Moving Localized Procurement into a Worldwide, Global System
It’s not unusual for a global pharmaceutical company to operate in almost every country in the world. And it’s equally not unusual for each country to have a different indirect procurement system and related processes, especially for those companies that grew through acquisitions and mergers.
Initially it was much easier for local procurement departments to operate independently, but now, organizations are quickly realizing that the inability to track and monitor the effectiveness of purchasing policies globally is a huge detriment.
Greater visibility for smarter procurement
With disparate systems, it is extremely difficult for executives at these large companies to have any deep visibility into their aggregate spend, contracts, policies, and regulatory compliance. This hinders the ability for companies to maximize profitability and retain a competitive advantage.
To resolve these issues, many of the leading global companies choose cloud-based procurement solutions from Ariba, an SAP company. These solutions provide a smarter approach to procurement, with benefits such as the following:
- They can be deployed on a country-to-country basis, which minimizes risk and maximizes the consistency of the solutions through a controlled, step-by-step global expansion into other countries.
- From one country to the next, there are often different data center or service providers, as the local procurement systems are typically on-premise solutions that need direct support. A single cloud-based solution for all global indirect procurement needs provides significant cost benefits and advantages.
The competitive advantage of unique customization
There is another major benefit to a cloud-based Ariba solution as well. Many pharmaceutical companies have invested in significant customizations in their legacy procurement systems. These customizations are typically critical to core business processes, particularly on the local country level, and often they are leading-edge advancements that set a company apart competitively.
The cloud-based procurement system from Ariba lends itself to a high number of customizations, with a flexibility that supports companies as they transition from on-premise systems to the cloud. Ariba consultants can work with organizations on a country-to-country basis to understand the requirements on both a global and local level. In the past, hundreds of individual requirements across multiple countries have been addressed, with thousands of pages of custom documentation to ensure the smoothest move to the cloud.
The best approach to worldwide procurement and compliance
A worldwide implementation of an Ariba solution can streamline indirect procurement processes across multiple continents and countries. It can provide significant reduction in capital costs by eliminating the need for companies to host and maintain its own procurement servers all over the world.
And with consulting teams on hand throughout the world to help support local divisions, companies can rest assure that the move to a global cloud-based indirect procurement solution will be a safe, efficient one.
To learn more about SAP Services for cloud-based procurement solutions from Ariba, an SAP company, check this out.
