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As procurement continues to elevate its role in solving today’s biggest challenges, the procurement team has a proven track record of delivering continuous innovation, industry expertise, and a laser focus on user experience. need an application.
SAP has long been a leader in facilitating procurement transformation and was named a leader in the IDC MarketScape: Worldwide SaaS and Cloud-Enabled Procurement Applications 2023 Vendor Assessment. *
The most exciting thing about this latest report is that it recognizes the significant progress SAP has made since the last IDC MarketScape for procurement applications released in 2021. We have worked hard to evolve our vision with a focus on delivering a complete suite. Solutions that allow our customers and their counterparties to manage their spend with full visibility without losing sight of the people using these solutions.
From procurement and supplier networks, to supplier relationship management, contract lifecycle management, spend analytics, procure-to-pay, and sustainability, SAP offers a suite of solutions that help companies solve problems at every stage of the procurement process. increase. And as noted in the IDC MarketScape report, “SAP Ariba solutions are strongly positioned to help businesses manage spending across complex events, direct and indirect, services, and CAPEX.”
The report also cites the following strengths:
- SAP Ariba is a mature, established and trusted brand. It has strong brand recognition, and users say its integration with SAP ERP and supply chain management products is a compelling feature.
- SAP Ariba Sourcing’s Guided Purchasing and Guided Sourcing features were rated very useful by all of our reference clients. One client even called this feature “nice”. SAP has continued to innovate in this area with multiple ongoing enhancements and next-generation products.
- SAP’s exceptional industry expertise, particularly in areas such as energy and natural resources, banking, chemicals, and automotive, has been cited as a differentiator by multiple clients. SAP’s experience and products in the field of direct sourcing are of great interest to buyers.
true to our roots
Procurement transformation is nothing new for SAP. It’s in our DNA. The game-changing electronic catalog and material requirements planning process started here. In addition, the SAP Business Network has revolutionized the way goods are bought and sold. Used by more buyers and sellers than any other network on the planet to connect and collaborate across procurement, supply he chains, logistics and asset management.
Commitment to Innovation
At SAP, innovation means assessing the business environment, listening to our customers, and responding with powerful tools to meet business challenges. Based on an established and trusted product portfolio and a clear roadmap, we continue to deliver innovations that help organizations meet today’s procurement challenges and prepare for tomorrow.
Below are two sourcing innovations we are introducing this year, as well as a preview of our ongoing innovations.
- The next evolution of guided buying: The guided purchasing capabilities of SAP Ariba solutions are the gold standard for purchasing goods and services. Its next evolution provides a personalized buying experience tailored to today’s professional and casual buyers and their roles. It is predictive, leveraging artificial intelligence to suggest specific job roles, as well as intelligent jobs that help make the right decisions and weigh the sustainability and environmental impact of those decisions. provide good recommendations. Many of the features will not only be included in Guided Purchases this year, but will also be included in future releases. Watch demo.
- New Category Management Solution: Today, category management consists of a highly manual process that leaves little time for category managers to develop or implement effective strategies. A new category management solution rolling out this year provides actionable market intelligence and category insights. This enables category her managers and procurement professionals to make strategic category decisions about direct and indirect spending. Additionally, it offers intuitive scenario analysis to help you visualize opportunities. Watch demo.
- Total Spending Report: We can’t reveal too much at this time, but we’ll keep you informed of what’s in place to give you visibility into your total spend for your business.
User focused
Everyone involved in the procure-to-pay process has a different role. We make it our mission to understand the needs and priorities of every user and her persona, and provide unique and intuitive tools that each can use to achieve their goals. For example, an employee who does material requirements planning (MRP) for direct material procurement has a different experience than an employee who buys a laptop or manages temporary labor.
Risk management and sustainability
Given the supply chain disruptions of the past few years, business leaders understand the importance of risk management. In fact, in his 2022 Economist Impact survey of 430 C-suite-level executives sponsored by SAP, respondents ranked his second most important focus to increase the value of procurement. A key area is risk reduction. In the same survey, nearly a quarter of executives identified sustainability and environmental, social and government (ESG) concerns as one of their top organizational risk priorities.
Laws on social responsibility only add to the pressure. For example, Lieferkettensorgfaltspflichtengesetz (LkSG) is a law that came into force in Germany this year. By April 2024, companies will have to report to the German government on the ability of their risk management systems to deal with supply chain breaches.
Companies need a single source of truth across their entire supply base to support risk-aware core processes. SAP innovations help drive risk management and sustainability requirements with newly enhanced SAP Ariba Supplier Risk solutions and SAP Business Network, and additional enhancements to address company-specific requirements increase.
Providing solutions for the future
Procurement has changed a lot in the last 20 years. SAP is pleased to be recognized as a leader in driving this change. We also remain committed to delivering next-generation applications that help our customers transform their businesses for continued success.
Baber Farooq is Senior Vice President and Head of Market Strategy for SAP Procurement Solutions.
*”IDC MarketScape: Worldwide SaaS and Cloud-Enabled Procurement Applications 2023 Vendor Assessment,” March 2023, IDC #US48785722
