How this startup's smart procurement solutions helping brands save time & money

As per the recent Mckinsey report, 40 to 80 per cent of companies' total cost of spends on procurement tends to be unorganized, poorly monitored, and ad-hoc. Thus, it is imperative for brands like Aerchain to prioritize their efforts towards making procurement needs for brands better streamlined in a simple, yet in technically sound manner which helps vendors meet with their potential customers. In today's fast-paced world, brands like Aerchain help customers find new suppliers for all their needs at the click of a button in an efficient, cost-friendly, and digitally sound manner.

Aerchain is a next-generation autonomous procurement platform that utilizes artificial intelligence (AI) to help businesses fulfill all their source-to-pay operations in a seamless, efficient and cost effective manner. Aerchain was launched in 2019 by two friends Harsha Kadimisetty and Himavanth Jasti with the vision to enable companies to focus on their core business instead of automatable source-to-pay operations. In an exclusive interview with Bizz Buzz Harsha Kadimisetty, Co-Founder, Aerchain, spells out more details.

What is Aerchain all about?

Aerchain is an AI-powered SaaS startup that helps enterprises streamline their procurement processes by automating, simplifying, and streamlining all their source-to-pay operations. Founded in 2019 by Harsha Kadimisetty and Himavanth Jasti, Aerchain enables organizations digitally transform all their functionalities across the source-to-pay flow and focus on their core activities. With Aerchain's solutions, enterprises are empowered with smart technology with which they can automate all their repetitive tasks, increase efficiency and productivity and maintain 100 per cent visibility across enterprises and vendors.

What is the need and importance for autonomous and automated procurement platforms in India?

As per a recent Mckinsey report about 40 to 80 per cent of companies total costs towards spends on procurement tend to be unorganised and poorly monitored. Gone are the days when AI and ML, and digitization were mere buzz words. With the onset of Covid-19, disruption has been seen in every industry and AI has played a major role in this. It is now mandatory for every enterprise to be completely digitized and a smart procurement solution fits perfectly into this narrative. An e-procurement solution that automates the end-to-end processes can help with reducing costs, increasing savings, striking better supplier deals and improving the overall efficiency of the entire S2P process. Moreover, with an automated procurement process, one can improve the productivity of the entire team and help them focus on core activities instead of manual repetitive tasks.

Give us an insight into the procurement industry at large and how does Aerchain fit in?

Businesses tend to view procurement as a support function, not one that leads the way in driving revenue and value. Legacy source-to-pay systems are workflow-based, require human intervention, inefficient, prone to errors, and lack transparency. They are marred by longer implementation cycles averaging 8-9 months and lower adoption rates, given their complexity and lack of complete automation. Current source-to-pay systems in the market are rigid and closed with complex interfaces and highly technical solutions. Aerchain was founded in 2019 as a solution to all these challenges. Aerchain is a single, easy-to-use, AI-powered platform that automates, simplifies, and streamlines all your source-to-pay operations. Their vision is to enable organizations digitally transform all their functionalities across the Source-to-Pay flow and enable them to focus on their core activities. With Aerchain's solutions, enterprises are empowered with smart technology with which they can automate all their repetitive tasks, increase efficiency and productivity and maintain 100 per cent visibility across enterprises and vendors.

What is your insight into why businesses need to view procurement as a driving factor that leads enterprises and not just as a support function?

Procurement is the buying department of every organization and plays a major role in cutting down costs and improving the bottom line. By strategically sourcing your suppliers and negotiating prices and terms, organizations can gain a significant advantage over their competitors. By effectively managing vendors through transparency and collaboration, organizations can grow and nurture their supplier relationships ensuring a long-term partnership that benefits both parties.

How has Aerchain evolved - its USP, business model, and technology differentiator?

Aerchain has used the power of AI to create four solutions namely - strategic sourcing, P2P automation, AP automation, and tail spend automation. These four solutions are sold on a modular basis in a subscription format. Aerchain stands out as a holistic solution compared to its competitors due to the following USPs - highly configurable systems, user-friendly interface, easy onboarding, integration supportive, intelligent automation.

What is the market share of Aerchain - month-on-month growth, revenue targets, etc?

Aerchain aims to achieve annual recurring revenue (ARR) of $1 million in 2022 and $25 million by 2025. Currently Aerchain has the following large enterprises as clients - AB InBev, Cars 24, WeWork, Universal Sompo General Insurance, Manjushree, Narayana Health, PNC, Colive, Indiqube.

What is the impact of the pandemic on the procurement sector and how e-procurement has helped Indian businesses during the pandemic?

With the onset of the pandemic, supply chains all over the world were affected and the entire supply chain and procurement systems were put under scrutiny. Enterprises began focussing on the potential process improvements and the savings that they could gain by implementing smarter technology in their procurement functions. E-procurement solutions have helped organizations digitize, streamline, and refine their processes. They have helped organizations improve their efficiency by increasing their cost-savings and reducing their invoice processing timelines. E-procurement platforms have also enabled better collaboration between their procurement executives and their vendors, thus leading to better NPS scores and smoother and quicker transactions. Also, with the help of e-procurement platforms, enterprises could transition to a paper-less system from a previously paper-heavy process. Digitization of the procurement process also meant that procurement teams could seamlessly work from home without having to go to the office premises.

What are the future plans on the anvil by the company?

Aerchain plans on entering the North American market by the end of 2022. Besides revenue growth, Aerchain's focus is to build a strong talent pool of 250 employees by 2025 with a complete set of employee welfare policies and programs.

Aerchain is an AI-powered SaaS startup that helps enterprises streamline their procurement processes by automating, simplifying, and streamlining all their source-to-pay operations. Founded in 2019 by Harsha Kadimisetty and Himavanth Jasti, Aerchain enables organizations digitally transform all their functionalities across the source-to-pay flow and focus on their core activities. With Aerchain's solutions, enterprises are empowered with smart technology with which they can automate all their repetitive tasks, increase efficiency and productivity and maintain 100% visibility across enterprises and vendors.

As per a recent Mckinsey report about 40-80% of companies' total costs towards spends on procurement tend to be unorganised and poorly monitored. Gone are the days when AI and ML, and digitization were mere buzz words. With the onset of Covid-19, disruption has been seen in every industry and AI has played a major role in this. It is now mandatory for every enterprise to be completely digitized and a smart procurement solution fits perfectly into this narrative. An e-procurement solution that automates the end-to-end processes can help with reducing costs, increasing savings, striking better supplier deals and improving the overall efficiency of the entire S2P process. Moreover, with an automated procurement process, one can improve the productivity of the entire team and help them focus on core activities instead of manual repetitive tasks.