Painting the picture of intelligent procurement

For those of you who have had the fortune of visiting Istanbul’s grand bazaar, you are familiar with its buzz and excitement. For those that haven’t, let me paint a picture. Imagine walking through gates into a hive of excitement, exchange, and commerce.

Stepping in you see endless narrow alleys branching out and lined with goods, buyers, and sellers. Each area seems to have its own specialty, and the selection and opportunities seem endless. You are drawn in by the different vendors, each supported by a network of suppliers you are told provide only the best goods. Each product is more enticing than the last. You are captivated by the experience, but constantly wondering if you can trust the seller’s promises and if there may be a better deal ahead.

For those of us in procurement, this is an all-too-familiar experience.. Endless options and endless opportunities mean endless decisions to be made. Eventually we settle on one. However, what if we could find the best option, know the right deal, and find the sellers who we can trust and want to support with just a few clicks?

Think of it as a guide who meets you at the gate of the grand bazaar. Someone who knows where all the sellers are, what and how much they have, and can tell you the quality, provenance, and price you should pay. Someone, who can bring you to the things you want and need, and point you to sellers who meet your standards. Now envision this on a grand scale with millions of suppliers. Such a place exists: the Ariba? Network – the world’s largest, most global business-to-business trading platform with more than3.3 million suppliers transacting over $1.7 trillion in commerce on an annual basis. Think of it as a virtual grand bazaar where a guide is not a person anymore, but a digital assistant that uses intelligence and market insights combined with artificial intelligence and cognitive computing to lead you to the right decision, it’s called intelligent procurement. And it’s fast catching on among procurement professionals around the world.

With intelligent procurement, vast amounts of data can quickly be accessed and analyzed to provide a basis for fairly comparing suppliers, create predictions about outcomes, and provide a set of options to decide from. The overwhelming becomes manageable. And  procurement becomes simple. 

Marcell Vollmer is chief digital officer of SAP Ariba and the former chief procurement officer of SAP.

SAP is the market leader in business applications; and SAP Ariba is the world’s largest business network, linking together buyers and suppliers from more than 3 million companies in 190 countries.

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