TECH & AI
structured information , changing the way that people work but in a helpful way , so it ’ s really a decision support tool .”
The foundations for effective S2P solution adoption When it comes to the foundations for effective S2P , Holland starts by discussing Keelvar ’ s recent research surveying sourcing managers . Holland explains that the report found evidence of procurement and supply chain teams needing to be upskilled when it comes to their knowledge and understanding of advanced automation and what AI can do to help . “ That training can be provided by vendors as well , Keelvar has created a new training programme called Keelvarsity where it trains up users in advanced techniques . So , we believe that ' s an important foundation stone for progress .”
Holland also recognises the importance of data . “ Data is critically important if it is structured in the right way . Few vendors , once they ' ve built their solutions , really appreciated the importance of structured data . Keelvar emerged from an AI research laboratory , so we understand the foundational importance of tagging data and taxonomies and more , so that we can learn and make inferences .”
Agreeing with Holland , Lampe discusses the importance of building a data foundation . “ A lot of times people use data as an excuse for not getting started . They say : ’ we don ’ t have the right data available ’. But our response would be ‘ start producing the right data ’, because if you delay even further , just because you don ’ t have the historically good data , you will never stop creating information in a format that isn ’ t useful . Transformation starts with accepting this and building out the data foundation that you need rather than looking at the past and trying to make sense of that . The key is to just make a start .”
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