Global spending on AI continues its trajectory of rapid growth as businesses increasingly recognise the value it brings and invest in projects that utilise their artificial intelligence capabilities. The International Data Corporation predicts that global AI spend will increase 50% per year, to over $50b by 2021, which shows the importance of implementing AI into business strategies globally. However, it’s not just about the AI tools and processes businesses should be focused on – it’s equally important to have the right data to find valuable insights.
Artificial intelligence, machine learning, and advanced analytics are helping companies to augment knowledge-intensive areas such as supply chain planning, customer order management and inventory tracking, and as a result, businesses are able to cut the supply chain complexity and respond quicker. Artificial intelligence in combination with advanced analytics enables businesses to make more strategic decisions and spend less time on reactive problem solving, moving away from the traditional inflexible supply chain to a more dynamic model that enables them to meet the needs of specific customer segments and manage exceptions.
actionable procurement insights
In some industries like Healthcare, BFSI and Retail the adoption of AI is becoming more and more mature. The applications are commonly used to improve the customer journey or customer services. Within the same industries according to recent research by Deloitte, procurement leaders remain hesitant about investing in artificial intelligence to optimize operations and processes further down in the value chain. In order to remain relevant and drive growth through cost transformation, Procurement needs to wake up to the reality that confronts it and start adopting AI driven initiatives. The digital revolution is inevitable and early adopters are leading the way in taking advantage of advanced analytical capabilities to enhance performance.
Using advanced spend and margin analytics allows organisations to take a deeper dive into their data and gain more detailed visibility into how their procurement function is performing. This results in actionable insights that can identify new opportunities for more consolidated spend, reduced costs, support negotiations analysis, increased efficiency and improved processes. Adaptation of such technology will cumulatively increase the benefits further down the value chain. The AI enhanced analytics process also means that companies are armed with detailed knowledge about market conditions, upcoming mergers and acquisitions and latest product comparisons, which means that there is a data driven strategy that provides the best possible terms.
4C Associates has recently launched “Insight-As-A-Service”, a range of software modules, collectively the 4C Analytics platform, to address procurement, cost and margin management issues. The platform combines the knowledge of procurement and subject matter experts with cutting-edge data analytics technology, with an easy integration process that ensures businesses can quickly collate, visualise and action procurement insights.
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