The Rise of the Sourcing Bots

In 2019, Sourcing Bots began automatically running negotiations for large enterprises and closing deals with almost no human involvement. This was a milestone in the path to Autonomous Procurement.  Let’s take a recap on the major events that capped a great year for Keelvar.

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Blue Chip Customers

2019 has seen Keelvar expand its global customer base further. Keelvar has welcomed large enterprises including Energizer, Schneider Electric, Treehouse Foods, MTD, LSC Communications, Uline and Adidas into the fold. These customers add to an already enviable list of top blue chip customers, including Coca Cola, McKesson, BMW, Siemens, AB Foods, Logitech, Nutresa and many others. 

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The power of Keelvar's optimization engine is coming to the fore in complex sourcing events. It is particularly effective in analysing complex scenarios such as when business must be awarded to a minimum of two suppliers, along with other business goals. As a result, Sourcing Optimizer is fast becoming the tool of choice for enterprise strategic sourcing teams running esourcing events. 

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Award winning Sourcing Bots

In 2019, we saw Sourcing Bots automating 93% of tasks in Ocean mini-tenders. Keelvar became the first ever esourcing vendor to successfully deploy Sourcing Bots using true intelligent automation, with companies including Siemens. Recognition is being gained rapidly for this new category of technology. Keelvar has taken home home Tech Leaders' 'Smart Technology Innovation 2019' and Technology Ireland's 'Technology Innovation of the Year' awards this year. 

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Integration with SAP Ariba

Keelvar’s integration with SAP Ariba means customers will be able to take advantage of both sourcing tools with this rich bidirectional integration. Customers can leverage Keelvar for large event capacity, rich bid mechanisms and powerful scenario evaluation, with SAP Ariba providing sourcing project management, unified supplier management, material master integration, award approval and seamless integration to SAP Ariba Contracts, SAP S/4 HANA & Ariba Network.

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Keelvar Konnect: Sourcing Automation Conference

CEO Alan Holland delivered some standout presentations this year at JOC's Logtech'19 in Las Vegas, as well as Digital Procurement World in Amsterdam covering the topic of sourcing excellence with Sourcing Bots. 

Keelvar brought its Sourcing Automation Conference to Amsterdam and Zurich this year. Two sold out events drew audiences from forward thinking sourcing teams across the world including PepsiCo, BMW, Logitech, Grupo Nutresa, Sony, Henkel & SAP Ariba.

Designed to inspire and drive discussion on sourcing excellence, Keelvar Konnect featured speakers from Google, Johnson & Johnson, Maersk, Boston Consulting Group, CRH, Oliver Wyman and UBS. These presentations shed light on how various industries are approaching strategic sourcing. Keelvar showcased how AI-based Sourcing Bots can drive better talent retention, faster sourcing and reliable excellence in negotiations.

Poker Bots and Chess Bots have succeeded in overcoming the best that human intelligence can offer and Keelvar is now bringing that sophistication to Procurement.