In many companies, software buying works by chance. Teams buy tools on the company card, contracts sit in inboxes, and the notice period only comes up after the renewal has been charged.
The Zapier case
An automation vendor had exactly this problem. According to a case study by procurement service Tropic, Zapier used to spend around 4 hours reviewing each contractH. After moving to a standard process, time in procurement fell by 75 %H, more than 400 hours a yearH. For one large API contract, the case study cites savings of 38 %H.
The order is instructive. First came a single process with a request form, review and approval. Automation was built on top of that. If you automate a chaotic process, you get faster chaos.
We have not found independent German data on AI in procurement, for example from the German purchasing association BME.
The workflow
- 01DataRequest form: what, why, budget
- 02CheckLicence or contract already in place?yes: use or extend the existing contract
- 03AIAI compares offers in a table
- 04PersonApproval by amount threshold
- 05DataContract into the central repository
- 06ResultReminder 90 days before the notice deadline
Compare the attached offers in a table: total cost over 36 months, price adjustment clauses, notice period, data location, support level, data processing agreement yes or no. Flag every deviation from our minimum requirements: [insert list]. Cite the location in the offer for every value.
Limits and risks
- Confidentiality: Offers are vendors' trade secrets. Use only tools with a business licence and no training on inputs.
- Competition law: Never pass one vendor's prices to another, including through an AI-generated comparison.
- Clauses: AI misses special terms. A person always checks notice periods and price adjustments in the original.
- Where the numbers come from: The figures come from the service provider's case study and have not been independently verified.
How to start
- Export all software charges for the last twelve months from accounting.
- Create a central contract register with term and notice period.
- Introduce a request form that is filled in before every purchase.
- Automate the deadline reminder as your first workflow.