Utility Week

Opportuni es for applying new, collabora ve ways of working in the sector in key areas such as streetworks will be on the agenda. The focus of debate The supply chain will be a key focus of the disrup on debate and insight at the event. In the fourth of a five-part series detail- ing the responses of more than 700 u li es execu ves to our disrup on survey, we reveal the top five disrup ve future supply chain trends. Interes ngly, although Brexit appeared heavily in our key findings, it was not deemed one of the top five disruptors to the supply chain by respondents – perhaps because while it is assumed it will have a big impact, there is as yet so li le clarity about the Brexit deal that the outcomes remain uncertain. 1. THE DISRUPTION: PROCUREMENT TECHNOLOGIES What's the deal: New procurement technologies promise to open up new horizons for process efficiency and rela onship management with supply chain partners. The key advances in recent years that differen ate new procurement systems from old relate to automa on, which can strip cost out of core procurement processes as well as removing human error. And in a new round of technological progress, these system improvements will be overlaid with increasingly adept ar ficial intelligence (AI) that can help u li es make be er procurement choices and monitor supplier performance. In U lity Week Live's disrup- on survey 58 per cent of u lity respondents said new procurement technologies are changing the way they interact with the supply chain, with the highest levels of disrup on reported in water (59 per cent) and energy networks (55 per cent). Why it ma ers: U li es are under pressure to push the envelope on efficiency and innova on. Retailers need to cut waste to relieve a ght squeeze on margins, while regulated u li es must answer increasing demands for evidence they are improving the value consumers get from monopoly provision. Procurement is a key opportunity area for businesses seeking to respond to these pressures. It includes a range of business processes ripe for automa on – such as invoicing and genera ng contracts – as well as opportuni es to apply AI to the selec on of supply chain partners. In other industries AI is already being used in this way, scanning disparate informa on about the past performance of viable firms for signs of strength and weakness relevant to a new contract, and shortlis ng the best companies for considera on. Furthermore, the cost of implemen ng such clever procurement technology is rela vely low thanks to many solu ons being cloud- based. U li es keen to take advantage can "plug and play" solu ons as and when they need them – par cularly useful for regulated monopolies which have cyclical peaks in contrac ng requirements. For suppliers, these developments in procurement opportunity may be welcome on the one hand but disturbing on the other. Greater efficiency in invoice processing, for example, ought to reduce late payments – and indeed suppliers may choose to invest in automated invoice genera on and payment processing technology of their own to match that of their clients. AI means suppliers can now predict when late payment is likely and issue ac on triggers for connected systems and people. On the other hand, though, it's unclear how using machine learning to assist with supplier selec on and the awarding of contracts might impact the compe ve landscape for suppliers – especially for smaller firms, which o en argue they have a tough me ge ng air me with u li es as it is. I N A S S O C I A T I O N W I T H UTILITY WEEK | 20TH - 26TH APRIL 2018 | 7 I N A S S O C I A T I O N W I T H

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