One of the largest responsibilities that an SAP Ariba consultant has is to work with customers and help them achieve their business goals. The SAP Ariba platform is a robust application that has the ability to optimize spend management, sourcing, and many other aspects of the procurement structure of a company. Although the application itself is powerful and effective, learning how to use it will guarantee a higher return on your investment.

Learning How to Use the Platform

Even though the SAP Ariba platform is very user-friendly and easy to negotiate it is an extremely sophisticated piece of software and must be respected. In the event that a person tries to wing it, and figure out how to use it on their own, they could end up spending much more time and resources than they bargained for. With the help of a qualified consultant a company will learn how to:

• Administrate the platform
• Create users and permissions
• Integrate other software applications
• Digitally transform the business structure
• Effectively navigate the system

In addition to implementing the software, a consultant will take the time to educate and train all of the staff that will need to use the system, whether they are on an admin level or a user level. The more that a company knows about the system, the more beneficial it will be in every aspect of the spend management strategy.

Connecting Around the Globe

One of the things that make the SAP Ariba platform so robust is that it has the ability to connect buyers with sellers around the globe. What the platform has as an advantage over many of the other solutions out there is that it has the ability to stay on top of the trends and market conditions in a way that can guide the company towards positive spending opportunities and steer away from the potential risks.

A regular user that is not aware of the forecasting functionality of the platform could completely overlook some of the simple little details that could save the company a ton of money and avoid harmful risks.

Being able to connect with businesses around the world will open up a whole new realm of opportunities for a company that it may have never had an idea about. A consultant that knows the way around the platform will show the company how to connect with opportunities around the world, and how to watch for changing prices and market risks.

Complete Source-to-Pay Solution

One of the most important factors of a business is the way that they manage its source-to-pay process. If the sources for the company are not sustainable, the company itself will have issues staying afloat. The best kind of sources to be connected with are:

• Fairly priced goods and services
• Provide price cuts on larger orders
• Provide price cuts for on-time payment
• Reputable
• Reliable

Another function that the SAP Ariba platform has to offer is the ability to research data on the web and locate the best possible sources for the needs of a company. What this does is provide the company with a pool of high-quality sources and vendors to choose from that all have the potential to keep costs low and bring in returns.

What is great about hiring a qualified consultant is that they will already know the ins and outs of the entire procurement process and the best ways to optimize the way that the company spends money and acquires resources.

A consultant will team up with the company and show them how to implement the software functions in a way that is most beneficial for the success of the company.

Pointing Out the Larger View

In many cases, business owners get so focused on the narrow view of what they see as the bottom line that they forget to look outward from the center and see the whole view of the business and the potential that it has.

The great thing about the SAP Ariba platform is that it is equipped with powerful artificial intelligence that helps to bring focus from the smaller things to the big picture. Since there is the potential to connect globally with businesses in every market there will lie opportunities that are far beyond the reach of a typical company that is not using digital solutions.

A consultant may not tell you exactly which businesses to reach out to, or who to contact to make a deal, but they can show you how to operate the application in a way that shows you the best opportunities available based on the needs of the company.

Pushing the Boundaries of the Industry

What better way to get the most out of an investment than to push the boundaries of the market? Whether or not there are actually any “boundaries” to cross, is an entirely different story. The point is that with the help of the SAP Ariba platform an administrator can see across the entire scope of how the business works, spends and gets returns. With this full-fledged view it is easier to see opportunities where they are, and risks where they are.

The SAP Ariba consultant will provide expert insight and advice on how to best use the software to search for solutions in the future to create value and sustainability without spending an excessive amount of time and energy attempting to figure it out without help.

Integration With Other Platforms

There are businesses in all phases of the digital transformation process. Some companies have not even begun to transform, but know they have to. Other companies are fully converted digital entities that have taken advantage of all that technology has to offer.

For the companies that have gotten their feet wet with digital functionality, they will most likely have the need for an integration of various software platforms so that they can all work together to bring the best value to the company and get the very most out of all of their applications.

A qualified consultant will be able to help the company implement the SAP Ariba platform in a way that seamlessly integrates with its existing technology. Where the platform on its own can connect with its various counterparts through the network, there is additional functionality that allows systems to work great within each other and be able to communicate through channels.

The consultant will be able to assess the entire structure of the system and advise on how to bring all of the components together for complete integration.

Planning the Operation

Probably the most important phase of the entire implementation process is the planning stage before the application is even connected to the company. When a consultant steps in to help a customer get the very most out of the investment they take the time to look at the entire structure of the business and see the best way to pull everything together in a way that works best for the company.

Questions like how the company will do business, where the company wants to grow, what are the needs of the company, and many other probing queries will help to determine the best way to administer the software and create a base for staff to log into and move the company onward and upward to greater success.

It is the consultant’s job to create clear pathways for the company to succeed and achieve all goals. A great one will walk beside the client all the way through from the start to the finish, and stay around for any questions down the line.