Tata Play automates tail spend procurement with Zycus AI platform

Tata Play, a direct-to-home (DTH) service provider, has announced its adoption of Zycus’ Autonomous Negotiation Agent (ANA) to manage and optimise its tail spend procurement. This marks a significant shift in how the media and entertainment industry approaches low-value, high-volume purchases that are often overlooked due to their fragmented nature.

Tail spend refers to the smaller, often ad-hoc purchases that typically fall outside an organisation's strategic sourcing efforts. While these purchases may individually represent low value, collectively, they can account for a significant portion of procurement budgets. Tata Play’s decision to automate this area of spend reflects a broader push within the industry to harness artificial intelligence for operational efficiencies.

With Zycus’ ANA, powered by the Merlin Agentic Platform, Tata Play aims to automate the sourcing and negotiation processes for its tail-end procurement. The AI agent is designed to independently handle multiple rounds of supplier negotiations, adapt to procurement policies, and ensure consistent outcomes without the need for continuous human oversight.

“Tata Play’s approach to tail spend management is now evolving from a reactive, manual process to a more strategic and data-driven one,” said Jaswinder Saini, Vice President & Head of Supply Chain Management at Tata Play. “By automating these transactions, we not only expect to realise cost savings but also free up our teams to concentrate on more complex, high-value sourcing activities.”

The deployment of Zycus’ platform is projected to help Tata Play achieve up to 15% cost reductions within its Facilities Management operations. Moreover, by reducing the operational burden on procurement teams, the company anticipates improved overall productivity.

Aatish Dedhia, Founder and CEO of Zycus, emphasised that such collaborations illustrate how AI is reshaping traditional procurement strategies. “Deep value procurement is about reimagining the potential of even the most overlooked spending categories. With our agentic AI, Tata Play is setting a precedent for smarter, more resilient procurement models.”

The partnership between Tata Play and Zycus underscores the growing adoption of AI in enterprise functions beyond customer experience and marketing, extending into core operational areas like supply chain and procurement.