How AI Makes the RFx Processes More Efficient, Transparent and Competitive.

AI is a buzzword that is widely thrown around by companies. The reason for this is both a result of its overuse as a marketing tool and its multiplicity of forms. As Investopedia identifies, AI simulates human behaviour - learning, reasoning and perception in an objective manner. Just like a human it makes more accurate predictions with time as it learns. That definition is what AI means to most people. Ultimately, the reluctance around its implementation usually revolves around the fear that it will replace humans. In the majority of cases, this is not the reality. However, there is no denying that it has a place in the improvement of technology and processes.

Think of Netflix’s recommendation list - as it gets to know you better, it suggests increasingly more accurate movies that you may want to watch, even giving you the percentage likelihood of you enjoying it. However, it removes none of the enjoyment from the user of watching the programme, and you can always choose something different - but it does remove the headache of having to scroll through every single movie to choose one. 

So, AI - as used most commonly in industry - is about making use of very large volumes of data in order to make predictions about a new, as yet unencountered, datapoint. It also tends to learn and improve as the volume of historical data collected increases. To us, this means making use of the large volumes of proprietary data and information that we have on our platform about previous RFxs in order to make accurate predictions for a new RFx. This can help to connect the most suitable buyers and suppliers on our platform, leveraging our network effect. It is an essential tool, as we see it, to ensure the platform - and the breadth of the network of suppliers on it - is widely utilised, allowing smart discovery between participants and connections to grow.

David Hanbury, our resident AI expert, has collaborated with our Product and Development team to introduce AI into the platform. His comments were:

“AI allows us to predict important factors, such as the probability of a supplier bidding on a job, to assess the suitability of the matches further and provide more information to the buyer when making an RFx decision. AI can also be used on DeepStream to make the process of creating an RFx even more effortless, by creating smart RFx templates based upon previous RFx forms and suggesting these to buyers (and other ‘autofill’ style approaches).”

Interested in knowing more about how AI makes the RFx processes more efficient, transparent and competitive?

‍

On that note, at DeepStream, it is our mission to provide the best software to enable frictionless RFx (Request For anything) communication, and to empower any user in the supply chain, across industries with intelligent, transparent and efficient processes. With years of experience and tonnes of user data as a result of our growing partner and user growth and engagement, frictionless RFx goes hand in hand with the integration of AI into our technology in order to improve on the value the platform delivers to our partners. 

David Hanbury continues: 

“The human brain is better than the AI that most companies are using, and users do know best in terms of what they want the outcome to be. Therefore, in relation to DeepStream, it is excellent that the product is human focused, but introducing AI into the loop of the human process can augment the experience”. 

It is this augmentation that DeepStream is striving to deliver to our users. AI can enhance what we have already built to help our users improve the resilience of their supply chain, and continue to help them to make smarter and quicker decisions. This means removing unnecessary and time consuming manual work, to empower our users to efficiently apply their expertise. Rather than AI replacing humans, it can simply replace the workload that acts as a burden on the user - a silent, efficient and intelligent assistant if you will.

The possibilities of what introducing AI to DeepStream could mean for the platform’s development and user’s experience are quite literally limitless. As AI continues to improve on its functionality over time, as it learns to understand user needs better, it’s implementation in the platform over the coming months is only the beginning of it’s capability offer. Using our users feedback we have identified crucial pain points, and points at which we can improve our users’ RFx process, to deploy AI technology effectively. As ever, it’s introduction to the platform is driven by listening to our users and trying to find a solution which delivers over and above existing processes. 

Our vision of becoming the starting point for frictionless RFx communication and transactions across the supply chain, creating a simpler and sustainable future is closer than ever with AI in our platform. As an existing partner or a potential future partner, we are always open to hearing your thoughts - we’ve said before, and we’ll say it again - our users are the experts in what they do, we’re just here to give you the tools to do it better and quicker. 

Interested in knowing more about how AI makes the RFx processes more efficient, transparent and competitive?

‍