IBM and StarLink, an Infinigate Group company and a leading value-added distributor in the Middle East and Africa (MEA), recently announced a collaboration to develop an AI-powered purchase order automation solution.
Built with IBM Bob and IBM watsonx Orchestrate, the solution leverages agentic AI to reduce manual work and improve the efficiency and consistency of StarLink’s procurement operations.
The solution uses AI agents to automate key steps across the purchase order lifecycle, including email intake and classification, enterprise resource planning validation, document processing and accounts payable execution. It integrates with Oracle NetSuite, Docling and Automation Anywhere to coordinate end-to-end workflows with greater visibility, governance and control. Developed as part of StarLink’s Client Zero program, StarLink plans to extend efficiency and automation gains as the first user to support more than 1,500 of their partners and clients exploring agentic AI across the Middle East and Africa.
The solution is projected to save StarLink an average of 11,500 hours annually: 6,000 hours from automating 9,000 purchase orders, 1,500 hours from automating 14,000 quotes and 4,000 hours from quote comparison. StarLink reduced the time required to compare internal documents, partner purchase orders and vendor quotations from thirty minutes to three minutes (a 90% reduction), while helping sales and accounts payable teams verify that the required documentation is complete.
StarLink also reduced the time required to develop, test and deploy AI agents. According to StarLink, the process previously took an average of two weeks and can now be completed in two days using IBM Bob and watsonx Orchestrate, representing an 85% reduction in implementation time.
IBM Bob and watsonx Orchestrate provide connected development and orchestration capabilities for the solution’s AI agents. Bob is an agentic development partner that understands enterprise complexity and facilitates the planning, development, testing, deployment, maintenance and refinement of agents and tools. Watsonx Orchestrate manages and governs the agents as they process incoming emails, validate information extracted from unstructured documents and coordinate activities across enterprise systems.
The collaboration addresses operational challenges including manual purchase order processing, slow quote cycles, fragmented workflows and extracting information from unstructured documents. The solution is designed to improve accuracy, shorten processing times and provide greater consistency across procurement workflows.
“We have put this approach into practice within our own operations, using IBM Bob and watsonx Orchestrate to develop and operate AI agents across complex workflows”, said Nidal Othman, CEO, StarLink. “Having tested and validated the model through our Client Zero program, we are ready to take these capabilities and our experience to customers across the region”.
“This collaboration demonstrates the role our ecosystem can play in moving agentic AI from development into operational use”, said Zaidoun Arbad, VP – Ecosystem and Select Territory Sales, Middle East and Africa, IBM. “IBM Bob and watsonx Orchestrate provide a governed approach to building, running, managing and optimising AI agents, enabling partners such as StarLink to apply these capabilities to practical business workflows and bring that experience to clients”.
The purchase order solution is the first step in a broader roadmap, with potential additional use cases involving integrated dashboards and AI agents for sales, legal, finance and credit teams.
Image Credit: StarLink & IBM
Source: Tahawul Tech