Abstract
In today’s competitive business landscape, efficient supplier negotiations are crucial for reducing procurement costs and securing favorable terms. We present Negotia, a neuro-symbolic, purchaser-centric approach that automates concurrent supplier negotiations via AI-generated emails and contracts. Following the neuro-symbolic paradigm, our approach combines neural AI methods with symbolic knowledge representations to maximize comprehension and automation while reducing hallucinations. Negotia streamlines the process by enabling simultaneous negotiations with multiple pre-sourced suppliers, significantly reducing time and effort. Additionally, the system enables supplier sourcing and incorporates customized purchasing strategies, further enhancing procurement efficiency. Key benefits of Negotia include cost savings, improved process efficiency, and alignment with sustainability and risk management goals. We employ the System Usability Scale and the Technology Acceptance Model 2 to evaluate usability and user acceptance, focusing on perceived usefulness and ease of use. The study also includes an expert evaluation of participants’ email and contract drafts, assessing key attributes such as correctness, naturalness, completeness, benevolence, expertise, and credibility. The results reveal high usability (88.75) and strong user intention to adopt Negotia (R² of 0.888), with participants achieving high-quality outputs. Consequently, the system demonstrates the potential for substantial annual savings for large-scale procurement operations, ultimately driving digital transformation in procurement.
Paper Type
Full Paper
DOI
10.62036/ISD.2025.87
A Neuro-Symbolic Approach for Purchaser-Centric, Concurrent, and Strategic Supplier Negotiations
In today’s competitive business landscape, efficient supplier negotiations are crucial for reducing procurement costs and securing favorable terms. We present Negotia, a neuro-symbolic, purchaser-centric approach that automates concurrent supplier negotiations via AI-generated emails and contracts. Following the neuro-symbolic paradigm, our approach combines neural AI methods with symbolic knowledge representations to maximize comprehension and automation while reducing hallucinations. Negotia streamlines the process by enabling simultaneous negotiations with multiple pre-sourced suppliers, significantly reducing time and effort. Additionally, the system enables supplier sourcing and incorporates customized purchasing strategies, further enhancing procurement efficiency. Key benefits of Negotia include cost savings, improved process efficiency, and alignment with sustainability and risk management goals. We employ the System Usability Scale and the Technology Acceptance Model 2 to evaluate usability and user acceptance, focusing on perceived usefulness and ease of use. The study also includes an expert evaluation of participants’ email and contract drafts, assessing key attributes such as correctness, naturalness, completeness, benevolence, expertise, and credibility. The results reveal high usability (88.75) and strong user intention to adopt Negotia (R² of 0.888), with participants achieving high-quality outputs. Consequently, the system demonstrates the potential for substantial annual savings for large-scale procurement operations, ultimately driving digital transformation in procurement.
Recommended Citation
Stütz, J.D., Karras, O., Oelen, A. & Auer, S. (2025). A Neuro-Symbolic Approach for Purchaser-Centric, Concurrent, and Strategic Supplier NegotiationsIn I. Luković, S. Bjeladinović, B. Delibašić, D. Barać, N. Iivari, E. Insfran, M. Lang, H. Linger, & C. Schneider (Eds.), Empowering the Interdisciplinary Role of ISD in Addressing Contemporary Issues in Digital Transformation: How Data Science and Generative AI Contributes to ISD (ISD2025 Proceedings). Belgrade, Serbia: University of Gdańsk, Department of Business Informatics & University of Belgrade, Faculty of Organizational Sciences. ISBN: 978-83-972632-1-5. https://doi.org/10.62036/ISD.2025.87