Businesses today are seeking higher profits from bottom-line cost savings by leveraging sourcing and procurement functions. Forward-looking companies are viewing procurement operations as profit centers. They are making procurement a more strategic partner in the organization by strengthening supplier relationships. SAP provides multiple procurement solutions such as Ariba, Supplier Relationship Management, and SAP Sourcing. How does one select the one that best fits the specific organization's needs? The decision for selecting an appropriate procurement solution for a customer does not depend on just the functionality offered by each solution but also on various other factors as listed below:
Listed below are some of the differences between each of the procurement solutions –
SAP SRM can seamlessly integrate with ECC, there is no restriction on the level of customization that one can do in SRM and Sourcing as opposed to Ariba. Also, PPS (Procurement for the Public Sector) which caters to the public sector is a strong feature within SRM, which is missing in Ariba and Sourcing. On the other hand, Spot Buy is a feature that automates the tactical sourcing process within Ariba and is given full stars for its fast ROI.
The key differentiation is that SAP SRM is an on-premise solution that can integrate well with other SAP products such as MDM (for Catalogs), ECC (for follow on documents), and HCM (for the org structure). On the other hand, SAP Ariba is an on-demand solution that has an excellent Supplier Network base. It is continuously expanding along with Spot Buys which usually include one-time/emergency buys that cannot be fulfilled by incumbent suppliers.
The answer to the right solution is not always straightforward and requires deeper analysis into the nature of the organization and the specific business scenarios it is involved in.