SAP Ariba Celebrates Two Decades of Procurement Innovation
Company marks 20th anniversary of Ariba Network and fundamental shift in way business is done
Twenty years ago, procurement was a manual function driven largely by phone calls, faxes and handshakes. Then along came the
Internet. And a company named Ariba. And everything changed. It all started with the idea that buying and selling among businesses didn’t need
to be so hard. That with the right technology, companies could automate the process and interact in totally new ways that enhance
their top and bottom lines.
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SAP Ariba Celebrates 20 Years of Innovation (Graphic: Business Wire)
“What Ariba was talking about in 1996 was a revolutionary concept,” said Shelley Stewart, Vice President and Chief Procurement
Officer at DuPont Company. “We took a big chance in embracing it at the time, but it has clearly paid off. Technology and networks
have completely changed the way business is done and helped to move procurement from a tactical function to a strategic driver of
business value.”
Zachary Engels, Senior Analyst, Sourcing, PolyOne Corporation, agrees. “For us, procurement has always been about more than just
savings. Our goal is to drive supply chain efficiency on a global scale,” he said. “And although it seemed crazy at the time, we
realized that technology and business networks could help us do this and increase the value we deliver to our organization.”
Focused on Innovation
SAP Ariba paved the way for this transition through innovations that over the last two decades have completely changed the way buyers and suppliers connect and get
business done. The company for instance:
• Launched the first online catalog for procurement.
• Developed the first software to conduct reverse auctions.
• Created the Ariba® Network, the first business network that today is the largest, most global on the planet, with more than
2 million companies transacting nearly $1 trillion in commerce on an annual basis.
• Delivered comprehensive suite of cloud-based procurement applications ranked first among all vendors.
• Went live with Ariba Discovery™, a global business matching service that automatically connects buyer needs with seller
capabilities.
• Rolled out Ariba Spot Buy™, the first solution to combine the technology, content and expertise needed to gain visibility
into unplanned buys with workflow capabilities to get them under control.
• Released AribaPay™, an electronic payment solution identified as the most Disruptive and Best B2B Innovation.
• Delivered Guided Buying, a contextual experience that automatically leads users to the goods and services they need to do
their jobs, then guides them through executing purchases in compliance with their company policies and processes.
• Opened its platform, allowing companies to develop and deliver new commerce services that drive value for their organizations, their customers and anyone connected to the
Ariba Network using open APIs.
Committed to Customer Success
SAP Ariba continues to push the limits of what is possible and deliver innovations that fuel business transformation.
“It’s always good to see vendors doing some hard work and heavy lifting to help their customers move faster and better,
delivering innovative tools they can use to come up with new business processes, new strategies and new directions that make them
much more strategic,” said Holger Mueller, Principal Analyst & Vice President Constellation Research, Inc.
Ken Redler says this is exactly what SAP Ariba has helped his company do. At a time when many were still questioning the
viability of the Internet as a tool for business, Redler, the Chief Technology Officer of cSubs, whose business is helping
companies procure, manage, and analyze their knowledge resources, knew it was the future.
“We had customers coming to us saying, ‘This is the way we are going to do business,’” he recalls. “So we had to put an
eCommerce platform in place.”
In 2005, Redler and his team set up a catalog on the Ariba Network to give its customers a simple, consumer-like way to manage
the content flowing into their organizations. Within two years, 25 percent of the company’s business was coming from it.
In 2012, cSubs took things to the next level and leveraged the network to go to market with Clarity, a new licensed content and
contract management solution that gives companies centralized control of their electronic content tasks and analytics. “In doing
so, we became a more strategic partner and gained a tremendous leg up in competing with much larger companies,” Redler said.
The idea of moving from bricks to clicks wasn’t something most big box retailers were even thinking about 20 years ago. Office
Depot joined the Ariba Network in 1996 and created a digital procure-to-pay process that has optimized the way it operates.
“Office Depot values our long-time relationship with SAP Ariba,” said Emile Naguib, senior product manager for
Office Depot, Inc.“As one of its first fully integrated suppliers, we have improved our efficiency by processing thousands of
orders and invoices through the network seamlessly.”
Looking to the Future
Procurement is no doubt a different function than it was two decades ago. But the transformation has only begun. “No longer just
about managing spend and delivering savings, procurement today is about creating opportunities for both buyers and sellers to
connect and collaborate across the entire source to settle process in totally new ways that create commerce and drive business
advantage,” said Alex Atzberger, president, SAP Ariba.
This not only requires a new approach, but innovative tools to support it. And SAP Ariba is expected to remain at the forefront
of delivering them.
“The forward-looking road map has never been more exciting,” said Simon Ellis, Program Vice President, Supply Chain, IDC
Manufacturing Insights. “SAP Ariba is clearly on the right road to becoming the best-in-class procurement vendor. The company
started as a leading procurement vendor and has continued to evolve with new and innovative solutions and a business network that
help companies deliver better commerce.”
About SAP Ariba
SAP® Ariba® is the marketplace for digital business, creating frictionless exchanges between millions of buyers and suppliers
across the entire source-to-pay process. Our market-leading solutions enable companies to simplify collaboration with their trading
partners, make smarter business decisions and extend their collaborative business processes with an open technology platform. More
than two million companies use SAP Ariba solutions to connect and collaborate around nearly one trillion in commerce on an annual
basis. To learn more about the company’s offerings and the transformation they are driving, visit www.ariba.com
About SAP
As market leader in enterprise application software, SAP (NYSE: SAP) helps companies of all sizes and industries run better.
From back office to boardroom, warehouse to storefront, desktop to mobile device – SAP empowers people and organizations to work
together more efficiently and use business insight more effectively to stay ahead of the competition. SAP applications and services
enable approximately 320,000 customers to operate profitably, adapt continuously, and grow sustainably. For more information, visit
www.sap.com.
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SAP Ariba
Karen Master, 412-297-8177
karen.master@sap.com
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