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SAP Ariba... Better should be the best!
July 22, 2021

SAP Ariba... Better should be the best!

MANOJ DHUME | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 6 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User

Overall Satisfaction with SAP Ariba Procurement

My Client is using Ariba for Non Productive Procurement. This is a mixed model where Purchase Requests are created in ECC and then transferred to Ariba Procurement for further processing. I do not see any important business advantage as the organization is not benefitting from Ariba Procurement functionalities like Quote to Order/Spot Buy or Guided Buying. Buyers are typically choosing their long-lasting suppliers. The actual purpose of implementing Ariba Procurement is not getting leveraged.
  • Ariba Catalogues are excellent. The Supplier maintains the catalogues and buyer can directly use it. That really speeds up the procurement process.
  • Collaborative approach on Ariba Network gives integrated & seamless supply chain approach.
  • Procurement & its integration with financial supply chain houses makes it easy for the supplier to maintain the cash flow.
  • Minimal errors on incoming invoices because of tight integration with Supplier.
  • Supplier onboarding is very easy & fast as all the required training is already available based on supplier account type.
  • First, I do not digest the concept of two cloud systems. SAP, on one hand, is selling S/4HANA as a cloud product and asking to buy Ariba products to integrate with suppliers in Cloud. Ideally, ERP in Cloud should have native integration with E-Commerce networks. It should work as I am emailing from Gmail to Hotmail or sharing from WhatsApp to Facebook.
  • Ariba Procurement & its integration with ERP are still not so easy. SAP ECC looks very strong and robust in front of SAP Ariba Procurement. The integration is very limited and does not allow [us] to use all the functionalities from ECC. (Some examples: Serial Number Management, Manufacturer's Part Number, Integration with Quality Management is also very limited.
  • The degradation of Ariba Productive system affects heavily on day-to-day business.
  • The integration of Ariba Procurement to ERP is not redundant. I am still not comfortable that the Purchase Order created in Ariba is created again in ECC system as a reference document. This does not seem to be a seamless integration. The PO created in Ariba should make GR in ECC directly. This is my expectation when we say seamless integrations
  • Our Company is looking at Ariba as a SRM alternative. So far, I do not see any main feature being utilized.
  • As an external consultant working with my client, I have noticed that the potential of this product & the product value is still not identified completely. So this product is not yielding a good return on investment. There are good KPIs the Procurement department can build out of Ariba Procurement system however we have a long long way to go.
  • Ariba Procurement is getting used as a system for creating documents instead of a powerful tool for analysis. There are multiple reasons for it. The buyer's department is working in multiple systems at the same time. This makes process [more] complicated [rather] than simplifying it.
The main advantage of using SAP Ariba in addition to the traditional SAP ERP is its classic functionality of Catalogues. This maintenance of catalogues is solely done by suppliers and the Buyer just approves them. These catalogues are they used in conjunction with guided buying makes business users more independent. This is definitely reducing maverick buying and duplication of contracts with suppliers.

The second advantage of using Ariba Procurement is you have more visibility of your supply chain, and decisions are more proactive than reactive. The inventory level of the nonproductive materials has gone down to almost zero as the procurement and lead-time can be planned accurately.

Do you think SAP Ariba delivers good value for the price?

No

Are you happy with SAP Ariba's feature set?

Yes

Did SAP Ariba live up to sales and marketing promises?

I wasn't involved with the selection/purchase process

Did implementation of SAP Ariba go as expected?

No

Would you buy SAP Ariba again?

Yes

Concur Travel and Expense, Microsoft 365 (formerly Office 365)
From a technical integration point of view, Ariba Procurement does well with Native Ariba Products.
Ariba Procurement is still not doing well when it is integrated to inbound ERP systems. The Cloud Integration Gateway is still not a matured product and we need to compromise on functionalities.

Compliance Management can be incorporated in Ariba Procurement as per requirements. This is really a good functionality. However, cost is a real issue for Ariba. Ariba Procurement is okay as long as you purchase products. It is still not a good solution for service procurement. Configurable services and Service Catalogues/Model Services are still not available in the Ariba Procurement Solution. Ariba Procurement is still not able to handle industry specific scenarios from ERP. (Like Hydrocarbon, Pharma, Food, Dairy etc.)

SOPT BUY is awesome tool however; companies prefer "Buy on Behalf" approach as it is cheaper.