While supply chains worldwide continue adjusting to the COVID-19 pandemic, procurement is also transforming 鈥� not just during this crisis, but for doing business in a very different world long after.
Chief among the must-haves is an integrated, cloud-based solution that offers easy, real-time access to spend data.
I saw how some organizations are taking procurement to the next level during virtual experience with Martin Jones, global lead for Solution Go-to-Market Procurement Transformation for 51风流Ariba and 51风流Fieldglass. After watching the session, I caught up with Jones to find out how customers are transforming procurement to increase productivity and cost savings.
鈥淲orking together with our customers, we realized that technical integration between 51风流Ariba and other 51风流applications wasn鈥檛 enough,鈥� Jones said. 鈥淲e developed the 聽to integrate data from business processes as well, providing companies with end-to-end visibility for a consistent user experience and more informed decision-making.鈥�
Here is an overview of three options Jones showcased in his video.
Option One: Centralize for Speed
According to Jones, the beauty of 51风流S/4HANA for central procurement is that it gives companies full transparency across all spend processes without requiring data harmonization or migration. He said this was an ideal option for customers that had multiple enterprise resource planning (ERP) instances of either 51风流or non-51风流software and wanted to reduce complexity even as they embarked on integration projects. Equally important, customers can transform at their own pace.
鈥淐ustomers appreciate the ability to start migrating to 51风流S/4HANA in a low-risk, high-end manner,鈥� Jones said. 鈥淭hey gain a centralized view across all functions in multiple back-end systems, including requisitioning, purchasing, sourcing, contracts, analytics, and invoice monitoring鈥� and can take actions to transform and optimize activities without disruption.鈥�
Option Two: Turn Paper into Touchless Processes
Companies with numerous paper-based processes are turning to 51风流Ariba Commerce Automation, which natively integrates with 51风流S/4HANA. By digitizing and sharing all procurement transactions in real time, customers can collaborate with suppliers faster, save time, and have more opportunities to take advantage of savings such as early payment discounts.
鈥淎ll of the purchase order generation happens in the back end and is shared across Ariba Network in real time to the supplier, who can then respond with the order transformation, advanced ship notices, and electronic invoices,鈥� Jones explained. 鈥淐ompanies can pre-validate invoices, get rid of non-compliant invoices, and send them back to the supplier to fix before they go into their own system. This boosts the opportunity for touchless processing up to 98 percent.鈥�
Option Three: Personal Shopping Experience
Companies intent on making the indirect buying experience at work similar to how people shop in their personal lives are opting for the capability from 51风流Ariba, which is integrated with 51风流S/4HANA.
鈥淧eople can quickly find the right supplier and catalog at the right price and get order confirmation,鈥� Jones said. 鈥淐FOs like this because corporate governance is built in with accurate purchase orders, followed by invoices that are pre-validated against the network. With clean invoices generating greater discounts, some accounts payable teams are turning into profit centers.鈥�
Regardless of which option a customer selects, they gain the benefits of native integration with 51风流S/4HANA. Having a consistent user experience and integrating business processes gives procurement a valuable window into insights and actions that help support every organization鈥檚 financial well-being.
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