true automation — where no sourcing event is needed at all. eSourcing / RFx players like Archlet, Crown, and Arkestro sit in structured workflows, while data-driven firms like WTP, Delvo, and SpendGuru feed the preparation stage.
Buyers want convergence. Procurement teams don’t want ten tools; they want one system that can prepare, run, and negotiate autonomously — safely and on brand. The orchestraion layer will be key to acheiving this
Multiple autonomous negotiator vendors were visible at DPW and in Tech Safari / pitch activity — the category is well funded and keen to prove ROI through closed deals, not just pilots. Pactum and Nibble were particularly visible.
Archlet, Crown, and Arkestro continue to show the growing complexity of RFx requirements: buyers still use structured events for strategic awards and are not ready to hand everything to agents for those categories but I think will increasingly look to simplify tactical spend.
The market-intel vendors have powerful data but increasingly need to help procurement teams take actions from that data.
Right now the market is split. Vendors specialise because the technical and commercial problems are different:
Next 12 months I expect three big trends:
A lot of companies are still asking us for co-pilots — AI tools that work alongside humans instead of running negotiations autonomously. Most people think this is what they want but I strongly believe they’ll quickly learn this is just a staging post to autonomous: most humans I know have better things to do than work for an agent!!
The market will inevitably evolve toward fully autonomous agents because the ROI is simple: rules-based, repetitive negotiations are faster, cheaper, and more reliable when AI does them end-to-end. Over the next 12–24 months, requests for co-pilots will fade as buyers realise they don’t need a “partner” — they need outcomes. Humans will shift to oversight, exception handling, and high-value strategic negotiations, leaving the bulk of routine deal-making to AI from start to finish.
DPW made something obvious: “negotiation tech” is not a single thing. Some firms will win by being the best narrow tool; the true winners will stitch narrow tools together into a platform that actually delivers closed deals and repeatable uplift. But I think the vision is much bigger than this:
The next wave of negotiation technology won’t just automate deals — it will strengthen relationships. Today, most AI tools focus on speed, efficiency, and cost savings. But the real opportunity is far deeper: using AI to understand counterparties better, personalise communication, and build trust at scale. Imagine a system that not only remembers what terms were agreed last quarter but also why they mattered to your supplier — and uses that insight to open the next conversation on the right footing.
Negotiation has always been about relationships, not transactions. AI should make those relationships richer, more consistent, and more informed. The companies that win in this next phase won’t be the ones who close the most deals automatically — they’ll be the ones who use AI to nurture stronger, more collaborative partnerships over time.
That’s the shift coming next: from automation to augmentation — from doing deals faster, to doing them better.
Find out more from Nibble's experience negotiating 100,000 times a month here.
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