Generative AI, also known as Gen AI, has quickly gained widespread attention, influencing every industry and function within organizations. Today, we are here to discuss the significance of generative AI in procurement. Generative artificial intelligence (AI) can provide significant benefits to a procurement organization through practical use cases, however, it is essential for organizations to develop a strong understanding of the key factors to consider when exploring this transformative technology.
What is Generative AI?
Generative AI is a powerful technology that facilitates the quick creation or modification of content based on a wide range of inputs. While text is the primary example in this context, Generative AI can also be applied to various other types of data, such as images, sounds, animation, 3D models, and much more. Gen AI models identify patterns and structures within existing data to generate new content.
According to Gartner, Generative AI technologies can generate newly derived versions of content, strategies, designs, and methods by learning from large repositories of original source content.
What Does Generative AI Mean for Procurement?
Gen AI has the potential to impact the procurement function and transform various part of the source-to-pay process, offering CPOs a powerful tool for enhancing efficiency, reducing costs, and improving the decision-making process. Importantly, it is crucial to note that artificial intelligence is not a threat to jobs, but rather a valuable collaborator. AI serves as an asset by freeing up human professionals to focus on strategic tasks that require more creativity, critical thinking, and sound judgment. This ensures that human expertise is best utilized where it is most impactful.
Gen AI is a Powerful Tool, Not a Replacement! Here’s Why
- Efficiency Enhancement: Gen AI can automates routine and time-consuming tasks, allowing procurement professionals to focus on the more strategic and creative aspects of their roles. This efficiency boost can lead to increased job satisfaction and better use of human skills.
- Data-Driven Decision Support: Procurement functions are overrun by data, and too often–they cannot effectively apply it to improve decision-making. Gen AI can provide CPOs and their teams with valuable insights and recommendations. While AI can process vast amounts of data quickly, humans must interpret these insights thoroughly and use them to make well-informed decisions based on the available data.
- Complex Problem-Solving: Procurement often involves complex negotiations, strategic planning, and relationship management, which benefit from human judgment, empathy, and creativity. Gen AI can assist in data analysis but cannot replace these critical formative and essential skills.
What to know and look for in Generative AI Tech
As we enter the “new world” of Gen AI for procurement, there are several key factors to consider.
- Firstly, the seamless integration of Generative AI into your existing procurement technology is crucial to ensure a smooth transition so your team can leverage the power of AI without disrupting your established workflows.
- Another critical aspect is data privacy. To maintain peace of mind and adhere to regulatory standards, organizations must prioritize Generative AI solutions that uphold the highest data privacy standards. Ensure that your sensitive procurement data remains secure and confidential–not used to train or retrain models.
- It’s essential to examine solutions that have the capability to interact with users. The ability to engage with and understand human input is invaluable, as it allows for more natural and effective collaboration between AI and procurement professionals.
- Considering the nascent nature of this technology, much remains undiscovered. Therefore, solutions that allow for a “do-it-yourself approach” confers a substantial advantage. Seek out Generative AI solutions that empower you to create novel use cases tailored to your distinct procurement requirements. This flexibility enables you to customize the technology according to the evolving needs of your organization.
- Select solutions that seamlessly connect with every part of the Source-to-Pay process. Our end-to-end integration ensures that AI plays a pivotal role throughout the entire procurement journey, from sourcing to payment, optimizing efficiency, and effectiveness.
Procurement Use Cases, Powered By Gen AI
There are hundreds of potential use cases when considering the capabilities of Gen AI and the responsibilities and operations of procurement. Below are a few initial scenarios made possible with Ivalua’s IVA (Intelligent Virtual Assistant) Powered by Generative AI.
This is just the beginning, we strongly believe that putting this technology in the hands of our customers and partners is critical and will help to accelerate and unlock innovation and additional use cases.
- Supplier Research: AskIVA to find and gather relevant information on existing or new suppliers and their offerings.
- Legal Assistant : AskIVA to create an instant contract summary or draft a clause to ensure specific elements are covered.
- Category & Market Insights : Within seconds, AskIVA to conduct specific research and summarize key trends within your category.
- Enhanced Communications: Content creation and proofreading capabilities! Provide your instructions, and IVA will quickly and effectively enhance your content to meet your needs.
- Generate Improvement Plans: AskIVA to review supplier performance responses, summarize, and suggest appropriate actions to create a structured improvement plan.
- Chat With Your Documents : Prompt IVA to pull relevant information, data, and insights from documents in seconds, such as: Supplier ESG reports, contracts, and 10K filings.
The Era of Gen AI
In a world driven by technological innovation, Generative AI, or Gen AI, has undeniably taken center stage. This transformative technology is not confined to a single function, in fact, it will impact every part of an organization, and today, we’ve explored what Gen AI means for procurement.
Gen AI, with its remarkable ability to rapidly create or modify content from diverse inputs, is poised to revolutionize procurement in significant ways. It’s not merely a tool; it’s a valuable collaborator, enhancing efficiency, reducing costs, and empowering procurement professionals to focus on strategic, creative, and decision-making aspects of their roles. Far from being a threat to jobs, Gen AI is a catalyst for job satisfaction and optimizing the utilization of valuable human skills.
The era of Gen AI in procurement is here, promising enhanced efficiency, data-driven insights, and collaborative partnerships between AI and human experts. By harnessing the power of Generative AI and being attentive to the right considerations, organizations can propel their procurement functions into a new era of innovation and effectiveness.
It’s important to note that this technology is not merely a passing trend, but rather a fundamental and critical step towards establishing a significantly more efficient and intelligent procurement operation.
