Key business processes that can be automated using watsonx Orchestrate are:
Many companies rely on manual reporting processes to make daily, weekly, or quarterly financial reports. Regularly creating these reports takes a lot of time and manpower. Companies also want to be able to summarize these reports so they can easily understand financial data and use it to make decisions.
To create these financial reports, team members must start by running SQL queries using select statements to filter for relevant information. Once these queries have been run, the results need to be exported from multiple systems across the business. Sources of information may include Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP), SQL Servers, and accounting department systems. The resulting data needs to be aggregated to calculate significant metrics for reports, such as income, expenses, and outstanding invoices. Finally, data needs to be merged manually into a single operational report.
This manual approach to financial records management is time–consuming because of the number of steps involved. The need to transfer information from multiple sources and process it into a single report makes financial reporting error prone. The manual process is not scalable due to the level of labor involved and the amount of time required.
By automatic document consolidation, organizations can achieve smoother reporting workflows. When reporting workflows are automated, reports can be generated on a schedule or on demand.
IBM watsonx Orchestrate can be integrated with current systems to ensure that multiple data systems communicate with and work with each other for data transparency. With Orchestrate, companies can automatically process and generate consolidated, accurate financial reports. Real-time notifications alert teams of process completion or exceptions.
Watsonx Orchestrate acts as the central coordinator for all automation steps, enabling event-based or conversational triggers. AI automation can carry out data retrieval, processing, and posting logic.
When companies use AI to automate these financial reporting processes, they experience many benefits. Streamlining complex workflows reduces costs by completing routine tasks in less time with fewer resources. Using AI to make calculations and ensure cross-system alignment of information increases data accuracy. This Increased accuracy eliminates the need for rework. Generating reports more quickly and accurately leads to faster and more confident decision making.
Procurement teams need faster ways to discover and analyze supplier risk, as well as to uncover opportunities for working with third-party vendors. When companies choose risky suppliers, they may experience financial losses and operational interruptions that lead to delivery delays and reputational damage.
Through automation, companies gain access to information about supplier risk, financial risk, firmographics, ownership, and legal filings and events that reveal a track record of risk. IBM watsonx Orchestrate uses automation to bring this data together to streamline supplier evaluations, flag risk, and identify suppliers for additional engagement. Orchestrate eliminates the need for manual data entry, improving the accuracy of the information used to assess suppliers.
Orchestrate enables companies to create AI-powered assistants that provide conversational chat experiences and automate repetitive tasks when evaluating suppliers. With Orchestrate, companies can quickly assess the risk of different suppliers based on trusted information to ensure they choose the right vendor. Companies can unearth deep data about suppliers and use AI to interpret how this data reflects the level of risk the supplier presents.
Over time, AI functions can be adapted and fine-tuned to handle specific procurement tasks. Companies can start with pre-built agents designed for procurement or create their own custom agents using low-code applications.
Automating procurement workflows leads to enhanced decision–making using comprehensive market conditions and supplier data. Procurement teams also gain real-time insights into contracts,purchase order (PO) status, and sourcing pipelines, enabling users to make informed and strategic decisions that mitigate risk, leading to faster onboarding for suppliers. After selecting vendors, real-time monitoring allows organizations to forecast possible issues with suppliers, helping to avoid delays in the supply chain.
Order management tracks orders from placement to delivery. When customers order online, companies need a way to track and report on the status of an order. Customers want to know when their order is being processed and shipped, as well as when it will arrive. Making the status of an order visible inspires customer confidence and satisfaction, leading to stronger loyalty and retention.
Watsonx Orchestrate can be used to trigger automated workflows for order management. Orchestrate optimizes order management by using AI agents to automate repetitive tasks, such as order placement, payment processing, inventory checks, fulfilment, shipping, delivery tracking, and return management.
Orchestrate Integrates disparate systems used for processing, fulfilling, and shipping orders for a more accurate and complete picture of the order lifecycle, which can be used to provide real-time insights into the status of an order.
Watsonx Orchestrate connects effortlessly to a wide array of existing systems, including Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) and Customer Relationship Management (CRM) platforms. This integration eliminates data fragmentation and allows AI agents to gather comprehensive, real-time data across the entire order fulfillment network.
With Orchestrate, AI-powered agents can collaborate with each other, connecting separate workflows in the order process. Automation ultimately streamlines order management workflows and improves decision-making across the supply chain for the company fulfilling and shipping the order while also empowering customers to access accurate, real-time information about the status of their order.
The solution automates manual and time-consuming tasks within the order lifecycle, such as data entry, status updates, and approval routing. Orchestrate can coordinate multiple actions and tools across different applications to process an order from intake to delivery.
Not only does the automation of order management benefit customers by giving them visibility into the real-time status of their order, but it also has advantages for companies that ship products. With order management automation, companies can anticipate and troubleshoot inventory and supply chain issues that could delay the delivery of products.
At TrustNet Technologies, we use an Ideation Session Framework to explore a company’s process challenges and frame them in terms of AI automation delivered using IBM watsonx. We brainstorm with clients, taking them from concept to solution development.
During our engagements with clients, we encourage them to generate as many ideas about their challenges as possible. These ideas can then be organized to find themes.
By evaluating the ideas, we can identify which ones have the most potential for automation. Once selected, the ideas can be turned into actionable concepts that can be realized using agentic AI solutions built on IBM watsonx.
Based on the findings of the ideation session, TrustNet can take your company through the next steps, including creating AI agents for order management, financial reporting, procurement, and more. We can create multiple AI-powered agents and use IBM watsonx Orchestrate to enable them to collaborate so they can handle complex workflows.