Business leaders in Japan expressed clear interest in autonomous negotiations - or 自律型交渉. So we've begun rolling it out with them.
The concept is already closely aligned with Japan's wider strategy for improving efficiency across the economy through greater automation and the use of autonomous systems.
Autonomous negotiations can significantly contribute to that goal by using AI to scale up procurement teams at Japan's largest companies, enabling them to achieve more and better deals for them and their suppliers.
To serve Japanese companies with the technology, we made our own deal with the great team at Nice Eze in Japan. As a result, the first autonomous negotiations there are now underway so we'll have more to share in the near future about how Japanese companies are benefiting from autonomous negotiations.
manabu Matsuura, CEO at Nice Eze, says this is a big opportunity to redefine human roles and spark a productivity revolution through the extensive use of cutting-edge technologies like AI.
"At the heart of this transformation lies the strategic approach to focus and specialization on the essence of the business—called 'Warikiri' in Japanese," Manabu explains. "Pactum’s autonomous negotiations will enable Japanese companies to focus on strategic deals, leaving other tasks to AI. We believe that it will greatly contribute to improving the productivity of both suppliers and buyers.”
While this is our first major step into Japan, we already have strong connections there - as well as Japanese-speaking team members Ohhoon (Max) Kwon and Jaimeson Bilodeau in the US too. In 2022, Pactum received investment from one of the largest Japanese-backed VC funds in Europe, NordicNinja VC.
Tomosaku Sohara, Co-Founder & Managing Partner at NordicNinja VC, emphasizes that automation is vital for Japan’s future - and autonomous negotiations can be a big part of that.
"Autonomous negotiation is a new concept, but its impact is clearly measurable and already far beyond expectations so we believe it has the potential to make Japanese companies significantly more competitive and raise Japan’s GDP," says Tomosaku. "We invested in Pactum because we understood from our own Japanese network that there was clear demand for this to work. That’s now beyond doubt. We are incredibly excited that Pactum is bringing the benefits of autonomous negotiations to Japan where there are both enormous potential and clear interest locally.”
Martin Rand, CEO at Pactum AI, says the partnership with Nice Eze is a great deal for the whole Japanese economy.
“While there’s currently a huge wave of interest in AI, autonomous negotiation is a field of AI that has been developed over the past half decade and is driven by longer term technology trends towards using automation and autonomy for improved efficiency," explains Martin. "Japan is already the leader in this so we’re excited to bring autonomous negotiations to benefit Japanese companies and the Japanese economy."
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