The purchasing department aims to buy products at favorable conditions. While there are now numerous comparison portals for B2C end customers where they can continuously monitor prices from online retailers, B2B companies have to do it themselves. In addition, end customers usually only compare one product, while B2B companies have to check several portals or suppliers at once.

Instead of using employees for this, the use of RPA is recommended. This is because RPA can monitor product prices in real time and inform employees about price developments. They do not have to program the software robot in a time-consuming process, but rather demonstrate the task and work steps to it. The new virtual colleague then queries the prices independently - at defined time intervals, for example - and makes them available in bulk. This gives the purchasing department an up-to-date overview and allows them to find the best time to buy.

Reorder products in good time

The same applies to monitoring stock levels. International companies in particular, which have their warehouses spread all over the world, quickly lose track of things. The aim of strategic purchasing should be to purchase in good time. If companies use RPA to regularly query the data in their warehouses, all relevant information can be made available via a dashboard. If it does not provide any evaluations, such as average goods withdrawals, RPA can provide this information. The system can also be checked regularly so that trends can be identified immediately. This helps companies to avoid empty stock. To do this, the robot connects to the warehouse system and logs the required data. If it is foreseeable that there will be product shortages, the robot informs the assigned employees in good time or could even trigger orders independently.

If companies opt for an intelligent automation platform in which RPA is a key component, they also benefit from a graphical analysis and display of the results, such as current stock levels or flows of goods that the robot has collected. Trend analyses or forecasts can also be derived from this.

Reliable suppliers

It is extremely important for B2B companies to be able to rely on manufacturers and suppliers. Are they creditworthy? Is there a risk of insolvency? Companies want to receive information like this before they place an order. It is almost impossible for employees to search hundreds of news portals for this information. This is exactly what Next Generation RPA can be used for. While RPA is suitable for automating repetitive tasks, Next Generation RPA, an RPA solution supplemented by artificial intelligence and machine learning functionalities, goes one step further. Employees can create software robots and send them to search the internet based on keywords. Thanks to Cognitive Document Automation (CDA), Next Generation RPA is able to classify the content of messages using AI-based analysis. For example, if there is a message about a supplier's insolvency, the virtual colleague can immediately inform the purchasing department. The latter can then take appropriate measures, split its order quantities or shift them completely to other suppliers. In this way, RPA creates measurable added value and supports employees in the purchasing department in carrying out their activities more efficiently and making more targeted decisions.

Daniel Schmidt, Senior Product Marketing Manager at Kofax / ag