Basware Leverages Machine Learning to Improve Procurement

ESPOO, Finland–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Basware
(Nasdaq: BAS1V), the global leader in networked source-to-pay
solutions, e-invoicing and innovative financing services, has added a
machine learning-enabled, predictive capability to its procurement
technology: the Approval Confidence Index (ACI). The ACI is a score
assigned to every item on a requisition that provides feedback to both
the requisitioner and the approver about the probability, or confidence,
of that requisition item being approved. The idea for the ACI was
sparked during a Basware “hack day.”

According to customer data, in many cases approvers are busy and may
approve requisitions without properly reviewing each item. In other
cases, requisitions are rejected because they fall outside the norm for
a particular item or spend category. Order requests that are declined
during the approval process cause a delay. With the ACI, the approver
and the requisitioner are served up insights that could prompt behavior
changes. The benefits of this functionality are twofold: requisitioners
get instant feedback on the likelihood of an item being approved and, if
the ACI level is low, they have the option to select different items or
vendors or to provide appropriate justification to increase the
likelihood of approval. The system intelligently guides approvers to
focus their valuable time on anomalies rather than on routine
transactions. By expediting the process and prioritizing transactions
for review, the ACI can easily optimize a company’s procurement process.

“The system leverages transaction history and machine-learning
capabilities to evaluate the parameters that result in an approval or
rejection. The model utilizes data specific to the customer, which
results in an ACI prediction that is unique to that customer. Companies
can be assured that the ACI is customized to their process, products,
vendors, and services. Of course, machine learning is as good as the
data it has access to, so the more data that is available, the more
accurate the model is. The system will also update the model
periodically to continuously improve the prediction results,” states
Bhavin Shah, Director of Product Management at Basware.

“The longer-term vision is that the system would become so ‘smart’ that
it could automatically process routine transactions so that the approver
would only need to approve the exceptions, saving even more time. The
ACI is a first step in towards that goal,” continues Shah.

To learn more, read Easy
Requests, Simple Approvals – New Approval Confidence Index Scoring
on the Basware blog.

About Basware

Basware offers the largest open business network in the world and is the
global leader in providing networked purchase-to-pay solutions,
e-invoicing and innovative financing services. Our technology empowers
organizations with 100% spend visibility by enabling the capture of all
financial data across procurement, finance, accounts payable and
accounts receivable functions. Basware is a global company doing
business in more than 100 countries and is traded on the Helsinki
exchange (BAS1V: HE).

More information about Basware is available at www.basware.com.