Product and Platform
TCS TAP™
TAP™: A Cloud-based AI-powered Source-to-Pay Platform
Highlights
- Conversational procurement plays a significant role in driving efficiency, agility, and competitiveness in the procurement landscape.
- Chatbots powered by generative AI can revolutionize the source-to-pay processes and generate significant value for organizations.
- A user-friendly chatbot can reduce manual intervention, streamline the entire procurement lifecycle, empower employees, and improve overall satisfaction.
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Procurement efficacy
As technology breakthroughs revolutionize the procurement process, efficiency is paramount and is marked by fragmented systems, manual intervention, and lack of real-time data, all of which hinder organizations from optimizing their procurement strategies. The source-to-pay (S2P) process covers various activities, from sourcing suppliers to processing payments and any kind of delays or inefficiencies along the line that can have significant consequences adversely impacting the operational performance and bottom line of organizations. However, with the concept of AI-powered chatbots, a new model of streamlined procurement is shaping up.
GenAI-driven chatbot
Intelligent conversational chatbots can revolutionize S2P processes by:
- Enhancing user experience with conversational interface. Users will get not only a seamless user interface experience but also the ability to execute various tasks, such as raising requests, supplier inquiries, order status/tracking, and more, with natural language conversations.
- Automating routine tasks across the S2P process, which can include processing bulk POs, auto-approving invoices, managing supplier interactions, etc. This will save users a lot of time and allow them to focus on other strategic activities, which will drive efficiency and effectiveness.
- Real-time interaction between suppliers and chatbots can enable seamless communication for various use cases, such as instant inquiries on order status, delivery schedule, issue resolution, etc. Less human intervention will streamline the entire procurement lifecycle more effectively.
- Intelligent insights and recommendations can be generated by executing ML algorithms on historical procurement data (e.g., spending patterns). Chatbot analyzes past contract performance, identifies suppliers who consistently deliver on time and within budget, and recommends supplier prioritization of suppliers for the future, reducing risk and improving overall S2P efficiency.
Boosting procurement
Let’s dive deep into how chatbots enhance procurement processes:
- Creating requisition: Chatbots help users guide them through the process and ensure critical information is captured. They also help users initiate purchase requests with respective quantities, items, approvals, etc.
- Supplier identification: Chatbots can recommend pre-defined vendors based on the requisition details, search through internal databases, or connect with external supplier networks.
- Price negotiation: Automating basic price negotiation with pre-defined rules, allowing procurement users to focus on other complex negotiations.
- Order placement and confirmation: After approvals, the chatbots can help generate and send POs to suppliers automatically. They can also help track order confirmations and update requestors' status.
- Invoice processing: Invoices can be received electronically, validated with POs, and sent for approval. A chatbot can also be configured to handle basic exceptions and automatically trigger approvals for undisputed invoices.
Business leg up
Reduced processing time: With enhanced automation, these chatbots can reduce requisition processing time and other tasks by up to half their standard time.
Increased productivity: Chatbots will enable less human intervention, allowing users to dedicate more time to strategic tasks, resulting in a remarkable boost in their productivity.
Accuracy: Chatbots can automate routine manual tasks to reduce errors in data and POs, which can save substantial procurement costs.
Compliance: AI-powered chatbots can ensure that all source-to-pay processes adhere to the company’s policies and regulations.
User satisfaction: Chatbots will prove to be user-friendly and can provide users with seamless experience of work processes, such as easily submitting requests and monitoring progress.
Future trends in conversational procurement
Conversational procurement holds exciting possibilities in future with emerging trends like voice-activated bots and advanced natural language processing. Additionally, they can assist procurement professionals as virtual assistants, designing customised suggestions, executing task autonomously, and learning continuously to improvise their performance.
Conclusion
AI-powered chatbots have the potential to transform the source-to-pay processes and unlock significant value for organizations with enhanced user experience and real-time support for users. They can be upgraded with advanced ML and LLMs and can be equipped with capabilities like analyzing/responding to complex queries, anticipating user’s requirements and suggesting actionable solutions. Furthermore, the conversational procurement will help organizations to embrace digital transformation by driving efficiency and agility in the procurement landscape.
