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B2B procurement is often complicated, slow and anything but user-friendly. With our new AI-supported PunchOut gateway, we bring intelligence to the process
B2B procurement is not a simple click process. It is often a mixture of endless product catalogues, small-scale approval logic and distributed responsibilities - in a world that has long demanded real time. What works within seconds in the consumer sector often takes weeks in B2B: from requirements to product selection from the respective supplier to budget allocation, approval and the final order.
Research confirms that these processes are not only slow, but also increasingly opaque. According to a Gartner study, 77 per cent of B2B buyers consider their final procurement process to be overly complex.
The issue of personalisation is particularly relevant here: according to a recent Forrester study, 83% of respondents expect providers to proactively understand and serve their individual needs. In our experience, traditional systems can hardly achieve this - but autonomous AI agents can.
An established standard in many B2B procurement processes is the so-called PunchOut. Using protocols such as OCI or cXML, buyers access their suppliers' catalogues directly from the ERP system.** Technically speaking, this works reliably.
But from a the user's point of view it is often a hurdle: The interfaces are functional, but not particularly inviting**. A search mask, a price query, a shopping basket - that's it. No context, no support, no intelligence.
And this is exactly where we come in. The PunchOut-for-AI-Gateway, which we are developing at PunchCommerce, is our showcase for how existing technical standards can be supplemented with new, dialogue-based intelligence. The idea: Instead of clicking through structured interfaces, the person describes their needs in everyday language - and the AI does the rest.
In a typical scenario, an employee in the field would say: "I need ten insulating mats with heat protection, preferably by Friday." The AI understands, filters available products by delivery time, temperature class and quantity, compiles suitable options and prepares the shopping basket for transfer to the ERP**.
This is exactly where we at PunchCommerce come in. We are currently developing a generic gateway that enables AI-based shopping assistants to communicate with suppliers' catalogue systems via precisely these interfaces. The established standard remains in the background - but a new level of interaction is created in front of it:
a chatbot that ...
Technically, this works via an agent-based architecture in which the KI agent is equipped with an adapter from us and can communicate with supplier systems via our architecture** in order to search for products or fill shopping baskets. The shopping basket can then be transferred to the ERP system using OCI or cXML. This means we are compatible with all common ERP and e-procurement solutions.
The whole thing has a modular structure - various language models (e.g. OpenAI, Olama, Telekom Cloud or self-hosted models such as Ionos) can be docked on. Our prototype is currently still running locally, but can already answer specific questions about the product catalogue and create shopping baskets.
This is because the results are sent directly from the connected shop to the buyer's e-procurement system or ERP system via the OCI or cXML interface. And are subject to the classic release and budget restrictions.
We are still in the early stages with PunchKI - and that is precisely why we are looking for companies with whom we can learn together.
**Anyone who works with PunchOut protocols and is keen,
please contact our Managing Director and Product Manager Patrick Dornbusch directly.
If you have any questions or suggestions, just send us an email hallo@punchcommerce.de or call us at +49 6142 / 953 80 - 60. We appreciate your feedback!
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