Future of Sourcing - Machine Learning http://futureofsourcing.com/tags/machine-learning en Why Big Data is Critical for eCommerce Sellers http://futureofsourcing.com/why-big-data-is-critical-for-ecommerce-sellers <div class="field field-name-field-image field-type-image field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" rel="og:image rdfs:seeAlso" resource="http://futureofsourcing.com/sites/default/files/articles/FOS%20Nov%202022%20.png"><a href="http://futureofsourcing.com/sites/default/files/articles/FOS%20Nov%202022%20.png" title="Why Big Data is Critical for eCommerce Sellers" class="colorbox" rel="gallery-node-2255-bNsLSm4OF5c"><img typeof="foaf:Image" src="http://futureofsourcing.com/sites/default/files/styles/juicebox_medium/public/articles/FOS%20Nov%202022%20.png?itok=S_ax9cP0" width="624" height="325" alt="Why Big Data is Critical for eCommerce Sellers" title="" /></a></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-intro field-type-text-long field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"> <div> <div style="font-size: 13.008px;"><strong><em><span style="font-size: 13.008px;">&quot;By identifying patterns and trends in e-commerce data of the supply chains, businesses can improve decision-making, optimization, and problem-solving</span>,&quot; says <span style="font-size: 13.008px;">Carol Lau, Senior Vice President Client Service, Sales Support &amp; Analytics, at Global Sources. In&nbsp;</span><em style="font-size: 13.008px;">this article, Carol unlocks exactly why big data is essential for ecommerce sellers in today&#39;s marketplace.&nbsp;</em></em></strong></div> </div> <p>&nbsp;</p> </div></div></div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" property="content:encoded"> <div><span style="font-size: 13.008px;">Facing the surge of Covid-19, all B2B businesses are forced to switch to online e-commerce to accelerate digital transformation, and now it&rsquo;s become more hybrid as the pandemic fades.&nbsp;</span></div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>Businesses expect to be able to access relevant, up-to-date content anywhere, anytime, and on the device of their choice. This, indeed, is at the heart of what digital transformation is all about and there is no exception to the supply chain. Make it simple, digital transformation is the integration of digital technology into all areas of the business of a buyer or a supplier, fundamentally changing how it operates and connects buyers and suppliers, and how value is delivered to customers by keeping abreast of the latest market intelligence, and making sure they are trustworthy, and their products are quality-assured. &nbsp;</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div><strong>Deriving value from data&nbsp;</strong></div> <div><span style="font-size: 13.008px;">Businesses can derive as much value from analyzing data as their customer-facing counterparts, especially for e-commerce. The <a href="https://www.statista.com/statistics/947745/worldwide-total-data-market-revenue/" target="_blank">global big data analytics</a> market is expected to grow with a compound annual growth rate of almost 30% in the coming years, with revenue reaching over 68 billion U.S. dollars by 2025 from around 15 billion U.S. dollars in 2019.&nbsp;</span></div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>By identifying patterns and trends in e-commerce data of the supply chains, businesses can improve decision-making, optimization, and problem-solving. Businesses keep updated on the market trends by leveraging a smart B2B marketplace for sourcing, which provides market intelligence by using big data algorithm and enables the right business matching service with artificial intelligence and machine learning capabilities, where buyers can get more precise and customized recommendations based on product attributes, plus high-demand product ranking.&nbsp;</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div><strong>Looking for an experience, not just an interaction&nbsp;</strong></div> <div>Today, the expectation from buyers is that every interaction needs to be much more compelling and concise. According to <a href="https://www.mckinsey.com/capabilities/growth-marketing-and-sales/our-insights/omnichannel-in-b2b-sales-the-new-normal-in-a-year-that-has-been-anything-but" target="_blank">McKinsey</a>, around two-thirds of buyers opted for remote human interactions or digital self-service. With the support of Instant Chat with Translation and Video Meeting on the advanced B2B sourcing marketplace, buyers can now access verified suppliers to have real-time interaction more timely and effectively.</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>To ensure buyers can easily experience the sourcing journey through the video meetings with suppliers, detailed and precise product information like materials, textures, color Pantone and even conducting plant visits and audits of materials also play essential proof points in the development of prototypes to build buyer&#39;s confidence. Enabled by innovation and technology, 3D VR Showroom will allow buyers to glance at supplier factories without geographical limitations, and this will help buyers understand more background details of the suppliers. &nbsp;</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div><strong>Embracing a hybrid model&nbsp;</strong></div> <div>During the pandemic, mobile, apps, social media, real-time recommendations on eCommerce sites, machine learning, automation - all of these and much more - allow customers to get their hands on exactly what they want whenever they need it. &nbsp;</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>Other than that, buyers are becoming keen to attend online events, which are more segment-specific, or attend online shows to allow active buyers to personally interact with suppliers and identify the latest in-demand products &amp; innovations. Participants can gain insights, understand the upcoming trends, and explore business opportunities by receiving recommendations from professional analysts, attending workshops conducted by top-notch e-commerce leaders, getting insider tips, case studies, strategic advice, and online business card exchange and business matching to bring buyers and suppliers to another level of success. &nbsp;</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>The world is still reeling from the pandemic in many ways, and virtual events continue to be a popular choice. Virtual events surprised the world with their flexibility, but physical events still possess a charm that can&rsquo;t be reproduced virtually. &nbsp;However, with the ongoing relaxation of travel measures, offline tradeshow and events are expected to have a strong return, facilitating buyers and suppliers to meet and interact with each other, especially during the peak sourcing season in April and Oct. &nbsp;</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>With this in mind, the hybrid souring models may best serve customers how they want to be serviced, <a href="https://www.mckinsey.com/capabilities/growth-marketing-and-sales/our-insights/omnichannel-in-b2b-sales-the-new-normal-in-a-year-that-has-been-anything-but" target="_blank">85% of respondents</a> expect hybrid sellers will be the most common sales role over the next three years. The buyer community is expected to go for a more hybrid mix of online and offline occasions where they can personally interact with the suppliers and feel the materials on the spot during offline tradeshows in the post-pandemic era. &nbsp;&nbsp;</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>In today&#39;s constantly connected world, B2B businesses are forced to use dynamic ways to do business to improve the customer/ buyer experience, which will, in turn, help them retain customers and acquire new ones. It will also mean that they will remain relevant and be able to compete against more advanced companies by being equally responsive to their customer evolving needs.&nbsp;</div> </div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-tags field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-inline clearfix"><div class="field-label">Tags:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/tags/b2b-ecommerce" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">B2B eCommerce</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/tags/sourcing" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Sourcing</a></div><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/tags/big-data" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Big Data</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/tags/machine-learning" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Machine Learning</a></div><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/tags/artificial-intelligence" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Artificial Intelligence</a></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-addthis field-type-addthis field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><div class="addthis_toolbox addthis_default_style " addthis:title="Why Big Data is Critical for eCommerce Sellers - Future of Sourcing" addthis:url="http://futureofsourcing.com/why-big-data-is-critical-for-ecommerce-sellers"><a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_linkedin"></a> <a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_facebook"></a> <a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_twitter"></a> <a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_googleplus"></a> <a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_pinterest_share"></a> <a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_reddit"></a> <a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_email"></a> <a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_print"></a> </div> </div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-region field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-inline clearfix"><div class="field-label">Region:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="/regions/global" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Global</a></div></div></div> Wed, 16 Nov 2022 14:42:40 +0000 Carol Lau 2255 at http://futureofsourcing.com http://futureofsourcing.com/why-big-data-is-critical-for-ecommerce-sellers#comments Is It Time to Add AI to Your Commodity Insights? http://futureofsourcing.com/is-it-time-to-add-ai-to-your-commodity-insights <div class="field field-name-field-image field-type-image field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" rel="og:image rdfs:seeAlso" resource="http://futureofsourcing.com/sites/default/files/articles/Is%20It%20Time%20to%20Add%20AI%20to%20Your%20Commodity%20Insights%3F.png"><a href="http://futureofsourcing.com/sites/default/files/articles/Is%20It%20Time%20to%20Add%20AI%20to%20Your%20Commodity%20Insights%3F.png" title="Is It Time to Add AI to Your Commodity Insights?" class="colorbox" rel="gallery-node-2087-bNsLSm4OF5c"><img typeof="foaf:Image" src="http://futureofsourcing.com/sites/default/files/styles/juicebox_medium/public/articles/Is%20It%20Time%20to%20Add%20AI%20to%20Your%20Commodity%20Insights%3F.png?itok=sLdMZpQd" width="624" height="325" alt="Is It Time to Add AI to Your Commodity Insights?" title="" /></a></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-intro field-type-text-long field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"> <h1>Is It Time to Add AI to Your Commodity Insights?</h1> </div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-related-news field-type-entityreference field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Related news:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="/using-procurement-analytics-to-become-an-agent-of-change">Using Procurement Analytics to Become an Agent of Change</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/the-role-of-a-procurement-center-of-excellence">The Role of a Procurement Center of Excellence</a></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" property="content:encoded"> <p>Over the last few years, we&rsquo;ve seen artificial intelligence (AI) being used for a host of procurement applications, from spend analysis to supplier risk monitoring. Now, the same technology is increasingly being applied to commodity forecasting.</p> <p>In the right situation, this can provide invaluable insights. AI makes it possible to look at larger, more complicated data sets over a longer period of time, helping to improve the accuracy of predictions and supercharge decision-making, near real-time.</p> <p>While commodity producers and traders are both investing heavily in this technology, commodity buyers are lagging behind.</p> <p>In this article, we look at what AI commodity forecasting involves, who&rsquo;s using it and who isn&rsquo;t, and how you can tell whether or not it&rsquo;s the right investment for you.</p> <h2>The Two Technologies Behind AI Forecasting</h2> <p>AI forecasting in commodities normally involves the use of natural language processing and machine learning to automatically break down structured and unstructured data and create models that predict commodity prices with minimal human intervention.</p> <p>In doing so, things that otherwise wouldn&rsquo;t be apparent to the human eye can be brought to the fore, making it easy for producers to predict production, traders to forecast pricing and buyers to plan more strategic sourcing.</p> <p>Natural language processing uses rendered algorithms to interpret written data, fueling techniques like sentiment analysis to garner insights from news articles, emails and social media posts. It&rsquo;s often used by traders to analyze current events and anticipate changes in markets.</p> <p>Machine learning, on the other hand, involves algorithms that can be trained over time to act and think like humans with the goal of improving forecasting. A &ldquo;supervised learning&rdquo; approach means that as these algorithms are exposed to more sources, specialists training the models can ensure their continual improvement.</p> <p>For example, at The Smart Cube, we use a combination of supervised learning algorithms and techniques, namely random forests, support-vector machines and boosting algorithms to forecast commodity prices.</p> <h2>Producers, Traders and Buyers: Who&rsquo;s Leading the AI Race?</h2> <p>There are three main audiences when it comes to AI solutions in commodities: producers, traders and buyers. For the purposes of this article, we are focusing on the procurement function, so we&rsquo;re leaving investment funds out of the picture for now.</p> <p>Today, commodity producers are increasingly adopting AI to improve decision-making and forecast output. For instance, large farming corporations are incorporating things like Geospatial AI, soil analysis data and weather data (satellites) to better predict crop yields. Similarly, oil companies are using satellite data to gain a real-time view of tanker locations and storage capacity, and how that will impact supply in the immediate future.</p> <p>Elsewhere, traders are using their existing experience with high-frequency algorithmic trading in their commodity assessments, adopting natural language processing and machine learning to make faster and more accurate decisions based on market shifts, traded volumes, market sentiment (chatter) and intraday price movements.</p> <p>In April 2020, we saw these speculative algo-trading systems cause the WTI crude market to trade at negative $37/bbl. We&rsquo;ve seen similar commodity price upsets, more recently with the negative FX sentiment (from COVID-19) pushing sell-offs in agri-commodities when supply data indicates otherwise.</p> <p>For companies with the right financial resources, these AI investments have provided vital insights. But, the end-consumers of commodities&mdash;manufacturing companies, for instance&mdash;are a bit behind the curve when it comes to AI adoption for commodity forecasting. And this can mean that a certain percentage of their price risk is subject to the whims of the market.</p> <p>For this reason, your inbox is probably overflowing with AI companies offering their services in this area. But rushing to the latest tech might not always be the best approach.</p> <h2>Three Questions to Ask Before You Invest in AI</h2> <p>AI can be a powerful tool for commodity forecasting. It can be the key to making better, faster purchasing decisions, budgeting more accurately, predicting risks and opportunities and controlling costs. But there&rsquo;s still a place for traditional methods, too. In fact, in some circumstances traditional modelling may provide a greater advantage than a knee-jerk investment in AI.</p> <p>The question then, is how do you know whether AI provides the right capabilities for your forecasting needs, or if you should continue with the proven processes you know?</p> <p>Before you make any decisions, you should ask yourself a few important questions. Firstly, what is your remit for commodity risk management and how much control do you have to manage your commodity-linked exposure?</p> <p>If you&rsquo;re only reviewing commodity information every six months to a year and are locked into long contracts, then an AI investment won&rsquo;t provide much benefit.</p> <p>However, if you have shorter buying cycles, or contracts that can be updated in line with commodity information, then it could provide the perfect ammunition for better negotiations. In fact, you may even choose to change your buying cycles if you decide that AI could provide enough timely information to make that worthwhile.&nbsp;</p> <p>The other thing to think about is whether you&rsquo;re considering the use of AI for budgeting or hedging. If you&rsquo;re only interested in gaining insights into set price direction, then multi-linear regression modelling (and other traditional forecasting methods) will still prove incredibly effective.&nbsp;</p> <p>Finally, it&rsquo;s important to look at what data is available to support any AI investments you might make. The more data you can feed an AI algorithm, the more effective it will be. So, is there enough data available about your commodities to make investments in AI worthwhile? And do you have access to the right external sources? Or would you be investing in an engine you don&rsquo;t have the fuel to power?</p> <p>For example, an AI forecasting model of Brent crude oil will map historical crude futures with +200 cost drivers (macro-economic data, FX, bond yields, equities, exchange traded volume, other asset classes, derivative demand, supply and demand, etc.) and will be complemented with daily sentiment analysis (geopolitics, natural disasters, social media, etc.) to predict a price move. But not all commodities have globally recognized benchmarks and traded contracts, or even fundamental data/news, which means AI can&rsquo;t be applied in all cases.</p> <h2>The Future of AI in Commodity Management</h2> <p>With greater volatility and uncertainty affecting commodities, and more data sources available to support decision-making, one thing is clear: AI will play a huge role in the future of commodity intelligence. And that&rsquo;s why there is currently no end to organizations offering AI solutions for commodity managers.</p> <p>However, we also know that chasing after the latest tech isn&rsquo;t always the right thing &ndash; adoption, applicability and ROI come into play &ndash; and hence traditional approaches to commodity management still provide a huge amount of value.</p> </div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-tags field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-inline clearfix"><div class="field-label">Tags:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/tags/artificial-intelligence-ai" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Artificial Intelligence (AI)</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/tags/machine-learning" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Machine Learning</a></div><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/tags/the-smart-cube" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">The Smart Cube</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/tags/digital-transformation" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Digital Transformation</a></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-addthis field-type-addthis field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><div class="addthis_toolbox addthis_default_style " addthis:title="Is It Time to Add AI to Your Commodity Insights? - Future of Sourcing" addthis:url="http://futureofsourcing.com/is-it-time-to-add-ai-to-your-commodity-insights"><a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_linkedin"></a> <a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_facebook"></a> <a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_twitter"></a> <a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_googleplus"></a> <a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_pinterest_share"></a> <a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_reddit"></a> <a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_email"></a> <a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_print"></a> </div> </div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-region field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-inline clearfix"><div class="field-label">Region:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="/regions/global" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Global</a></div></div></div> Tue, 30 Nov 2021 02:00:00 +0000 Omer Abdullah 2087 at http://futureofsourcing.com http://futureofsourcing.com/is-it-time-to-add-ai-to-your-commodity-insights#comments Five Technologies to Future Proof Supply Chain Inspections http://futureofsourcing.com/five-technologies-to-future-proof-supply-chain-inspections <div class="field field-name-field-image field-type-image field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" rel="og:image rdfs:seeAlso" resource="http://futureofsourcing.com/sites/default/files/articles/5%20Technologies%20to%20Future%20Proof%20Supply%20Chain%20Inspections%20%281%29.png"><a href="http://futureofsourcing.com/sites/default/files/articles/5%20Technologies%20to%20Future%20Proof%20Supply%20Chain%20Inspections%20%281%29.png" title="Five Technologies to Future Proof Supply Chain Inspections" class="colorbox" rel="gallery-node-2084-bNsLSm4OF5c"><img typeof="foaf:Image" src="http://futureofsourcing.com/sites/default/files/styles/juicebox_medium/public/articles/5%20Technologies%20to%20Future%20Proof%20Supply%20Chain%20Inspections%20%281%29.png?itok=WgUpK4IO" width="624" height="325" alt="Five Technologies to Future Proof Supply Chain Inspections" title="" /></a></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-intro field-type-text-long field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"> <h1>Five Technologies to Future Proof Supply Chain Inspections</h1> </div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-related-news field-type-entityreference field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Related news:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="/new-trends-and-challenges-for-sourcing">New Trends and Challenges For Sourcing</a></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" property="content:encoded"> <p>The COVID-19 pandemic has jolted digital transformation into overdrive, with technology adoption enabling businesses across industries to accommodate remote work and operations. But now more than 18 months into the crisis, businesses that source globally remain ensnared by rampant order delays, factory lockdowns, persistent transit challenges, rising costs and debilitating mass shortages.</p> <p>To raise resiliency and thrive post-pandemic, businesses with a global sourcing footprint must continue to accelerate the digital transformation journey. As poor quality and non-conformities can have severe impacts on business value, leading businesses will be the ones that innovate by implementing digital quality and supplier management solutions and driving real-time, data-based decision-making. This way, they can prevent risks of volatile supply and demand patterns, while still protecting essential quality and compliance measures as they rebuild their supplier networks.</p> <p>However, with so many tools and platforms on the market, choosing where to go next can be a daunting task. The following are five key technologies and functions that businesses should prioritize as they digitize inspections across their supply chains.</p> <h2>Cloud Computing and Remote Connectivity</h2> <p>With inspections being done offsite and often in multiple locations, businesses need easy-to-deploy software solutions that can be operated without extensive support from the IT department and can work within their existing IT ecosystem. Ideally, the inspection solution can integrate across devices on the cloud and plug in to existing PLM and ERP solutions via APIs. In doing so, data can be centralized, removing data duplication and the errors that can come with it.</p> <p>Another key feature for digital inspections is the ability to function offline or with limited internet connection. As brands diversify their sourcing footprint to new geographies, they must consider varying digital ecosystems. With so many factories and inspection sites lacking internet connectivity, platforms that require an internet connection are basically obsolete and potentially detrimental to the inspection process.</p> <h2>Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning</h2> <p>When it comes to safeguarding a business&rsquo;s sourcing footprint, the most valuable data is generated daily on the factory floors. Artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) help businesses achieve real-time visibility of vital metrics such as product quality, compliance and supplier performance. Through the use of these technologies the supply chain team can turn data from various sources into actionable insights, empower more informed decision-making and accurately assess risk that may affect their supply chain, now and in the future.</p> <p>An innovative application of machine learning and artificial intelligence for quality control is the use of voice command technology to perform time-consuming measurements. While still making headway in the supply chain space, voice tech has already proven itself to be far more than a passing technology trend.</p> <p>Most digital inspection platforms in today&rsquo;s marketplace use IoT-connected rulers and other automation measures. But these tools require businesses to additionally invest in dedicated devices for all factories and provide intensive training to all employees or suppliers involved in the process. When supply chains engage hundreds or thousands of parties, this becomes a costly endeavor.</p> <p>Moreover, the precision between devices is inconsistent, with up to a 10% delta between two measurements, according to QIMAone data. In the long-term, such a wide margin of error presents grim implications for quality control and process efficiency.</p> <p>Unless other connected devices that require additional costly investments and intensive training, measurements powered with voice recognition require minimal onboarding. Notably, there&rsquo;s a low learning curve as most people are already familiar with the functions of speech recognition technology thanks to devices like Google Assistant or Amazon Alexa. By infusing the inspection process with accurate speech recognition capabilities, the inspectors, armed with just a tablet or other mobile device, can simply speak up and upload their data directly and immediately to a cloud-based system.</p> <h2>Predictive Quality Analytics&nbsp;</h2> <p>Predictive quality analytics (PQA) anticipates the impact of high-risk events and pinpoints root causes, leading to reduced quality issues and a stronger pulse on products and raw materials. To be successfully deployed, PQA needs clean, reliable and standardized large amounts of data collected along the supply chain &ndash; from raw material factories to assembly suppliers, warehouses and retail stores</p> <p>Essentially, &nbsp;digitization enables easier and more effective data collection and analysis &ndash; core to supply chain decision-making, collecting insights at every touchpoint and illuminating real-time visibility from factory floor to shelf. However, while algorithms can be intricate and specialized, data must be accessible and actionable for a business&rsquo;s decision-makers.</p> <p>When data summaries are available and manageable in a single place, rather than across multiple systems that don&rsquo;t sync up or communicate with each other, businesses can continuously ingest insights and take action accordingly. For example, through performance tracking insights, they can review individual supplier and inspector metrics to easily identify the best and worst performers across their sourcing footprint. With risk radar, they can build a risk profile for each supplier and factory, which helps anticipate problems sooner rather than later.</p> <h2>Automation</h2> <p>To complement data analytics, automation should use a balanced model that empowers suppliers with intelligent design and third-party monitoring. There are three fundamental functions of automation: risk-mitigation, decision-making and reporting.</p> <p>With data-based decision-making based on AQL criteria, a platform can automatically suggest a result (pass or fail) and accept or refuse a shipment for pre-shipment inspection (PSI). Proactive alerts can be automatically triggered, along with corrective and preventative action plans to suppliers to identify the root cause and solve the issue as quickly as possible. Finally, an inspection report can be automatically issued and used in a standardized format populated with all of the data collected during the inspection.</p> <p>Moreover, a digital platform can change the back-end processes for how inspections are scheduled. A &ldquo;smart booking&rdquo; function leverages advanced risk management to automatically assign inspections to a business&rsquo;s internal inspectors or supplier&rsquo;s staff. When indicators show potential integrity issues &ldquo;on the ground&rdquo; with suppliers, the platform can trigger an inspection with third-party experts.</p> <p>By automating inspection allocation based on location, product expertise, teams&rsquo; schedules and severity of the issue, businesses maximize their resources and save time in the long term.&nbsp;&nbsp;</p> <h2>Collaborative Network</h2> <p>Whether navigating disruptions spurred by the <a href="https://www.supplychaindive.com/news/china-supply-chains-procurement-sourcing-resilience-vietnam/606321/" target="_blank">U.S.-China trade war</a> or the pandemic, businesses have learned that they cannot succeed alone and must prioritize supplier relationship management (SRM). Against volatile consumer demand and economic uncertainty, SRM is perhaps the single most critical differentiator that will decide supply chain success or failure.</p> <p>To successfully digitize supply chain inspections and assert strong SRM, businesses must loop suppliers into a computer-based collaborative network so they can bring together entities that are autonomous, geographically distributed and heterogenous in their operations. While entities may vary in culture, values and social capital, a collaborative network brings them together on a computer network so they can better achieve common goals.</p> <p>A collaborative network allows a business to bring their suppliers on board the digital transformation journey. This way, meaningful benefits are unlocked for all parties. For example, a digital inspection program can be bolstered by innovative features such as integrated inspector apps, actionable insights, automation tools, configurable workflows, API integration and interactive reporting. To strengthen supplier onboarding, many digital platforms also offer training courses on operational workflows and best practices.</p> <p>In <a href="https://www.qimaone.com/" target="_blank">QIMAone&rsquo;s annual survey</a>, supplier communication and quality were cited as serious issues by 59% and 41% of respondents, respectively. However, compared to their peers, businesses with highly digitized supply chains cut concerns of supplier communications and quality in half, according to QIMA data. Providing collaborative training and onboarding as part of digital transformation will help businesses overcome challenges and future proof their SRM framework, instilling the supply chain with the &ldquo;3Ts&rdquo; of trust, transparency and teamwork.</p> </div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-tags field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-inline clearfix"><div class="field-label">Tags:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/tags/artificial-intelligence-ai" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Artificial Intelligence (AI)</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/tags/machine-learning" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Machine Learning</a></div><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/tags/qima" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">QIMA</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/tags/china" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">China</a></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-addthis field-type-addthis field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><div class="addthis_toolbox addthis_default_style " addthis:title="Five Technologies to Future Proof Supply Chain Inspections - Future of Sourcing" addthis:url="http://futureofsourcing.com/five-technologies-to-future-proof-supply-chain-inspections"><a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_linkedin"></a> <a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_facebook"></a> <a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_twitter"></a> <a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_googleplus"></a> <a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_pinterest_share"></a> <a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_reddit"></a> <a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_email"></a> <a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_print"></a> </div> </div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-region field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-inline clearfix"><div class="field-label">Region:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="/regions/global" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Global</a></div></div></div> Tue, 16 Nov 2021 02:00:00 +0000 Sébastien Breteau 2084 at http://futureofsourcing.com http://futureofsourcing.com/five-technologies-to-future-proof-supply-chain-inspections#comments Advantages of Artificial Intelligence in Enterprise Contract Review and Analysis http://futureofsourcing.com/advantages-of-artificial-intelligence-in-enterprise-contract-review-and-analysis <div class="field field-name-field-image field-type-image field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" rel="og:image rdfs:seeAlso" resource="http://futureofsourcing.com/sites/default/files/articles/Advantages%20of%20Artificial%20Intelligence%20in%20Enterprise%20Contract%20Review%20and%20Analysis.png"><a href="http://futureofsourcing.com/sites/default/files/articles/Advantages%20of%20Artificial%20Intelligence%20in%20Enterprise%20Contract%20Review%20and%20Analysis.png" title="Technological advances in artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) can help companies overcome the many challenges in dealing with large collections of legal documents and contracts." class="colorbox" rel="gallery-node-1935-bNsLSm4OF5c"><img typeof="foaf:Image" src="http://futureofsourcing.com/sites/default/files/styles/juicebox_medium/public/articles/Advantages%20of%20Artificial%20Intelligence%20in%20Enterprise%20Contract%20Review%20and%20Analysis.png?itok=r948NtUt" width="624" height="325" alt="Technological advances in artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) can help companies overcome the many challenges in dealing with large collections of legal documents and contracts." title="" /></a></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-intro field-type-text-long field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"> <h1>Advantages of Artificial Intelligence in Enterprise Contract Review and Analysis</h1> </div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-related-news field-type-entityreference field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Related news:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="/how-artificial-intelligence-can-be-used-in-your-supply-chain">How Artificial Intelligence Can Be Used in Your Supply Chain</a></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" property="content:encoded"> <p>Contracting, common for every company, is something that few companies do efficiently or effectively. The process of reviewing contracts and legal documents is manual, tedious and error-prone, exposing organizations to legal risks if not well managed. The financial consequences can also be severe. <a href="https://home.kpmg/au/en/home/insights/2017/03/supply-chain-capacity-management.html" target="_blank">KPMG estimates</a> that inefficient contracting causes firms to lose up to 40 percent of value on a given deal, depending on circumstances.&nbsp;</p> <p>Despite its business impact, contract review and analysis remain arduous due to the number of contracts and other legal documents companies must keep track of. Companies typically have repositories of contracts, but not a structured process for extracting the relevant data or storing that data so that it can be analyzed to make ongoing improvements. There&rsquo;s no orderly way to view complex leasing agreements or see how a speeific clause is worded across business units. It requires a herculean human effort to draft, execute and improve not only the contracts themselves, but the contracting policies and the transactions these contracts govern.</p> <h2>How AI Can Help</h2> <p>Technological advances in artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) can help companies overcome the many challenges in dealing with large collections of legal documents. AI software, for example, can easily extract data and clarify the content of contracts. It can quickly organize and analyze terms and clauses from any number of contracts and will enable companies to review contracts more rapidly, organize and locate large amounts of information contained in contracts and other legal documents.&nbsp;&nbsp;</p> <p>It will also decrease the potential for contract disputes, reduce risk, and increase the volume of contracts companies can negotiate and execute. Since AI automates contract analysis and management functions, it allows subject matter experts to perform the work that has higher strategic value (leasing experts, insurance professionals, credit analysts and so on). The result is reduced legal risk and improved efficiency.</p> <h2>AI Still Has Pitfalls</h2> <p>Although the application of AI has helped with contract review and analysis, solutions are still emerging and their functionality varies widely. Some solutions based on standard AI techniques are often limited to specific types of contracts and may also fall short in identifying and processing complex clauses.&nbsp;</p> <p>Standard AI and ML approaches involve building large-scale statistical models that are trained using massive amounts of training data. Oftentimes, sufficient amounts of training data are not readily available, nor have the subject matter experts the time to annotate such large quantities of documents.</p> <h2>Advanced AI Solutions</h2> <p>The key is to find a solution that can extract, review and analyze the vital information from any type of legal document using as little training data as possible. Advanced contract review and analysis solutions will enable the exploration of granular details of agreement terms or clauses, such as expiration dates, indemnity and more. Depending on the part of the organization, these details can be related to leases, royalties, mortgages, procurement or any other part of the organization entering into a legal agreement.&nbsp;</p> <p>Contract review and analysis solutions based on advanced AI techniques should help organizations extract key information from thousands of complex contracts containing disparate and diverse terminology, even if the contracts are in multiple languages. They should be able to extract terms and clauses that are semantically similar, even if they do not use the same wording. Such solutions should empower companies to quickly generate consistent and comparable summary abstracts and spreadsheets, and populate a company&rsquo;s contract management software with automatically extracted data.</p> <p>Also, solutions should be able search through associated documents such as amendments, certificates, approval notes and letters.&nbsp;By using one such solution based on advanced AI techniques, a Big Four accounting firm reduced processing time of lease agreements by 80 percent.</p> <p>Natural Language Understanding (NLU) is an approach that goes beyond traditional Natural Language Processing (NLP) models. One NLU approach, Semantic Folding, is a process that is similar to the way the human brain understands language &ndash; interpreting text by comparing patterns of meaning. The result is a semantic algorithm that learns faster with fewer training materials, and that consumes less computer resources to deliver faster, more accurate outcomes.</p> <p>When applied to contract intelligence, this NLU approach works to solve many contract management problems that depend on knowing the information contained in the contracts. It&rsquo;s not difficult for a lawyer to interpret a contract. However, it is difficult for a lawyer to accurately review and interpret many contracts a day, day in and day out, or to perform a comparative analysis of several key clauses in a thousand contracts. The amount of manual contract review required to perform these kinds of tasks is time consuming and costly.</p> <p>An NLU approach based on semantics delivers better contract intelligence and higher value business outcomes by:</p> <ul> <li>Reducing time required to review contracts</li> <li>Improving extraction of information, key terms and clauses</li> <li>Automating structuring of key contract information to enable analysis of contracts in aggregate</li> <li>Freeing up legal and administrative resources for more critical tasks</li> <li>Improving responsiveness and turnaround during contract review and negotiation</li> </ul> <p>An NLU approach to contract intelligence based on <a href="https://www.cortical.io/science/semantic-folding/" target="_blank">semantics</a> is able to identify similar concepts even when the language that defines them varies from one contract to another. It outperforms contract intelligence schemes built on deep learning and text analytics, turning information extraction into a highly efficient and accurate process for any extraction purpose.</p> <p>Whether you are looking for particular clauses in contracts, searching for contract performance specifics, searching for all documents related to a specific contract or populating a contract management tool with key clauses and performance information, this approach improves speed and consistency in executing those kinds of tasks.</p> <p>This approach is fast and accurate, making it possible to process thousands of contracts and associated documents in less time. This comparatively low-cost way of turning contracts into structured data makes entirely new levels of business analysis possible, such as correlating profitability with certain terms and conditions, more accurately assessing risk of certain kinds of engagements, analyzing the impacts of new regulations, and many other types of analysis.</p> <p>Contract intelligence is becoming the foundation of effective contract analysis and contract management. The NLU approach to contract intelligence based on semantics provides deeper language understanding which enables new levels of review, abstraction and analysis, while freeing legal staff to provide more timely and strategic legal advice.</p> </div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-tags field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-inline clearfix"><div class="field-label">Tags:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/tags/artificial-intelligence" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Artificial Intelligence</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/tags/machine-learning" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Machine Learning</a></div><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/tags/contract-intelligence" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Contract intelligence</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/tags/natural-language-processing" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">natural language processing</a></div><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/tags/natural-language-understanding" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">natural language understanding</a></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-addthis field-type-addthis field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><div class="addthis_toolbox addthis_default_style " addthis:title="Advantages of Artificial Intelligence in Enterprise Contract Review and Analysis - Future of Sourcing" addthis:url="http://futureofsourcing.com/advantages-of-artificial-intelligence-in-enterprise-contract-review-and-analysis"><a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_linkedin"></a> <a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_facebook"></a> <a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_twitter"></a> <a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_googleplus"></a> <a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_pinterest_share"></a> <a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_reddit"></a> <a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_email"></a> <a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_print"></a> </div> </div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-region field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-inline clearfix"><div class="field-label">Region:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="/regions/global" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Global</a></div></div></div> Mon, 26 Jul 2021 02:00:00 +0000 Steve Levine 1935 at http://futureofsourcing.com http://futureofsourcing.com/advantages-of-artificial-intelligence-in-enterprise-contract-review-and-analysis#comments The Big Supply Chain Talent Shortage http://futureofsourcing.com/the-big-supply-chain-talent-shortage <div class="field field-name-field-image field-type-image field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" rel="og:image rdfs:seeAlso" resource="http://futureofsourcing.com/sites/default/files/articles/The%20Big%20Supply%20Chain%20Talent%20Shortage.jpg"><a href="http://futureofsourcing.com/sites/default/files/articles/The%20Big%20Supply%20Chain%20Talent%20Shortage.jpg" title="Procurement and supply chain leaders worldwide are struggling to attract and retain talent." class="colorbox" rel="gallery-node-1996-bNsLSm4OF5c"><img typeof="foaf:Image" src="http://futureofsourcing.com/sites/default/files/styles/juicebox_medium/public/articles/The%20Big%20Supply%20Chain%20Talent%20Shortage.jpg?itok=O_g2QF1v" width="624" height="325" alt="Procurement and supply chain leaders worldwide are struggling to attract and retain talent." title="" /></a></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-intro field-type-text-long field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"> <h1>The Big Supply Chain Talent Shortage: What Can You Do About It?</h1> </div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-related-news field-type-entityreference field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Related news:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="/want-to-solve-the-supply-chain-labor-shortage-start-by-retaining-your-existing-employees">Want to Solve the Supply Chain Labor Shortage? Start by Retaining Your Existing Employees</a></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" property="content:encoded"> <p>Manufacturing growth has skyrocketed over the last few decades, but the industry continues to lag in growing its most important asset: its people. A spike in retirements, paired with a drop in analytical leaders entering the field, is creating demand for procurement and supply chain talent that far outpaces supply. The supply chain talent shortage is expected to leave <a href="https://www2.deloitte.com/us/en/pages/manufacturing/articles/future-of-manufacturing-skills-gap-study.html" target="_blank">2.4 million positions unfilled between 2018 and 2028</a>, causing a potential economic impact of $2.5 trillion.</p> <p>Procurement and supply chain leaders worldwide are struggling to attract and retain talent while battling today&rsquo;s growing market pressure and manufacturing complexity. These issues go hand-in-hand. When procurement operations teams lack the processes, tools and technology to succeed, it negatively affects morale, retention, productivity, employee satisfaction, and ultimately customers and the bottom line.</p> <p>Here&rsquo;s how manufacturers can use technology to create a work environment that retains and attracts quality talent, while providing the tools to help employees improve on execution.</p> <h2>Increase Employee Accountability and Productivity with Improved Visibility</h2> <p>Operational procurement teams have long lacked the decision support tools and analytics required to identify and prioritize improvement actions that will have the biggest impact on inventory and performance.</p> <p>And for years, it has resulted in employee frustration and burnout as buyers struggle to find context or direction for procurement and planning decisions. Even today, many buyers work in several systems and out-of-date, static and error-prone spreadsheets, swiveling between an exploding list of emails, phone messages and ERP exception notifications. It&rsquo;s no wonder that over one-third of rising supply chain workers list a lack of tools and technology as their most pressing frustration.</p> <p>Especially in light of the pandemic, every team is forced to be more productive and drive value with fewer resources. To work efficiently, buyers need rich, accurate context and real-time, trusted data to tackle high-priority inventory tasks and improve visibility into inventory levels.</p> <p>Teams can use their additional visibility to understand how tasks ladder up to KPIs and organizational value and understand who on the team is accountable for specific responsibilities. They can then shift focus from fighting fires to proactively managing their organizations&rsquo; biggest levers for impact.</p> <p>Improved supply chain visibility also gives supply chain leaders better oversight of team and individual performance. Understanding who&rsquo;s outperforming or facing obstacles can help leaders identify bottlenecks or skills gaps and create opportunities for team training.</p> <p>This rising tide lifts all boats&mdash;additional mentorship enables professional development and satisfaction, arms individuals with new skills to grow in their careers, and gives organizations the ability to promote from within. This type of work culture is both rewarding to current employees, aiding in retention and compelling to prospective candidates.</p> <h2>Drive Satisfaction and Fulfillment with Efficient Processes</h2> <p>Recent research shows that&nbsp;one-third of millennials in manufacturing believe there is a lack of clearly defined work processes, and another 36% say a lack of upward mobility is their biggest frustration with their job. These results aren&rsquo;t surprising, especially when much of buyers&rsquo; time is spent working in sprea<span style="font-size: 13.008px;">dsheets and meeting in war rooms, discussing which fire to put out next&mdash;a typically long and indecisive conversation that keeps them from focusing on the critical work that really matters.&nbsp;</span></p> <p><a href="https://bit.ly/3sG3OLR" target="_blank"><img alt="Six reasons professional development can help attract and retain procurement talent." src="https://futureofsourcing.com/sites/default/files/6%20Reasons%20Professional%20Development%20Is%20the%20Answer%20to%20the%20Talent%20Shortage.jpg" style="width: 400px; height: 250px; float: right;" /></a></p> <p>AI and automation are reducing the analysis paralysis associated with inventory management. Organizations are using <a href="https://www.leandna.com/blog/press-release-inventory-optimization-workflows/" target="_blank">automation</a> <a href="https://www.leandna.com/blog/press-release-inventory-optimization-workflows/" target="_blank">to surface the organization&rsquo;s top priorities</a> to reduce inventory and shortages, ensuring there&rsquo;s no ambiguity and everyone is aligned along common goals. With so much freed-up time, employees can focus on meaningful and strategic work. Whether that&rsquo;s tied to revenue-driving activities, sharpening their problem-solving skills or honing soft skills to move into a leadership role.</p> <p>Many manufacturers also use technology to improve execution, creating &ldquo;attack teams.&rdquo; These teams use automation and AI to proactively triage priority inventory management tasks, so the right people focus on their business&rsquo;s most impactful inventory optimization goals. Other teams include diversity and inclusion initiatives in their procurement workflows, <a href="https://www.reutersevents.com/sustainability/why-diverse-suppliers-hold-key-business-resilience" target="_blank">leveraging technology to manage and support a diverse supplier network</a>. These processes not only improve team productivity, but also give workers a sense of fulfillment&mdash;they&rsquo;re accomplishing goals that create tangible impact for their organizations and themselves. When employees have the opportunity to dive into interesting work, they&rsquo;re generally more satisfied and likely to stay with&mdash;or join&mdash;an organization.</p> <h2>When Given the Right Support, Everyone Wins</h2> <p>There&rsquo;s no doubt that manufacturers have a tough job attracting and retaining the right skilled workers, especially given today&rsquo;s uncertain landscape. But a crisis can be a catalyst for positive change, and now is the time to invest in the people and tools to make our future brighter and scale back up stronger than ever.</p> <p>When supported by the right processes, technology and tools, procurement and supply chain teams can be empowered and recognized for making fast, actionable decisions that align with organizational values and goals. With new skill sets, made possible by growth through technology and continued mentorship, every operational procurement team member can pave the way for the next generation of supply chain leaders.</p> </div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-tags field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-inline clearfix"><div class="field-label">Tags:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/tags/talent-management" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Talent Management</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/tags/millennials" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Millennials</a></div><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/tags/automation" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Automation</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/tags/artificial-intelligence-ai" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Artificial Intelligence (AI)</a></div><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/tags/machine-learning" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Machine Learning</a></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-addthis field-type-addthis field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><div class="addthis_toolbox addthis_default_style " addthis:title="The Big Supply Chain Talent Shortage - Future of Sourcing" addthis:url="http://futureofsourcing.com/the-big-supply-chain-talent-shortage"><a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_linkedin"></a> <a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_facebook"></a> <a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_twitter"></a> <a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_googleplus"></a> <a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_pinterest_share"></a> <a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_reddit"></a> <a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_email"></a> <a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_print"></a> </div> </div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-region field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-inline clearfix"><div class="field-label">Region:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="/regions/global" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Global</a></div></div></div> Thu, 03 Jun 2021 02:00:00 +0000 Richard Lebovitz 1996 at http://futureofsourcing.com http://futureofsourcing.com/the-big-supply-chain-talent-shortage#comments Semantic Folding Solves the Problem of Too Many Emails http://futureofsourcing.com/semantic-folding-solves-the-problem-of-too-many-emails <div class="field field-name-field-image field-type-image field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" rel="og:image rdfs:seeAlso" resource="http://futureofsourcing.com/sites/default/files/articles/Semantic%20Folding%20is%20Solving%20the%20Problem%20of%20Too%20Many%20Emails.png"><a href="http://futureofsourcing.com/sites/default/files/articles/Semantic%20Folding%20is%20Solving%20the%20Problem%20of%20Too%20Many%20Emails.png" title="Semantic Folding is Solving the Problem of Too Many Emails" class="colorbox" rel="gallery-node-1988-bNsLSm4OF5c"><img typeof="foaf:Image" src="http://futureofsourcing.com/sites/default/files/styles/juicebox_medium/public/articles/Semantic%20Folding%20is%20Solving%20the%20Problem%20of%20Too%20Many%20Emails.png?itok=qGAlDgJX" width="624" height="325" alt="Semantic Folding is Solving the Problem of Too Many Emails" title="" /></a></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-intro field-type-text-long field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"> <h1>Semantic Folding Solves the Problem of Too Many Emails</h1> </div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-related-news field-type-entityreference field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Related news:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="/advantages-of-artificial-intelligence-in-enterprise-contract-review-and-analysis">Advantages of Artificial Intelligence in Enterprise Contract Review and Analysis</a></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" property="content:encoded"> <p>Email management is a bigger challenge every year. In 2019, business email accounted for more than 128.8 billion emails sent and received per day, <a href="https://www.radicati.com/wp/wp-content/uploads/2015/02/Email-Statistics-Report-2015-2019-Executive-Summary.pdf" target="_blank">according to the Radicati Group</a>. Adding to the challenge, many emails never make it to the right business account because they are sent to bulk accounts like <a href="mailto:info@company.com">info@company.com</a> or <a href="mailto:sales@company.com">sales@company.com</a>. Regardless of where the emails land, the average full-time worker spends 28% of the workday reading and answering email, <a href="https://www.mckinsey.com/industries/technology-media-and-telecommunications/our-insights/the-social-economy" target="_blank">according to a McKinsey analysis</a>. That amounts to a staggering 2.6 hours spent each day.</p> <p>Corporate email continues to rule in the business world, but the deluge is impairing productivity, not to mention becoming unmanageable from a corporate perspective. <a href="https://techjury.net/blog/how-many-emails-are-sent-per-day/#gref" target="_blank">TechJury cites</a> that at least five out of 10 emails were spam in 2019, but spam isn&rsquo;t the only problem. Oftentimes, the right email doesn&rsquo;t reach the right person within the organization quickly, resulting in operational delays and rising costs.</p> <p>The latest worldwide developments regarding confinement and, in some countries, the obligation to work remotely from home, have caused organizations and consumers alike to more heavily rely on email. This has generated a tsunami of emails for organizations used to other means of connecting with prospects and customers.</p> <p>In the financial services, for example, these requests and inquiries used to be handled via physical call centers, many of which are now closed. Customers and prospects are often directed to send their questions per email, which results in a huge increase in the number of written requests to be processed.</p> <p>Organizations without an automated process for handling incoming messages are at a disadvantage. First, there are the hard-dollar costs to pay staff to triage messages, and then soft-dollar costs of losing prospects and customers due to slow response time. Even those who have implemented some form of automation are concerned about the cost of improperly handling the messages due to challenges with natural language processing.</p> <p>As a minimum, a simple classification and routing system would help speed up the response time by forwarding the requests to the correct department.</p> <h2>Too Little Business Value Extracted from Emails</h2> <p>Emails represent an extremely rich and essential source of business information. However, extracting insights and relevant information is difficult and time-consuming. As the number of emails continues to grow, it becomes even more difficult, time intensive and expensive to realize the business value.</p> <p>The main issue is that emails fall into the category of unstructured data that is text heavy. This results in irregularities and ambiguities that make it difficult to automate the process.</p> <p>Most current technologies for email classification fall into two broad categories. Rule-based approaches classify text into organized groups by using a set of handcrafted linguistic rules. These rules instruct the system to use semantically relevant elements of a piece of text to identify relevant categories based on its content. Essentially, the system counts the number of word appearances in the text and subsequently classifies the content into predefined categories.</p> <p>This approach has several disadvantages. For starters, these systems require deep knowledge of the domain. They are also time-consuming, because generating rules for a complex system can be quite challenging and usually requires a lot of analysis and testing. Rule-based systems are also difficult to maintain and don&rsquo;t scale well given that adding new rules can affect the results of the pre-existing rules.</p> <p>Instead of relying on manually crafted rules, text classification systems based on Natural Language Processing (NLP) use statistical modeling. These approaches are usually more accurate than rule-based approaches; however, they involve building large-scale statistical models that are trained through machine learning (ML) using massive amounts of training data.</p> <p>In many instances, sufficient amounts of training data are not readily available. The process is slow, costly and complex, involving several iterations of data preparation, feature engineering, model training, hyperparameter tuning and evaluation. Even if more data is thrown at the model to become more accurate, there is still about 20% of text-based information that the model cannot precisely categorize.</p> <p>Additionally, most standard ML-based systems cannot explain why they made a certain decision. This &ldquo;black box&rdquo; effect is a substantial drawback in light of regulations such as the EU&rsquo;s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), which stipulates that consumers have a right to know why and how corporations made decisions affecting them. Another issue with &quot;black-box&quot; models is they are hard to improve. If their predictions are wrong but there is no way to explain why, it is difficult to know how to fix the model so that it delivers the correct output.</p> <h2> Semantic Folding is Improving the Bottom Line</h2> <p>Now, there is an out-of-the-box solution for mining emails for business content and classifying them, that comes with standard filters and pre-built classifiers. If customized filtering is needed, it can be done with a fraction of the training data, as well as much higher accuracy and efficiency compared to other models. It is based on Semantic Folding, an innovative approach to Natural Language Understanding (NLU).</p> <p>Semantic Folding is a procedure for encoding the semantics of natural language text in a sparse distributed representation called a semantic fingerprint. This unique approach provides a framework for analyzing unstructured data such as emails similar to how the human brain processes language data.</p> <p>Semantic Folding is inspired by and based on the principles of cerebral processing and neuroscience. By applying neuroscience tenets discovered by scientist and author Jeff Hawkins to the realm of NLU, forward thinking technologies have been designed that can identify and analyze language faster and more accurately. Using Semantic Folding, an Artificial Intelligence (AI)-driven algorithm can quickly and accurately categorize emails. The result is an intelligent, efficient way to analyze emails so organizations can tap the value they contain, even across multiple languages.</p> <p>Organizations that can figure out how to efficiently categorize and segment emails can improve their bottom lines, reduce costs, improve productivity, streamline and automate business processes, and serve customers better. The potential results are tremendous, as well as applicable to any business function. For instance, organizations can do the following:</p> <ul> <li>Detect and surface only relevant emails having to do with RFP and bid responses, budgets, forecasts and reporting for the Finance Department.</li> <li>Assist sales and marketing by extracting emails regarding requests for information, requests for quotes, market research, advertising and customer satisfaction.</li> <li>Surface emails about scheduling production, ensuring product quality and minimizing production costs to streamline manufacturing.</li> </ul> <h2>A Case Study in Customer Service</h2> <p>Customer service is among the most compelling use cases for email classification. For example,&nbsp;an <a href="https://www.cortical.io/solutions/message-intelligence/message-intelligence-case-study/" target="_blank">international transportation company</a> saw the benefits of an intelligent, AI-based semantic classification and routing solution to optimize email processing in customer centers. The company was coping with hundreds of thousands of emails sent every day in 35 countries in multiple languages. Teams were wasting huge amounts of time manually sorting out the emails that required action.</p> <p>An AI-based Semantic Folding approach was created to scale a secure web service that that ignores irrelevant emails and automatically routes business-relevant emails to the appropriate regional center, depending on the language used in the message. Only 50% of the emails that made it through the spam filters were relevant to a customer service case. Many of the non-relevant emails were automated confirmation messages providing updates about the status of shipments, such as a container left at a certain port or a container that was not loaded onto the intended ship.</p> <p><span style="font-size: 13.008px;">With the new solution, which was deployed in just eight weeks, customer service representatives were able to ignore irrelevant emails and focus on solving requests more efficiently based on case-relevant communications. The company greatly improved its responsiveness, leading to higher customer satisfaction and retention, not to mention the increased motivation of its customer center agents, who could focus on more rewarding activities. The solution required very little training data, resulting in tremendous cost savings. It has the potential to save the company &euro;4.9 million annually.</span></p> <h2>The Good News</h2> <p>Although email is a faster, better alternative to paper documents and faxing, it can have a direct impact on corporate bottom lines by distracting workers from role-relevant tasks to spend hours daily dealing with unimportant messages. Considering this drag on workplace efficiency, it is time to adopt solutions for categorizing massive volumes of email in near real time using a powerful, low-cost, accurate email classification solution.</p> <p>The good news is that this type of solution can also be applied to a broad range of messages, including instant messages, tweets and blog posts. The results are well worth it, including lower costs, higher productivity, improved customer satisfaction, and increased efficiency and responsiveness for all functional areas of the organization.</p> </div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-tags field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-inline clearfix"><div class="field-label">Tags:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/tags/semantic-folding" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Semantic Folding</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/tags/email" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Email</a></div><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/tags/machine-learning" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Machine Learning</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/tags/artificial-intelligence-ai" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Artificial Intelligence (AI)</a></div><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/tags/natural-language-processing-nlp" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Natural Language Processing (NLP)</a></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-addthis field-type-addthis field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><div class="addthis_toolbox addthis_default_style " addthis:title="Semantic Folding Solves the Problem of Too Many Emails - Future of Sourcing" addthis:url="http://futureofsourcing.com/semantic-folding-solves-the-problem-of-too-many-emails"><a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_linkedin"></a> <a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_facebook"></a> <a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_twitter"></a> <a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_googleplus"></a> <a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_pinterest_share"></a> <a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_reddit"></a> <a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_email"></a> <a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_print"></a> </div> </div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-region field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-inline clearfix"><div class="field-label">Region:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="/regions/global" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Global</a></div></div></div> Thu, 20 May 2021 16:01:16 +0000 Steve Levine 1988 at http://futureofsourcing.com http://futureofsourcing.com/semantic-folding-solves-the-problem-of-too-many-emails#comments Are You Getting the Most Out of Your Nearshore Digital Transformation Partner? http://futureofsourcing.com/are-you-getting-the-most-out-of-your-nearshore-digital-transformation-partner <div class="field field-name-field-image field-type-image field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" rel="og:image rdfs:seeAlso" resource="http://futureofsourcing.com/sites/default/files/articles/FoS%20Graphic%20%286%29%20%281%29.png"><a href="http://futureofsourcing.com/sites/default/files/articles/FoS%20Graphic%20%286%29%20%281%29.png" title="Nearshore Digital Transformation" class="colorbox" rel="gallery-node-1920-bNsLSm4OF5c"><img typeof="foaf:Image" src="http://futureofsourcing.com/sites/default/files/styles/juicebox_medium/public/articles/FoS%20Graphic%20%286%29%20%281%29.png?itok=_8YrlNOU" width="624" height="325" alt="Nearshore Digital Transformation" title="" /></a></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-intro field-type-text-long field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"> <p>Eight Strategies for Choosing the Right One for Your Company</p> </div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-related-news field-type-entityreference field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Related news:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="/there%E2%80%99s-plenty-of-room-at-the-table-for-nearshore-and-h-1b-visa-holders">There’s Plenty of Room at the Table for Nearshore and H-1B Visa Holders </a></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" property="content:encoded"> <p>Given the supply chain disruption, business shut-downs and economic uncertainty caused by COVID-19, it&rsquo;s never been clearer &mdash; doing business closer to your own shores is coming back into vogue.</p> <p>With recent restrictions on H-1B workers and a tech talent shortage, selecting a nearshorer is fast becoming the first step on a company&rsquo;s digital transformation journey.</p> <p>The benefits of working with an outsourcing provider close to home have long been touted. It provides the cost and time savings of working with an offshore firm while avoiding the challenges that arise with different time zones, languages, culture and varying regulations.</p> <p>Yet, for firms seeking to undergo digital transformation via AI or other disruptive technologies, it&rsquo;s no easy task selecting the right nearshorer for the job. Digital transformation is an ongoing process and requires constant collaboration between a business that wants to reach the next milestone and expert professionals who can create the vehicles to get them there.</p> <p>With this in mind, it pays to do your homework and consider the following eight recommendations before selecting a nearshore partner:</p> <ol> <li><strong>Broad experience, expertise is key.</strong> It&rsquo;s important that the firm you hire has deep experience and certifications in the most current AI, software development platforms, methodologies, and applications plus considers training to be an ongoing process.</li> </ol> <ol> <li value="2"><strong>Location, location, location.</strong> If you&rsquo;ve vetted several firms and have confirmed their expertise, select the firm closest in proximity to you. It will provide better opportunities for collaboration as well as an understanding of local laws and regulations. While nearshoring doesn&rsquo;t necessarily mean working with a company from the same country, it&rsquo;s a good idea for a company in Italy to work with a nearshorer in Italy &ndash; even if a firm in the U.S. seems more appealing.</li> </ol> <ol> <li value="3"><strong>Hire team members not just nearshorers.</strong> While you most likely will hear from senior management when reaching out to a nearshorer, always ask to speak to the actual professionals who will be working on your team. Request to see their resumes and meet with them as you would with any job candidates.&nbsp;</li> </ol> <ol> <li value="4"><strong>Be wary of outsourcers that outsource.</strong> One-stop-shopping is always a time saver. For those nearshorers that promise to do it all, the full lifecycle of software and AI services, it&rsquo;s important to dig deeper and find out if they have in-house talent to handle it all or if they use specialized service providers to work on parts of the project. Often, you will never know who handled your project and there&rsquo;s greater risk of error and delays when one firm is transferring the project to another one. When it comes to AI projects that utilize your private and sensitive data, it&rsquo;s important to keep it with one outsource provider.</li> </ol> <ol> <li value="5"><strong>Speak to the problem clients.</strong> Before selecting a nearshorer, ask to speak to clients with projects that didn&rsquo;t go as smoothly as planned. It&rsquo;s quite predictable what clients who are highlighted on the website will say about the nearshorer, but interesting insights can be found when you talk to a company that had problems. It&rsquo;s good to learn how the company resolved them and how they worked with the client.</li> </ol> <ol> <li value="6"><strong>Inquire about data privacy procedures.</strong> As mentioned above, AI projects are very data intensive and require the sharing of confidential information. Inquire about the firm&rsquo;s compliance to <a href="https://www.itgovernanceusa.com/cybersecurity-standards#:~:text=ISO%2FIEC%2027001,%2C%20consistently%20and%20cost%2Deffectively.">international security standards</a> and whether or not it has been audited. For AI projects involving data specialists, it&rsquo;s also important to find out if they are all under a non-disclosure agreement (NDA). Data specialists are private groups of employees who perform data labelling to prepare an algorithm for training. Firms that use public crowdsourcing means for labelling data have no way to ensure data privacy or secure NDAs.&nbsp;</li> </ol> <ol> <li value="7"><strong>Diversify the team.</strong> When outsourcing an AI project, it&rsquo;s always a plus when the team who will be training your algorithm to make decisions is comprised of professionals with diverse backgrounds and experiences. It helps eliminate bias in AI and can provide you with the objectivity you need to make sure your own unintentional bias is not being built into your solution.</li> </ol> <ol> <li value="8"><strong>Look for soft skills.</strong> Unlike the days when software developers worked in siloes, in the back office or data center, today&rsquo;s complex solutions and AI applications require more than technology expertise. When reviewing your nearshoring team members&rsquo; qualifications and credentials, also inquire about their ability to be empathetic, understand the challenges of specific industries and take on a business mindset. AI needs to think more like humans and less like linear technology solutions.&nbsp;</li> </ol> <p>Nearshoring is fast becoming the key to accelerating AI and other digital transformation projects, but it requires a partner you can trust that will be with you for the long haul. Yet, despite all of the key indicators that can help you determine if a firm is the right fit for you, what may be most important is trusting your gut and selecting a firm with whom you can feel most comfortable. After all, collaboration is the real key to digital transformation success.&nbsp;</p> </div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-tags field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-inline clearfix"><div class="field-label">Tags:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/tags/nearshoring" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Nearshoring</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/tags/covid-19" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">COVID-19</a></div><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/tags/h-1b-visa" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">H-1B visa</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/tags/artificial-intelligence-ai" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Artificial Intelligence (AI)</a></div><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/tags/digital-transformation" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Digital Transformation</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/tags/machine-learning" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Machine Learning</a></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-addthis field-type-addthis field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><div class="addthis_toolbox addthis_default_style " addthis:title="Are You Getting the Most Out of Your Nearshore Digital Transformation Partner? - Future of Sourcing" addthis:url="http://futureofsourcing.com/are-you-getting-the-most-out-of-your-nearshore-digital-transformation-partner"><a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_linkedin"></a> <a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_facebook"></a> <a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_twitter"></a> <a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_googleplus"></a> <a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_pinterest_share"></a> <a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_reddit"></a> <a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_email"></a> <a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_print"></a> </div> </div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-region field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-inline clearfix"><div class="field-label">Region:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="/regions/global" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Global</a></div></div></div> Wed, 03 Feb 2021 21:06:26 +0000 Carlos Meléndez 1920 at http://futureofsourcing.com http://futureofsourcing.com/are-you-getting-the-most-out-of-your-nearshore-digital-transformation-partner#comments Successful Digital Transformation Requires an Inspection of all Business Processes http://futureofsourcing.com/successful-digital-transformation-requires-an-inspection-of-all-business-processes <div class="field field-name-field-image field-type-image field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" rel="og:image rdfs:seeAlso" resource="http://futureofsourcing.com/sites/default/files/articles/GettyImages-1201992144%20%281%29%20%281%29.jpg"><a href="http://futureofsourcing.com/sites/default/files/articles/GettyImages-1201992144%20%281%29%20%281%29.jpg" title="Procurement organizations are uniquely positioned to drive their companies&#039; innovation agenda because no other function can “serve as the window to the outside world." class="colorbox" rel="gallery-node-1884-bNsLSm4OF5c"><img typeof="foaf:Image" src="http://futureofsourcing.com/sites/default/files/styles/juicebox_medium/public/articles/GettyImages-1201992144%20%281%29%20%281%29.jpg?itok=F1kVkD7y" width="1024" height="683" alt="Procurement organizations are uniquely positioned to drive their companies&#039; innovation agenda because no other function can “serve as the window to the outside world." title="" /></a></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-related-news field-type-entityreference field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Related news:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="/achieving-greater-supply-chain-transparency-through-digital-transformation">Achieving Greater Supply Chain Transparency Through Digital Transformation</a></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" property="content:encoded"> <p>At the time of writing this piece, I am just one of five million people emerging from the world&rsquo;s longest coronavirus-related lockdown, in Melbourne, Australia. For nearly two months, I was only allowed to leave the house once a day for essential items and required to stay within three miles of my home. From takeaway meals to IT support, to doctor&rsquo;s appointments, most of the goods and services I&#39;ve needed have been ordered virtually. Since COVID-19 hit, I&rsquo;m amazed at how quickly the world went virtual.</p> <p>Along with SAP colleagues and millions of workers globally, I&rsquo;ve quickly adapted to working from home &ndash; connecting with others through virtual collaboration and networking tools. Imagine my surprise, then, when I received a notification in the mail that my driver&rsquo;s license needed to be updated to reflect my correct birth date, requiring me to physically go to VicRoads, the DMV for the state of Victoria. How is it possible that under the strictest lockdown in the world, with thousands of workers operating remotely, I was still required to be physically present at the DMV to confirm my birth date and identity; especially knowing that the documents required could have easily been scanned and sent?</p> <p>Before the coronavirus pandemic hit, the journey to digital transformation was underway across many industries. Whether through the purchase of large-scale enterprise resource planning (ERP) offered by companies like SAP, or through individual contracts with suppliers specializing in virtual banking, e-signatures, contracts or hiring, companies have taken steps to manage their businesses digitally. This move has paid off in the current environment.</p> <p>But not all transformations are created equal, and not all processes benefit, as I learned from my experience. Certain companies and industries are slower to make changes, and even the best transformations leave out many opportunities. Unique challenges, including red tape, limited budgets and competing interests, prevent investment and adoption. How can technology and procurement providers better support the public sector&rsquo;s move to the 21<sup>st</sup>&nbsp;century? &nbsp;</p> <h1>A Catalyst for Change</h1> <p>The initial outbreak of coronavirus rocked global supply chains. Hospitals, nursing homes and health care facilities around the world scrambled to obtain personal protective equipment, hospital beds and ventilators. As the pandemic unfolded and cases began spiking, many traditional channels of supply shut down.</p> <p>To assist our customers at this time, SAP extended the use of&nbsp;<a data-mce-="" href="https://my.ariba.com/discovery" target="_blank">SAP Ariba Discovery</a>, for free, through the end of 2020. This enables buyers to post their immediate sourcing needs and for suppliers to respond. One extraordinary customer story involved a supplier who could source 500&nbsp;hospital beds&nbsp;in less than 30 minutes, delivering much-needed support to a New York City hospital &ndash; one of the worst-hit cities at the onset of the pandemic. Unlike our competitors, our size and scale made the difference in helping the hospital in record time.</p> <p>While many companies stepped forward to assist, the process was ad hoc. Underlying processes in many public and private institutions have not been fundamentally altered to quickly or efficiently address such requests. As a society, we increasingly need to prepare for disruption in the form of cyber-attacks, natural disasters and once-in-a-century pandemics. Low probability, high-impact events cannot be ignored to be dealt with on a one-off basis.</p> <p>Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella&nbsp;<a data-mce-="" href="http://microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-365/blog/2020/04/30/2-years-digital-transformation-2-months/" target="_blank">captured the feeling of the moment</a>&nbsp;when presenting Q2 earnings to Wall Street, &ldquo;We&rsquo;ve seen two years&rsquo; worth of digital transformation in two months. From remote teamwork and learning to sales and customer service, &nbsp;critical cloud infrastructure, and security&mdash;we are working alongside customers every day to help them adapt and stay open for business in a world of remote everything.&rdquo;</p> <p>COVID-19 has clearly demonstrated the need for digitalization and automation, two key areas that would help drive efficiency and expediency across all business processes.</p> <h1>Marrying Front and Back Office Functions</h1> <p>Some within the procurement function view automation as a potential threat to their livelihood. But the goal of automation isn&rsquo;t to take away work from humans and give it to machines. The goal is to empower humans to take on more complex and strategic roles within their organizations and elevate the procurement function from back to front office.</p> <p>By replacing certain functions (data entry, email, text summarization) with automation (predictive analytics, machine learning and document intelligence), companies can hire specialists versus generalists and improve cost-saving alongside productivity. Human resources, finance and procurement functions present the greatest opportunity, with 60% to 80% of tasks deemed automatable and potential cost reduction by at least 30%,&nbsp;<a data-mce-="" href="https://www.mckinsey.com/industries/public-and-social-sector/our-insights/how-governments-can-harness-the-power-of-automation-at-scale">according to McKinsey</a>.</p> <p>Digitalization would also prove a game-changer for the public sector. Even as many front-office services have moved online, siloed databases, paper-heavy processes, and outdated IT lead to longer wait times on returns for applications and forms in the back office.</p> <p>COVID-19&rsquo;s impact is felt far and wide,&nbsp;<a data-mce-="" href="https://www.economist.com/international/2020/09/01/covid-19-is-spurring-the-digitisation-of-government" target="_blank">permeating all parts of our lives</a>. Couples trying to get married or divorced are facing similar challenges &ndash; endless bureaucracy and delayed court dates. And while inconvenient for some, global shutdowns have been devastating for others. Millions of unemployment claims were met with crashed websites and long lines. Even contact tracing, touted as one of the best ways to monitor and stop the spread of coronavirus, has proved challenging without accurate data on citizens.</p> <p>And while undoubtedly governments have struggled in this space, there are some powerful success stories, as well. Estonia, India and Taiwan serve as sources of inspiration.</p> <h1>Investing in a Digital Future</h1> <p>It&rsquo;s hard to believe Estonia&rsquo;s electronic identity (eID) system has been around for more than 15 years.&nbsp;<a data-mce-="" href="https://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2020/05/estonia-america-congress-online-pandemic/612034/" target="_blank">Bridging the gap between the public and private sector</a>, the eID is used by Estonia&rsquo;s citizens every day for activities ranging from accessing public transit and medical care, to filing their taxes, signing documents and voting online. No need for two-factor authentication or to physically go to a government building. In the age of COVID-19, Estonia can serve its citizens quickly and efficiently, saving time and money.</p> <p>Similarly, since 2009, India&rsquo;s national biometric digital identity program Aadhaar has enrolled&nbsp;<a data-mce-="" href="https://uidai.gov.in/about-uidai/unique-identification-authority-of-india/about.html" target="_blank">1.2 billion people</a>, making it the world&#39;s single most extensive digital ID program. Like Estonia, the adoption of Aadhaar encouraged the growth of other digital services.&nbsp;<a data-mce-="" href="https://www.mckinsey.com/business-functions/mckinsey-digital/our-insights/digital-india-technology-to-transform-a-connected-nation" target="_blank">An article by McKinsey reveals</a>, &ldquo;870 million bank accounts were linked to Aadhaar by February 2018, compared with 399 million in April 2017 and 56 million in January 2014. Likewise, the Goods and Services Tax Network, established in 2013, brings all transactions of about 10.3 million indirect tax-paying businesses onto one digital platform, creating a powerful incentive for companies to digitize their operations.&rdquo;</p> <p>Taiwan is also taking a novel approach to supporting citizens by&nbsp;<a data-mce-="" href="https://www.economist.com/international/2020/09/01/covid-19-is-spurring-the-digitisation-of-government" target="_blank">providing an economic stimulus via its health insurance system</a>. The move assists brick and mortar businesses.</p> <p>Naturally, convincing countries around the world to adopt this type of technology is often met with resistance. Protecting personal data and records presents concerns. Fraud, in the form of voting or&nbsp;<a data-mce-="" href="https://www.economist.com/leaders/2020/09/05/covid-19-strengthens-the-case-for-digital-id-cards" target="_blank">insurance</a>, for example, comes to mind. But if countries took the first steps to build the ecosystem necessary to support such measures, we would all benefit. Tony Blair, former prime minister of the United Kingdom, has called for Britain to invest in a citizenship register like Estonia&rsquo;s.</p> <p>The pandemic has only heightened the need for digital services across the world. To deliver the experience that citizens truly deserve, all organizations, across all industries, should create a list of all processes that require manual work and physical presence and try to eliminate them.&nbsp; Evaluate each microscopically and assess if they can be digitized.</p> <p>In one of my discussions with the Chief Procurement Officer of BHP, Sundeep Singh, he mentioned that procurement organizations are uniquely positioned to drive their companies&#39; innovation agenda because no other function can &ldquo;serve as the window to the outside world.&rdquo;&nbsp; My invitation is to take this innovation beyond the private sector to help all the world&rsquo;s citizens, particularly those destined to spend an afternoon at the DMV.</p> </div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-tags field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-inline clearfix"><div class="field-label">Tags:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/tags/digital-transformation" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Digital Transformation</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/tags/digitalization" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Digitalization</a></div><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/tags/procurement" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Procurement</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/tags/digital-services" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">digital services</a></div><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/tags/coronavirus" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">coronavirus</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/tags/covid-19" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">COVID-19</a></div><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/tags/automation" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Automation</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/tags/machine-learning" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Machine Learning</a></div><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/tags/document-intelligence" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">document intelligence</a></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-addthis field-type-addthis field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><div class="addthis_toolbox addthis_default_style " addthis:title="Successful Digital Transformation Requires an Inspection of all Business Processes - Future of Sourcing" addthis:url="http://futureofsourcing.com/successful-digital-transformation-requires-an-inspection-of-all-business-processes"><a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_linkedin"></a> <a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_facebook"></a> <a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_twitter"></a> <a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_googleplus"></a> <a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_pinterest_share"></a> <a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_reddit"></a> <a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_email"></a> <a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_print"></a> </div> </div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-region field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-inline clearfix"><div class="field-label">Region:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="/regions/global" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Global</a></div></div></div> Mon, 16 Nov 2020 16:30:20 +0000 Baber Farooq 1884 at http://futureofsourcing.com http://futureofsourcing.com/successful-digital-transformation-requires-an-inspection-of-all-business-processes#comments Global Companies Working to Shape the Future of Connectivity with AI/ML http://futureofsourcing.com/global-companies-working-to-shape-the-future-of-connectivity-with-aiml <div class="field field-name-field-image field-type-image field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" rel="og:image rdfs:seeAlso" resource="http://futureofsourcing.com/sites/default/files/articles/Artificial%20Intelligence%20and%20Cable%20broadband%20connectivity.png"><a href="http://futureofsourcing.com/sites/default/files/articles/Artificial%20Intelligence%20and%20Cable%20broadband%20connectivity.png" title="While the work of the AI/ML standards group is still in its early stages, the promise of this and the other Explorer working groups is real. " class="colorbox" rel="gallery-node-1832-bNsLSm4OF5c"><img typeof="foaf:Image" src="http://futureofsourcing.com/sites/default/files/styles/juicebox_medium/public/articles/Artificial%20Intelligence%20and%20Cable%20broadband%20connectivity.png?itok=UMHzNObH" width="624" height="325" alt="While the work of the AI/ML standards group is still in its early stages, the promise of this and the other Explorer working groups is real. " title="" /></a></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-related-news field-type-entityreference field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Related news:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="/artificial-intelligence-still-sounds-scary-why">Artificial Intelligence still sounds scary. Why?</a></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" property="content:encoded"> <p>When <a href="https://www.scte.org/" target="_blank">SCTE&bull;ISBE</a>, a cable telecommunications industry group, launched the <a href="https://www2.scte.org/SCTEDocs/PressReleases/SCTE%20Explorer%20Announcement%20Final%203.31.2020.pdf" target="_blank">Explorer initiative</a>, which encompasses seven new working groups to set standards for the industry, it surprised some professionals that companies from outside the industry signed on.</p> <p>Each of the working groups represent industries, technologies or practices that will place significant demands on telecommunications infrastructure or have a material impact on its development. These groups include telehealth and aging in place, telemedicine, artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML), smart cities, autonomous transport, extended spectrum (Up to 3.0 GHz), and human factors affecting network reliability.</p> <p>As part of this launch, several large global companies - including IBM - signed on to set standards for AI and ML in cable telecommunications. So, why would a global fortune 500 company that is shaping technology each day, join a telecommunications group focused on setting telecom standards?</p> <p>To illuminate the wisdom, I spoke with several members of the new AI/ML working group to share how the work being done in these sessions will shape the future of connectivity and power businesses in the future. The answers I received from participants focused on two main areas - market access and pushing the network to new limits.</p> <h1>Market Access</h1> <p>According to our partners at NCTA, cable MSOs (multi-system operators) have invested more than $290 billion of private capital in broadband networks over the last 20 years. Cable broadband reaches more than 66 million people in the U.S.</p> <p>By engaging in this process, companies like IBM, achieve a head start on ensuring that the standards that are set will serve the needs of their products and services, and ensure that their products and services are optimized to reach customers across this vast network.</p> <p>For instance, if company A creates an innovative new service that requires extremely low network latency (the time it takes data to go from a source to a destination) at a level that cable doesn&rsquo;t currently provide, as a member of the working group they can lead the development of a standard to meet those needs.</p> <p>Then, when company A launches said new service, it will be guaranteed to work on the network. This provides access and scalability on a global scale. With cable being the primary access model for reaching customers worldwide, the opportunity to shape the network standards is an invaluable part of the process of bringing new products and services to market.</p> <p align="center"><em><a href="http://info.sig.org/digital-disruption-in-sourcing-and-procurement" target="_blank">&gt;&gt;Digital Disruption in Sourcing and Procurement&lt;&lt;</a></em></p> <h1>Pushing Toward 10G</h1> <p>Companies with an eye toward the future also see that the technologies, products and services of tomorrow will require a network with even greater reliability, faster speeds, more capacity, lower latency, and stronger security. These companies recognize the need to push rapidly toward the promise of 10G.</p> <p>The AI/ML Explorer working group is, in part, exploring the use of AI/ML to make the network more efficient. Standards for how to leverage AI/ML to improve efficiency in the network are an essential part of moving the industry to 10G more quickly.</p> <p>For example, one area of exploration is how machine learning can be used to increase network capacity by automating and optimizing network augmentation techniques like node splits. Being at the table to discuss and understand the future of connectivity is giving these participating companies an important window into the future - one they are helping to shape.</p> <p>While the work of the AI/ML standards group is still in its early stages, the promise of this and the other Explorer working groups is real. These standards bodies are uniting leaders from diverse industries to shape the criteria that will usher in a new era of connectivity, providing access and scalability to companies who engage.</p> </div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-tags field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-inline clearfix"><div class="field-label">Tags:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/tags/artificial-intelligence-ai" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Artificial Intelligence (AI)</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/tags/machine-learning" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Machine Learning</a></div><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/tags/telecommunications" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Telecommunications</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/tags/cable-broadband" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Cable broadband</a></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-addthis field-type-addthis field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><div class="addthis_toolbox addthis_default_style " addthis:title="Global Companies Working to Shape the Future of Connectivity with AI/ML - Future of Sourcing" addthis:url="http://futureofsourcing.com/global-companies-working-to-shape-the-future-of-connectivity-with-aiml"><a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_linkedin"></a> <a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_facebook"></a> <a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_twitter"></a> <a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_googleplus"></a> <a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_pinterest_share"></a> <a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_reddit"></a> <a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_email"></a> <a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_print"></a> </div> </div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-region field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-inline clearfix"><div class="field-label">Region:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="/regions/global" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Global</a></div></div></div> Wed, 19 Aug 2020 19:39:49 +0000 Chris Bastian 1832 at http://futureofsourcing.com http://futureofsourcing.com/global-companies-working-to-shape-the-future-of-connectivity-with-aiml#comments Bring on the bots: Artificial intelligence to the rescue in the fight against COVID-19 http://futureofsourcing.com/bring-on-the-bots-artificial-intelligence-to-the-rescue-in-the-fight-against-covid-19 <div class="field field-name-field-image field-type-image field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" rel="og:image rdfs:seeAlso" resource="http://futureofsourcing.com/sites/default/files/articles/Copy%20of%20FoS%20Header%20Images%20%2854%29.png"><a href="http://futureofsourcing.com/sites/default/files/articles/Copy%20of%20FoS%20Header%20Images%20%2854%29.png" title="artificial intelligence, data science and machine learning" class="colorbox" rel="gallery-node-1787-bNsLSm4OF5c"><img typeof="foaf:Image" src="http://futureofsourcing.com/sites/default/files/styles/juicebox_medium/public/articles/Copy%20of%20FoS%20Header%20Images%20%2854%29.png?itok=gM9T94xi" width="624" height="325" alt="artificial intelligence, data science and machine learning" title="" /></a></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-related-news field-type-entityreference field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Related news:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="/8-use-cases-and-applications-that-prove-rpa-is-not-dead">8 Use Cases and Applications that Prove RPA is Not Dead</a></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" property="content:encoded"> <p>Since the onset of COVID-19, artificial intelligence, data science and machine learning have gone from time-saving to life-saving technologies. The fact is, they have rapidly emerged as powerful weapons in the fight against the pandemic.&nbsp;</p> <p>From accelerating testing capabilities to enforcing social distancing measures, these bots &ndash; formerly unsung heroes of AI &ndash; have suddenly taken on a significant role in altering the way we face pandemics.&nbsp;</p> <p>Here are some of the ways bots continue to play an essential role in the fight against COVID-19:</p> <h1>Self-Reporting and Diagnosis</h1> <p>Chatbots engage in one-on-one, natural conversations with consumers. A chatbot can inform the user about highly specific information, including cases reported in the neighborhood, designated hospitals in your area, local hotline information, and alerts from the city or county.&nbsp;</p> <p>Furthermore, chatbots can quickly assess symptoms and risk factors, advising an immediate course of action while urgently notifying authorities in the community.</p> <h1>Fact-Checking and Demystifying COVID-19 Hoaxes</h1> <p>Misinformation surrounding the origin of this virus has ranged from rumors about fake vaccines to conspiracy theories tied to false beliefs that 5G is somehow responsible. Bots and other nascent&nbsp;technologies provide users with the correct information and have debunked more than&nbsp;4,000 COVID-19 hoaxes that have caused widespread fear and misled millions.</p> <h1>Lightening the Load for Healthcare Workers</h1> <p>The unprecedented acceleration of COVID-19 has drastically overwhelmed our healthcare systems. Hospitals and healthcare facilities are traditionally not equipped to handle such rapid and widespread emergencies.&nbsp;</p> <p>So today, healthcare professionals have been essential in identifying, tracking and preventing the virus&rsquo; spread. From forecasting outbreaks to patients self-reporting symptoms, bots are now&nbsp;especially necessary for hospital frontline workers. Bots alleviate the strain of seeing several patients at once by instantly differentiating those in critical condition from those with mild symptoms.</p> <h1>Lending a Hand to First Responders</h1> <p>AI has been a saving grace for firefighters, police officers and EMS medics, improving emergency response and buying more time to save lives. Beyond robots and drones entering high-risk areas so first responders can stay safely away, AI systems are increasingly being used in employee assistance and behavioral health. AI helps to identify workers on the front lines who are most at-risk for needing mental and emotional support based on red flags found in the data.</p> <p>For law enforcement, bots traditionally used for crowd control at live events now send alerts whenever crowd densities are too high. Though not yet available in the U.S., bots&nbsp;are currently under consideration for implementation into video surveillance systems. They will let officers and other frontline workers enforce social distancing while staying out of harm&rsquo;s way.</p> <h1>Looking Ahead</h1> <p>As the world faces new destructive challenges - be it a brush fire in California or a widespread viral epidemic<span style="font-size: 13.008px;">&nbsp;-&nbsp;</span>we must find out-of-the-box solutions to consistently keep <em>all </em>communications on track.&nbsp;</p> <p>Chatbots and artificial intelligence are the path forward for reliable information distribution. They remove needless stress on humans, shifting focus to efforts on search and rescue, food/resource deployment or whatever the often-dire circumstances may be. While they aren&rsquo;t substitutes for human critical thinking and reasoning, chatbots and other digital operating models will be at the forefront of the recovery for many years to come.&nbsp;</p> </div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-tags field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-inline clearfix"><div class="field-label">Tags:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/tags/artificial-intelligence-ai" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Artificial Intelligence (AI)</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/tags/chatbots" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Chatbots</a></div><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/tags/covid-19" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">COVID-19</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/tags/data-science" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">data science</a></div><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/tags/machine-learning" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Machine Learning</a></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-addthis field-type-addthis field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><div class="addthis_toolbox addthis_default_style " addthis:title="Bring on the bots: Artificial intelligence to the rescue in the fight against COVID-19 - Future of Sourcing" addthis:url="http://futureofsourcing.com/bring-on-the-bots-artificial-intelligence-to-the-rescue-in-the-fight-against-covid-19"><a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_linkedin"></a> <a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_facebook"></a> <a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_twitter"></a> <a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_googleplus"></a> <a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_pinterest_share"></a> <a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_reddit"></a> <a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_email"></a> <a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_print"></a> </div> </div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-region field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-inline clearfix"><div class="field-label">Region:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="/regions/global" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Global</a></div></div></div> Thu, 04 Jun 2020 22:24:48 +0000 Beerud Sheth 1787 at http://futureofsourcing.com http://futureofsourcing.com/bring-on-the-bots-artificial-intelligence-to-the-rescue-in-the-fight-against-covid-19#comments