The use of artificial intelligence is widespread throughout many industries and is becoming available in procurement negotiation with a platform called Bid Ops. Bid Ops is one of the first companies to use artificial intelligence to fully automate supplier negotiations. Edmund Zagorin joins me in this episode of Negotiations Ninja to talk about how Bid Ops forecasts the outcome of a negotiation, develops quotes, and helps smooth the negotiation process. 

Edmund is the founder and CEO of Bid Ops. He started his career as a procurement officer as well as the Assistant Program Director for Debate at the University of Iowa. It was there he learned to see the correlation between debate and negotiation tactics. He researched procurement with ProductBio and became a Bid Manager at Electronic Auction Services. Listen to this episode to hear how his combined experience led him to create a sourcing enablement platform making waves in the industry.

Outline of This Episode

• [1:58] Edmund Zagorin’s background in procurement
• [3:50] How do you forecast the outcome of a negotiation?
• [6:45] What’s the difference between a debate and a negotiation?
• [11:19] Understanding cognitive bias in behavioral economics
• [17:20] Who should extend the first offer? 
• [18:47] Will AI replace procurement managers?
• [26:45] Edmund advises: continue to try new things

Resources & People Mentioned

• BOOK: Thinking, Fast and Slow
• BOOK: Freakonomics
• BOOK: Don’t Make Me Think
• PAPER: The Case of Auctions Versus Negotiations

Connect with Edmund Zagorin

• LinkedIn
• Bid Ops

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