CASE STUDY Accenture
Revolutionizing procurement with SAP Ariba
Accenture streamlines the buying process for over 775,000 employees worldwide.
3-MINUTE READ
A cloud-first IT strategy
As a global leader in professional services, Accenture combines technology and human ingenuity to create meaningful impact. Its global Procurement organization manages over $5 billion annually using SAP® Ariba® solutions.
To support Accenture's growth and adapt to evolving environments, the company needed to address challenges in its procurement technology infrastructure, including limited visibility, control, and standardization.
Accenture and its global IT organization collaborated to migrate its on-premise SAP Ariba instance to SAP Ariba Buying and Invoicing SaaS, aligning with the company's cloud-first, intelligence-driven IT strategy. By deploying SAP Ariba's Guided Buying capability, the team transformed the buying process for over 775,000 employees, marking the start of a new procurement era. Further innovations aimed to make procurement more streamlined, intelligent, and value-adding for the company.
We are transforming procurement into an intelligent portal solution that guides people to the right channels, seamlessly and intelligently.
Binny Mathews / Chief Procurement Officer (CPO)
A model for procurement transformation
Accenture has revolutionized its procurement processes through a strategic implementation of SAP Ariba, creating a more efficient, compliant, and user-friendly buying experience. This transformation was achieved through a rapid global deployment, enhanced buying capabilities, and a shift in strategic focus. The key pillars of this successful procurement model include:
- Rapid global deployment with a design that enabled 80% of the solution to be deployed initially, expediting subsequent rollouts.
- Enhanced buying experience and compliance to drive faster, more compliant, and cost-effective purchasing by directing users to contracted goods and services.
- Shift in strategic focus to user experience and value creation activities like supplier management, innovation, and sustainability promotion.
Accenture transitioned from managing controls and compliance to enhancing user experience through standardization, simplification, and automation, marking a significant shift in its procurement strategy. This transformation was encapsulated in the rebranding to Procurement Plus, reflecting a broader, more strategic role beyond traditional back-office spend management. The initial go-live of SAP Ariba was achieved in just six months, followed by a comprehensive 12-month rollout to over 60 countries. This deployment utilized Accenture's SAP Cloud Platform Center of Excellence, agile methodologies, and extensive reuse of SAP Ariba assets. Additionally, as one of the first and largest global deployments of SAP Ariba Guided Buying, the initiative significantly improved the buying experience, particularly for infrequent users, by making purchasing processes faster, more compliant, and cost-effective.
Streamlining the journey
Accenture’s Procurement Plus journey focuses on several key areas. The company is enhancing content enablement by expanding its product and service catalog, including direct purchases from marketplaces like Amazon Business. Guided buying and digital buying capabilities are being improved, such as providing proactive advice on IT accessory purchases. Procurement operations are being digitized, with manual review steps integrated into the buying workflow, reducing manual workload and improving transparency. Accenture uses Celonis’ process mining solution to gain deeper insights and continuously improve customer experience. The Procurement Operations Desk, operating in 23 countries, streamlines approval activities and consolidates information, enhancing service quality and reducing turnaround times.
The work is not over when stabilization is done. It is actually the beginning of the most exciting part of the journey. Benefits to both the buyer and seller increase when you build automations and intelligence upon the SAP Ariba solution.
Patricia Miller / Director of Profitable & Responsible Buying
Accenture is also moving towards intelligent procurement by leveraging AI and predictive analytics to create a more user-friendly platform. The company is developing analytics on spend to gain insights into supplier performance and alternatives, aiming to expand intelligent spend management to other business areas. Accenture’s single global SAP S/4HANA® instance enables data accessibility for these insights. Additionally, Accenture is using SAP Fieldglass® to manage services-based spend, improving contract management and audit focus.
Infusing innovation into the purchasing process
SAP Ariba Buying and Invoicing has significantly enhanced Accenture's procurement capabilities, improving contract compliance and directing buyers towards simplified, catalog-based purchasing. This has resulted in a five-fold increase in compliance for the first two years. Accenture's adoption of this intelligent procurement solution earned it the Digital Trailblazer title at the 2019 SAP Innovation Awards. The company continuously measures each step of its procurement journey to ensure value delivery, tracking "hours reimagined" to optimize and upskill its workforce. Accenture’s Procurement Plus and global IT teams collaborate closely with SAP, influencing its technology roadmap and preparing for future innovations fostering an innovative mindset, supporting idea generation and ensuring effective implementation to reinvent purchasing.