5. SUPPLIERS
Fulfill SettleMarket
Buyer management
BUYERS
Procure SettleSource
Supplier management
Integration to SAP and third-party solutions, security, open platform
SAP Ariba solutions in the
context of digital
transformation
Suppliers
& networks
Customer
experience
Workforce
engagement
loT
& big data Security
SAP HANA Platform
Digital Core
SPENDCATEGORIES
Direct
Indirect and MRO
Contingent labor
Travel
Ariba Network
In 2010 SAP started a journey to build an agile platform and solution for the digital economy with a combination of organic growth and acquisitions.
SAP now offers the best solution portfolio and expertise required to enable our customer’s digital strategy across all industries and lines of business.
The core of the end to end solution is S/4 HANA which is the reinvention of the business suite
We have state of the art line of business cloud solutions that extend from the core in sales, human capital management and procurement – which is where SAP Ariba contributes to SAP’s digital framework
SAP Ariba represents a two sided business model that includes buyers and suppliers and a network that brings them together with 2M+ companies
The core of SAP Ariba is its source to procure to settle process so buyers can execute supplier management. SAP Ariba is the only provider that provides this end to end process.
This process is delivered across all categories of spend by bringing in market leading solutions for contingent labor with SAP Fieldglass and travel and expense with Concur
Within the source category we are enhancing traditional products like Spend Visibility and Contract Management with innovations like Direct Materials and Supplier Risk Management
Additionally, in procure we are generating a fantastic new experience with Guided Buying so that we can lead every employee in the company to the right spend
We are also innovating within settle with solutions such as Supply Chain Collaboration
The suppliers are connected to the buyers via the network which is an e-commerce platform that allows them to market, fulfill and settle.
All of this sits on a technology platform that integrates to SAP and Non SAP solutions, is secure and is open and extensible to SAP’s ecosystem
SAP S/4HANA is fully built on the most advanced in-memory platform – SAP HANA – and is designed with the most modern user experience (UX) – SAP Fiori.
It allows IT to easily connect to Social and Business Networks (e.g. Ariba and Concur) and the Internet of Things.
S/4HANA comes with innovative and feature rich applications that make it simple to get any insight on any data from anywhere in real time with planning, execution, prediction, and simulation now all done on the fly at the highest level of granularity to drive faster business impact
It is also designed with the Fiori User Experience that enable business users to get the job done with a personalized, responsive, and simple user experience available on any device
In short, SAP S/4HANA is the a reimagined suite for reimagining business.
Vertical Axes, Spend
So lets start here on this axes looking out the total amount of purchases that a company makes.
Horizontal axis, time
And along here, a time axis.
First red curve, curving up
So this is the curve the CIPS guy drew, which tells the story that the rate of getting more spend under management seems to be levelling off, way before we get into the “broad sunlit uplands” of 100% coverage.
Vertical Dotted line for “now”
Lets draw a line here where the curve is starting to flatten out.
2016
So what’s going on? And where will that curve be going next. And as said in “Men in Black” : to understand the future we have to go back in time”
Vertical red line for age of parts
In the days of R/3 it was a world of Part Numbers, and that was the only way to create a PO, and that was the only spend purchasing was involved in.
ERP era
So systems built up around part numbers, purchase orders, GRNs and three way matches.
Mandate Era
As procurement became more “professionalised”, roughly in 1995 teams formed to get more “spend under management”. Since this was indirect spend they focused on Mandates (in fact that was an early name for Ariba), the word “Maverick” was much in vogue, as were approval rules, approved vendor lists, catalogues, contracts etc. Companies struggled to put this kind of information on their part number systems, so bought systems like Ariba and SRM.
Rules
With all of this non part number stuff to be bought, Procurement focused on setting up procedures, rules if you like, to tell people what to buy and who to buy it from.
Approvals
Also, companies tended to be quote large and hierarchical, and approval chains are how almost everything got done, so it was natural that these types of rules would be used in procurement.
Catalogues
The focus in the mandate era was to try and get things on catalogue, so that procurement could review content and publish it.
Maverick
The word that everyone talks about was “clamping down on Maverick spend”.
Here in the procurement world we have been using the term maverick buying since the days of Top Gun (1986). It is generally used pejoratively: people who are maverick buyers are to be stopped at all costs and re-routed on to preferred contracts with preferred suppliers. Procurement departments look to clamp down on maverick buying and this forms part of their DNA.
However, I've always been uneasy about this. I always imagined a maverick as someone who doesn't let needless rules stop them from doing their job. In American culture, the maverick is idolised, not vilified. The "Ask for forgiveness, not permission" gene runs deep. Think of James Bond, Han Solo and of course the eponymous hero of Top Gun who bested Viper, Cougar Jester and the Iceman.
So having procurement folks banging on about eliminating "maverick buying" is counter-productive; everyone likes a maverick
The stick
Although procurement tried to be responsive to stakeholders, they tended to build systems and policies that ended up being a big Stick.
Horizontal line
The trouble with that approach is that the curve is levelling out and experience shows that this approach will not get you to 100% spend coverage.
High Water Mark
In some ways, we are reaching the high water mark for this approach
If we look up hear at the large “Functional Buyers”, they have remained largely untouched by the Procurement Department’s systems, and although they have adopted some of the policies, they are not really using the systems that procurement has been offering.
Events
Events people tend to need products or services at extremely short notice, , and buying everything last minute. Oops, we need to hire a photographer for the day in Madrid, get on Google and find someone and pay for it on the Pcard.
Facilities
Here there are complex requirements, linked to projects systems, and highly mobile teams who like to use Email and IM.
Print
Very hard to specify what is needed, with artwork, lots of forms to fill out. Again along way from a catalogue approach.
Logistics
Often buying services, with collaboration via Email. Policy is 3 bids and a buy, done through Email.
Marketing
What can I say about these guys? A lot of their spend is put through on Expenses, and nevr hits the conventional Procurement systems.
There are a variety of confounding factors which is making the problem worse not better.
Millennials
We hear a lot about these guys, who have grown up in the digital age and with internet shopping. They expect instant access to suppliers, and have never been on an IT training class in their lives. You are hiring more and more of them.
Speed of Business
All business is moving faster, and this means there isn’t always time to run a formal RFX process, or return to the office to raise a purchase requisition. Our customers expect us to be responsive, and this has a large impact on how we engage with our supply chain.
Outsourcing
Companies are no longer vertically integrated, they have outsourced catering, security maybe IT, finance and HR. Maybe even using contract manufacturers. So managing suppliers has become very strategic, and many of these suppliers will be small, requiring a different way of collaborating than formal RFPs.
Social
Many companies want to work with their customers on social media, that’s good, but social media has a downside as well….
Risk
…managing risk is now the number one priority for CPOs according to the latest Ardent Partners white paper. And because of social media, one poorly chosen supplier can have huge, and instant impact. Eliminating so-called Maverick buying is no more about saving money, its about saving the job of the CPO.
Red downslope, Under Mandate
So following this curve on this trajectory you see that not only is the high water mark not breached, but it starts trending in the wrong direction.
That’s why we have introduced a new concept called Guided Buying. Procurement needs to engage with those buyers in a different way: with advice and guidance, information and predictive analytics, yet at the same time managing business risk behind the scenes without getting in the way.
Rising red line,, Under Guidance
Companies on this track are not seeing a levelling off of engagement, but are using this alternative engagement model which matches these types of stakeholders. For example much more collaborative relations with suppliers via a network, allowing access (with appropriate controls) to marketplaces such as eBay, making the system as easy to use as consumer apps, allowing departments to set their own policies.
Such an approach needs to approach which balances the needs of the stakeholders to get their jobs done, and the needs of the procurement team to manage risk.
Advice
Stakeholders want advice, to tell them what to buy, and how to buy it. Not manuals, or approved supplier lists, or complex intranets.
Information
They want information to make a decision, not a decision imposed on them. Information such as recommendations from colleagues, on-time delivery performance or information about a suppliers green credentials or anti-slavery certification.
BYOD
IT is a good example of a group that is already responding, by letting employees bring their own phone or tablet, and support those. The support model has changed to drop-in centres, rather than faceless ticketing systems. Procurement should be looking to adopt similar working practices.
So. Moving from the stick to the carrot.
Supplier Mgmt
But in the background, Procurement need to be able to manage suppliers: engaging with them technically, monitoring performance, harvesting innovations. All in one place.
Risk & Compliance
The Maverick conversation is now about minimising risk, and making sure that processes are legally compliant in all countries. Did you know about the change in archiving law in Turkey recently? What about Brexit, what will that mean. Compliance is a never ending treadmill and Procurement departments need help from Networked services here.
Predictive
Finally, like many departments the avalanche of data from both within your company and externally gives the ability to become the Predictive CPO. Anticipating what users will need before they know themselves. This is another way that the carrot works, by making it easy for users to find what they need, based on trends.
Which track are you on? Are you still trying to clamp down on mavericks in the mandate age? Or would you like to be on this path, keeping stakeholders and suppliers happy, while managing business risk.
Which would you prefer: Stick or Carrot.