AI in procurement

: opportunities through AI as the enabler for the new era of supplier relationship management in Germany

Abstract

Suppliers are increasingly seen as essential partners in an increasingly competitive economy. Long-term and strong collaborations enable companies to improve their operations. When it comes to digitizing business processes, artificial intelligence (AI) is one of the tools being used. AI enables new, strategic, collaborative, and enduring roles in procurement, which deals with these critical partnerships. This dissertation addresses the potential use cases of AI in Supplier Relationship Management (SRM) as a procurement function. It analyzes the opportunities to be an enabler for digital transformation. Therefore, expert interviews with industry experts were conducted to gather insights about challenges and the relevance of SRM in German companies, use cases of AI in SRM, and blockers of their application. The findings were analyzed and present an increasing need for companies to invest in their SRM function.Further, AI can be applied in SRM activities along the supplier lifecycle. Expert systems with a Machine Learning algorithm in the classification, identification of suppliers, and cost analysis were identified as the most potential cases to be adapted. The experts named blockers in the application, such as the shift of focus on other topics and the missing management priority. Further, companies lack the digital foundation and the understanding of data to implement AI. Ultimately, the dissertation presented the study's theoretical and practical implications, limitations, contributions, and areas for further research.

Date of Award	29 Jun 2022
Original language	English
Awarding Institution	Universidade Católica Portuguesa
Supervisor	Peter Rajsingh (Supervisor)