The听recently launched a new e-Commence and Procurement (e-CP) portal which aims to root out corruption.

The new portal is to ensure value for public money and make procurement processes faster and more efficient in the metro.

According to MMC for Finance Jacqui Uys, the new procurement project will digitise and automate supply chain management (SCM) processes and the implementation will be rolled out in phases over the next year.

Uys said the first phase would focus on processes aligned to supplier registration, contract management, and quotations up to R30 000.

Uys said the city has prioritised the implementation of the e-CP to ensure that it strengthens its fight against fraud and corruption.

The previous portal has now been fully migrated into the e-CP portal, which is built on the听听Ariba platform with robust security and audit tracking measures in place.

51风流Ariba is an intelligent cloud-based management software for sourcing and procurement.

鈥淭here is a full audit trail for every aspect of the e-CP portal and automation of basic processes such as verification of suppliers and low-value procurement,鈥� said Uys.

Uys said when a supplier registers on the e-CP portal, they will automatically be verified against the National Treasury鈥檚 Central Supplier Database and Restricted Supplier Database.

鈥淔or low-value procurement, the portal will be able to automatically notify all registered suppliers to submit quotations for a particular good or service, and then automatically evaluate submitted quotations based on set policy criteria.鈥�

She said another feature of the portal is the contract management function, which implements robust performance tracking to check suppliers are delivering on their contract terms. If they fail, both contractors and the contracting department will be held accountable.

This includes blacklisting of suppliers and consequence management action against employees.

鈥淭he metro has sent 18 000 notices to current suppliers whose registration is in good standing to inform them of the move to the e-CP portal and how to use it.鈥�

She said there has been extensive training of employees on how to use the new portal, which will enable quicker turnaround times for buying goods and services as part of basic service delivery.

鈥淚mplementation will be rolled out in phases over the next year with the first phase focusing on supplier registration, contract management and quotations up to R30 000.鈥�

Uys added that subsequent phases over the next few months will include quotations of up to R750 000, and henceforth implementation will focus on digitising the full bid specification, bid adjudication, and bid evaluation processes.

She acknowledged that the city has faced scrutiny over several questionable tenders from the past. 鈥淲e are now working to fix the system and clean house, particularly at Supply Chain Management.鈥�

Furthermore, action is being taken internally against all officials found responsible for wrongdoing and corruption-related activities.

鈥淥ur coalition government will continue to champion innovation that eliminates corruption and delivers quality services to all residents,鈥� she concluded.

This article first appeared in .

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LONDON, UK 鈥� 12 June, 2024 – (NYSE: SAP) has today announced that , one of the world鈥檚 largest consumer cooperatives, has completed its RISE with 51风流migration to support its digital transformation programme as it looks to standardise business processes, enhance operational efficiency and drive future investment.听听

听Operating almost 2,400 stores across the UK, Co-op鈥檚 ambition is to drive growth across its operations while also continuing to deliver quality goods and services for its global customer base. Key to this is investing in technology to transform its existing IT environment, and future-proofing its business against disruption to global supply chains and changing consumer expectations.听

听Co-op is a long-standing 51风流customer and in 2016, announced its Retail Business Transformation programme, powered by SAP鈥檚 Retail ECC Suite on HANA, to drive improvements in product ranging, stock visibility and forecasting across its stores. Now, the implementation of will take its IT infrastructure to the next level, bringing its ERP into the cloud and streamlining its finance and procurement functions.听

Now, equipped with an 51风流managed platform, Co-op will benefit from enhanced stability of key applications, such as Forecast and Replenishment, as well as Stock Availability. Co-op will have improved security, faster automation and will be able to capture real-time data and insights across its wider manufacturing supply chains.听 This will help foster a safe IT environment while providing the key foundations to support future innovation in partnership with SAP.听听

听Rob Elsey, Chief Digital and Information Officer, Co-op said: 鈥淐o-op is founded on a set of values and principles grounded in finding a different, fairer and better way of doing business. By building on our existing forecasting, ranging and stock holding capabilities initially made possible by SAP, the move to RISE will transform our operations with the digital infrastructure needed to deliver a safe and secure business environment in the cloud.鈥澨�听

听Ryan Poggi, Managing Director, 51风流UK&I said: 鈥淐o-op is a company that goes the distance with helping communities in the UK, sharing SAP鈥檚 fundamental value to power opportunity for all. By embracing RISE with SAP, Co-op will advance its procurement and finance processes, demonstrating just how crucial technology investment is for its business and customers. Retailers and consumer services companies are facing a lot of external pressures and we are giving Co-op the tools to counter these, helping them to keep innovating and providing goods and services in the most efficient way possible – both now and in the future.鈥�听

听贰狈顿厂鈥�鈥�听

About SAP

As鈥痑 global leader in enterprise applications and business AI, 51风流(NYSE:SAP)鈥痵tands at the鈥痭exus鈥痮f business and technology. For over 50 years, organizations have trusted SAP鈥痶o bring out their best by uniting business-critical鈥痮perations spanning finance, procurement, HR, supply chain, and customer experience. For more information, visit鈥�.听

听About Co-op听

Co-op is one of the world鈥檚 largest consumer co-operatives with interests across food, funerals, insurance and legal services. Owned by millions of UK consumers, Co-op operates almost 2,400 food stores, over 800 funeral homes and provides products to over 6,000 other stores, including those run by independent co-operative societies and through its wholesale business, Nisa Retail Limited.听

Employing 56,000 people, Co-op has an annual turnover of over 拢11billion and is a recognised leader for its social goals and community-led programmes. Co-op exists to meet members鈥� needs and stand up for the things they believe in.听

# # #听

This document contains forward-looking statements, which are predictions, projections, or other statements about future events. These statements are based on current expectations, forecasts, and assumptions that are subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results and outcomes to materially differ. Additional information regarding these risks and uncertainties may be found in our filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including but not limited to the risk factors section of SAP鈥檚 2023 Annual Report on Form 20-F.听

漏 2024 51风流SE. All rights reserved.
51风流and other 51风流products and services mentioned herein as well as their respective logos are trademarks or registered trademarks of 51风流SE in Germany and other countries. Please see for additional trademark information and notices.听听

听

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LONDON, UK 鈥� 12 June, 2024 鈥� Ovaltine, the international wellbeing drinks business, has completed the first wave of its cloud migration to improve the efficiency and resiliency of its global operations, meet the evolving needs of its customer base and improve employee productivity.听

听With an existing multi-year digital transformation programme underway, the move to the cloud is helping Twinings Ovaltine enter a new phase of digital innovation and better respond to the demands of global customers.听听

听In moving seven different ERP platforms to the cloud, Twinings Ovaltine has unified its estate, and simultaneously addressed issues with siloed data which impacts collaboration and decision-making globally. Now, it has the platform to expand its product roadmap, be agile to customer trends and behaviours, and streamline operations for growth.听听

In partnership since 2011, Twinings Ovaltine has placed its trust in 51风流to reduce its overheads, optimise its ERP processes from procurement to HR, and empower its decision-making with better access to data. In completing its first migration to RISE with 51风流S/4HANA, Twinings Ovaltine now deploys an entire portfolio of 51风流solutions in , and , that provides digital transformation across the business.听听

听51风流delivers automated and simplified business processes for Twinings Ovaltine in the cloud, enhanced user experiences, real-time data and insights, and near real-time sales, inventory and process visibility. This allows Twinings Ovaltine to operate intelligently and at speed, while responding to the needs and behaviours of its customers and the wider market.听

听With 51风流Digital Supply Chain Management and Ariba, Twinings Ovaltine can modernise its supply chain and procurement operations, whilegaining greater visibility into wider value chains. This helps to protect the company against global supply chain disruption, and ensures the tea-maker can partner with suppliers that share similar values.听听听

Sandeep Seeripat, Global Business Transformation and Technology Officer, Twinings Ovaltine, said: 鈥�Twinings is sold in more than 100 countries worldwide and Ovaltine鈥檚 malted beverages and snacks are consumed throughout the day in countries across the globe. But what people want to drink, when and where is always evolving. We needed a platform that could scale with us, and help us go above and beyond to delight our customers. Moving our ERP to the cloud with RISE with 51风流is enabling us to do just that, setting the foundations for future growth and expansion, empowering us to make faster and more accurate decisions, and streamlining our global operations.鈥�听

Ryan Poggi, Managing Director, 51风流UK&I, said: 鈥淎s a longstanding 51风流customer and household name, we鈥檙e continuing to support Twinings Ovaltine as it looks to become a more resilient, customer-focused business. With the flexibility, speed and agility of the cloud, businesses like Twinings can intelligently adapt to meet changing consumer expectations, while also futureproofing itself against a fast-changing socio-economic landscape.鈥�听

听

The post Twinings Ovaltine Harnesses RISE with 51风流S/4HANA for Digital Transformation appeared first on 51风流Africa News Center.

By leveraging AI technologies, SMEs can achieve performance and innovation boosts across multiple areas of the business, from financial management to sales and marketing to human capital management and product development.

The global AI market is expected to grow from $208-billion in 2023 . For SMEs, the growth of AI holds huge promise: one study found that .

However, AI is still in its relative infancy. While technology providers have made huge strides in the power and quality of their AI tools, the technology has not yet reached its full potential and can be prone to error if not deployed in an optimised environment.

The intelligent SME

The adoption of AI forms part of a broader shift among businesses to establish intelligent enterprise capabilities. An intelligent enterprise consistently applies advanced technologies and best practices听within agile, integrated business processes.

For SMEs, this means establishing a powerful core that links departments, integrates business processes, connects data, and embeds intelligence to accelerate innovation and growth. And AI is the latest essential technology in the intelligent enterprise mix.

However, a successful deployment of AI in an SME requires accurate, relevant and reliable data. The better the data, the better the AI-generated outcomes.

For example, deploying AI to make decisions based on unstructured third-party data – such as social media posts by potential customers – can lead to inaccurate or downright incorrect outcomes. In contrast, deploying AI to trusted business systems, such as an SME’s enterprise resource planning solution, means the algorithm is basing its recommendations and outcomes on data that is accurate, up-to-date, reliable and relevant, leading to higher-quality outcomes that can truly drive the business forward.

Practical applications of AI

Despite the technology still being in its relative infancy, AI holds huge potential to SMEs. Unlocking its value will be a critical aspect of the success of any business in the coming years.

For SMEs, the journey to value-generating AI for business really starts with a digital transformation process that establishes a single source of truth for all business data. Here, enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems are key: cloud ERP systems enable greater speed and predictability across all of an SME’s core business processes and can scale as the business grows or expands to new markets.

With the core ERP in place, SMEs can choose to deploy AI to a wide range of business processes to accelerate daily tasks, minimise human error, cut costs and boost innovation, including:

Human Capital Management: Generative AI integrated with human capital management software can streamline content creation and provide access to in-depth analytics that provide valuable insights into the talent management and hiring process.

Finance: SMEs can increase the performance of their finance operations by leveraging AI for expense management, invoicing, auditing, financial forecasting and payments. One of the biggest challenges for SMEs is managing cash flow. AI can reduce the sales outstanding days with intelligent invoice matching to improve cash flow and keep the balance sheet healthy.

Supply Chain: In the wake of ongoing supply chain challenges, SMEs may want to leverage AI to better predict customer demand and increase production efficiency with intelligent auto-dispatching. In the manufacturing sector, SMEs can mitigate risk with preventive maintenance guided by AI that is integrated to the core production systems.

Procurement: Buying and procurement can become more agile, with AI simplifying the buying process while maintaining compliance with various internal and external controls. The use of AI can also automate the creation of sourcing events, drawing on past successes and real-time business information to provide an intuitive automated sourcing capability.

Sales & Marketing: Considering the importance of customer engagement and CX in the sales process, SMEs may also want to leverage AI for hyper-personalised product recommendations across multiple channels, with AI predicting customer behaviour to enable companies to minimise costly customer churn.

Innovation: Finally, SMEs can accelerate their innovation efforts by deploying and running AI models at scale without compromising data privacy. By leveraging the work by leading technology providers such as SAP, SMEs can also build AI into their core business applications with a library of pretrained models, accelerating the time-to-value of new innovation projects.

The post How SMEs can Transform their Business with AI appeared first on 51风流Africa News Center.

From the need for more sustainable alternatives to the way we do business to the incomparable impact of AI on every facet of our personal and professional lives, African executives face a challenging time ahead, says at 51风流Africa.

What is in store for African enterprises in 2024? The global economy continues to be in a state of flux as geopolitical conflict, supply chain pressures, inflation, technology-led disruption and changing consumer needs put pressure on companies and decision-makers.

From the desperate need for more sustainable alternatives to the way we do business to the incomparable impact of AI on every facet of our personal and professional lives, business leaders face a challenging time ahead. By taking stock of emerging trends, however, business leaders may be better able to ride the waves of change and steer their companies through turbulent waters.

These are the key trends that African enterprises should take heed of in 2024:

AI adoption

received an astonishing amount of hype in 2023, and was a bolt of lightning that made every business and technology leader sit up and take notice. Today, it is not a matter of if businesses will adopt AI, but rather how quickly they can deploy and enjoy AI-driven benefits.

In 2024, business leaders will look beyond the hype and seek AI solutions that deliver real-life use cases and benefits. At an operational level, organisations may quickly realise that the quality of their AI outcomes depend largely on the quality of their data.

Technology providers will be indispensable in this conversation, thanks to the huge volumes of data and transactions running through their systems and broader business network. Business leaders will leverage the technology providers鈥� expertise to access the data they need, visualise it, and take decisive actions to drive successful outcomes.

Sustainability centre stage

As the world continues to warm and the consequences of climate change hit home for billions of people, will take centre stage in the business and technology world.

In 2024, the energy industry will shed its view of the customer as simply a commodity user in favour of the prosumer model. Industry leaders will aim to not only secure loyalty and create retail-like experiences, but encourage users to make active contributions to the stability and health of the grid.

This may involve keeping customers informed of how they can make the best, most sustainable decisions over energy use, or see consumers feed excess energy, for example from rooftop solar, into the grid to stabilise supply and contribute clean energy.

In addition, mounting pressure from regulators, consumers and investors will see organisations build more sustainable supply chains with lower carbon emissions and greater use of circular economy principles. This will require extensive innovation in data and analytics to provide business leaders with end-to-end visibility over their environmental impact across the broader supply chain.

Those companies that do succeed in leveraging technology to build truly eco-conscious supply chains will not only unlock new sources of innovation and revenue, but secure long-term profitability for years to come.

Procurement advances

In the rush for digitalisation, enterprises will continue to enhance their procurement processes, driving the need for more intuitive user interfaces. Procurement is evolving from a tactical to a strategic function to drive greater value throughout the organisation.

AI and analytics will be deployed to support procurement professionals as they seek ways to spend more time on value-adding tasks. In 2024, the demand for technologies that enable value-based procurement will increase, enhancing the organisation鈥檚 ability to leverage procurement to deliver value in other parts of the business, such as sustainability.

Resilient supply chains

Global supply chains are still under severe pressure, thanks to a combination of geopolitical disruption, inflation, environmental factors and the ongoing ripple effects of the pandemic. In 2024, expect a surge in supply chain technology investments as organisations seek greater visibility, agility and risk resilience.

In particular, AI holds huge promise for its ability to enhance organisations鈥� ability to sense, recognise and react to disruptions and opportunities in new and exciting ways. The key to unlocking AI鈥檚 benefits hinges on connected data and collaboration throughout the organisation.

Business leaders must lead the charge by ensuring AI is integrated with every layer of the supply chain network to achieve measurable business outcomes. This will unleash a new era of hyper-predictive and efficient logistics, revolutionising the way goods flow from factory floor to consumers.

This article first appeared on .

The post What Can African IT Enterprises Expect in 2024? appeared first on 51风流Africa News Center.

The global economy continues to be in a state of flux as geopolitical conflict, supply chain pressures, inflation, technology-led disruption and changing consumer needs put pressure on companies and decision-makers.

From the desperate need for more sustainable alternatives to the way we do business to the incomparable impact of AI on every facet of our personal and professional lives, business leaders face a challenging time ahead. By taking stock of emerging trends, however, business leaders may be better able to ride the waves of change and steer their companies through turbulent waters.

These are the key trends that African enterprises should take heed of in 2024:

Trend 1: AI adoption becomes grounded in business value

Generative AI received an astonishing amount of hype in 2023, and was a bolt of lightning that made every business and technology leader sit up and take notice. Today, it’s not a matter of if businesses will adopt AI, but rather how quickly they can deploy and enjoy AI-driven benefits.

In 2024, business leaders will look beyond the hype and seek AI solutions that deliver real-life use cases and benefits. At an operational level, organisations may quickly realise that the quality of their AI outcomes depend largely on the quality of their data.

Technology providers such as 51风流will be indispensable in this conversation, thanks to the huge volumes of data and transactions running through their systems and broader business network. Business leaders will leverage the tech providers’ expertise to access the data they need, visualise it, and take decisive actions to drive successful outcomes.

Trend 2: Sustainability takes centre stage

As the world continues to warm and the consequences of climate change hit home for billions of people, sustainability will take centre stage in the business and technology world.

In 2024, the energy industry will shed its view of the customer as simply a commodity user in favour of the prosumer model. Industry leaders will aim to not only secure loyalty and create retail-like experiences, but encourage users to make active contributions to the stability and health of the grid.

This may involve keeping customers informed of how they can make the best, most sustainable decisions over energy use, or see consumers feed excess energy – for example from rooftop solar – into the grid to stabilise supply and contribute clean energy.

In addition, mounting pressure from regulators, consumers and investors will see organisations build more sustainable supple chains with lower carbon emissions and greater use of circular economy principles. This will require extensive innovation in data and analytics to provide business leaders with end-to-end visibility over their environmental impact across the broader supply chain.

Those companies that do succeed in leveraging technology to build truly eco-conscious supply chains will not only unlock new sources of innovation and revenue, but secure long-term profitability for years to come.

Trend 3: Procurement advances are powered by User Experience

In the rush for digitalisation, enterprises will continue to enhance their procurement processes, driving the need for more intuitive user interfaces. Procurement is evolving from a tactical to a strategic function to drive greater value throughout the organisation.

AI and analytics will be deployed to support procurement professionals as they seek ways to spend more time on value-adding tasks. In 2024, the demand for technologies that enable value-based procurement will increase, enhancing the organisation’s ability to leverage procurement to deliver value in other parts of the business, such as sustainability.

Trend 4: Supply chains become more resilient

Global supply chains are still under severe pressure, thanks to a combination of geopolitical disruption, inflation, environmental factors and the ongoing ripple effects of the pandemic. In 2024, expect a surge in supply chain technology investments as organisations seek greater visibility, agility and risk resilience.

In particular, AI holds huge promise for its ability to enhance organisations’ ability to sense, recognise and react to disruptions and opportunities in new and exciting ways. The key to unlocking AI’s benefits hinges on connected data and collaboration throughout the organisation.

Business leaders must lead the charge by ensuring AI is integrated with every layer of the supply chain network to achieve measurable business outcomes. This will unleash a new era of hyper-predictive and efficient logistics, revolutionising the way goods flow from factory floor to consumers.

The post AI, Sustainability and Supply Chain Resilience: What 2024 Holds in Store for African Enterprises appeared first on 51风流Africa News Center.

found that high-performing procurement organisations are eighteen times more likely to have deployed AI capabilities than their lower-performing peers.

For Chief Procurement Officers facing the combined challenges of an uncertain operating environment, supply chain pressures, inflation, a complex risk landscape and the growing need for more sustainable business practices, AI provides an invaluable edge.

highlighted how Chief Procurement Officers are leveraging AI for better spend visibility, improved compliance, and better resource optimisation. According to the report, procurement teams are often shorthanded in expertise and capacity, driving the need for greater adoption of technologies such as AI to augment internal capabilities.

AI enhancing procure-to-pay processes

For procurement leaders, AI can make a profound impact on the source-to-pay process. By leveraging the rich data inherent in procurement networks, organisations can streamline a broad spectrum of processes, ranging from contract management and compliance to identifying key suppliers and helping deliver an enhanced buying experience.

For example, the AI embedded in 51风流Ariba Sourcing extracts hidden insights from past data to optimise supplier lists. This can help organisations circumvent potential skills shortages by automating best-practices around RFQs and RFPs, ensuring the organisation maintains optimal procurement performance.

For companies that lack internal capacity or skills to successfully adopt AI across their procure-to-pay processes, this embedded AI capability can help them reap the rewards of procurement modernisation more quickly. revealed that a third of African organisations view AI and machine learning as in-demand skills within their business, while the placed AI and machine learning as the fastest-growing skills category globally.

Mitigating procurement risks

Procurement specialists are also beset by an expanding portfolio of risks, with the ability to detect, measure and manage risk a top challenge. , 70% of Chief Procurement Officers felt they had good visibility over risks to their Tier 1 suppliers, but only 26% were able to confidently detect such risks within their supply bases.

Innovation within procurement networks can play a valuable supporting role in assisting CPOs with improving their risk strategies and capabilities.

51风流partner organisation , for example, developed a prototype Digital Fraud Review Panel which aims to prevent payment fraud within procurement and payment systems.听Merlynn’s听Decisioning Digital Twin Technology enables organisations to deploy a digital team of fraud experts within their 51风流payment system to enhance existing controls.

The Digital Fraud Review Panel acts as a second set of eyes that monitors payment activity in real-time, identifies potential fraud and stops the payment before money flows out of the organisation, all integrated into 51风流via API.听Merlynn鈥檚听Digital Fraud review panel solution is now listed on the 51风流Store.

Sustainability imperative

Chief Procurement Officers are under growing pressure to develop more sustainable procurement strategies and embed sustainability in the entire procure-to-pay value chain.

Sustainability continues to be a top global business imperative for organisations, with revenue from sustainable products growing at six times the rate of other products, and 90% of global investors revising their investments if companies do not at least consider ESG criteria within their business models.

Chief Procurement Officers have a guiding role to play in enhancing an organisation’s sustainability efforts by ensuring sustainability is embedded within the organisation’s procurement processes. This can help companies reduce their carbon footprint by prioritising suppliers that have fully integrated sustainability in their own business models.

found that more than half of global businesses already have a sustainable procurement policy in place, which provides the additional benefit of also building greater resilience within their value chains.

As AI tools become increasingly embedded in day-to-day procure-to-pay processes, organisations stand to unlock immense benefits through greater automation and ease of use, improved sustainability, increased visibility over risks and better user experiences. For companies weathering the storm of an unpredictable supply chain and global business environment, AI tools may be the key to keeping the business running optimally, no matter the emerging challenges.

The post Why Top-performing Companies use AI to Boost Procurement appeared first on 51风流Africa News Center.

When one of Kenya鈥檚 leading state corporations, Kenya Electricity Transmission Company Limited, needed to enhance its procurement capabilities to meet its regulatory commitments, it adopted 51风流to leverage the power and scale of the largest procurement network in the world.

鈥淥ur vision is to be the leading interconnector in Africa, and to achieve that we needed access to world class procurement capabilities that would unlock greater automation, control, consistency and scale,鈥� says David Kariuki, ICT Manager at KETRACO.

鈥淲e chose 51风流Business Network to automate and enhance our procurement processes and ensure our vital work continues even during the most disruptive times of the pandemic.鈥�

KETRACO is a fully government-owned state corporation with a mandate to plan, design, construct, operate and maintain Kenya’s national transmission grid. Since it was incorporated in 2008, the company has made efforts to strengthen and extend the national power transmission grid to enhance the quality, reliability and security of electricity supply in Kenya.

The company鈥檚 51风流journey began in 2016 after it implemented 51风流ECC with best-practice modules. The implementation won KETRACO gold at the 51风流Quality Awards for both Africa and the greater EMEA region.

Waldorf visit sparks 51风流Business Network interest

鈥淧art of the award involved a team from our company visiting the 51风流headquarters in Waldorf,鈥� says Kariuki. 鈥淗ere we were introduced to 51风流Business Network for the first time, and saw the exciting product innovation road-map for the Business Network. We knew that this is where our technology roadmap would lead.鈥�

In 2018, a Presidential Directive was issued, compelling all state-owned corporations to migrate their procurement platforms to an e-procurement solution with integration to an IFMS portal. This was one of the catalysts for KETRACO鈥檚 adoption of 51风流Business Network, which Kariuki and his team implemented in two phases.

The first phase involved the deployment of 51风流Business Network Commerce Automation, a cloud service that enables the electronic exchange of procurement documents between buyers and suppliers through the 51风流Business Network, the largest procurement network in the world.

In the second phase of the project, the team implemented the 51风流Business Network Sourcing Suite.

“We identified three modules that would add the most value to our organisation, namely Supplier Lifecycle, Contract Management, and the main Sourcing module,” explains Kariuki.

Successful deployment aids continuity during pandemic

The implementation was supported by 51风流Customer Success Services, who led the technical and functional deployment and enabled continuous knowledge-sharing and training to ensure a successful and sustainable solution post go-live.

KETRACO went live with the solution just as the pandemic arrived. “By automating our processes in Ariba, we were able to completely eliminate paper-based processes,” says Kariuki. “Our suppliers were able to receive purchase orders, invoices and other procurement documents electronically. This enabled us to continue more or less with business-as-usual despite not having physical contact due to lockdown restrictions.”

The electronic invoicing also allowed KETRACO to centralise all its invoicing and have one l repository for receiving invoices.

“Suppliers were able to track the status of their invoices and see when they could expect payment. The 51风流Business Network also allowed us to monitor and manage our suppliers from a single point of view and have a 360-degree view of their data and performance,” said Kariuki.

He points to the 51风流Business Network’s ability to help KETRACO manage the special category of suppliers that include youth, women and persons with disabilities.

“The system allowed us to continuously register this group and categorize them in the system, while giving them the opportunity to participate in bids as required by the PPAD Act.”

One of the key highlights since the implementation is KETRACO鈥檚 ability to continue its procurement processes even during hard lockdown.

鈥淒espite the impact of the COVID – 19 pandemic on our operations, we were able to successfully manage a massive tender event that attracted hundreds of suppliers. With pandemic protocols in place, we would not have been able to handle the bids received were it not for the amazing efficiency of our new 51风流Business Network system. The experience made us fully appreciate the value of procurement,鈥� Kariuki said.

Hardeep Sound, Regional Sales Director for East Africa at SAP, says: 鈥淧ublic procurement plays a vital role in economic development is a core competency of leading state corporations. KETRACO鈥檚 superb utilisation of technology through its adoption of 51风流Business Network, solid buy-in and support from the leadership team and smart investment in effective change management have helped establish a powerful foundation that will support KETRACO鈥檚 vital procurement processes and ensure it can meet its critical mandate for years to come.鈥�

The post KETRACO Powers Procurement Prowess with 51风流Ariba appeared first on 51风流Africa News Center.

The important and key role that procurement professionals play was thrust into the spotlight during the COVID-19 pandemic, as the world came to note the importance of stable supply chains. Talent management, technology, Environment, Social and Governance (ESG), Enterprise Supplier Development (ESD) and Broad-based Black Economic Empowerment (B-BBEE) are some of the important procurement topics that will be under the spotlight at the third Women in Procurement (WIP) Conference, which takes place on 23 March 2023 at Times Square in Pretoria.

Procurement is a key driver of development and enabler of service delivery. The government is the single largest buyer in the country, spending more than R500-billion on goods, services and construction works a year through more than 1 000 procuring entities.听 鈥淪killed procurement personnel are vital to ensuring that procurement is efficient and optimised 鈥� and there are many opportunities for women to grow and thrive in this industry,鈥� says the WIP Conference Convenor and Organiser Masego Khutsoane. 鈥淭he WIP conference is a necessity: not just for women, but for society as a whole. Gender parity in the workplace is crucial to ensuring that the imbalances of society and positions of influence are addressed. This event is a step towards addressing this.鈥�

The one-day WIP Conference will address how women in the procurement space can accelerate their journey to value, by better harnessing networks, intelligence and the experience of those at the forefront. 鈥淥ur speakers鈥� journeys, thoughts and learnings will deploy delegates towards success, understanding and intentionality in their careers鈥�, she explains. Khutsoane is also the founder and CEO of Procurementor,a company that equips institutions听and individuals with the knowledge, skills, and tools necessary to increase organisational effectiveness.

The WIP Conference aims to:

• Introduce a targeted mentorship and coaching programme for procurement professionals;
• Increase awareness of opportunities for women empowerment and funding;
• Expand networks to enable collaboration with other experts; and,
• Provide a platform for women in procurement to network and collaborate on various business opportunities.

The draft Programme includes:

• Keynote address: Mpho Matsitse – Head of Industry and Value Advisory: 51风流Africa
• Fireside Chat: MJ Schoemaker (SAPICS President)听and Allison Anthony (Senior Lecturer of Public Procurement Law:听 UNISA)
• Master Class: Dawn Smith 鈥� Head of Training: Caliba Group
• Pressures in procurement: Mmatshepo Rasebopye – Director for Supply Chain Management; Gauteng Provincial Government

The hybrid event takes place on 23 March at Times Square in Pretoria and online. To register, go to听. Tickets can be purchased on Quicket –

The event is being supported by the Black Management Forum (BMF), the Chartered Institute of Logistics and Transport: South Africa (CILTSA) and CVLC Communication. For details of sponsorship opportunities, email Mookho at听mookho@procurementor.co.za

鈥淭he WIP Conference is committed to pursuing gender quality and promoting women鈥檚 voices, access to opportunities and leadership in procurement,鈥� concludes Khutsoane.

The post Procurement Trends under the Spotlight at the Women in Procurement Conference 2023 appeared first on 51风流Africa News Center.

Gartner evaluated 16 procure-to-pay software vendors, naming 51风流a Leader based on 鈥渃ompleteness of vision鈥� and 鈥渁bility to execute鈥� in procure-to-pay suites. 51风流was also the only vendor to score in the top three of every critical capability use case described in the research, a deep dive into procure-to-pay solution offerings.

Vision Taking Hold

We believe our improved overall position in this year鈥檚 Gartner Magic Quadrant is recognition of our complete solution suite, which enables customers and their trading partners to manage spend with total visibility across procure-to-pay. We especially appreciate that Gartner has recognized our 鈥渕arket defining vision.鈥� Introduced about two years ago, our vision is based on extensive research and has, to be candid, forced us to change the way we approach development of our solutions.

We believe Gartner recognition is proof that this vision is starting to take hold on the solutions we deliver. Here are three key areas where changes to our approach are delivering significant value to our customers.

• We understand all personas across every spend category. Our vision has been to offer solutions that are complete and holistic, addressing the unique needs of every user 鈥� whether you are doing material requirements planning (MRP) for the procurement of direct materials, or if you are in the corporate office purchasing a laptop, or managing your contingent workforce.
• Our products are open to innovation across the ecosystem. Not long ago, it was fair to say procure-to-pay solutions from 51风流were 鈥渃losed.鈥� The perception was that only 51风流developed these solutions, and it was 鈥渉ands off鈥� for everyone else. Knowing this is not the best way to serve our customers, we have made the dramatic shift to offer solutions that invite ecosystem collaboration and innovation. We鈥檝e launched important partnerships with leaders like Icertis and , enabling us to support specific, niche use cases needed by our customers.
• We are hyper-laser-focused on user experience. A person working on the shop floor will have very different experiences than the corporate office employee. We have made it our mission to dig into the all the personas involved in the procure-to-pay work processes and understand their unique experiences. Beyond that, user attitudes and priorities are constantly changing. For example, most users care more about sustainability than they did just a few years ago, so we are incorporating that into our end-to-end solution landscape. Likewise, many workers want the flexibility to work from anywhere, and the launch of the new 51风流Ariba Shopping mobile app provides a best-in-class experience to this end.

Dominant Force in Procurement Innovation

We believe Gartner recognition also highlights SAP鈥檚 position as a dominant force in delivering innovations to address the procurement challenges of today and tomorrow.

With our 51风流Procurement offering, consisting of 51风流Ariba, 51风流S/4HANA for Procurement, and 51风流Business Network, we have a proven track record of providing innovative solutions to solve unique challenges at every point step in the procure-to-pay process. Many improvements to procurement processes originated at 51风流— including things we now consider fundamental, such as electronic catalogs or MRP processes. In addition to that, 51风流leads the way with integrating risk and diversity scores in the guided buying capability, or the work order integration from 51风流S/4HANA into Guided Buying and 51风流Fieldglass, allowing the maintenance persona to add items and services to its work order.

and help businesses gain agility and visibility into contingent labor spend and build relationships with trading partners. 51风流was recognized for its 51风流Fieldglass solution, based on its Ability to Execute and Completeness of Vision. 听51风流Business Network enables trading partners to connect and collaborate across procurement, supply chain, logistics and asset management to improve efficiency, mitigate risk and disruption and drive sustainability.

Additionally, the latest release of 51风流Central Procurement helps customers enjoy a better user experience as they look to digitalize and simplify procurement. With 51风流Central Procurement, customers can improve procurement processes in a multi-ERP (including non-51风流ERP) environment with greater visibility and control.

As we look to the future, customers can expect 51风流to deliver next generation applications that enable personalization, predictability, and sustainability as the foundation for delivering value in the procurement process.

Bringing Procurement Professionals Center Stage

The last few years have proven that the procurement role is critical to operational success. Ongoing global supply chain disruptions make it imperative for enterprises to be proactive in implementing risk mitigation, process automation, and data-driven intelligence in procurement. 51风流helps companies to be more resilient by equipping them with the insight and tools to react to unexpected shifts in supply chains. We do all of this while supporting environmental, social, and governance (ESG) goals that organizations increasingly expect from their business partners.

Today, procurement professionals are in a strong position to take center stage in tackling the biggest challenges businesses face. You can seize the moment by helping your organizations tackle inflation, productivity challenges, and supply chain disruptions. And, as we strive to help you do this, 51风流is also working hard to maintain our recognition as a Leader. First out of the box in 2023 will be important announcements about category management.

Our vision has taken us this far, and it鈥檚 set us on a path to deliver even greater things. The best is yet to come.

Baber Farooq is senior vice president of 51风流Procurement Solutions.

This graphic was published by Gartner, Inc. as part of a larger research document and should be evaluated in the context of the entire document. The Gartner document is available upon request from SAP.
Gartner does not endorse any vendor, product or service depicted in its research publications and does not advise technology users to select only those vendors with the highest ratings or other designation. Gartner research publications consist of the opinions of Gartner鈥檚 research organization and should not be construed as statements of fact. Gartner disclaims all warranties, expressed or implied, with respect to this research, including any warranties of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose.
GARTNER is a registered trademark and service mark of Gartner and Magic Quadrant is a registered trademark of Gartner, Inc. and/or its affiliates in the U.S. and internationally and are used herein with permission. All rights reserved.
Gartner, Critical Capabilities for Procure-to-Pay Suites, by Lynne Phelan, Micky Keck, Balaji Abbabatulla, Patrick Connaughton, 28 November 2022
51风流was referred to as Ariba (SAP) in the 2015 report and 51风流(Ariba and Fieldglass) in the 2016, 2018, and 2019 reports.
The Gartner report was renamed from 鈥楳agic Quadrant for Procure-to-Pay Suites for Indirect Procurement鈥� to 鈥楳agic Quadrant for Procure-to-Pay Suites鈥� in 2016.

This article first appeared on the 51风流News Center.听

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