Will AI actually take work off your team?

Pick an order your team had to chase, such as a late confirmation or an invoice with an unagreed price increase.

Bring that order to the demo. It will tell you more than a perfect example the vendor prepared.

Ask it to do the follow-up

Reading the supplier’s email is only the first step. Ask what happens next: who gets contacted, what happens when they don’t reply, and where the answer is recorded.

Decide what needs your approval

Separate routine follow-ups from commercial decisions. You might allow Mandel to chase an acknowledgement, but require a buyer to approve a supplier substitution or extra spend.

Ask to see the approval request. It should include the options, the cost, and the evidence you need to decide. Then ask what happens if nobody approves it.

Give it an awkward example

Use a supplier who quotes per thousand, sends incomplete terms, or buries a revised date in an email. Check whether the system applies the right supplier convention and spots information it still needs.

Ask how your team teaches it those details. Instructions for doing the work, reusable supplier knowledge, and permission to take an action are different things.

Follow the result into the ERP

After the supplier replies, check the order record. Is the date current? Is the confirmation attached? Can you see who approved the change?

For a sourcing job, complete quotes may be the agreed handoff. For a delivery problem, notifying the buyer is not the same as confirming a replacement. Agree what “finished” means before the test.

Start small enough to check

Choose one workflow, a defined set of orders, and a review period. Compare the result with how your team handles that same work today.

Look at completed follow-ups, confirmed outcomes, time to resolution, and work still left with your buyers. For financial claims, keep money found separate from money recovered.