This is an exciting time for SAP’s spend management team. New customer and analyst recognitions have affirmed our solution leadership, three of our leaders are recipients of industry recognitions, and SAP recently honored four customers for innovation achievements that help the world run better.
In March, SAP was named a Leader in the IDC MarketScape: Worldwide SaaS and Cloud-Enabled Procurement Applications 2023 Vendor Assessment (Doc #US48785722, March 2023). SAP Ariba was named a Leader in the 2021 vendor assessment for this same market.
The IDC MarketScape noted, “SAP Ariba is a mature, established, and trusted brand. Brand perception is high, and users expressed that the integration with SAP ERP and supply chain management (SCM) products is a compelling feature.” The report also noted that “SAP Ariba solutions are strongly positioned to help companies administer spend that spans complex events, direct and indirect, services, and capex.”
But this progress didn’t happen overnight. My colleague Baber Farooq said it best in his piece: “We’ve worked hard to evolve our vision, focusing on delivering a complete suite of solutions that enables our customers and their trading partners to manage spend with total visibility – while never losing sight of the people who use these solutions.”
SAP was also named a Leader in the IDC MarketScape: Worldwide SaaS and Cloud-Enabled P2P Applications 2023 Vendor Assessment (Doc #US50464223, March 2023) and a Major Player in the IDC MarketScape: Worldwide SaaS and Cloud-Enabled Buy-Side Contract Life-Cycle Management Applications 2023 Vendor Assessment (Doc #US48785822, March 2023).
The IDC MarketScape for Buy-Side Contract Life-Cycle noted, “Consider SAP when you need a robust contract management platform that supports the full contract life cycle, collaboration, and audit trails and that drives more efficient negotiations, provides an intuitive interface, and delivers reduced administrative costs and time.”
Over the past couple of years, our commitment to delivering the most complete set of procurement solutions, from sourcing and supplier networks to supplier relationship management, contract lifecycle management, spend analytics, procure-to-pay, and sustainability, has only grown stronger. And we’re seeing that commitment pay off with more recognition for our extensive capabilities within SAP’s procurement suite.
High Honors from Customers
SAP customers continue to see the quality and value of our solutions. In January, TrustRadius, which bases its awards on customer reviews, conferred its 2023 Winter “Best Of” awards on several SAP solutions, including SAP Concur, SAP Fieldglass, and SAP Ariba.
Each of these solutions took first place in the Best Feature Set, Best Value for Price, and Best Relationship award categories.
And if that wasn’t enough, our customers rated us as Spring 2023 Leaders on G2 in the following categories:
- SAP Concur – Leader in Expense Management, Travel & Expense, and Invoicing
- SAP Fieldglass – Leader in Strategic Sourcing
- SAP Ariba – Leader in Procure to Pay and Strategic Sourcing
Recognizing Our People
I’ve said this many times, but the people are the best part about working at SAP. My colleagues are some of the smartest, most committed, and kindest people around. Two of our leaders, Val Blatt and Muhammad Alam, have been named SDCE 2023 Pros to Know winners. Blatt is the global head of SAP Business Network Customer Success & Go-to-Market; Alam is the president of SAP Intelligent Spend and Business Network and general manager of SAP Business Network.
Etosha Thurman, chief marketing & solutions officer for SAP Intelligent Spend and Business Network, came in at No. 12 in the Procurement Magazine Top 100 Women in Procurement 2023. She is blazing a new trail in the procurement space, and I couldn’t be prouder to work together with her every day.
Award-Winning Customers
This time, the celebration isn’t exclusive to SAP. We recently named the 2023 SAP Innovation Award winners to celebrate our customers whose innovation achievements exemplify positive economic, environmental, and social impact, help the world run better, and improve people’s lives. To my delight but not to my surprise, customers using SAP spend management solutions were well represented in the winner’s circle.
Here are a few of their stories:
- Union Pacific Corporation is one of America’s leading transportation companies with over 10,000 customers, providing a critical link in the global supply chain. It chose SAP Concur solutions to help streamline employee travel and expense management for over 20,000 impacted employees. This implementation was a puzzle piece in its larger journey to the cloud.
- Standard Chartered is a leading international bank, headquartered in London and listed on the Stock Exchanges in London and Hong Kong, with a presence in 59 markets. SAP Fieldglass solutions were integrated into SAP SuccessFactors Employee Central to provide a total workforce management solution for 85,000 employees and 20,000 contingent workers, replacing a more than 20-year-old legacy platform.
- Less than 1% of the US$3 trillion of WEConnect International spend was directed to women-owned businesses. So, it decided to work with SAP Ariba solutions to give WECommunity buyers a solution that makes it easier to find and do business with women-owned suppliers in over 135 countries.
- When the pandemic hit, fluctuations in supply and demand significantly increased and transportation resources were limited and unreliable for Blue Diamond Growers and much of the world. To optimize its planning and logistics functions for the cooperative’s $300M supply chain, it deployed SAP Business Network for Logistics to help provide deep insights into the transportation and logistics aspects of the business, allowing Blue Diamond Growers to meet demand, address supply gaps, and identify transportation bottlenecks.
If you missed my recent piece on the five lessons learned from Royal DSM when it utilized SAP Business Network and SAP Ariba solutions to enhance the sustainability of its global indirect procurement, give it a read.
Join Us In Person at SAP Sapphire and SAP Spend Connect Live
If you’re a spend management professional or someone who wants to optimize their total spend management platform, make coming to SAP Sapphire or SAP Spend Connect Live a priority this year.
SAP Sapphire starts May 16 with a live experience in Orlando and virtual sessions and events that meet you wherever you are. Visit the SAP Sapphire event page to learn more.
SAP Spend Connect Live is in Vienna, Austria, October 9-11 – and there’s so much to look forward to. It’s the must-attend event for leaders and practitioners in procurement, supply chain, sustainability, finance, logistics, and operational risk. Sign up now to get the latest updates for SAP Spend Connect Live 2023 and save on registration.
Jeff Collier is chief revenue officer for SAP Intelligent Spend and Business Network.
