Ushering in the Next Generation of SAP Procurement

Where are SAP’s procurement offerings headed? Recently I had the pleasure to explore this question as a speaker at SAP’s signature customer event, SAPPHIRE NOW Reimagined.

Over the past few months, the world has undergone dramatic disruption and transformation. We have observed how interdependent the business processes connecting buyers and suppliers have become. For business leaders, procurement and the complete supply chain have rapidly taken center stage. Now more than ever, integrated business processes across source-to-pay can help to maintain continuity and regain competitiveness amid the “new normal.”

That’s why we at SAP are applying a laser-sharp focus to developing our procurement product portfolio with integrated business processes and help customers remain resilient despite volatile market conditions. Let me identify three areas as examples of how we drive product design toward an intelligent procurement suite: invoice management, supplier management, and our core operational procurement offerings.

With invoice management, we aim to create a holistic end-to-end process: from order-to-cash to source-to-pay. We’ll deliver value in supplier management by adopting a supplier portal — a new supplier experience, including mobile and data-driven insights. At the same time, we need to reduce the complexity of our customer environments for all trading partners. We will deliver one end-to-end integrated platform across all our operational spend engines and buying solutions with the goal of one operational spend and buying solution unification. The aim is to focus on the unique needs of specific buying personas. Naturally, all of this rests on SAP’s Intelligent Enterprise Suite strategy and SAP Cloud Platform.

But how do we get there? As I mentioned in a SAPPHIRE NOW session to my colleague Jan Bungert, SAP Senior Vice President for Intelligent Spend Management in Middle and Eastern Europe, we do so by setting our sights on a north star. For us on the SAP Procurement product team, this means having a clear product direction for every part of the source-to-pay process, as well as enhancements including supplier management, category management and the Business Network. How do we make those things even more valuable to customers? How do we drive our product and engineering teams toward a common, strategic and unified procurement suite in line with SAP’s Intelligent Enterprise Suite, based on SAP S/4HANA and our Cloud Platform?

This is the north star by which we navigate our efforts that lie ahead.

These are very exciting times in the SAP procurement space. We are working with renewed purpose and a powerful commitment to end-to-end integration and delivering on SAP’s Intelligent Enterprise Suite. We unlock innovation for all customers by incrementally creating the next generation of SAP procurement designed to keep businesses running and succeeding in a digital future.

 

 

About the Author

Salvatore Lombardo is SVP, Chief Product Officer SAP Procurement