How a Smart Assistant Kicked Off an Innovation Revolution (Part 3)

Remember when the iPhone first came out with Siri?

Or maybe you’re an Android person, so it was Cortana, Google Assistant or now Bixby.

At first these technologies were more of a novelty. Some people viewed them with distrust, others didn’t really understand the use of it.

And it took a while for them to really get up to speed. At first the interface was rigid, you had to talk a certain way and they only responded to a select few phrases.

But now, you’d be hard pressed to find many places where a smart device with some sort of voice interface isn’t around.

Smart Tv’s all have voice command functions, all smartphones have their own version, Amazon’s Alexa is commonplace now.

This smart assistant wave has really taken the world by storm, and for good reason.

You can search nearly anything with a few words, find your favorite song by humming the beat, get real time updates on the big game, you can even translate conversations in real time.

The applications are virtually limitless, and they can make life infinitely easier.

The common denominator though? None of them are designed for the workplace.

Sure, you can set reminders or look up certain things from your phone, but they weren’t designed for work.

A better solution is needed.

Our Journey Towards Strategic Value

In part 1 of this journey, we talked about how the key to getting procurement a seat at the ‘strategic business table’ is to rediscover the innovative mindset from the old days.

To that end we launched our Digital Mind project, aiming to not just give you the tools and knowledge you need, but to help shift procurements overall mindset.

For part 2, we explored how to overcome a lack of digital adoption. After all, you can’t have any success with digital transformation if no one actually uses the technology.

In my opinion, the key to digital adoption, and the main idea behind JAGGAER Adopt, is empowering people.

Now for part 3, we’ll dive into a smart assistant specially designed for procurement, and exactly how you can use it to get the most ROI.

A Real Procurement Smart Assistant

Any good business tool needs to do a few things.

Make your job easier. Make your job faster. And provide some sort of ROI, whether that’s a hard cost savings, or a ‘softer’ efficiency boost and time saving.

A procurement smart assistant should check all of those boxes if it’s worth its salt.

Those same cool features and benefits you can get from your iPhone or Alexa, you should be able to do similar things with work.

At JAGGER, we recognize the major impact something like this could have on the future of procurement, so as part of our Digital Mind, we’ve rolled out JAGGAER Assist, your very own procurement smart assistant tailored to your needs.

I’ll spare you all the technical details but what you need to know is this:

Access to an Advanced Knowledge Base

Out of the box you’ll have access to our entire procurement knowledge base. Over 25 years of experience, procurement savvy and technical know-how for you to draw on in an instant.

There won’t be a need for going to an administrator for questions, just ask JAGGAER Assist. This not only helps save plenty of time, but it builds confidence, increasing adoption for your tools, and ultimately bringing you closer to your goals.

Designed to Speak your Language

Like I said, sparing you the technical details. But Assist is built using Natural Language Processing (NLP).

In a nutshell, it means that users don’t need to phrase things a certain way, use specific keywords or learn anything new to use it.

All you need to do is talk. Just like you would to a coworker, and Assist can take care of the rest.

Simple Tasks Done for you

Manual tasks, no matter how small, add up over time.

Creating an RFP or filtering contacts but certain criteria is easy, but when you have to do it dozens of times per day? That’s a lot of time spent that could be on something else a bit more exciting.

Assist can do the little things for you, instantly. Not only that, but by utilizing some advancements in the analytics field, Assist can run and analyze reports for you, all by just saying a word.

A Shift in Mindset

A solution like Assist can have tons of benefits on your work, but I think the main one is this: You can focus on strategy and value, not asking/answering questions, or creating RFPs and filtering lists.

The Digital Mind really isn’t about the tools or technology at all.

I’ve said it before “A hammer can’t build anything unless someone swings it”.

We want to change the narrative from cost reduction to strategic value, and I think the best way to get there is by doubling down on innovations like smart assistants and investing in solutions to digital adoption.

It’s about shifting procurement’s mindset. Starting an ‘innovation revolution’ and I think a smart assistant could be exactly what you need to kick it off.

Once you unlock your solutions value, you’ll be able to prove your strategic value to the company by saving them time, money and being a best-in-class example of digital transformation for others to follow.

There’s still more to come, in part 4, the next and final step on this journey, we’ll take a look at how recommendation engines and prescriptive analytics can push you over the edge towards recognizing your team’s full potential.

Want to start from the beginning and learn what kicked off our Digital Mind project and this journey towards procurement’s strategic importance? Check out part 1.

And read more about how you can overcome a lack of digital adoption by combining your change management strategies with adoption innovation in part 2.

Want to do a deep dive on digital transformation and get step-by-step best practices? Check out our new practical guide to autonomous procurement!