Sanaf, the AI employee

AI procurement

Buying eats time in pieces too small to notice: requesting quotes, comparing them, placing the order, then chasing where it is. This job runs that loop, keeps vendor details in one place, and tells you a delivery is going to be late before the crew is standing around waiting for it.

What it does

Concretely

  • Requests quotes from your supplier list and puts them side by side.
  • Tracks purchase orders from placed to delivered.
  • Chases the delivery that has gone quiet.
  • Keeps vendor details and pricing in one place rather than in inboxes.
  • Warns you a delivery will be late while there is still time to react.

Half a day a week, in ten minute pieces

Purchasing rarely looks like enough work to assign to anyone, because it never arrives as a block. It arrives as a quote request here, a chase there, a comparison somebody does from memory. Added up it is a serious amount of an experienced person’s week, spent on work that needs persistence rather than judgment.

A late delivery is only expensive if it is a surprise

Knowing on Monday that Thursday’s materials will not arrive is an inconvenience. Finding out on Thursday morning is a crew standing around and a customer being rescheduled. The difference is entirely in when somebody asked, and asking on a schedule is the kind of thing that never survives a busy week.

A person approves every purchase

Placing an order commits money, so it is proposed and not done. The comparison arrives already built, with the quotes lined up and the reason for the recommendation stated. Any dispute with a vendor goes straight to a person, because that is a relationship question rather than a purchasing one.

Questions

Frequently asked

Does it place orders with our suppliers?
Only after a person approves. It prepares the order and the comparison behind it so approving takes a moment, but committing money is a decision, and decisions that move money out of the business stay with a person by design.
Do we need procurement software for this?
No. Most businesses of this size run purchasing out of email, a supplier list and a spreadsheet, and it works with those as they are. The problem being solved is that the information is scattered across inboxes, not that the tooling is wrong.
What happens if a vendor disputes an order?
It goes to a person immediately, with the full history of the order attached. A dispute is about a commercial relationship you may have had for years, and that is not something to hand to software regardless of who is right about the order.