In response to one of my most recent posts, “Why is AI such a “Hard Sell?” the Chief Marketing Officer for a Solution Provider wrote the following:
Chief Marketing Officer | We are Hiring!
12:40:55 PM
Jon W. Hansen thank you for the tag. AI isn’t necessarily a hard sell anymore as it is becoming an integral part of our daily lives. The initial skepticism from years ago has given way to adoption – over 80% of users now engage with AI daily.
At Solution Provider, we have witnessed how AI is transforming procurement. Our Hyperbridge AI reasoning engine and Generative AI Co-Pilots are really making an impact for our customers. But don’t just take my word, the Head of Procurement and Supplier Management at ABC Company, shares his experience: “Solution Provider’s Hyperbridge AI decision engine unifies all parts of the procurement process. It allows us to create new forms, workflows, and even add conditional logic on the fly. These capabilities are rarely found in typical procure-to-pay tools. With Solution Provider, we now have all necessary data and insights in one unified place. Hyperbridge’s flexibility has been immensely beneficial to ABC Company, especially as we face new projects requiring control measures almost weekly.”
AI’s transition from a “hard sell” to a game-changer is evident in success stories like these. As more businesses experience the tangible benefits of AI integration, the perceived barriers to adoption continue to fall.
Here is my response, which highlights what I initially used to screen solution providers. Remember, this is an initial evaluation. The questions dealing with things such as bench strength, implementation team capability, and scalability occur deeper into the assessment:
Strategic Advisor/Analyst Specializing in Emerging AI Tech, Sales and Marketing (Procurement) Thinkers360 Top 50 Global Thought Leaders & Influencers on Procurement! (April 2021)
1:09:19 PM
CMO, thank you for sharing.
Here are a few things I take away from your comment:
1. Since I had not really heard of Solution Provider before, I did a little checking:
According to multiple sources, your annual revenue is between $2.5 and $4 million. At this stage, it would be good to know your profitability. For example, before I sold my start-up, I had a $2.1 million profit on $3.5 million in sales—in short, there was a positive cash flow. I would also like to know how many clients your annual revenue is distributed, which speaks to potential scalability.
Your company appears to have recently received $44.5 million in funding – I would like to know more about the funding – including the party or parties behind it.
Your reference account is a good start. I am tagging the mutual connections I have with ABC Company’s Head of Procurement to get their feedback on him and his company, starting with (Mutual Contact Names)
Regarding the ABC Company implementation, I would be very interested in reviewing their assessment and specifics about their implementation.
Finally, it would be great if I could have access to other clients.
Your Takeaway:
As I have said and written here many times, features, functions, and benefits don’t matter. In short, unlike 40 years ago, today’s AI tech works when appropriately applied. I want to know if the solution provider can do this more than once.
I want to see if they use an agent-based versus an equation-based approach.
If the solution provider is unwilling to provide direct access to their clients one-on-one directly – and some are not willing to do that using the excuse that we don’t want to bother our client or want to control the narrative, you might want to take a step back. Of course, if you believe that the provider is still someone with whom you would like to work, at least get the contact name and do what I did, which was to reach out to a mutual connection on LinkedIn.
Of even greater importance is determining who is behind their funding. That’s right, you need to check out who the investors are and understand their track records, e.g., is this the first and only solution provider client they have, or is this part of a bigger play involving multiple suppliers. The answer to the above question is potentially a good indication of your success.
Remember: according to a recent post by Kearney, the AI failure rate is now at 83%. You are justified in asking the tough questions upfront to determine viability beyond the brochures, case studies, and map placements.
One more thing—working with a big solution provider, including public companies, is not a guarantee of success. The above approach is essential for screening small and sometimes unknown providers who can solve problems and deliver optimal results.
30
Procurement Insights
Here’s how to initially screen a potential solution provider
Posted on August 7, 2024
0
In response to one of my most recent posts, “Why is AI such a “Hard Sell?” the Chief Marketing Officer for a Solution Provider wrote the following:
Chief Marketing Officer | We are Hiring!
12:40:55 PM
Jon W. Hansen thank you for the tag. AI isn’t necessarily a hard sell anymore as it is becoming an integral part of our daily lives. The initial skepticism from years ago has given way to adoption – over 80% of users now engage with AI daily.
At Solution Provider, we have witnessed how AI is transforming procurement. Our Hyperbridge AI reasoning engine and Generative AI Co-Pilots are really making an impact for our customers. But don’t just take my word, the Head of Procurement and Supplier Management at ABC Company, shares his experience: “Solution Provider’s Hyperbridge AI decision engine unifies all parts of the procurement process. It allows us to create new forms, workflows, and even add conditional logic on the fly. These capabilities are rarely found in typical procure-to-pay tools. With Solution Provider, we now have all necessary data and insights in one unified place. Hyperbridge’s flexibility has been immensely beneficial to ABC Company, especially as we face new projects requiring control measures almost weekly.”
AI’s transition from a “hard sell” to a game-changer is evident in success stories like these. As more businesses experience the tangible benefits of AI integration, the perceived barriers to adoption continue to fall.
Here is my response, which highlights what I initially used to screen solution providers. Remember, this is an initial evaluation. The questions dealing with things such as bench strength, implementation team capability, and scalability occur deeper into the assessment:
Jon W. Hansen • You
Strategic Advisor/Analyst Specializing in Emerging AI Tech, Sales and Marketing (Procurement) Thinkers360 Top 50 Global Thought Leaders & Influencers on Procurement! (April 2021)
1:09:19 PM
CMO, thank you for sharing.
Here are a few things I take away from your comment:
1. Since I had not really heard of Solution Provider before, I did a little checking:
According to multiple sources, your annual revenue is between $2.5 and $4 million. At this stage, it would be good to know your profitability. For example, before I sold my start-up, I had a $2.1 million profit on $3.5 million in sales—in short, there was a positive cash flow. I would also like to know how many clients your annual revenue is distributed, which speaks to potential scalability.
Your company appears to have recently received $44.5 million in funding – I would like to know more about the funding – including the party or parties behind it.
Your reference account is a good start. I am tagging the mutual connections I have with ABC Company’s Head of Procurement to get their feedback on him and his company, starting with (Mutual Contact Names)
Regarding the ABC Company implementation, I would be very interested in reviewing their assessment and specifics about their implementation.
Finally, it would be great if I could have access to other clients.
Your Takeaway:
As I have said and written here many times, features, functions, and benefits don’t matter. In short, unlike 40 years ago, today’s AI tech works when appropriately applied. I want to know if the solution provider can do this more than once.
I want to see if they use an agent-based versus an equation-based approach.
If the solution provider is unwilling to provide direct access to their clients one-on-one directly – and some are not willing to do that using the excuse that we don’t want to bother our client or want to control the narrative, you might want to take a step back. Of course, if you believe that the provider is still someone with whom you would like to work, at least get the contact name and do what I did, which was to reach out to a mutual connection on LinkedIn.
Of even greater importance is determining who is behind their funding. That’s right, you need to check out who the investors are and understand their track records, e.g., is this the first and only solution provider client they have, or is this part of a bigger play involving multiple suppliers. The answer to the above question is potentially a good indication of your success.
Remember: according to a recent post by Kearney, the AI failure rate is now at 83%. You are justified in asking the tough questions upfront to determine viability beyond the brochures, case studies, and map placements.
One more thing—working with a big solution provider, including public companies, is not a guarantee of success. The above approach is essential for screening small and sometimes unknown providers who can solve problems and deliver optimal results.
30
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