As a pioneer of spend management software, ·èÅÄ´«Ã½ has been on the cutting edge of how to best comprehensively manage company spend and supplier relationships.
Like at home, identifying every dollar you spend and getting the most out of it is more critical than ever for your business. And as we continue to roll out ·èÅÄ´«Ã½ Business AI technology, the teams behind ·èÅÄ´«Ã½ solutions are working on ways to help you reduce the time spent on mundane tasks so you can focus on executing your strategy, unlocking spend potential, and unleashing efficiency.
The first quarter of 2024 was among the most productive in my 18 years at ·èÅÄ´«Ã½. We debuted new AI capabilities in various ·èÅÄ´«Ã½ spend management solutions. Check out some of these highlights:
- ·èÅÄ´«Ã½ Ariba Category Management: We’ve incorporated that can assist category managers by generating recommendations in the solution’s category segmentation, market dynamics, and cost structure tools.
- Scoutbee Discovery: ·èÅÄ´«Ã½ partnered with Scoutbee, a leading AI-powered supplier intelligence and discovery platform, to launch . This ·èÅÄ´«Ã½ endorsed app can rapidly identify qualified suppliers that meet specific criteria and can help advance strategic business imperatives. of me participating in a recent LinkedIn Live with the Scoutbee team.
- Concur Request: Now, this service uses generative AI to help provide for trip planning.
- ExpenseIt: Users can upload receipt images to the ExpenseIt solution, which taps AI to help with several key fields prepopulated. Plus, ExpenseIt can now itemize hotel folios using generative AI.
- Generative AI search: A new capability within Concur Support allows ·èÅÄ´«Ã½ Concur customers to type questions in natural language and get quick answers using generative AI, .
·èÅÄ´«Ã½â€™s market-leading spend and business network solutions are getting even smarter, working to unlock greater value for our customers. We have many resources devoted to spend management and that’s why we continue to deliver innovation in spend management.
And we are only getting started. By the end of 2024, is planning the following enhancements:
- Generative AI RFI/RFP responses in ·èÅÄ´«Ã½ Business Network Discovery: With generative AI-enabled responses for postings in ·èÅÄ´«Ã½ Business Network Discovery, suppliers will be able to respond to RFIs promptly and more accurately, helping to save time and reduce costs associated with manual labor and resource allocation. Â
- Catalog enrichment using ChatGPT recommendations: This feature can enable suppliers to generate and improve product descriptions and overall catalog quality based on prompts and keyword recommendations from ChatGPT.Â
- Intelligent error simplification using generative AI:Â This feature uses machine learning and a large language model to interpret and categorize invoice rejection reasons, allowing suppliers to reduce the number of failing invoices, improve rapid invoice submission and payment, and optimize cash flow.
For more on how AI is transforming business networks, read this recent article from my colleague Joern Keller.
But What Are Our Customers Saying?
Each quarter, G2 highlights the top rated solutions in the industry, chosen by the source that matters most: customers. Spring 2024 is no different, and once again our suite of spend and business network solutions scored extremely well.
- is a G2 Spring Leader in Vendor Management.
- is a G2 Spring Leader in Procure to Pay, Purchasing, Strategic Sourcing, Supplier Relationship Management, and Contract Lifecycle Management.
- is a G2 Spring Leader in Expense, Travel & Expense, and Invoicing.
What’s more, G2 recently announced its , with ·èÅÄ´«Ã½ Fieldglass and ·èÅÄ´«Ã½ Concur receiving high honors:
- ·èÅÄ´«Ã½ Fieldglass came in at No. 26 in G2’s Best Software Awards across all products and No. 12 in G2’s Best Software Awards for best midmarket products.
- ·èÅÄ´«Ã½ Concur came in at No. 4 in G2’s Best Software Awards for the account and software product category.
My colleagues are also getting their flowers. Etosha Thurman, chief marketing and solutions officer of Intelligent Spend and Business Network, and Steve Seide, global head of Adoption for Intelligent Spend and Business Network, were named Top Procurement Pros in the . A big congratulations also goes out to Darcy MacClaren, CRO for ·èÅÄ´«Ã½ Digital Supply Chain, who received a Pros to Know Lifetime Achievement award.
Driving Success for Our Customers
Hearing me spotlight our direct and indirect procurement, external workforce, and travel and expense management solutions is one thing. Seeing them in action is something way more powerful. Here are a few recent customer success stories to take in:
- American Eagle Outfitters (AEO), a leading global specialty retailer offering high-quality on-trend clothing, accessories, and personal care products through its portfolio of brands, needed to evaluate indirect purchasing processes and vendor relationships to maximize efficiency. See how helped simplify processes and deliver compliant purchasing protocols across the company.
- Power provider to over 900,000 electric customers, Oklahoma Gas & Electric Company (OG&E) faced challenges with the complexity of third-party and cross-department management of contingent workers. After transitioning ·èÅÄ´«Ã½ Fieldglass solutions to internal management, OG&E gained the visibility to make more informed financial decisions, like supplier negotiations.
- Vestas Wind Systems, the world’s largest manufacturer of wind turbines, launched a large-scale quality initiative powered by ·èÅÄ´«Ã½ Business Network to help mitigate product defects in a highly complex supply chain. Now, using ·èÅÄ´«Ã½ Business Network, suppliers complete predefined quality tests and document them before confirming or sending an order. This enables Vestas employees to be warned in advance of any quality issues further up the supply chain, so they can take corrective action.
- Most KUKA employees are based in Germany, where tax regulation is complex and submitting hotel and entertainment expenses is anything but simple. The KUKA team worked together to develop a simple process using ·èÅÄ´«Ã½ Concur solutions, connected to ·èÅÄ´«Ã½ ERP, that allows employees to create hotel and entertainment expenses with fewer errors and fewer rejected expense reports.
Join Us at ·èÅÄ´«Ã½ Sapphire!
·èÅÄ´«Ã½ Sapphire & ASUG Annual Conference is June 3-5 in Orlando, Florida, this year and I can’t wait to meet with customers, partners, and my fellow colleagues. This is the best event in the industry in my opinion and you don’t want to miss out. Join us by registering on the , where you can also save your spot at the ·èÅÄ´«Ã½ Sapphire Virtual and ·èÅÄ´«Ã½ Sapphire Barcelona events. See you there!
Jeff Collier is chief revenue officer for ·èÅÄ´«Ã½ Intelligent Spend and Business Network.
