On the occasion of the Intelligent Spend Management Forum 2022 organized in mid-March by SAP, about twenty partners and companies using the publisher's solutions presented their project and their vision of the digitalization of purchasing and the supply chain. In a globalized and hyper-connected economy, collaboration has become an essential lever for performance in these areas.
Organized by Sap in partnership with Acxias on the theme "A connected world for a sustainable world"TheIntelligent Spend Management (ISM) Forum 2022 welcomed a hundred purchasing professionals on March 22 in Paris. In addition to the three "Plenary" sessions, numerous feedbacks were presented during eight Workshops highlighting the challenges of digitalization for "sustainable purchasing", "service purchases" and, above all, for "direct purchases" (testimonials from Vorwerk Et alstom) and "indirect purchases" (testimonials from Eurovia with Acxias, andIpsen). Speakers stressed the now transversal position of the function Purchases-supply chain and the need to strengthen internal and collaboration with Suppliers, relying in particular on digital solutions and channels, to "respond together to business, societal and environmental challenges".
In the scope of direct categories, the digitalization of purchasing with SAP Ariba has enabled Vorwerk (high-end appliances) to clarify and unify processes throughout the group, while simplifying user interfaces. The system now offers cost transparency and greater reliability of deliveries. For its part, Alstom (railway) has set up the SAP Ariba Supply Chain Collaboration module to connect its ECC ERP to the SAP Business Network. "The goal was to replace the ten-year-old and obsolete SAP SNC portal with a solution to streamline and accelerate exchanges with suppliers"explained Vincent Amiot, purchasing solutions architect at the group. Specifically, it is a set of interfaces facilitating collaboration on procurement processes such as orders, delivery programs, receipts or purchase forecasts, already offered in the old portal, but also subcontracting, inventory management and quality. "In this project, the challenge was to maximize adoption by suppliers, with the goal of embarking 1500 over a year and a half, to cover 80% of direct purchases in 22 countries".
In the field of indirect purchasing, the feedback of the specialist in the construction of transport infrastructure Eurovia (Vinci group), accompanied by Acxias, focused on the deploying SAP Ariba with agencies and construction teams in order to channel and digitize all requests and purchase orders. "The real challenge was to professionalize the purchasing function in the organization," said Thomas Ruffié, SAP S/4Hana and Ariba manager within the company, before specifying the criteria that led to the choice of SAP Ariba: its ability to deploy internationally, native integration with SAP, and mobility in a context where 70% of users are site managers, in the field. As part of this project, Acxias first provided expert support for the solution on the pilot entities in Quebec, then was entrusted with the configuration, integration and deployment of the solution with delegations in France representing nearly 10,000 users.
At the same time, the digital agency deployed the SAP Business Network from more than 5,000 suppliers in 6 months to facilitate the collection of information and the exchange of documents. Acxias has also ensured the automated recovery of catalogues with RPA robots (Robotic process automation) allowing users to have several thousand catalogs to benefit from the conditions negotiated by the purchases and facilitate the purchase request process. The SAP Ariba-S/4 platform already supports 40,000 orders per week on the perimeter now deployed, France and Quebec. Today, the deployment of SAP Ariba is gradually expanding to other entities. "On the S2C side, robots have been set up to automate sourcing flows, always thanks to Acxias' RPA skills"added Thomas Ruffié.
TheIpsen (pharmacy), the second testimonial on the scope of indirect purchases, was launched as part of a global business transformation program, Polaris. Planned over three years, this program aims to harmonize and simplify processes, improve analytical capabilities and integrate technological innovations. On the procurement chain, in parallel with the use of SAP S/4Hana for direct categories, Ipsen has started the deployment of SAP Ariba for indirect, on all modules, with the objective of covering the entire geographical perimeter (37 countries) by the end of 2024. "The objective is to move from a finance-oriented approach on commitment controls, or legal on contractual aspects, to a procurement-driven approach based on good business practices"explained Aurélien Guignat, the group's IT director, in charge of the technical and technological aspects of the Polaris program. After a phase of defining the implementation plan and starting contract management, the next step will concern the Guide Buying module and the implementation of a series of performance measurement indicators.
A summary of this day of testimonials, feedback and conviviality is available in Replay on YouTube.
The full replays of all interventions are available by registering on the event website.