Artificial intelligence (AI) is fast becoming an essential tool and key innovation for today’s businesses, amplifying workplace efficiency and delivering data-driven intelligence. At Acumatica, we understand the incredible potential AI has for business success, which is why we are purposefully and strategically incorporating intelligent, AI-driven capabilities directly into our modern cloud Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) platform.

“We’re building AI directly into our existing workflows, including at the industry level,” says Acumatica CEO John Case. “We’re leveraging the power of our cloud to integrate rapidly changing AI capabilities, bringing them to you. We’re doing all of this while maintaining our foundational principles of customer data ownership and data control.”

Our vision is to deliver AI that works for you by applying Acumatica’s Principles of Innovation, which guide our vision of developing new technologies in responsible ways, bringing practical value to business users. In a recent webinar, Transforming ERP for the Intelligent Business Era (now available on demand), Acumatica’s Chief Engineering Officer, Miten Mehta, and Acumatica’s VP of Solutions Architecture, Doug Johnson, discussed our AI in ERP initiatives and our AI-first approach.

AI: A Performance Enabler

AI, according to Miten, is a performance enabler. Every business defines performance differently, and, at Acumatica, we want to help our customers reach the performance levels they set for themselves. This requires a strong investment in:

• • Real-time, unified data.
  • Deep insights and accurate forecasting.
  • Vital privacy and security.
  • An extensible platform and intuitive user experience.
  • Streamlined workflows and crucial automation.
  • Seamless integrations.

However, as Miten clearly pointed out, investing in these performance enablers is just not enough anymore. We must take them to what he called the top level, which is where AI and machine learning (ML) come into play. But Miten emphasized that Acumatica doesn’t believe in AI for the sake of AI.

“[It’s] AI that is the center of innovation. AI that multiplies the effect of all these enablers. AI that is not bolted on. It’s AI first.”

As Miten and Doug made clear throughout the webinar, Acumatica’s approach is to make AI core to what we do and how we operate. As a comprehensive, innovative ERP solution, Acumatica is designed to solve real-world problems, so our incorporated AI should also deliver a measurable, problem-solving impact. Making AI work for each business has influenced our investments in AI Insights—which include AI as Intelligent Advisors and as Interactive Assistants.

Intelligent Advisors can, according to Doug, comb through a business’s ERP data in its entirety, acting as the “brain” that can “figure out and present things that you need to take action on to improve the way you do business.” This translates into real-time data extraction and analyses that discover inconsistencies, exceptions, and trends, while also providing historical-data-based forecast scenarios.

Interactive Assistants analyze data via a chat and voice interface, interpreting the data, and offering multiple-choice actions and visual presentations that help businesses become more efficient.

In addition to AI Insights, we also drive greater workplace efficiency through AI Automation—so businesses can automate repetitive, time-consuming processes and simplify complex workflows, with or without human intervention. Doug also discussed how businesses can integrate external AI services, enjoy code-free customization, and so much more.

The Future with Acumatica and AI

At Acumatica, we’re committed to reducing and minimizing the complexity of AI, and we do that by equipping our customers with intuitive, user-friendly tools they can use at their own pace. This commitment extends to providing a safe, secure, and trustworthy AI strategy using native, private large language models (LLMs) and strong security standards that protect businesses’ sensitive information.

AI presents unlimited possibilities, but Miten acknowledged that we’re just “scratching the surface.” He highlighted current and future AI capabilities for every industry, including:

Distribution: Inventory replenishment, product categorization, supplier track record/capacity planning, anticipatory shipping.

Manufacturing: Predictive maintenance, product/service quality, production yield advisory, Natural Language (NL) automation, Manufacturing-as-a-Service, and capacity planning.

Construction: Project forecasting, estimation, supplier and subcontractor performance, and anomaly detection.

Retail: Product recommendations, search, dynamic pricing sentiment analysis, and support bots.

Finance: Bank reconciliation, Anomaly Detection and Smart Suggest, and invoice categorization and processing.

CRM: Opportunity heat map, company profiler, customer segmentation, churn prediction, lifetime value (LTV) maximizer, and contact management.

Field Services: Predictive field service, zero-touch automation, route optimization, smart scheduling, and service level agreement (SLA) compliance.

AI is a profoundly transformative technology, and Acumatica is dedicated to an intentional, problem-solving AI approach. Our AI/ML architecture is based on a platform that Miten said is getting bigger and richer. It currently enables Acumatica customers to use AP Document Recognition, Receipt Recognition, text auto complete, and Anomaly Detection—all available in our latest releases. Excitingly, Interactive Assistants, AI Studio (a suite of tools that will help users build their AI workflows), Automation Agent, and ML Services are all in the works.

“[These innovations will come] as we make sure the functionality that we are building is addressing the right business values—[that] we are ensuring the right level of prep and also the right level of depth,” said Miten. “[And] of course, meeting the quality bar that we have for all our Acumatica products. As they start matching our expectations, we will start putting them into your hands.”

Register for our on-demand webinar to learn additional details about Acumatica’s AI-first strategy and to watch in-depth Anomaly Detection and AI Studio demonstrations led by Doug. You can also contact our experts with any questions or to schedule a demonstration of Acumatica’s AI-powered ERP solution.