Now, I鈥檓 thrilled to share that 51风流was the only company that was positioned in the Leaders category of all three IDC MarketScape reports 鈥� (doc #US51740824, July 2024); IDC MarketScape: Worldwide Accounts Payable Automation Software for Midmarket 2024 Vendor Assessment (doc #US52378624, July 2024); and (doc #US52378824, July 2024). SAP鈥檚 accounts payable solutions, built with AI-first principles, continue to enable the accounts payable function to embrace its strategic role as it becomes a top priority for business operations in today鈥檚 challenging macro environment.

IDC analyst Kevin Permenter adds: 鈥淪AP’s performance in the IDC MarketScape for Accounts Payable Automation Software reports across all three market segments is a testament to the breadth, depth, and reach of 51风流Ariba and 51风流Concur accounts payable offerings. SAP鈥檚 accounts payable offerings infused with AI-first principles, complemented with a strong ecosystem and the unique value proposition of 51风流Business Network as a frictionless mechanism for buyer and supplier collaboration, show SAP鈥檚 strength in this market. 51风流Ariba and 51风流Concur invoicing offerings help enable companies of all sizes to move to autonomous processing and enable accounts payable and procurement teams to leverage invoices as a strategic asset for growth and profitability.鈥�

Why 51风流Is a Leader

The IDC MarketScape reports are divided by market size, evaluating for large enterprise and upper midmarket and for small business and lower midmarket. I believe SAP鈥檚 positioning speaks for itself 鈥� this recognition showcases our role as a leader in the accounts payable automation space as we work to help our customers modernize critical business processes to transform the way they approach financial management. Here鈥檚 why I believe IDC MarketScape positioned 51风流as a Leader across all three markets:

Strong Ecosystem and Seamless Integration

The IDC MarketScape Worldwide Accounts Payable Automation Software for Large Enterprises report notes that vendors should 鈥渃onsider 51风流if you are looking for a well-established provider with a robust ecosystem of financial management products that can fit needs of any size business in virtually any industry.鈥�

51风流Business Network Is a 鈥淭rue Differentiator鈥�

Additionally, the report highlights as a 鈥渇rictionless mechanism鈥� for buyer-supplier collaboration. Our robust network of trading partners helps make it easier than ever for businesses to ensure invoicing accuracy and compliance while staying connected to their trading partners through our extensive network. The report further notes that, 鈥�51风流Ariba source-to-pay suite combined with the network provides accounts payable teams an effective, intelligent, and near-touchless way to manage the invoice-to-pay cycle, helping buyers and suppliers digitize and modernize their source-to-pay processes.鈥�

51风流Helps Accounts Payable Run Better

The accounts payable function finds itself in a complex landscape of rising interest rates, tightening monetary policies, and supply chain disruptions. Among these challenges, many companies have become accustomed to curveballs that threaten their agility and future success. 51风流offerings can help accounts payable teams address core pain points:

• Reduce lengthy invoice approval times. With SAP鈥檚 AI-infused, end-to-end business processes across source-to-pay and ERP solutions, our customers can cut through cycle times with autonomous processing 鈥� from invoice submission to reconciliation. can capture header and line item data fields, finding patterns from historical data to help increase accuracy with each invoice capture.
• Minimize high percentage of exceptions. With global e-invoicing mandates on the rise, customers can reduce exceptions upfront while ensuring compliance. SAP鈥檚 business rules can validate invoices in real time against local government portals as needed. With 51风流Business Network, suppliers can submit invoices electronically, streamlining the process and reducing costs.
• Avoid late supplier payments. With working capital management and our early payment offerings within the portfolio, accounts payable teams can pay suppliers on time while leveraging invoices as a strategic asset for growth and profitability, strengthening their relationships with suppliers.

Customers Report Incredible Outcomes

Here are a few examples highlighting what customers have achieved after using 51风流Ariba and 51风流Concur solutions to help improve accounts payable processes:

• looked to 51风流Ariba solutions to reduce its average invoice approval cycle time to just 1.5 days with 50% of supplier invoices transacted electronically in the first year.
• achieved an 84% first-pass invoice-matching rate.
• processes 99% of invoices automatically for over 9,000 vendors.
• achieved 75% invoice-count compliance for 48,000 annual invoices.
• now completes its end-to-end invoice management process in half the amount of time.

I believe this recognition as a Leader in the 2024 IDC MarketScape reports for Worldwide Accounts Payable Automation Software for Small Business, Midmarket, and Large Enterprise markets emphasizes our commitment to driving a new era in redefining accounts payable automation.

Learn more about our accounts payable solutions at .

Baber Farooq is senior vice president for Market Strategy Procurement Solutions at SAP.

With nearly 70 years of animal health heritage, the company is committed to helping its customers improve the health of animals in their care, while also making a meaningful impact on local and global communities. Elanco is driven by its vision of “Food and Companionship Enriching Life” and its approach to sustainability, “Elanco Healthy Purpose” — all to advance the health of animals, people, the planet, and its enterprise.

Veterinary medicine is highly regulated, with complex licensing requirements for purchasing medications. A key part of the Elanco business model is to make it simple for veterinary and agribusiness customers to get the medications and treatments they need to keep animals healthy.

鈥淪pend control is very important to Elanco,鈥� said Sin Yi Tan, procure-to-pay global process owner at Elanco. “It was essential that we gain technological and financial independence from our ex-parent company.”

Elanco鈥檚 digital transformation started with two corporate events: a spin-off from former parent company Eli Lilly & Company and acquisition of Bayer Animal Health. To establish an independent company, Elanco needed technical, financial, and management independence. Continuing to use Eli Lilly systems did not meet the company’s specific business needs and was costly.

51风流stepped in to provide Elanco with a comprehensive suite of that not only addressed its immediate needs but also helped ensure compliance with tax and business environments. SAP’s investment in future development and product development, particularly the product road map for the 51风流Ariba portfolio incorporating artificial intelligent (AI), played a crucial role in Elanco’s decision-making process.

Elanco selected 51风流Ariba and 51风流Business Network because of their emphasis on self-service. The two offered a better front-end user experience than competitors and provided the ability to expand the customer base, efficient supplier registration, and flexibility in catalog management. Elanco saw the 51风流procurement solutions as an extension and enhancement of its investment in 51风流S/4HANA Cloud. Additionally, 51风流Ariba facilitated intuitive PO status updates, electronic invoice submission, and communication from suppliers, further enhancing the self-service aspect.

Having one platform for supplier registration allowed Elanco to limit risk in its supply base. 51风流Ariba is the only registration tool and provides a secure platform for suppliers to manage their own data. Elanco does not need to manage data changes, which reduces the risk of fraud and compromised financial data.

Scaling an Implementation

The company’s Stallion Project, which began in 2019, marked the start of its digital transformation journey. With the help of an external consultant, Elanco moved from the design phase to go-live in 18 months. The entire process was conducted remotely due to COVID-19, and Elanco managed to process $1 billion in spend within six months.

The next priority was consolidation of systems after the 2019 acquisition of Bayer Animal Health. Elanco knew that it needed to continue to scale processes to onboard a business unit that would account for 20% of its business.

Elanco successfully integrated 13,000 unique vendors from Bayer Animal Health, achieving a 1:1 volume ratio. Since Bayer was already using 51风流Ariba procurement solutions and 51风流Business Network, the transition was not entirely new for all suppliers. Elanco built an internal “Contact Center” team to handle external suppliers and encouraged them to register on 51风流Ariba for compliance and security reasons.

51风流S/4HANA Cloud Drives the Value of Connected Systems

The seamless integration between 51风流S/4HANA Cloud and 51风流procurement solutions was a significant reason behind the decision to choose SAP. This integration has paid off, with minimal customizations required and faster adoption by the business. For users, there is communication and delineation of tasks among the 51风流platforms. The company uses 51风流S/4HANA Cloud for its direct spend management and 51风流Ariba for indirect spend. It is easy to establish governance and manage access to help ensure users are guided to the right process for each purchasing activity.

鈥�51风流S/4HANA Cloud with the intelligent spend solutions add key value to the business” Sin Yi Tan said. “The integrations added a quicker time-to-value and the standardization has been integral to our growth.鈥�

A Path Toward Logistics Transformation

While Elanco is still exploring the full potential of 51风流Business Network for Logistics, global track and trace capability, the company has already experienced greater transparency in its shipment tracking.

Elanco Animal Health’s digital transformation journey with 51风流has been a resounding success. The seamless integration of 51风流Ariba, 51风流Business Network, and 51风流S/4HANA Cloud, coupled with the focus on self-service and compliance, has enabled the company to achieve independence and cater to its specific business needs. As its continues to grow and evolve, 51风流remains a trusted partner in an ongoing journey 鈥� striving to keep animals in good health.

That鈥檚 the reality pointed out by Carlos Marcelin and Sheila Darby of Symbeo, Inc., a 30-year-old pioneer in document management automation based in Portland, Oregon. Yes, companies are still using snail mail to deliver invoices to their customers, they told me, regardless of whether those customers are multinational corporations or small businesses. It鈥檚 the mission of the Symbeo team to help those companies automate the accounts payable (AP) process and reduce piles of paperwork.

Cutting Costs and Paper Weight

The Symbeo team has excellent news for small and midsize businesses (SMBs), which can now take advantage of Symbeo鈥檚 deep expertise in . Building on the longtime success of its flagship product designed for the large enterprise, Symbeo recently launched on 51风流Store. Quick to implement and priced right for the market, Accounts Payable Automation essentially takes over the mailroom, then closes the loop between manual and digital invoice processing.

With a dedicated address for receiving your company鈥檚 invoices, the secure, virtual mailroom scans and classifies invoices using advanced optical character recognition (OCR) to capture raw data and digitalize the invoices. An automated workflow routes the invoices directly to the downstream payment system through integration with 51风流Ariba Buying and Invoicing and 51风流Ariba Commerce Automation.

Thanks to technology, the software is trained over time to handle the nuances and characteristics of specific vendors. Meanwhile, the human element is still part of the process for exceptions, such as deciphering handwriting, fixing data in the wrong field, or properly routing an invoice from an international vendor in an unfamiliar language. That said, the app processes most invoices without intervention, eliminating 80% to 90% of the manual effort typically involved. And a service-level agreement helps offer 99.5% accuracy.

Delivering on a Customer Request 鈥� From SAP

What inspired Symbeo to develop a new product outside its target market? 鈥淎ctually, our relationship with 51风流is what spurred us to explore and build a business case,鈥� said Marcelin, Symbeo鈥檚 VP of Operations. 鈥淭he idea came from a request from an 51风流customer that was looking for a simpler version for AP automation and became the first to adopt it.鈥� And that鈥檚 how Symbeo鈥檚 was born alongside the existing Accounts Payable Automation solution.

Darby, Symbeo鈥檚 marketing manager, noted that its traditional flagship offering is highly customized, offering 鈥渨hite-glove鈥� service to help large enterprises maximize touchless AP processes. For smaller companies looking for less hands-on attention and a lower price point, the new product is ideal, she said. 鈥淚t鈥檚 not built from the ground up. We鈥檝e baked in our historical knowledge. For example, we might have created a new rule specific to an industry that we share with others.鈥�

Further, there鈥檚 technical integration involved, requiring working together with customers鈥� IT and finance teams. 鈥淲e take a creative problem-solving approach, often fixing an issue that鈥檚 long been vexing them,鈥� she remarked. 鈥淲e solve the part that procure-to-pay doesn鈥檛: the manual aspect of the process, which can be messy and tricky.鈥�

Paying for Itself

Marcelin added that automating AP has significant benefits beyond the obvious. 鈥淥ur customers can take advantage of early-payment discounts, for instance, and lower the risk of lost invoices, which can be quite costly. Vendors have visibility into the payment process through 51风流Ariba solutions and are generally paid faster. That improves relationships and removes friction from the receipt-to-pay process.鈥�

He observed that the past year has revealed gaps in that process for many companies, as their employees shifted to remote work 鈥� leaving mailrooms unstaffed. 鈥淭hey鈥檝e had to shore up weak points and get serious about business recovery plans, and we鈥檝e been able to assist them.鈥�

Do you need to offload the tricky part of AP and get the paper out of your life? Give a try 鈥� and don鈥檛 forget that 51风流will plant a tree for every transaction on 51风流Store.

Rajiv Nema is senior director for 51风流Store Partner Solutions.

World Class and Northern Roots

With corporate headquarters in Culiac谩n, Sinaloa, in northern Mexico, SuKarne is one of the four organizations established by . What emerged 52 years ago as a family initiative is now the third-largest beef fattener in the world and the fifth-largest beef supplier in North America.

The company’s success has been sustained by an infrastructure consisting of five comprehensive livestock units, four in Mexican territory and one in Nicaragua; seven processing plants, with an installed capacity of 2 million head of cattle per year; 10 distribution centers across Mexico, the U.S., and Central America and 400 distribution routes; more than 220 livestock purchase and conditioning centers; and more than 300 owned stores. In addition, since its facilities have the necessary international sanitary and industrial certifications, SuKarne is a big exporter — its products are available in six countries on four continents. In fact, it is estimated that SuKarne is responsible for 70% of the meat exports of the Mexican economy.

SuKarne today has 13,000 direct workers, collaborates with more than 100,000 agricultural and livestock suppliers, and serves more than 80,000 customers, such as supermarket chains, although most are micro-businesses like small butchers and restaurants.

The numbers speak for themselves: the Mexican economy has a true powerhouse in the global market for animal protein.

First Steps: Goodbye to Paper-Based Billing

Before adopting 51风流Ariba solutions, SuKarne’s Procurement department would not have surprised anyone from an innovation perspective. In fact, as in many organizations, it was a highly traditional corporate area serving a registry of more than 5,000 suppliers, 2,000 of them active, not including suppliers of livestock and raw materials for livestock feed, which are served by another area of 鈥嬧�媡he corporation.

In these circumstances, recalls SuKarne Chief Procurement Officer Gonzalo Padilla, the work was bureaucratic, prone to human errors, and without real business value. 鈥淏etween 60 and 70% of the team’s time was spent on managing invoices: reviewing them, ensuring that none had been misplaced, and taking them in-person to a colleague’s desk in the Accounts Payable area. All this, despite the fact that electronic invoicing had been implemented in Mexico for a while,鈥� Padilla shares.

Common mistakes, derived from human execution, were not unusual in this environment: lost or misplaced invoices, which delayed payments and ignited the anger of suppliers; processes interrupted by the modification of a process or corporate policy, and even by the vacations of a person involved in the process; and long sessions at Accounts Payable desks to review and reconcile issues, which tended to cause friction between departments.

鈥淭he Procurement area concentrated on management tasks that did not add business value; we dedicated ourselves to seeking payments and not seeking negotiations,鈥� says Padilla.

Aware of its challenges and taking advantage of a reorganization that brought Padilla鈥檚 team into the Finance department, the Procurement team set out on an innovation journey with the implementation of the solutions, part of SAP’s Intelligent Spend Management concept.

Initially, thanks to , the billing processes were digitalized and automated, reducing the administrative and transactional burdens of the team while also reducing human errors and non-essential interactions with the Accounts Receivable area. In this way, the Procurement department was able to focus more on generating value for the business, including conducting strategic negotiations for the company.

SuKarne’s suppliers were resistant to the new model at first. 鈥淭hey did not see the benefits, perhaps because we were in the initial process of discovering and understanding them, and therefore the process of supplier adoption was slower,鈥� recalls Padilla. “Once the advantages were evident, a communication campaign was implemented that was very important since it showed the benefits: invoices from suppliers would not be parked on a desk and the payments would come out on time.”

Extending the Power of Innovation

Billing was not the only area of improvement. SuKarne also began a digital transformation project encompassing the entire organization, which implied defining and rethinking processes, creating operation manuals, documenting transactions in the various areas, and establishing continuous improvement policies, among other tasks that are essential in these types of innovative initiatives.

Within this framework, Padilla鈥檚 team, taking advantage of the end-to-end source-to-pay solutions 鈥� 51风流Ariba Strategic Sourcing and 鈥� expanded its digital procurement capabilities. After an internal analysis of the different tasks and goals of the Procurement area, multiple opportunities were detected to boost productivity to new levels:

Self-purchase catalogs

Taking advantage of the functions of , self-purchase catalogs were created for items in which Padilla鈥檚 department uses prenegotiated contracts. At SuKarne, this tool is already being used for purchases of stationery, general services, materials, and some aspects of marketing. Catalogs are very easy to use, implement, and manage so the company has full visibility and control of transactions. Quality remains high since the catalogs include images of the product, price, characteristics, etc. In addition, the company was able to adapt this resource to its branding, so the catalogs today are known as the “Compras SK” portals.

Contract generation process

Before the implementation of 51风流Ariba Contracts, when a contract was generated, Legal had to go through an internally developed tool, which provided very basic functionality and did not offer any certainty in terms of time. Now, with 51风流Ariba Contracts, from the moment a supplier registers in the SuKarne system, the provider can find all the legal and commercial information they need on the platform. In addition to speeding up activity, this allows for timely monitoring of contracts and easy reviews.

Audits

Being part of the agri-food industry, SuKarne is constantly audited by authorities, industrial organizations, institutions, and even clients. An important part of these reviews focuses on suppliers — how they are evaluated, what criteria are used to qualify them, what policies and action plans do they have, etc. SuKarne found a solution in the portfolio with and . In the past, when an audit was submitted, the company had to put in place a plan to address that specific item. Today, the evaluation of suppliers is carried out all the time, through very friendly, digital tools. When an audit is submitted, SuKarne now has real-time information accessible immediately.

In order to achieve these advances, a decisive factor, according to Padilla, was the support of the 51风流team. “Through seminars and constant support, the team not only explained the capabilities of the solutions to us, but also guided us in the task of adapting existing processes to the platform, how to get more out of the innovation we were adopting,” he says.

Challenge Overcome: The Year of the Pandemic

From Culiac谩n, SuKarne’s Procurement department continues to explore 鈥� and discover 鈥� the benefits of investing in innovation. With the guided sourcing and guided buying capabilities within the 51风流Ariba solution suite, the company hopes to improve other procurement and sourcing processes and increase the efficiency of Procurement interactions with other corporate divisions.

These future projects will be led by a totally transformed department 鈥� a Procurement team with the capacity to provide value to the business in a new and strategic way. The solutions implemented help ensure SuKarne has complete visibility and robust analytical functions via .

鈥淭he platform allows us to see how the organization’s spending moves; which categories grow the most; which supplier, especially if it is a strategic one, are we ceasing to serve,鈥� comments Padilla. The data obtained is specified in reports, which are sent to SuKarne’s central corporate information system supporting decision-making in the organization.

In 2020, the year in which the global economy was severely affected by the pandemic, SuKarne managed to protect its supply chain, which, in turn, safeguarded its business operations.

鈥淭hrough the platform, we detected that there were suppliers and categories that were falling. Thanks to the information, we discovered that they were companies facing financial difficulties due to the health crisis, which is why our purchase orders were declining,” Padilla points out. “With regard to strategic suppliers, this allowed us to detect risks to the operation and, in some cases, to think of ways to support them.鈥� And in that sense, another benefit cannot be ignored: technology adoption in an unfavorable economic environment can help to guarantee punctual payments.

With the support of its Procurement area, 2020 was difficult, but not catastrophic, and SuKarne succeeded in this new context. Beyond operational continuity, the power of technology had a positive impact on suppliers, who could have been most affected by the pandemic.