Replay | Unplanned Work: Revolutionizing Intake to Level Up you Procurement

Did you miss it? No worries! Catch the Unplanned Work webinar below.

Through this webinar, we’ll demonstrate how the right digital procurement solution could switch up your intake from a reactive process to a strategic procurement function. You’ll get insights into managing your procurement workload efficiently, using comprehensive dashboards to monitor ongoing projects, and customizing workflows to your best fit. Trust us; it’s procurement like you’ve never seen before.

00:05: Introduction & Welcome
00:45: Topic Overview: Unplanned Work in Procurement
01:20: What is Unplanned Work?
03:40: Challenges of Reactive Procurement Work
05:30: Agility & Anticipating Demand
08:00: Benefits of Strategic Intake (End Users)
10:30: Automation, Visibility & User Experience
14:10: Benefits of Intake for Procurement Teams
17:00: Workflow Visibility & Efficiency Gains
19:30: Role of AI, Data & Automation
21:40: Real-World Use Cases & Collaboration
25:00: Orchestration, AI & Supplier Selection
28:30: Closing & Next Steps

0:05
awesome so welcome everyone we’re just
0:07
going to give everybody a little bit of
0:08
time to join as always I’m sure people
0:10
will just be trickling in but thank you
0:13
so much if you guys are joining us
0:19
today okay and if you have questions as
0:22
we go please do feel free to throw them
0:24
in the chat you should have access to
0:26
the chat um anything that we that we
0:28
don’t get to today obviously we’ll we’ll
0:29
give are contact so we can chat further
0:32
but I want you guys to feel free to go
0:33
ahead and and um jump in the chat at any
0:36
time so we’ll let people continue just
0:39
to trickle in um as we get started but
0:42
we’ll go ahead and start
0:45
now so obviously today’s topic is going
0:48
to be um unplanned work revolutionizing
0:50
intake to level up your procurement my
0:52
name is Maya and I’m going to be
0:54
moderating today but let’s go ahead and
0:56
get you um introduced to your host as
0:59
well
1:00
so we have Matthew Buckingham um he’s
1:03
our SVP of Business Development and
1:05
Partnerships and Zachary bolt SVP
1:07
strategy and operations welcome um to
1:09
both of
1:11
you thank you thanks ma thank you Ma
1:14
pleasure to be here yeah so excited to
1:17
have both of them real procurement Pros
1:18
so let’s go ahead and jump in before we
1:20
get started with our questions we’ll go
1:22
over everything that we’re going to talk
1:23
about today um so the first is what is
1:25
unplanned work in procurement we’ll just
1:27
talk about what it is um how in benefits
1:30
the end user in the organization um how
1:33
does intake benefit procurement teams
1:35
and their leaders and then we’ll talk a
1:36
little bit of course about focal point
1:38
and how we help facilitate all of that
1:40
sound good so we’ll just Dive Right In
1:42
question one what is unplanned work in
1:45
procurement Matthew maybe you can um
1:46
kick us
1:47
off yeah sure um yeah and and thanks
1:51
again for everybody for joining um we
1:53
see some people trickling in and uh some
1:55
interesting folks out there I I think
1:58
first of all it’s ironic unplanned work
2:02
in procurement is is kind of the thing
2:04
that everybody thinks of as the thing
2:06
that that procurement does it’s the the
2:09
buying stuff it’s um getting a request
2:12
getting out there buying it and uh and
2:14
making sure the business gets it um
2:17
procurement actually does a lot more
2:19
than that so if you procurement folks
2:21
out there we know that you’re doing all
2:23
sorts of other planned work and if you
2:25
look back on our webinar schedule you’ll
2:27
see that we we did a uh a webinar that a
2:30
little while
2:32
ago let’s dig dig into unplan work
2:35
though it refers to I mean the official
2:38
explanation from uh the association of
2:41
Supply Chain management is its unplanned
2:45
work refers to the unexpected and adoc
2:47
ad hoc requests that procurement teams
2:50
receive um it’s often rising from
2:53
changing needs um market conditions
2:56
sudden operational needs um gaps in
2:59
communication can be a big thing as well
3:01
so people kind of know that they need
3:03
this stuff but they don’t tell anybody
3:05
until that last minute if they planned a
3:08
year ahead you know we could do a
3:09
contract on it or whatever um these
3:12
unplanned expenses they often lead to
3:15
spot buying and spot buying means going
3:17
out there and finding a supplier buying
3:19
it um urgently normally um which means
3:23
it’s more expensive often less
3:26
controlled um especially when
3:28
procurement is not involved so if you’re
3:30
doing uh unplanned work and you’re doing
3:33
it outside of procurement often you just
3:35
will not get the best price and Zach got
3:38
any
3:39
thoughts yeah yeah you know I do and and
3:42
I’ve heard the terminology unplanned
3:44
work I’ve also heard it C called
3:45
reactive work as opposed to proactive
3:48
work or planed or things that you you
3:50
you strategically want want to focus on
3:52
as a procurement organization as as I’m
3:54
looking over the attendees here coming
3:56
in from some of our uh clients that we
3:59
work with it they they’ve told me you
4:01
know look we we’re drowning in these
4:03
requests we have all these issues and we
4:05
really don’t have time to even focus on
4:07
the on the work that’s honestly going to
4:08
move the needle inside the organization
4:10
in terms of managing our spend the
4:13
categories that I’m responsible for uh
4:16
helping to reduce uh mitigate risk and
4:18
uh assure that we have Supply and so I
4:20
think this arises uh largely because
4:24
maybe organizations have um under
4:27
underinvested in uh proper buying Chan
4:29
channel guidances for folks they don’t
4:31
have enough catalog content then you
4:33
have a lot of spin it’s off catalog that
4:34
people just you know you can’t put it in
4:36
a cart really easily and check it out
4:38
and go and so you have this this work
4:40
that comes in that that people I like
4:43
what you said Matthew about people you
4:44
know they say they think that’s what
4:45
procurement does like they sit by their
4:47
keyboard and they wait for you to
4:48
message them because they need to buy
4:49
something and in reality they’re doing
4:51
so much more than that and I think of
4:53
the unplanned work scenario it’s kind of
4:55
like the slack messages that we get or
4:57
the emails that are always bombarding
4:58
your inbox and what happens is that
5:00
stuff’s constantly distracting you
5:02
constantly distracting you from the
5:04
actual work that you need to be doing
5:06
the Strategic things that move the
5:08
needle in terms of the ability the
5:10
ability of the organization to manage
5:11
the spend and mitigate risk Etc like I
5:14
mentioned before so for me it’s that
5:16
this it has to be done you know you have
5:17
to service the needs of the business
5:19
whether it’s marketing or it’s Finance
5:20
or services or whatever you’ve got to
5:22
service the needs of the business but
5:24
doing so in a way that doesn’t just
5:26
disrupt the entire flow of what you need
5:28
to focus on as a procurement
5:29
professional is very very
5:32
difficult yeah absolutely couldn’t agree
5:35
more and I think if you can start to
5:37
anticipate that potential unplanned work
5:39
you know if you can you can start
5:42
to get to it more quickly U make it a
5:45
more flexible approach for the end user
5:48
and and the person who needs that or has
5:50
that need and and and more and more that
5:52
need’s going to coming more autonomously
5:55
and and
5:57
automatically um from you know as as AI
6:00
comes into different parts of the
6:02
business um and one of us had to say AI
6:05
at one point right Zach um absolutely
6:07
but as it starts to automate the
6:10
processes
6:12
um this is where the you know the the
6:15
concept of agility comes into into play
6:18
um you know that I was reading a report
6:20
from the hackit group recently agility
6:23
in procurement means uh I’d written it
6:25
down here somewhere being able to
6:26
anticipate or sense changes and swiftly
6:28
Implement effect decisions in response
6:31
if we can make procurement more agile
6:34
and and more able to cope with this
6:37
unplanned work we can make them um shine
6:41
within the company but also buy better
6:44
um buy from the right people enable you
6:46
know things like ESG so
6:49
sustainability um and and make sure
6:52
you’re you’re hitting your diversity
6:53
goals and things as well because this
6:56
this can all be brought into a strategic
6:58
area as well more and more
7:00
yeah I want to double click on something
7:01
you said a moment ago though you’re
7:03
talking about anticipating or predicting
7:05
the needs of the business and companies
7:07
that that have the luxury of of the uh
7:09
procurement staff to be able to sort of
7:12
embed themselves into the functional
7:14
areas like if it’s marketing or wherever
7:16
it’s at and then really have you closely
7:19
linked business partners but you know a
7:21
lot of that that you know work directly
7:23
with people so they’re able to predict
7:25
and anticipate needs better but so many
7:27
people don’t have the Staffing for that
7:29
and they just don’t have the the
7:30
capacity and so they end up completely
7:33
just reactive working to whatever comes
7:35
in the door and a lot of times you know
7:37
maybe even large buckets of spend or
7:39
things like that you talked earlier
7:41
about emergencies and they just they
7:42
didn’t know it was coming and so now
7:44
it’s just it’s the fire that we got to
7:45
go put out and so it happens but there’s
7:48
got to be a better way here right Maya
7:50
there’s got to be a better way for us to
7:52
be able to manage that unplanned
7:55
work yeah absolutely absolutely I loved
7:58
all of that I thought that was super
7:59
super helpful so now that we’ve talked a
8:01
little bit about what unplanned work is
8:03
um we’ll go ahead and we will talk a
8:06
little bit more about the benefits of
8:07
strategic intake for end users within um
8:11
the
8:14
organization Zach do you want to jump in
8:17
yeah I do so so the first the first
8:19
topic here is is on on the intake
8:21
benefit for for business users so if you
8:24
think about and the the concept or topic
8:26
the way I pitch this topic all the time
8:28
is going to where people are at right go
8:30
to where the the business requesters are
8:32
don’t necessarily make them come to your
8:33
solution go to where those people are at
8:35
so what are those benefits for for for
8:37
those folks obviously you know most of
8:40
the time you’ve got casual casual users
8:43
who make a purchase once or maybe twice
8:44
a year or even your more powerful
8:47
business users or once or twice a month
8:50
and so one of our clients that we worked
8:52
with they had 17 different buying
8:53
channels 17 like how does anybody know
8:56
where to go and so what they’re able to
8:58
do is to to leverage a solution to be
9:00
able to guide people to one place one of
9:03
our customers calls it their digital
9:04
front door even if you’ve got already
9:06
made an investment in E procurement
9:08
maybe you got you raise it tickets in
9:10
service now or whatever it is that you
9:11
do you’ve got one place where you guide
9:14
people so that everybody knows all right
9:15
I go here so that’s that’s a benefit
9:17
right there for them and then being able
9:19
to get things posted into the door just
9:21
kind of swept in so that somebody can
9:23
start helping me get my need met that’s
9:25
another benefit sort of takes the the
9:27
the pressure off people they’re like
9:28
okay I go here and then something’s
9:30
going to guide me to get me right to the
9:32
spot that I need to go and then I’m
9:33
going to have a predicted path in front
9:35
of me so that I know all right it’s
9:37
going to take about this long to get
9:39
this need met and then these are the
9:40
Milestones it has to go through along
9:42
that path and so there’s that comfort
9:44
and so what you end up with is a much
9:45
better user experience kind of like if
9:47
you if you’re going on to any a consumer
9:49
I just booked a vacation on a on a we on
9:51
on a vacation site and it was so easy
9:53
right you you just go on I need a cabin
9:55
in the smokies and away we go and you
9:58
get your place booked and you are so
10:00
being able to provide that kind of
10:01
experience that’s comforting and very
10:03
self-service for the business users
10:05
gives them a much better feeling about
10:07
working with procurement and then lastly
10:09
they have they understand and know when
10:11
am I going to get my need service and
10:13
that’s what everybody’s looking for is
10:14
when am I going to get my stuff when am
10:16
I going to get my contractor on boarded
10:18
when am I going to get my need service
10:19
that’s what they’re looking for and so
10:21
being able to to channel that through an
10:23
intake solution you can sort of meet all
10:25
of those needs and make it a really
10:28
really good experience for the business
10:29
requester Matt yeah you what are your
10:32
thoughts on
10:33
that yeah that I mean similar obviously
10:36
but first of all I’m worried that you’re
10:38
taking vacation I’m not sure that’s
10:40
that’s okay but Umar it’s permitted
10:43
occasionally around
10:44
here I think if you’re automating
10:47
automating the processes as well I mean
10:50
transparency visibility is absolutely
10:53
critical and and that enables the
10:55
procurement team to actually get on the
10:56
job with of of doing the right thing the
10:59
right time right and with the right
11:01
people um so if you can start to
11:03
automate some of those processes as well
11:06
um there’s end users you know like you
11:08
said they’re not having to chase their
11:10
their updates they they can see where it
11:12
is on that Pizza Tracker and and say you
11:14
know it’s it’s coming out of the kitchen
11:16
today it’ll be delivered tomorrow kind
11:18
of thing um that kind of thing is is
11:22
really critical and I think also you you
11:25
you shouldn’t underestimate the
11:27
reduction in errors as well so if we got
11:29
all of this stuff into one system if
11:31
we’ve got a way to to track it through
11:34
the process we’re not going to have as
11:36
many errors and um you know and delays
11:39
as well um and you’re going to have this
11:42
kind of auditable trail for the for the
11:44
business user as well so the the
11:46
business user can see why the decisions
11:48
were made at different points they’ll
11:50
have visibility into that and and that
11:53
business user may not be the the
11:54
original person who who had the request
11:56
and the requirement it could also be the
11:59
the CFO you know who or the the
12:02
controller who needs to understand why
12:05
did we decide to go with this specific
12:07
supplier why did we make that decision
12:09
at that point how has that impacted my
12:12
sustainability and things like that um
12:14
it’s really good for them as
12:16
well yeah and I want to double click on
12:19
point number two here enhanced
12:21
visibility into status into request
12:23
status Matt you and I talk with someone
12:25
yesterday at a at a very well-known
12:27
brand and there request is all done like
12:30
via email and then they’ve got like a a
12:32
little Excel type of database that
12:34
they’ve set up to track all the request
12:36
they have to manually go update all that
12:37
it has a different intake process so
12:39
they have to meet weekly and fold it all
12:41
together and then anytime a business
12:43
requestor needs an update on the request
12:47
they have to either service it via a a
12:50
an instant message an email or so or a
12:52
phone call or something like that which
12:54
again continues to distract away from
12:56
procurement actually being able to focus
12:58
on their core job and so being able to
13:03
to provide that sort of transparency and
13:05
visibility helps people to be
13:07
self-service and then takes that load
13:09
off of procurement and you can’t really
13:11
over you can’t really overestimate you
13:13
know the value of that in terms of what
13:15
you’re gaining on the back end imagine
13:17
not having to go fold in multiple
13:19
spreadsheets just to have a clear view
13:21
of everything that we’ve got outstanding
13:23
or not having to go write all your
13:25
updates as the procurement and other
13:27
stakeholders that you’re collaborating
13:29
with inside a solution work and just do
13:32
their jobs then naturally the process is
13:35
updated back to the requestor user and
13:37
they’re able to be fully self-serviced
13:39
whether they’re on mobile or they want
13:40
to log in or they want to interrogate
13:42
via slack or teams and see what’s the
13:44
status of my request all of those type
13:46
of things they’re able to be
13:48
self-service and so that’s empowering
13:50
for the business
13:52
user
13:54
absolutely for sure yeah I think that
13:57
was all great yeah you said you can’t
13:58
over State the the benefit of not having
14:00
to go back and forth over email for an
14:02
update like who doesn’t love that so
14:04
absolutely let’s let’s move um to the
14:07
next question let’s talk a little bit
14:09
about how um intake can benefit
14:11
procurement teams so on the other side
14:16
now sure um yeah I think for procurement
14:20
team some of those benefits are going to
14:21
flood through from the business user as
14:23
well they’re going to be similar in some
14:25
ways um you know intake it’s going to
14:29
reduce those manual tasks they have to
14:31
do as well so if if an intake solution
14:35
like focal point is set up correctly
14:37
you’re you’re going to get the right
14:38
data coming to them at the right time so
14:40
they’re they’re going to get more
14:41
information on the initial intake
14:44
they’re going to understand you know
14:46
what somebody wants to buy how many of
14:48
them from whom potentially they want to
14:51
buy it and why they want to buy it from
14:52
that for that particular supplier but
14:56
also they’re going to free up time to be
14:59
able to focus therefore on strategic
15:01
initiatives so the the knock on effect
15:03
is is not only that they get through
15:05
that process more more quickly the knock
15:08
on effect is that they they can then
15:10
focus on the more strategic stuff which
15:12
is actually probably reducing the the
15:15
unplanned element by bringing it into
15:17
planned as well as as time goes on um
15:20
and the more unplanned work you get into
15:23
into a solution for the procurement team
15:25
it’s it’s going to um allow people to um
15:29
to automate more efficiently and more
15:31
effectively as well in triage
15:33
Etc
15:35
um yeah I think I think the other thing
15:37
is that stuff’s just not going to get
15:39
lost for the procurement team um it’s
15:42
it’s going to be triaged into the right
15:44
place at the right time Zach do you want
15:46
to expand a bit yeah I’m actually gonna
15:49
riff for a minute on something that’s
15:50
not even on this slide because it it
15:54
occurred to me as as as you started
15:55
talking so you know one would think
15:59
think that if you go and you buy a full
16:01
source topace solution Suite that you
16:04
would have or even if you have you know
16:06
disperate parts that are integrated or
16:07
whatever you’d think that a process to
16:10
service a need from intake a need in the
16:13
door all the way through the purchase
16:15
order being cut would sort of be
16:17
straightforward especially if you buy a
16:19
fully integrated solution Suite it turns
16:21
out that’s actually not the case so what
16:24
happens is after requests are submitted
16:26
let’s say you do a a form that goes goes
16:29
into a requisition in a cart let’s say
16:31
you know you fill out a form because
16:32
sometimes people ask me they’re like you
16:34
know why couldn’t we just use our e
16:36
procurement solution for intake well you
16:39
you can except pretty much you’re
16:42
stopping off pointed after that form’s
16:43
filled out is it’s going to go into a
16:45
cart which is going to go into some sort
16:46
of requisition and if it can’t go
16:48
straight through it’s going to go to a
16:49
buyer’s desk and then all the Motions
16:51
that happen between the request being
16:54
submitted and the PO being issued all of
16:57
that stuff happens maybe it’s even the
16:59
same Solutions but a lot of times it’s
17:00
not even connected we need a supplier
17:02
set up we need a contract done we have
17:04
to have a risk review done even the
17:06
inside solution Suites these these Sol
17:09
these your disperate pieces don’t even
17:11
talk to each other and so now
17:12
procurement is like well heck I don’t
17:14
know where it’s at you know the person
17:15
who’s literally working on it doesn’t
17:17
know well has the sourcing team finished
17:19
or has is the legal team done with a
17:21
contract like we don’t know and so the
17:24
benefit one of the benefits for
17:26
procurement folks is being able to have
17:28
that visibility with an Enterprise grade
17:30
workflow that backs up that intake right
17:32
behind it and goes into that I’ll use
17:34
the term orchestration here that sort of
17:36
orchestrates everything not only does it
17:38
Foster that collaboration but it helps
17:40
people have I got one paint of glass I
17:42
go right here inside my focal point and
17:45
there it is everything that I’m working
17:47
on the dates that everything’s due it’s
17:49
all right there on one flat paint of
17:51
glass and so the benefit for that is
17:54
enormous you know Matt you know we we
17:55
talk about this all the time our clients
17:58
tell us that the Advent of our solution
18:01
makes organization makes an organization
18:04
20 to 30% more efficient with the exact
18:06
same staff 20% more efficient is giving
18:09
literally a day a week back per person
18:12
imagine if you got one FTE day per week
18:15
back what could you do you could take
18:17
over the world you can capture more
18:18
spend under management you can uh reduce
18:22
risk in your categories you can do so
18:24
much stuff by those those process
18:27
efficiency gains while service the needs
18:29
of the business yet more effectively and
18:32
so for me the the intake benefit for
18:35
procurement teams is just ABS it’s it’s
18:37
astonishing the benefits and the gains
18:39
that you get from I like your
18:41
terminology not having things drop
18:43
through the cracks being able to make
18:45
sure that we ring every bit of value out
18:47
because now we’re able with with intake
18:50
earlier in the process we’re able to
18:51
influence spend more effectively by
18:54
having one place that people know to go
18:55
so people are likely to go there earlier
18:58
and then we get the ability to do more
19:00
influence early on in the process which
19:02
obviously results in better outcomes in
19:04
terms of savings and and the cost that
19:06
were the price that we’re paying for the
19:08
services and the goods that we purchased
19:09
and and whatnot so the benefits here to
19:12
me are I mean beyond the ones that are
19:14
on the slide here just absolutely
19:15
enormous absolutely
19:18
enormous yeah I cann’t agree Mo um you
19:22
know and and that technology layer is is
19:25
what’s enabling this so you you know
19:26
you’ve got again looking at hacket group
19:29
but Gartner says the same thing I was
19:31
just talking to to Dr Eloise Epstein and
19:34
she was saying exactly the same thing
19:35
from Kerney um bringing in Ai and RPA as
19:40
well um and advanced analytics we can
19:44
automate those processes and and speed
19:46
up how we’re getting getting stuff done
19:49
which increases efficiency you it’s
19:51
better data um and then you can start
19:54
using that better data to actually
19:55
predict outcomes in the future as well
19:58
which makes even more automated and it
20:00
just goes round and round and round and
20:02
you know I’m not saying that we’ll ever
20:03
get to a point where everything within
20:05
procurement is run by by AI far from it
20:09
um but you can use your human
20:11
intelligence in a much better and much
20:13
more effective way in the future yeah
20:16
for sure
20:18
it’s the fact that we’re able to channel
20:21
everything that that that folks need to
20:23
do into one space and that goes beyond
20:25
just procurement so procurement
20:27
interfaces with so many different groups
20:29
in the organization there’s privacy and
20:31
security and risk and legal and finance
20:33
and it and so like I have people coming
20:37
at me all the time even inside our our
20:39
company they’re like Zack I need you to
20:40
so and so Maya needs screenshots and
20:41
Steve needs to talk to me and all that
20:43
and it just comes in all different ways
20:44
I’m like put it on my mondy board you
20:46
know put me an item in my mondy board if
20:47
I have like one place to go and now
20:49
procurement can begin to communicate
20:50
with other teams for their needs on the
20:53
same things leveraging focal point you
20:54
can provide those actions you can
20:56
provide those to-dos and so somebody
20:58
who’s in a different different group if
20:59
they’re using a different Solution
21:00
that’s integrated or not if it’s
21:02
integrated great they do their work
21:03
there and it updates us back terrific
21:05
but a lot of people have offline manual
21:07
processes but you can still give them
21:08
one place to go to look to see
21:10
everything that procurement needs in
21:12
order for them to be servicing the needs
21:14
of the the purchasing and sourcing
21:17
Supply into the business so another
21:19
benefit there is that collaborative
21:21
aspect enables them to uh be more
21:24
effective communicators of their needs
21:26
and the timelines and the time frames of
21:27
which they need things
21:29
actioned yeah absolutely absolutely yeah
21:33
that was awesome I loved I loved your
21:34
real world example of of me pestering
21:36
you for things no but that’s awesome so
21:40
super super super helpful let’s let’s
21:42
move on um to our last topic and perhaps
21:46
our most exciting so let’s talk about
21:48
obviously a little bit more about how we
21:50
help how focal point helps and then a
21:52
little bit um about kind of kind of use
21:54
cases we get into kind of the real world
21:56
applications of these things
22:01
all right so I’m going to take I’m going
22:03
to take first first whack at that and so
22:05
the the the the this the lens that I’m
22:08
going to come at this obv is more from a
22:10
product perspective and a solutioning
22:12
and then Matthew with with more of
22:15
client facing sort of of stories so for
22:18
me the and and I’m I’m going to double
22:20
click on what what Matt said a little
22:22
bit talking about AI a little bit
22:23
earlier I haven’t mentioned it in this
22:24
webinar so it’s my turn to to to bring
22:27
that up so I mean when you get beyond
22:30
that base layer of of having a zippy uh
22:32
you know snazzy looking front end to
22:34
pull in your your request and manage the
22:36
user experience and then you’ve got the
22:38
orchestration the process flow layers on
22:40
top of it then you have to start looking
22:42
to me Beyond at a couple other things
22:44
number one is how do we integrate other
22:46
applications and systems not only that
22:48
we own like you know uh like our to our
22:51
Erp or to our our eprocurement solution
22:53
but things that are like third party
22:55
data sources so being able to marry in
22:59
and fold in all sorts of different uh
23:00
external data sources to give you a
23:02
focal point you a single place to look
23:05
when you’re executing your work great
23:07
example is is how focal point is uh
23:10
integrated supplier iOS diversity uh
23:13
supplier capabilities and Discovery into
23:16
the core solution here so now when
23:18
you’re doing an activity I’ve got a
23:20
request that I’m servicing maybe we need
23:21
to go Source this but we have edicts
23:24
that we need to have diverse suppliers
23:25
in these categories and so then you’re
23:27
able to then SE search and use uh
23:30
external systems like supplyer IO grab
23:32
find what you’re looking for drag and
23:34
drop it into a project and then push
23:36
that over into your sourcing application
23:37
so those type of efficiency gains and
23:40
the ability to bolster and support
23:42
corporate initiatives is is really
23:44
really really important but then on top
23:46
of that you start looking at layering in
23:48
artificial intelligence and I like the
23:50
way our AI developer puts this he says
23:53
you think about AI as uh as a junior
23:56
intern so a task right an activity that
23:59
you could give effectively you could
24:00
train Junior intern to do you can train
24:03
AI to go do those activities so for some
24:05
examples of things that we’re doing
24:07
contract metadata extraction via ai go
24:09
find all these data points pop them in
24:11
on the contract record enrich A supplier
24:14
record via AI guide a requester user and
24:17
help them get categorized on their on
24:19
their request and help them move through
24:22
that process and just on and on so when
24:24
I think about laying layering AI on top
24:26
of it it becomes your digital assist
24:28
assistant that helps make you as a
24:29
procurement professional even more
24:31
effective and efficient during your
24:33
workday because it’s taking a lot of
24:34
that Junior intern stuff that you have
24:37
to do off of your plate so that’s the
24:39
sort of the vision of where where we’re
24:41
going is to leverage artificial
24:43
intelligence as a digital assistant to
24:45
help you relieve you of doing the
24:47
mundane activities and and tasks that
24:50
you have to do constantly and enabling
24:52
you to focus more on the work that you
24:54
have to have a human brain to apply to
24:57
in order to be able to accomplish so
24:59
Matt give me just give as as our time
25:02
begins to wne down here give me your
25:03
perspectives on you talk with a lot of
25:05
clients and things give me your thoughts
25:07
on what you’re hearing in the market and
25:09
how you the orchestration and intake
25:12
solutions that we’re talking about here
25:13
can help to mitigate um uh alleviate
25:18
pain inside procurement organizations
25:20
and with you know the the the
25:21
stakeholder community at
25:23
large yeah yeah I I think the the main
25:27
thing that I’m starting to hear and you
25:29
know it’s how can we move stuff from
25:32
left to right and I’m getting that the
25:34
correct way around now on the camera but
25:36
how can we move stuff from left to right
25:38
in the quickest possible way um and and
25:41
the way to do that absolutely as you say
25:44
is to bring that data to the right
25:45
person at the right time um tell them
25:48
what tool to be using if if they need to
25:50
be using it um and automating those
25:54
tasks as well you could get to the point
25:56
where you’re where you’re actually
25:59
and we probably are at that point where
26:00
you’re actually saying okay the triage
26:02
is this just goes into this workflow and
26:05
and the workflow the first step is to
26:07
send it to a sourcing solution that
26:10
sources this from somewhere but it
26:12
automatically sources it it could be an
26:14
archestra pactum of kilar there’s 5700
26:18
of them out there but but one of those
26:21
tools is going out there and and finding
26:24
the best price finding the best supplier
26:26
is something that we would help as with
26:28
as well so that’s a big thing for
26:30
companies at the moment especially the
26:32
the more Enterprise customers are very
26:34
interested in ESG um and how they can
26:38
manage their diverse suppliers um and
26:41
their sustainability of their suppliers
26:44
um but proactively rather than
26:48
reactively just reporting on what’s
26:50
going on they want to be able to AFF and
26:52
impact those goals in advance so
26:56
especially with unplanned work this is
26:57
really critical for them because
26:59
suddenly they need to buy something and
27:02
buying it from the wrong supplier could
27:04
adversely impact how they want to how
27:07
they want to proceed as a company
27:08
strategically right at that CEO
27:12
level I want to buy from from a a carbon
27:16
neutral um partner supplier um I want to
27:20
buy from somebody who has good ethics um
27:24
and it has to be low risk and ideally
27:26
onshore as well um we can then help to
27:29
Define all of that in one go um and
27:32
proactively buy from the correct person
27:35
uh or
27:36
people it’s really critical for people
27:39
as they go forward but then also
27:40
reporting that becomes really critical
27:42
as well so how can we not only have that
27:45
audit Trail and drisk the whole process
27:47
but how can we actually report that
27:49
afterwards as well is the thing that
27:52
that customers and prospective customers
27:55
uh are asking us for all the time and
27:57
that that’s what you can do focal point
27:59
you can say this is the correct supplier
28:01
to select because we’ve looked at all
28:02
this data this is why you would select
28:05
it and we’ll make a note of that as we
28:07
go through and that could all be done
28:09
either autonomously or or with a person
28:11
but then we can we can then report on
28:14
that as after the event as well and that
28:18
helps with the strategic planning for
28:19
next year and I’m talking and we’re
28:22
running out of time Maya sorry that’s
28:24
okay no that I was I was very invested
28:26
both both um awesome answer and this has
28:28
been a really really fun one I think we
28:30
could talk about this for hours truly um
28:33
but but in any case um I don’t I don’t
28:35
think that I saw any questions in the
28:37
chat I don’t know maybe we can somebody
28:39
can double check and we’ll see if if we
28:41
have any um but it doesn’t look like we
28:44
do which is which is good news so um if
28:47
you do have any questions I want you to
28:49
know that you can definitely reach out
28:51
to us um uh either contact Zach or or
28:55
Matthew or you can join us over on
28:56
LinkedIn as well
28:58
um and you will go ahead since you
29:01
attended and get an email after the fact
29:03
that’s going to have a recording of this
29:05
awesome conversation um but like I said
29:07
we want to keep the convo going please
29:09
join us over on LinkedIn um uh to
29:11
continue that and and feel free of
29:13
course to reach out also we do have our
29:15
next upcoming webinar that’s going to be
29:17
on the future of procurement
29:18
orchestration in collaboration with
29:20
sourcing Industry Group so that’s going
29:22
to be a really exciting one I did have a
29:24
QR code here but it looks like it’s gone
29:26
and disappeared on me which is which is
29:27
sad but not to worry you’ll have the
29:29
registration Link in your inbox when you
29:31
get um the the uh recording of This
29:34
webinar on demand as well um so all that
29:37
good housekeeping stuff and I again want
29:38
to say thank you to Zach and Matthew for
29:40
joining us today and sharing those
29:42
insights that was that was really good I
29:43
think I learned something too which is
29:45
which is awesome hey appreciate you
29:47
having us and thank you to everyone who
29:48
attended thank you for taking time with
29:50
us yep all right yeah thank you
29:52
appreciate it come to the next one it’s
29:54
going to be really cool it will yes
29:56
definitely register

Speakers

Professional headshot of Matthew Buckingham - VP of Business Development and Alliances

Matthew Buckingham

Matthew Buckingham is the current VP of Sales and Marketing at Focal Point. He has over 20 years of experience in alliances, strategic partnerships, and sales. He is a tenured procurement professional and brings his years of industry experience to service Focal Point’s customers.
Professional headshot of Zach Bolt - SVP Strategy & Operations

Zach Bolt

Zach Bolt is the current SVP Strategy & Operations at Focal Point. Zach has worked in procurement for 15+ years as a solutions and implementation consultant.

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