COUPA
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COUPA
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to match supplier capabilities – rather than imposing uniform standards.
“ I worked with a dirt floor manufacturing plant in 2001 in Indonesia,” he reflects.“ They had a PC in the corner and that was how they communicated with one of the world’ s largest hardware OEMs.
“ The idea is to make the technology fit what the supplier is capable of doing, not the other way around. Make it something that becomes a more natural interface.”
Decision-making frameworks for automation The panel discussed practical frameworks for determining when to automate processes versus maintaining human involvement.
Jack proposed a simple but effective principle:“ My rule of thumb is‘ nuance = no automation’. On one end of the spectrum, you have negotiation – the opposite of something a machine can do. On the other end of the spectrum, you have document collection, which I love for automation.”
The challenge, Jack explained, lies in the grey areas between these extremes, where specifications may appear identical
66 August 2025