Procuring Success

Key takeaways

Procurement staff face significant challenges in vetting suppliers, often requiring extensive time and resources.
Dun & Bradstreet's Ask Procurement product leverages AI to facilitate faster supplier research using natural language queries.
Understanding client workflows during product development is crucial for creating tools that meet business needs.
Education around AI capabilities can lead to improved usage and realization of its benefits in procurement.
Future features of Ask Procurement will enhance its functionality by allowing integration of customer data into the procurement process.

Summary

Understanding Procurement Challenges

The podcast begins with an overview of the significant challenges faced by procurement professionals when selecting potential suppliers. Risks to evaluate include a supplier's financial health, legal disputes, and their environmental, social, and governance (ESG) metrics. The traditional research process is time-consuming, often requiring days to gather all necessary information.

Introducing Ask Procurement

Gary Cotevitz from Dun & Bradstreet discusses the launch of 'Ask Procurement', a new AI-driven product designed to streamline the supplier research process. By integrating IBM's Watson X AI, procurement staff can now ask straightforward questions in natural language, enabling quick access to critical supplier data, reducing the average time spent on vendor vetting by about 10 to 20%.

Product Development and Client Insights

During the development phase of Ask Procurement, Dun & Bradstreet gained valuable insights into client workflows. This understanding informs how the product is structured, ensuring that it meets the specific needs of customers regarding ESG scores, credit profiles, and other procurement criteria.

Transformative Role of AI in Procurement

The episode highlights the educational aspect of AI integration for customers. Initially, users faced challenges in understanding AI's capabilities, but as they became familiar with its potential, they were able to leverage it more effectively to streamline their procurement processes.

Future Developments in AI Procurement Solutions

Cotevitz shares Dun & Bradstreet's plans for Phase Two of Ask Procurement, which will allow customers to incorporate their data into the system. This will enhance the user experience and enable procurement staff from other departments to interact with supplier data more efficiently.

Show notes

Finding and onboarding new suppliers is a time-consuming process for procurement staff. Dun & Bradstreet has partnered with IBM to apply artificial intelligence to the process, enabling staff to query its databases in plain English to find suppliers who fit the criteria they need. The result is a simpler, faster process that is saving companies time and money.

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