It is generally accepted in the current business climate that innovations in digital technologies are essential for corporations to remain competitive! Since a significant amount of cash flow is consumed in the procure to pay process, it has become an innovation focus for most corporations.
At an enterprise level procurement can be divided into 3 major categories…pre-buying activities / buying / post-buying. The majority of global companies have either implemented or on the path to implementing an enterprise solution to automate the breadth of the procurement process. This procurement enterprise implementation is not without challenges including but not limited to resistance to new technologies, lack of adequate training, employee frustration, key knowledge lost due to high turnover in staff and resistance to additional innovation until full value is realized from enterprise implementation.
Implementation of AI digital technology is rapidly becoming the solutions of choice for procurement innovation. AI has recently become a hot topic with strong statements about what should be expected from AI. When it comes to business centric mission critical digital process innovation, it is imperative that corporations select a solution that enhances and complements the existing enterprise procurement technology. Businesses cannot afford errors and complications generated by uncontrolled AI decisions.
Business AI digital solutions must be:
1) explainable,
2) controllable,
3) white box rather than black box,
4) include human in the loop,
5) focused as opposed to general purpose,
6) domain specific,
7) based on supervised training, and
8) curated.
Business focused procurement AI digital assistance such as those provided by Spotline, elevate procurement automation to an optimized business process. Each of the 8 traits of a business AI solution are included in the Spotline digital solution.
The procurement processes related to “pre-buying” activities are one area where the Spotline Procurement Bot provides an AI digital assistant that enables the right information to the right person at the right time. Being able to quickly access remedial training related to “how” and “when” to execute task such as purchase requisition creation from one source of information through interface of their choice, including Microsoft Teams, the users develop a “do it right the first time” culture.
During the “buying” and “post-buying” phases, users have the same “in the moment” access to current policies and procedures ensuring compliance with regulatory requirements and corporate policies related to ESG. Suppliers have immediate access to procurement documents status using the digital assistant. Approvers who work almost exclusively in Microsoft Teams can be gently nudged to approve or reject directly from their standard interface.
As with any innovation, metrics are one of the keys to success. Evaluation of assistance provided by the Bot is monitored and when necessary, human intervention is enabled. When complex issues require a service ticket creation and submission, the business AI powered assistant is activated. The combination of this continuous monitored activity ensures fast accurate response to inquiries. Various digital reports provide an analysis of the activity so that the appropriate action can be taken to mitigate future issues.
Utilization of an AI powered business digital assistant provided by Spotline throughout the procurement process, corporations fully complement their investments in enterprise automation strategies. The optimization of automation achieved with the implementation of a true digital assistant based on Business AI increases profit while stabilizing the procure to pay process. Now is the time to embrace AI powered digital assistants as the next innovation but be sure to address the AI component from a business perspective!
Operationalize Business AI Innovations with Spotline Procurement Bot!
