The Significance of Supplier UI/UX in Autonomous Negotiations
In this article, we delve into the pivotal role that Supplier User Interface/User Experience (UI/UX) plays within the landscape of procurement technology as well as for autonomous negotiations. A decade-old experience shall serve as an illuminating backdrop to highlight the critical importance of this aspect.
Historical Challenges: Lessons from Real-World Implementations
My task involved implementing a supplier portal across a globally operating corporation’s supply base. However, what initially seemed like a game-changing solution soon revealed its limitations. After a few weeks of rollout activities, one of the first suppliers that had raised their hand being willing to work with this new portal requested that we visit them onsite at their factory in order to better train them on the usage of the portal as well as to provide initial feedback. Why? It turned out that it took the supplier way more time to operate with our new portal compared to them for example receiving purchase orders via email in the past from our ERP. The portal did not really improve the end-to-end process, even though it was automated on our, the customer’s end. Instead, it made the process less efficient, as it was not productive at all for the supplier to use it within their daily operations.
The Importance of Supplier-Centric Design
Seven days later, I visited another supplier who, upon entering their facilities, introduced me to one of their distribution specialists, operating with six(!) different supplier portals as well as their own ERP systems across 4 large monitors. Therefore, the supplier portal, while automated from the customer’s perspective, hindered efficiency and garnered negative feedback from suppliers. This personal experience underscored the need to prioritize supplier-centric design and usability considerations.
Shift in Perspective: Recognizing Supplier Needs in Digital Procurement
Historically, many procurement technology solutions were predominantly developed with a customer-centric focus, often overlooking the needs and experiences of supplier users. This oversight has left a lasting impact on the trajectory of digital procurement. While procurement professionals rightfully raised concerns about user-unfriendly interfaces, suppliers faced even greater challenges. Notably, early pioneers regarding this aspect championed the notion that a positive supplier experience within a solution ultimately benefits procurement as a whole. It was argued that collaborative engagement with key suppliers is essential for fostering innovation, and user-friendly solutions facilitate this process. Thus, the supplier’s role in the procurement ecosystem emerged as a key consideration, elevating the importance of supplier UI/UX at least among a few technology providers.
Case Study: Pactum AI and Supplier Interface Optimization
Now, how does this relate to Pactum AI? The answer is straightforward. Pactum AI interfaces with a multitude of suppliers for each client utilizing the solution, usually numbering in the thousands. This translates to a substantial ratio of supplier users compared to customer users. The effectiveness of the solution hinges on the supplier’s ability to navigate and negotiate within the User Interface. If the supplier interface falls short in terms of design and usability, it diminishes the solution’s value proposition drastically.
Focusing on the Supplier Experience: Pactum AI’s Strategy
Consequently, Pactum AI solely focused its efforts on enhancing the supplier experience for its first two years of existence, dedicating resources to fine-tune and improve this crucial element. Only in its third year of existence did Pactum gradually turn its attention to the development and implementation of a client user interface for procurement personnel.
Insights from Kaspar Korjus: Understanding the Pactum Platform
Kaspar Korjus, Chief Product Officer at Pactum, recently shared fundamental insights into the Pactum Platform, which serves as the foundation for autonomous negotiations. While all elements displayed in the platform concept are undoubtedly critical, it can be argued that the supplier portal, which occupies only one sixth of space of the platform, accounted for a long time for the lion’s share of interactions, development efforts, brainstorming sessions, enhancements, and discussions within Pactum. In essence, when assessing the foundational elements of autonomous negotiations and assigning weight to different elements, the supplier interface/portal’s role in providing a favorable supplier experience emerges as absolutely paramount.
Redefining Autonomous Negotiations: Beyond Free Flowing Conversations
This leads us to the second important aspect regarding autonomous negotiations and supplier UI/UX: an autonomous negotiation doesn’t not have to simply mimic a free flowing conversation. Actually, this might even lead to a negative experience for the supplier as well as a lower value deal for both parties. Firstly, this is because, similar to when somebody from procurement negotiates with a supplier in a room, data in excel files might be displayed, discussed and edited, flip charts might be leveraged, etc. Secondly, as the supplier is interacting solely with a software interface, one can leverage software development to improve the supplier experience compared to a conversation taking place between two or several human beings:
A supplier interface needs to be able to for example a) handle complex tables with multiple items when needed or b) only offer options to click when it is more efficient compared to when it makes sense to engage in a free text argument.
Concluding Thoughts: The Future of Supplier UI/UX in Autonomous Negotiations
In light of these observations, we can draw several key conclusions:
As we look to the future, the evolving landscape of supplier UI/UX, particularly in the context of Pactum and autonomous negotiations, presents a fascinating panorama of possibilities. The discourse is now shifting towards a more inclusive process that transcends the traditional boundaries of procurement. This progression marks a significant step towards a holistic negotiation ecosystem, where all parties, not just procurement professionals, can engage seamlessly and effectively. With such advancements on the horizon, the journey of Pactum and similar solutions promises to be a groundbreaking one, heralding a new era in the realm of digital negotiations. Indeed, these are not just interesting times; they are transformative ones, setting the stage for revolutionary changes in how we approach and conduct negotiations in commerce.