Preparing for AI in Document-centric Processes
You would have to be hiding in a deep, dark place to have missed the rife speculation about the impact of AI.
...Jan 24 · 3 min read
Today, we’ll look at the application of the Legito platform for folks working in sourcing and procurement. The challenge they face, among many, is buying-in goods and services from suppliers who will have their own procedures, policies, pricing and requirements, and checking that they will fit the needs of the customer. The scene is set for a potential clash when a buyer’s procurement team meets the supplier’s sales team. Meanwhile, their colleagues in both organisations want to get things moving.
If you think it will work in practice, you could build a Legito solution that effectively forces all buying processes through a strict regime, audit trail, and get signatures on all the paperwork you see fit to require. However, if life were that simple, you wouldn’t need sourcing professionals. We think it’s better to create a facility that leaves space for the sourcing professionals to use their expertise and support them with the more tedious tasks, and help them keep visibility of the big picture.
Let’s suppose you have started a Legito trial. Where would you begin? You could start by defining your documents and processes at a granular level and then replicate them in Legito. If that looks manageable without too much difficulty, do that. However, if you struggle to extract all those low-level details, it might be because you don’t have many things that are fixed and defined at low-level (perhaps because it doesn’t serve the real-world needs of the business). In those cases, we suggest you start by mapping some high-level procedures and thinking about the subsidiary documents and tasks that serve each step of the end-to-end process.
Using Legito to implement and manage a high-level workflow is one way to create the space for human intervention. You don’t need to automate everything – you add optimum value by focussing only on the bits that are tedious and repetitive. If you take this approach, you build a working application more quickly, and add extra layers later as the need arises.
For sourcing teams that manage higher volumes of lower complexity purchases, consider using Legito to enable some self-service options for business colleagues – this can work particularly well when a procurement process starts with information-gathering. You could use Legito to prompt colleagues through the first few steps, so the sourcing team has what they need when it’s time for them to start work. This will reduce wait times and alleviate frustrations associated with stop-start patterns because it has to pause for things that are missing.
For sourcing teams faced with a wide variety of purchases, where it can be hard to keep track of the different requirements associated with different categories of purchasing, Legito can work well as a reference source, helping you retrieve the correct documents and requirements.
If you start by modelling only high-level procedures, it takes less time to build. Because Legito is a no-code platform for citizen developers, you can use the expertise of your sourcing team to build what you need without having to remove them totally from their duties.
If you deploy Legito to augment the purchase process, it’s a small step to retain the associated data to help you manage suppliers’ fulfilment of contracts. Use the automatic extraction of diary dates, so you don’t overlook renewal dates, SLA checks, routine inspection of insurance policies, and other supplier assurance requirements.
Jan 24 · 3 min read
Today, we’ll look at the application of the Legito platform for folks working in sourcing and procurement. The challenge they face, among many, is buying-in goods and services from suppliers who will have their own procedures, policies, pricing and requirements, and checking that they will fit the needs of the customer. The scene is set for a potential clash when a buyer’s procurement team meets the supplier’s sales team. Meanwhile, their colleagues in both organisations want to get things moving.
If you think it will work in practice, you could build a Legito solution that effectively forces all buying processes through a strict regime, audit trail, and get signatures on all the paperwork you see fit to require. However, if life were that simple, you wouldn’t need sourcing professionals. We think it’s better to create a facility that leaves space for the sourcing professionals to use their expertise and support them with the more tedious tasks, and help them keep visibility of the big picture.
Let’s suppose you have started a Legito trial. Where would you begin? You could start by defining your documents and processes at a granular level and then replicate them in Legito. If that looks manageable without too much difficulty, do that. However, if you struggle to extract all those low-level details, it might be because you don’t have many things that are fixed and defined at low-level (perhaps because it doesn’t serve the real-world needs of the business). In those cases, we suggest you start by mapping some high-level procedures and thinking about the subsidiary documents and tasks that serve each step of the end-to-end process.
Using Legito to implement and manage a high-level workflow is one way to create the space for human intervention. You don’t need to automate everything – you add optimum value by focussing only on the bits that are tedious and repetitive. If you take this approach, you build a working application more quickly, and add extra layers later as the need arises.
For sourcing teams that manage higher volumes of lower complexity purchases, consider using Legito to enable some self-service options for business colleagues – this can work particularly well when a procurement process starts with information-gathering. You could use Legito to prompt colleagues through the first few steps, so the sourcing team has what they need when it’s time for them to start work. This will reduce wait times and alleviate frustrations associated with stop-start patterns because it has to pause for things that are missing.
For sourcing teams faced with a wide variety of purchases, where it can be hard to keep track of the different requirements associated with different categories of purchasing, Legito can work well as a reference source, helping you retrieve the correct documents and requirements.
If you start by modelling only high-level procedures, it takes less time to build. Because Legito is a no-code platform for citizen developers, you can use the expertise of your sourcing team to build what you need without having to remove them totally from their duties.
If you deploy Legito to augment the purchase process, it’s a small step to retain the associated data to help you manage suppliers’ fulfilment of contracts. Use the automatic extraction of diary dates, so you don’t overlook renewal dates, SLA checks, routine inspection of insurance policies, and other supplier assurance requirements.
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The first panel session at PowerUp conference heard from two different organisations sharing similar requirements when deploying Legito for buy-side departments.
American Trade & Finance provides lending services across five continents. Lending is a heavily regulated sector, and operating under multiple jurisdictions adds another level of complication. The result: 75 documents are needed for each transaction, and some of those documents are 100+ pages long.
The panel learned how they deployed Legito to solve several challenges:
Diversity of a different kind was the challenge for the second panel contributor: the diversity of products and services (including intellectual property) that needed to be correctly managed by the procurement team. Legito works like a database for the different requirements matched to the subject matter of the procurement. When they need to procure something for the first time, the solution’s capability expands and can be re-used on the next occasion.
The panel also discussed how Legito is used to create links between business development teams, compliance teams, and Finance. The solution allowed the business development team to work at pace because they were equipped with a solution to generate documents, including invoices, without needing to wait for colleagues in the other teams.
💡Tips for successful deployments:
We thank Pavlin Stoyanoff and Galya Oster for beign part of Legito PowerUp 2022 and sharing their experience and useful tips for successful deployments.
The first panel session at PowerUp conference heard from two different organisations sharing similar requirements when deploying Legito for buy-side departments.
American Trade & Finance provides lending services across five continents. Lending is a heavily regulated sector, and operating under multiple jurisdictions adds another level of complication. The result: 75 documents are needed for each transaction, and some of those documents are 100+ pages long.
The panel learned how they deployed Legito to solve several challenges:
Diversity of a different kind was the challenge for the second panel contributor: the diversity of products and services (including intellectual property) that needed to be correctly managed by the procurement team. Legito works like a database for the different requirements matched to the subject matter of the procurement. When they need to procure something for the first time, the solution’s capability expands and can be re-used on the next occasion.
The panel also discussed how Legito is used to create links between business development teams, compliance teams, and Finance. The solution allowed the business development team to work at pace because they were equipped with a solution to generate documents, including invoices, without needing to wait for colleagues in the other teams.
💡Tips for successful deployments:
We thank Pavlin Stoyanoff and Galya Oster for beign part of Legito PowerUp 2022 and sharing their experience and useful tips for successful deployments.
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“I am constantly looking for solutions that really help us improve our internal processes. Without a doubt, Legito has allowed us to optimize processes for creating, negotiating, filing, and following-up on the organization’s contracts.”
More Case Studies and Interviews
We know Procurement/Sourcing departments work tirelessly to ensure their organization’s access to must-have resources continue to flow smoothly, and that supply chains remain unbroken. The right document automation tool will leverage precise document assembly and ease the pains of generating accurate paperwork. Necessary approval processes are streamlined through neat and efficient automated workflows, routing forms to the right stakeholders for quick approvals.
We have helped many Procurement and Sourcing departments and we can help you. We share our know-how and tips from automation experts and satisfied clients who have already implemented a document automation solution to help you on your way to do it correctly, starting from determining your use cases, selecting the correct tool, implementation, and building 100% adoption.
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Step 1: Identify Your Use Cases
Internal Research
First, identify individuals in departments or teams who will benefit from the change and increased efficiency (typically managers). Assure interviewees that may be resistant to change that there is nothing to fear from automation, and that their input is valued and will help the company by helping them to be even more successful at their jobs.
Determine the key stakeholders. Here is a list of departments which, in our experience, we have found benefit greatly from automation:
After you have determined the correct people to speak to, start your research. Try to avoid questions that elicit feelings or opinions. Here are some standard questions that could prove useful:
Calculate Your Automation’s Return On Investment (ROI)
Use our Document Automation Matrix to estimate how long it will take you to automate a document, and our ROI Calculator will help you see how well (and how soon!) Legito will work for you.
Investment = Time and Resources spent in the following areas:
Return = Benefits reaped from invested time and resources
Best way to calculate these results is to research how much time it currently takes to draft different documents from various categories and multiply that number by the number of times it is drafted per year. Next, assume that 90% of that time could be saved through proper automation.
Similar to calculating increased document drafting speed, determine the state of your current document lifecycle management processes, and also how much time is spent. Trial an automated document lifecycle management solution and capture how the time it takes to complete the same processes after automation. The difference is your time saved per process, which can then be expanded to include additional processes by multiplying that time by the frequency these lifecycle processes are activated.
Like the above scenarios, it is possible to test the before and after state of your signing processes to determine time saved. Broadly, research has shown that a well deployed eSignature solution can decrease signing times by 95 percent.
Averaging these three criteria can help you confidently create an estimate of your automation ROI. Legito’s custom ROI Calculator and Automation Matrix may give you a good starting place to reasonably estimate your expected ROI.
Frequently Automated Documents for Procurement and Sourcing Departments
Step 2: Choose the Right Solution
Important Features
Legito customers similarly placed in your field have found that, in addition to Legito’s core features, the following features cater particularly well to Procurement and Sourcing departments:
Legito strongly recommends initially testing a complex automation solution (e.g., multiple logical dependencies in an automated template) on a small use case.
This may provide an opportunity to investigate many different features. Not only can you determine if the product has everything that you need, but it’s a perfect opportunity to try a pilot project that can serve as a warm-up for an actual implementation. and roll out. Using a complex use case has the advantage of it being more likely that any product limitations will be discovered early. So rather than encountering difficulties later on in the implementation stage and having to start over, these important decisions may be made early.
Fortunately, Legito offers a 30-day free trial that gives you the opportunity to do just this.
Useful Resources
Commonly used criteria
Additional criteria will depend on the size of your business (Enterprise, Midsize, or Early Stage), and of course, company specific criteria will be determined based on your business’ unique use cases.
Step 3: Implementation
Once you have selected a tool, get to know it and have at least one person learn all the ins and outs. This person may become your first Power User.
Determine which would be more appropriate, an in-house or an outsourced implementation solution.
Have the individual most intimate with the workings of the new solution work with your Knowledge Experts and manage expectations of the solution’s capabilities (probably this initial Power User).
Select a narrow use case that, based on your research, will show users just how much it can help, and will present quick measurable results that can be communicated companywide. Let this first attempt provide tips and guidance on future implementations.
On average, it takes three iterations of reworking a newly implemented solution until it functions properly. Communicate with your implementation team in order to get it right. Once you’ve worked out the kinks, it will be easier to work on the next automation solution.
After you’re satisfied with the initial use case, build upon lessons learned, and select another. Don’t make a half-way effort, make sure you have perfected the automation use case. Then you can move with confidence to a new project with increased scope and complexity.
Timing – select an off-peak period in your business cycle to ensure a smooth roll-out and ensure the least disruption.
In-house Implementation
Outsourced Implementation
Legito has a list of trusted partners.
Step 4: Adoption
End-user On-Boarding
Communication! Ensure that your messaging manages End User expectations for the product’s capabilities and the benefits.
Learn as You Go training. A product with an intuitive user interface, combined with a well-executed implementation will not require training. Ideally a user will be able to slide smoothly into using your solution with little need for external resources. The best way to do this is for users to learn as they use the product. Some ways to do this are:
Feedback & Continuous Improvement
Curveballs – You may get lucky, but it’s highly unlikely that everything will go perfectly in the first instance. Usually there will be something that wasn’t anticipated. Some fringe case that wasn’t anticipated but actually may prove worth including. Be patient, listen to your team, and make the changes as you need.
Being 100% programming free, Legito makes it easy to adjust and update its automations.
Measurements
Take the estimations determined from your original ROI calculations and compare inputs and results from your pre-automation state with metrics captured after the implementation of your chosen solution. Use this real data to calculate your real ROI and see how much you’ve saved through automation.
Legito’s Analytics features may be useful for additional quantitative measures to your assessment.
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