108 buying . The net effect of that is the creation of more space in the organisation to work through the innovation agenda .” While the automated S2P features have been in operation for a few years , the firm has more recently incorporated intelligent contract reading and analytics-focused AI into Compass , enabling seamless document scanning and archiving in a way that draws value from the respective data . “ We ’ ve been working out a proof-of-concept to allow you to conduct those searches with natural language processing . For example : ‘ What was my caustic soda usage in the last ‘ X ’ months ?’. Compass gives us a platform to innovate from while adding capacity to the organisation ,” adds Smith . “ We ’ ve also added collaboration technology that allows people to work on documents together in real-time , along with 360 degree views of all our interactions with particular strategic suppliers .”
Collaboration at scale is an ascendant necessity for organisations , but Smith says that this is particularly acute in increasingly complex procurement environments . Whether it is internal teams liaising for a project , or
extra-organisation communications with suppliers , the intricacies of procurement have evolved to the extent that multiple teams , with complementary capabilities , are found along the operational chain . This increases the risk of silos with poor communication which in turn hamper progress . “ In the past , you would have your procurement team who were down the corridor , and they would have conducted the entirety of the procurement process ,” Smith explains . “ In reality , much of that now is , and should be , operated at scale on the behalf of the entire enterprise .
APRIL 2020