On the occasion of the 2023 edition of its SAP Spend Connect Live conference in October, the publisher officially announced the attachment of all of its purchasing management solutions to the Ariba brand. He also presented several major innovations taking advantage of new AI technologies.
“Everything procurement at SAP is now SAP Ariba !”. Fil rouge du SAP Spend Connect Live 2023, which was held from October 9 to 11 at the Messe Wien Congress Center in Vienna (Austria), the message from the leading publisher of management solutions for businesses could not be clearer: Ariba is now the banner under which all its purchasing solutions are grouped, including the dedicated modules of its ERP offer. Only the solutions of Fieldglass (purchases of external resources) and Concur (travel purchases and management of professional expenses), two publishers bought a few years ago, and that ofIcertis (contract management), of which SAP is a partner and a shareholder, will continue to be offered as their own brand in their respective specialty. “It was considered that these three brands were more transversal than Ariba, addressing areas other than purchasing: human resources for Fiedglass, finance and also human resources for Concur, legal and commercial for Icertis” , explains Anahita Gignoux, Partner Business Manager EMEA North at SAP.
On the occasion of the event, the publisher also announced several major innovations in the field of purchasing management, emphasizingartificial intelligence (AI) and process optimization. One of the main announcements was the presentation of the SAP Spend Control Tower, a centralized monitoring platform designed to help companies compare and analyze their expenses across SAP procurement solutions: SAP Cloud ERP, SAP Ariba, SAP Fieldglass, SAP Concur and SAP Business Network. Available in the first quarter of 2024, this platform will be equipped with advanced AI functionalities that will provide near real-time visibility into all procurement management activities, allowing for example the identification of cost reduction and optimization opportunities. operational performance. It will offer dashboards targeting critical factors such as compliance, opportunity analysis and social responsibility (CSR).
Another important announcement: the improvement of module de Category Management, which the SAP Ariba suite was recently enriched with, thanks to the integration of generative AI (IAGen, or GenAI in English, for Generative Artificial Intelligence). This integration will help procurement professionals develop comprehensive and effective strategies faster. By relying on suggestions for category strategies and conducting market analyzes specific to purchasing families or segments, this solution will allow companies to refine and implement their purchasing performance initiatives. SAP Ariba Category Management will also be integrated with Large Language Models (LLM) using SAP Business AI, providing an optimized user experience and powerful cognitive capabilities.
Finally, in addition to the SAP Spend Control Tower and SAP Ariba Category Management, SAP presented several other technological advances in the area of purchasing. For example, he announced the integration of Joule, his IAGen co-pilot, across its enterprise cloud portfolio, with availability planned for 2024. Additionally, new dashboards in SAP Ariba's Sourcing and Buying modules will offer near real-time insights from process flows keys, allowing purchasing teams to make decisions more quickly and improve gains. The publisher also announced the integration of AI-powered supplier risk assessment capabilities into several modules. These capabilities are already available for SAP Ariba Sourcing, Contracts and Buying, allowing risk profiles to be assessed during sourcing, contracting and procurement processes.
These technological advances demonstrate SAP's commitment to helping companies improve their purchasing and supply chain performance, mitigate risks and improve productivity through innovative solutions. By adopting these new technologies and leveraging AI capabilities, businesses can transform their procurement management and achieve more efficient and profitable results. As evidenced by these announcements during SAP Spend Connect Live 2023, the publisher continues to push the boundaries of innovation and positions itself as a leader in purchasing management and generative AI. Now with a flagship brand in this field: Ariba!