Among the feedback presented at the 2022 Convention of French-speaking SAP Users, that of the Richemont group highlighted the synergies between SAP Ariba Cloud solutions and SAP ERP.
On October 5 and 6, theAssociation of French-speaking SAP Users (USF) held its Annual Convention at the Lyon Congress Centre. Among the 75 Workshops on the programme, feedback from Richemont (35,000 employees, €13 billion turnover in 2021), around its project to deploy SAP Ariba, helped to understand the advantages of the solution and its added value for Purchases compared to SAP ERP.
A major player in the luxury industry, present mainly in jewelry and watchmaking with many brands (Cartier, Montblanc, Van Cleef & Arpels, etc.), the Swiss group initiated its project in 2015, with the objective of covering the entire Source-to-pay perimeter ranging from sourcing to payment of suppliers, including calls for tenders, sending orders and invoicing. "Many aspects were poorly or not at all covered by our ERP, in particular contract management, strategic purchasing reporting or indirect purchasing management, which were not stored," explained François-Xavier Botta, SAP Ariba platform manager & Digital transformation lead for supply chain within the group.
The first deployments, in 2018, focused on the Supply chain collaboration module, to improve supplier collaboration on the scope of direct purchasing. In a second step, the Spend analysis module made it possible to "centralize all reporting in a single tool, by classifying expenses using an artificial intelligence engine". Followed the modules Supplier Risk, to master the hazards, then Guided buying, with the support of the Acxias Teams. "In the scope of indirect purchases, this last module simplifies the process by directing users to the right suppliers and items, so that the purchasing policy is respected," explained François-Xavier Botta. "It also makes it possible to harmonize practices, in an environment comparable to e-commerce sites, and to trace operations," added Bertrand Gabriel, Director of Development and Strategic Accounts at Acxias, specifying that "for the management of direct purchases, the logic and approaches are completely different, in connection with the consumption forecasting modules, production and inventory, usually in the ERP."
In parallel with SAP Ariba and ERP, Richemont relied on the SAP Business Network to automate collaboration flows to simplify and accelerate exchanges with external partners. "On the purchasing and supply side, it is primarily about suppliers, but we can also use it to exchange with carriers, for example," said François-Xavier Botta. The collaborative network was first set up on the scope of direct purchases, stored, from 2018, in connection with the Procure-to-pay process managed in the ERP. With several objectives: accelerate the processing of stored purchase orders, give visibility to suppliers, harmonize practices between group entities, ensure compliance with internal processes.
Today, almost all of the 500 suppliers covering 90% of Richemont's direct purchases have been "onboarded" in the network. The system mainly facilitates the transmission and confirmation of the 30,000 lines of orders placed per month, then the flows relating to the receipt of products (delivery notices, withdrawals, return management, etc.). "We now plan to extend this digital collaboration to many other areas, starting with the quality control process at the beginning of 2023, then invoicing, with a start a little later in the year," continued François-Xavier Botta, in order to multiply the profits. For now, this digitalization has allowed Richemont to reduce order processing time, improve visibility into the process and planning, have all the information needed at each stage and share it. But also to limit the solicitations of suppliers who, in exchange for additional work to feed the system, can follow in real time the execution of operations.