TERENCE LEE mature organisation , you do want to be a bit more strategic , you do want to have a lot more insights that are generated from a lot of sources . AI can pull the sources together , they can make some general sense , but it ' s based on historical understanding . Humans on the other hand , are able to creatively connect the dots and figure out something different . So that ' s the part that is currently missing , and I think that ' s where the current folks in procurement are still relevant . TITLE : CHIEF PROCUREMENT OFFICER , ASIA PACIFIC PROCUREMENT
EXECUTIVE INSIGHT
Q . HOW QUICKLY HAVE YOU SEEN GEN AI BECOME PART OF THE ESSENTIAL MARKETPLACE FOR PROCUREMENT ?
» Procurement has a lot of tasks that can be further improved in terms of efficiency . So AI fits that bill really well . Prior to AI , we had robotics and a lot of coding . But , the next stage of our improvement in efficiency will be the use of AI .
There is a limitation to it . If we are thinking about the organisation ' s maturity in its procurement curve , if it ' s a very
TERENCE LEE mature organisation , you do want to be a bit more strategic , you do want to have a lot more insights that are generated from a lot of sources . AI can pull the sources together , they can make some general sense , but it ' s based on historical understanding . Humans on the other hand , are able to creatively connect the dots and figure out something different . So that ' s the part that is currently missing , and I think that ' s where the current folks in procurement are still relevant . TITLE : CHIEF PROCUREMENT OFFICER , ASIA PACIFIC PROCUREMENT
COMPANY : GEODIS
INDUSTRY : TRANSPORTATION , LOGISTICS , SUPPLY CHAIN AND STORAGE
LOCATION : SINGAPORE
Terrance Lee is the current CPO for Asia Pacific at worldwide transport and logistics leader , Geodis . Terrance leads the transformational changes in the region for Geodis ’ supply chain optimisation LoB and collaboratively drives the top and bottom line contributions through innovative supply chain solutions and smart procurement advisory .
Q . HOW IMPORTANT IS IT TO SEPARATE THE VALUE AND RELEVANCE FROM THE HYPE ?
» I think the hype will always be there , because the hype is what fuels some of the interests and the funding . The hype won ' t disappear , if we just take away the hype that will limit a lot of things .
The tools you have today seem to be derived from a need . One thing we have to understand is that AI is not just solving one need , if you ' re going to create an AI to solve one need , you ' re going to be really good at one thing and not 50 other , or 100 other , or maybe thousands of other things that you could do . That ' s why when we look at AI , we need to understand its relevance to the organisation . The implementation of AI should be something along the lines of , if we want to improve our processes , if we want to improve our efficiency , how best can we include AI as p art of our enablement , as part of our augmentation to our people ’ s skills , and as well as effort .
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