Data extraction, copy and paste, inputs, controls... On a day-to-day basis, purchasing teams are required to carry out many repetitive and tedious operations, with no added value for the function.
To relieve them and allow them to focus on their core business, Robotic process automation (RPA) entrusts some of these arduous and time-consuming tasks to software robots.
Other mechanisms, based onArtificial Intelligence (AI), can help buyers in the automated recovery of information, for example from images or documents.
"The implementation of RPA robots, by Acxias, had a dual objective: to do better with the same resources, and to relieve business teams of repulsive and time-consuming tasks to refocus them on market analysis, exchanges with suppliers and user support."
These solutions assist buyers in decision-making, anticipating events, detecting errors, suggesting actions, etc. in a totally automatic way. Systems implementing language recognition, written and soon spoken, are also gradually finding their place in purchasing, in the form of a "conversational assistant" (chatbot).
The RPA based on the replication of actions previously carried out by a human operator through the interface of a computer application, repeatedly and completely autonomous.
Its implementation by Acxias is to automate a business process via specialized software, capable of following a logical pattern graphically representing the execution chain.
AI systems rely on the most advanced technologies, particularly IBM's Watson solutions.
The Acxias teams of the Digital Procurement Lab work from documents and data manipulated by the company to put in place the systems that deliver the best results.
In the field of artificial intelligence, Acxias' Digital Procurement Lab aims to support companies in their research and development project, to help them develop a digital purchasing solution. The approach focuses in particular on automatic reading of documents, using character recognition system (OCR), to extract text and manage its matching with the data of the purchasing information system.
In terms of robotic automation, Acxias wants to accelerate the development and implementation of software robots to relieve buyers by automating the realization of a number of repetitive tasks in Ariba. To do this, it has set up a RPA Centre of Expertise composed of a team of engineers specializing in Source-to-contract and Procure-to-pay.
At the end of the Acxias mission, you get a software robot designed to run in your environment.
Automated processing, by a robot or an artificial intelligence engine, can also be offered as a service, by sending the data to an email address. Once processed, this data can, for example, create a purchase request.
"Acxias' expertise enables us to identify several areas of application of the blockchain to purchases, in particular to secure the transmission of sensitive data by suppliers. Based on smart contracts, its SecuRIB solution ensures that the information received corresponds well to that which has been sent, limiting cases of fraud."