Case studies

Enhancing supply chain visibility and risk management with Kavida AI

Transformative impact on supply chain efficiency and risk management Kavida AI is revolutionising supply chain management with its order management platform, providing procurement managers with enhanced visibility and risk management tools. The platform's flagship product, Copilot, is a chatbot that streamlines interactions between procurement teams and suppliers, from order placement to arrival. By integrating task management and risk detection capabilities, Kavida AI significantly reduces inefficiencies, reduces costs and enhances operational visibility.

Introduction

Kavida AI participated in Digital Catapult’s third Digital Supply Chain Hub cohort, where it was matched with Dyer Engineering, a fabrication and machining business, and NBT Group, a procurement solutions provider. These partnerships aimed to address the procurement challenges faced by SMEs and demonstrate the benefits of Kavida AI's advanced technology.

Addressing supply chain challenges

In recent years, procurement challenges have become more prominent, elevating the role of Chief Procurement Officer (CPO). A recent McKinsey report, A New Era for Procurement: Value Creation Across the Supply Chain, highlighted the growing importance of this role where 35 CPOs discussed the application of artificial intelligence tools to improve efficiencies, including mitigating the risk and impact of disruptions—a key issue addressed by Kavida AI’s Copilot functionality.

Benefits of strategic partnerships

Collaborating with Dyer Engineering and NBT Group, Kavida AI identified three main types of risks faced by SMEs: supplier risk (natural disasters, geopolitical crises, labour issues), transport risk (port congestion, logistics), and order management risk (unconfirmed orders, unverified documents). Additionally, Kavida AI discovered operational inefficiencies, such as procurement teams wasting time tracking down data in spreadsheets and email chains due to frequent requests from production planners and other teams.

Funding from the Digital Supply Chain Hub enabled Kavida AI to refine its platform to bridge these gaps, addressing both operational issues and identified risks. Using the Copilot tool, internal stakeholders were able to quickly obtain information about order arrivals, materials, quantities, and delivery dates through simple chatbot queries.

Pilot programme results

Dyer Engineering and NBT Group piloted the new technology in their procurement functions, yielding impressive results:

Productivity improvements:

  • 43% reduction in man-hours due to workflow automation

  • 32% improvement in collaboration between suppliers and organisations

  • Automated processes: order confirmation, order revisions, document management

  • 60 procurement hours saved due to automation

  • 30 collaboration hours saved due to automation

Revenue and procurement risk mitigation:

  • 12 delay risk alerts

  • £0.5 million in order value managed on the platform

Other metrics:

  • 103 orders managed

  • 277 automated communications and responses

  • 169 documents received and 229 responses from suppliers

Next steps

Kavida AI plans to raise a Series A round of between $5-7 million within the next year to further expand and enhance its platform, continuing to innovate in supply chain visibility and risk management for SMEs in the UK.



15 August 2024
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