found that high-performing procurement organisations are eighteen times more likely to have deployed AI capabilities than their lower-performing peers.

For Chief Procurement Officers facing the combined challenges of an uncertain operating environment, supply chain pressures, inflation, a complex risk landscape and the growing need for more sustainable business practices, AI provides an invaluable edge.

highlighted how Chief Procurement Officers are leveraging AI for better spend visibility, improved compliance, and better resource optimisation. According to the report, procurement teams are often shorthanded in expertise and capacity, driving the need for greater adoption of technologies such as AI to augment internal capabilities.

AI enhancing procure-to-pay processes

For procurement leaders, AI can make a profound impact on the source-to-pay process. By leveraging the rich data inherent in procurement networks, organisations can streamline a broad spectrum of processes, ranging from contract management and compliance to identifying key suppliers and helping deliver an enhanced buying experience.

For example, the AI embedded in 51风流Ariba Sourcing extracts hidden insights from past data to optimise supplier lists. This can help organisations circumvent potential skills shortages by automating best-practices around RFQs and RFPs, ensuring the organisation maintains optimal procurement performance.

For companies that lack internal capacity or skills to successfully adopt AI across their procure-to-pay processes, this embedded AI capability can help them reap the rewards of procurement modernisation more quickly. revealed that a third of African organisations view AI and machine learning as in-demand skills within their business, while the placed AI and machine learning as the fastest-growing skills category globally.

Mitigating procurement risks

Procurement specialists are also beset by an expanding portfolio of risks, with the ability to detect, measure and manage risk a top challenge. , 70% of Chief Procurement Officers felt they had good visibility over risks to their Tier 1 suppliers, but only 26% were able to confidently detect such risks within their supply bases.

Innovation within procurement networks can play a valuable supporting role in assisting CPOs with improving their risk strategies and capabilities.

51风流partner organisation , for example, developed a prototype Digital Fraud Review Panel which aims to prevent payment fraud within procurement and payment systems.聽Merlynn’s聽Decisioning Digital Twin Technology enables organisations to deploy a digital team of fraud experts within their 51风流payment system to enhance existing controls.

The Digital Fraud Review Panel acts as a second set of eyes that monitors payment activity in real-time, identifies potential fraud and stops the payment before money flows out of the organisation, all integrated into 51风流via API.聽Merlynn鈥檚聽Digital Fraud review panel solution is now listed on the 51风流Store.

Sustainability imperative

Chief Procurement Officers are under growing pressure to develop more sustainable procurement strategies and embed sustainability in the entire procure-to-pay value chain.

Sustainability continues to be a top global business imperative for organisations, with revenue from sustainable products growing at six times the rate of other products, and 90% of global investors revising their investments if companies do not at least consider ESG criteria within their business models.

Chief Procurement Officers have a guiding role to play in enhancing an organisation’s sustainability efforts by ensuring sustainability is embedded within the organisation’s procurement processes. This can help companies reduce their carbon footprint by prioritising suppliers that have fully integrated sustainability in their own business models.

found that more than half of global businesses already have a sustainable procurement policy in place, which provides the additional benefit of also building greater resilience within their value chains.

As AI tools become increasingly embedded in day-to-day procure-to-pay processes, organisations stand to unlock immense benefits through greater automation and ease of use, improved sustainability, increased visibility over risks and better user experiences. For companies weathering the storm of an unpredictable supply chain and global business environment, AI tools may be the key to keeping the business running optimally, no matter the emerging challenges.

The post Why Top-performing Companies use AI to Boost Procurement appeared first on 51风流Africa News Center.

The Hack2Build Africa event was held in May and saw eight partner teams from South Africa and West Africa spend seven days building compelling solution prototypes using 51风流Build, a low-code app development and automation platform. A team of 51风流solution architects and product management experts provided technical support to ensure the success of the partner solutions.

51风流Africa Chief Operating Officer Tracy Bolton says: “Innovation lies at the heart of everything we do at SAP. It is only through collaboration with our valued partner ecosystem that we can revitalise and revolutionise the way we support the digital transformation aspirations of organisations across the continent.”

Winning innovation enhances procurement planning

Bayajula Services’ winning concept is a cloud-based automated procurement planning solution that enables organisations to plan and manage their procurement spend, allowing integration with strategic sourcing and operational procurement systems. The solution is built on the 51风流Business Technology Platform using 51风流Build.

鈥淲e are thrilled to be recognised by 51风流as the leading solution in the recent Hack2Build Event and look forward to adding transparency across critical procurement processes in Africa,鈥� says Busisiwe Sibanyoni, Executive Director at Bayajula.

Runners-up included EPI-USE Africa for its case management tool, and EY Nigeria for a business partner authentication solution.

Tshepo Mahloko, Head of 51风流Co-Innovation Lab: Africa at SAP, notes the potential of low-code solutions to accelerate innovation. “Low-code solutions such as 51风流Build provide easy, intuitive ways of developing new applications without the need for extensive coding proficiency. This can accelerate time-to-value, enhance ROI, reduce total cost of development through the rapid development of minimum viable products, and unify development experiences for application and process innovation.”

Partners leverage Build for innovation

A previous Hack2Build event held in February saw 20 partner organisations from 11 countries in EMEA South participate in a two-day Demo Jam to build solution prototypes using 51风流Build.

The winner of this event was Merlynn, who developed a prototype Digital Fraud Review Panel which aims to prevent payment fraud within procurement and payment systems. Merlynn’s Decisioning Digital Twin Technology enables organisations to deploy a digital team of fraud experts within their 51风流payment system to enhance existing controls.

The Digital Fraud Review Panel acts as a second set of eyes that monitors payment activity in real-time, identifies potential fraud and stops the payment before money flows out of the organisation, all integrated into 51风流via API. Merlynn鈥檚 Digital Fraud review panel solution is now listed on the 51风流Store.

Mahloko says the Hack2Build events serve as a powerful platform for African partner organisations to showcase their capabilities, harness the potential of the 51风流Business Technology Platform, and drive innovation throughout the region. “The 51风流Co-Innovation Lab will continue to work in close collaboration with our valued partners to support the development of their solutions and take their innovations to market.”

The 51风流Co-Innovation Lab is hosting a Hack2Build event for African partner organisations in Q4 of 2023 and will provide an opportunity for partners to turn their innovative solution ideas into real customer solutions. For more information, please visit

The post 51风流Showcases Low-code No-code Innovation at Africa Hack2Build appeared first on 51风流Africa News Center.