New trends in SAP-based purchasing

E-3: The history of your company is closely linked to the development of SAP purchasing solutions. What were the most important trends?

Tim Kollmeier: Our company was founded at a time when companies were becoming increasingly aware of the important role that purchasing can play in their business success.

At the same time, SAP drove forward the development of its own supplier relationship management applications (SAP SRM) in order to optimally exploit the potential of the purchase-to-pay process - from purchasing to payment.

Both trends have created an ideal basis for us to build up an IT consultancy that focuses entirely on the use of the SAP procurement solution.

Thomas Herbst: In the years that followed, the SAP procurement tools were expanded to handle strategic topics. The development of SAP Supplier Lifecycle Management (SAP SLC) and the integration of Ariba Cloud solutions are certainly important milestones in this regard.

The increasing automation of operational procurement processes has also changed the role of purchasers. They have evolved from decentralized order writers to centrally positioned supply chain managers who have more freedom for strategic issues, such as the targeted selection and qualification of suppliers with SAP SLC.

As a result, it can be seen that purchasing today makes a much greater contribution to value creation than it did ten years ago.

E-3: Keyword Ariba: What specific benefits does the world's largest trading community offer customers?

Fall: One of the biggest advantages lies in the network concept, which Ariba solutions map very professionally. Companies are no longer restricted to their own supplier portals, but can connect with international business partners anytime and anywhere in order to implement the best purchasing conditions and optimal cash management.

Suppliers have the opportunity to acquire new customers in the Ariba network. From a technical perspective, the cloud-based Ariba applications offer the advantage that the customer can use them directly.

E-3: How big is the implementation effort?

Fall: Apart from some procedural configurations, training and change management measures for the users, there is hardly any implementation effort.

In addition, Ariba is based on best practice processes and therefore requires only minor customer-specific adaptations. Thanks to the close integration into the SAP world, Ariba solutions can also be linked very easily with existing ERP and SRM processes.

E-3: This leads to the question of a possible combination of Ariba with SAP's on-premise purchasing solutions. What advantages do you see in this?

Kollmeier: In recent months, we have seen increased demand from companies for hybrid clouds in this area. In fact, the strengths of both worlds can be optimally combined and widespread security concerns can be reduced.

It makes sense to use internal on-premise systems for individual purchasing processes and business-critical data, while the cloud-based Ariba solutions are used for external order and invoice processing, for example.

At the same time, it is advisable to operate strategic processes such as sourcing or spend analyses as pure cloud solutions with less integration into the ERP system landscape.

E-3: What should companies consider when selecting a suitable Ariba project partner?

Fall: The project partner should be closely connected to both SAP and Ariba, as an Ariba implementation requires a great deal of coordination with the existing SAP world.

Every customer also needs professional advice on which of their purchasing processes should be transformed into the cloud.

In general, companies should therefore bring a consultancy firm on board that can demonstrate comprehensive process and technology expertise in both areas as well as many years of project experience.

E-3: What does the omnipresent trend towards mobilization mean for purchasing organizations?

Kollmeier: As in all other business areas, employees in Purchasing expect applications to be available to them as flexibly as they are used to from their private apps - whether on smartphones, tablets or laptops.

For SAP users, this means that they do not always have to work with the cumbersome SAP user interface, but want to enjoy the same ease of use as on their end devices.

E-3: How has SAP reacted to this development?

Kollmeier: SAP has driven forward topics such as SAP Fiori and UI5. UI5 is a new collection of tools for developing user interfaces that are easier to use.

The Fiori apps provide users with the most frequently used SAP Business Suite functions on a role-based basis on any end device. Purchasing employees also benefit from this.

They can use certain SAP procurement processes as Fiori apps, and reporting functions are also available on mobile devices. Buyers in particular, who are often on the move, benefit greatly from this development.

E-3: Let's take a look ahead: Where will SAP-based purchasing be heading?

Fall: The main trends are undoubtedly set by the cloud, business networks and mobility. There is currently a joint initiative between SAP and Ariba to make Ariba's cloud functions available on mobile devices.

In addition, SAP will increasingly pursue hybrid scenarios, promote integration into existing on-premise systems and create simple interfaces for this purpose. The strengths of the cloud solution will be utilized in any case - albeit in different ways.

E-3: What development are you planning for Apsolut?

Kollmeier: The course is clearly set for growth and further expansion of our team, which currently numbers around 130 employees. In doing so, we want to continue the trend of the past, which has brought us annual growth of between ten and 25 percent to date - both in terms of turnover and employees.

In future, we will also be expanding our consulting resources in the UK, China and India; a subsidiary will be established in the USA.

Fall: Thematically, we are also focusing on Ariba, SRM for direct material scenarios and mobility. In addition, we will increasingly focus on the areas of reporting, spend analysis and supplier management with the integration of supplier portals and business networks.

Although SAP and Ariba already offer corresponding solutions today, many companies are still at the beginning in terms of process coverage, integration and implementation of technical solutions. We see a strong need for consulting in this area, and we have aligned ourselves accordingly.

E-3: What about your partnership with SAP and Ariba?

Fall: We are confident that we can continue our successful collaboration in this way. Although we are a small, focused consulting firm that is not one of the major players in the market in terms of people, our joint partnership and collaboration with SAP has always been crowned with success.

On the one hand, this is due to the fact that we often prevailed against third-party providers in the acquisition phase, both technically and functionally, together with SAP - our consulting services in combination with the highly integrated purchasing applications from SAP and Ariba were obviously convincing.

In addition, we continue to improve and expand SAP purchasing processes by using our own add-on modules, the Appsolut Solution Add-ons. We are now an important partner of SAP and Ariba in the global purchasing environment.

We maintain a cooperation that is characterized by strong trust, a high level of personal commitment in all areas - from product development to joint customer events - and a lively exchange of information.