Reimagining Supplier Communications with Dynamics 365 Supplier Communications Agent
Efficient supplier communication is the backbone of successful procurement operations. Yet, many purchasing teams face challenges such as manual processes, delayed responses, and missed opportunities for optimization. Microsoft Dynamics 365 Supplier Communication Agent is here to transform the way purchasing professionals interact with suppliers and suppliers. Reimagining supplier communications in Dynamics 365 and enable leaner, faster, and more accurate workflows.
The Problem: Manual Processes and Lost Time
Purchasing personnel often spend up to 50% of their day managing supplier communications. This includes tasks such as:
- Sending purchase orders to suppliers and suppliers.
- Following up on delayed orders.
- Updating purchase orders based on supplier emails.
These manual, repetitive tasks not only consume valuable time but also increase the risk of errors, delayed orders, and lost revenue due to customer dissatisfaction.
The Solution: Supplier Communications Agent in Dynamics 365
The Supplier Communications Agent processes inbound and outbound communications with suppliers and suppliers, allowing purchasing teams to focus on higher-value tasks. Here’s how it works:
Key Features
- Follow-up: The agent follows-up with suppliers con delayed and missing confirmations, eliminating avoidable delays due to oversight.
- Updates based on emails from suppliers: It reads incoming emails, understands the intent, and extracts relevant data to summarize changes or update purchase orders.
Let’s see in detail below.
Follow up on delayed or unconfirmed orders
Define the follow-ups based on the criteria you would like, such for unconfirmed orders for the next week or month, or for orders that have not been received after two days. Configure your own criteria and define which tone, information and even signature you would like on the email.
Configure the criteria yourself as in the following image:
And have the emails drafted for your review as shown below:
Or if you prefer, send them automatically. Plus, email is written in the supplier’s language.
Updates based on emails from suppliers
- Updating to confirm orders: The agent scans supplier emails and suggests to update the purchase orders when a confirmation is received.
- Managing delivery changes: The agent identifies changes in delivery quantities and receipt dates, allowing purchasing agents to review and easily accept updates.
Select which mailbox you would like the agent to monitor; it could be your common procurement mailbox or each user if you use the purchaser’s mailbox for communications. Then you select which suppliers’ addresses you would like to enable the agent for. If you wanted to start with just a few until you are on your way to automating all communications, then that’s something you can do.
After setup, the agent will automatically read the emails and show you the summary:
You can also teach the agent, so it becomes smarter and smarter over time – for example, you can help it improve its data mapping from supplier emails or PDF documents to Dynamics 365
Save your purchasing department’s time on repetitive tasks and streamline the process by just following up on them, as you will easily with the agent activity:
Timeline and Availability
The Supplier Communications Agent is rolling out in Public Preview with release 10.0.44. Begin reimagining supplier communications today!
Dynamics 365 Supplier Communications Agent is revolutionizing procurement by streamlining supplier interactions, decreasing the risk of manual errors, order delays and ensuring seamless collaboration.
