Page 19 - Logistics News - Issue 02 - 2024

S U PPLY C H A I N I T / A I

• Present guidelines (in person or document) – your Final shortlist – getting to the nal decision
selection process, specific focus, etc. • In writing, advise each of the shortlisted vendors of where
• Ensure project lead availability to provide answers to you need clarification on any specific key area(s) they did
their questions throughout. not cover well. Mention any other concerns.
• Each vendor then returns to deliver on your guidelines: • Ask each vendor for suggested reference customers
• RFP or proposal addressing your needs, plus (two or three) you could call or visit.
adding their opportunities for you. • Vendor returns to present, demo and/or discuss
• Business presentation and software demo clarification on feedback to them.
according to your guidelines. • Perform reference visit(s). Tip: speak to a customer
• Give them time to show what they believe they who had issues regarding how fix went.
offer – their differentiation. • Final commercial discussion/negotiation.
• Beware, functional shootouts don’t help – must • Agreement and acceptance signing.
include your relevant focus.
• Check their culture matches yours – meet their And finally …
people on your project. Successful new business IT selection requires the above
• Check budget/price for software, services, process to be made appropriate for your project scale
maintenance over five years for TCO. and considers your future likely strategic roadmap as
• Review all. Some will be easy to remove, others not so, well as the IT vendors you already deal with. Is this new
but you must reduce the list. IT or extending existing? Good luck! •

From big to better data: putting

AI trends into practice

By Tuna Yemisci, Regional Director Middle East, Africa & East Med at Qlik

Organisations have traditionally valued volume, velocity and variety as the classic drivers of ‘big
data’. However, as we start to explore the promise of increased efficiency and creativity from
generative AI, we must also address the remaining two ‘vs’ – the value and validity of our data.

ow can we trust all our data in the generative artificial A hybrid AI scenario can offer the best of both
intelligence (AI) economy? While trends in AI growth and worlds: the predictability of traditional AI tools and the
H its applications have taken centre stage, it is important flexibility, scalability and adaptability of generative AI
to define a roadmap to putting these trends into practice across models.
the organisation. In this way, it holds the potential to usher in a
new era of productivity and prosperity. Don’t, however, become overly distracted by generative AI.
Any initiative should be rooted in real-life business challenges,
Let’s look at some of these trends and how best to while aligning with, and amplifying, any ongoing data and
incorporate them into our business practices: analytics efforts.

1. Moving from historic to predictive analytics 2. Empowering non-technical workers
Thinking that generative AI will replace all previous AI tools Generative AI plays into the hands of individuals who want
would be a mistake. Traditional AI has the potential to bridge answers fast, but do not have the time or skills to perform
the maturity gap in an organisation’s generative AI strategy, analyses. As such, we will see an increase in auto-generated
especially in well-established use cases such as fraud analytics visualisations and insights, enhanced with explanations in
and churn analysis. natural language.

www .l o g ist i csn e w s .c o .z a NO V E MB E R/D E C E MB E R 2024 17