Accenture, an Irish multinational consulting and processing services company, and Ripjar, an enterprise of talented professionals working toward developing products with the potential to detect and prevent criminal activities, recently revealed their collaboration with Royal Dutch Shell to further improve risk screening within its global supply chain by deploying AI (artificial intelligence).

The multi-year deal rests on Accenture Ventures’ interest and investment in Ripjar and a strategic alliance formed in 2018.

Shell is banking on Accenture’s rich industry experience and risk expertise to construct Ripjar’s AI-driven technology to analyze its supply chain.

It is also understood that these insights will deliver level-up accuracy and effectiveness in screening for risk across Shell’s third-party supply chain transactions. The AI technology rooted in the system can also lessen data-reporting errors by more than 80% compared to third-party legacy systems.

The solution implementation

By incorporating the tool on Shell’s cloud-based infrastructure on Microsoft Azure, Accenture plans to ensure that Shell is placed strategically to scale the solution, resulting in cost efficiencies.

Furthermore, the solution enhances accessibility and offers self-service features to Shell employees globally as they conduct a thorough analysis and due diligence on third-party vendors.

Expert take of the tech players

Adam Markson, Managing Director and Lead for Risk and Compliance at Accenture, explained, “In a proactive move to tackle the growing challenges associated with criminal activity, security and fraud in today’s global business landscape, Shell is reinforcing its risk management capabilities across the supply chain.”

He added, “Together, we are taking a time-consuming, manual process and applying automation with more insights into data to not only improve accuracy but also give management complete audit capabilities and accountability over the entire screening process.

“Indeed, Accenture was selected for its deep industry expertise and track record of implementing the next generation of compliance capabilities and enabling transformational change.”

Jeremy Annis, CEO, Ripjar, commented, “Global energy companies like Shell can better provide the products and services that are essential to our society with the help of a business ecosystem.”

He further mentioned, “Ripjar’s technology, enhanced by AI, can help reduce the number of steps it takes to conduct due diligence and detect risks through continuous real-time monitoring of the supply chain.”