SAP Spend Connect was in Las Vegas this year
5,000 developers are working on product improvements and enhancements to the SAP expense management suite. This is the largest area of investment for the company outside of ERP. With that level of investment, an aggressive product build would be expected. At SAP Spend Connect Live, held October 14-16 in Las Vegas, SAP made several important product announcements.
Relationships with expense management
SAP continues to invest in the use of generative AI to improve the user experience. Their copilot-style solution is known as Joule. SAP is introducing its generative Joule to the SAP Ariba source-to-pay solution portfolio to make it easier for their customers to manage routine queries, such as status updates, summary and frequently asked questions.
While SAP has had procurement analytics solutions, last year at Spend Connect Live, SAP announced the Spend Control Tower. This solution provides knowledge in a way that is much easier to digest. Warner Music Group was an early adopter. Daniel Chapman, senior director of process transformation for procurement to pay at Warner Music, was a keynote speaker. Users at Warner Music now receive insights automatically. The solution breaks down spending by category and uncovers “new subcategories that we didn’t even know existed. My advice,” he concluded, “is just jump in. It’s a great tool.”
The enterprise software company also announced a new analytics solution covering outsourced workforce management. This solution allows HR managers to review performance against over 50 key external workforce performance indicators, access global market intelligence (including rates, talent supply and demand, and time-to-hire trends) and track progress on diversity and worker health and safety initiatives.
In one of the demo booths, what stood out was the procurement solution’s ability to track savings streams over the course of a contract. When negotiating a procurement contract, the buyer has planned to achieve a certain level of savings. However, these savings can flow in several different ways. I’ve been to other vendors’ procurement conferences and I don’t recall seeing similar functionality.
Business Network Relations
As the Business Network enters the expense management product development organization, the collaboration with the trading partner covered by this platform extends beyond mere assistance. The SAP Business Network is a supply chain collaboration network. SCCN solutions allow trading partners to collaborate across defined trading partner processes based on a common data model. Transactions are captured on the platform, eliminating “he said, she said” arguments. For example, a buyer might say, “You only sent me 800 of the 1,000 products I ordered.” And the supplier might reply, “I just happened to send 800.” These types of disputes disappear in an SCCN platform.
The most common trading partner collaboration processes covered in the SCCN packages are order/procurement collaboration, demand forecasting collaboration, and the tender/carrier acceptance process of the shipper. SAP announced a new transportation collaboration solution that included messaging not only between shippers and shippers, but also three-way communication involving logistics service providers.
However, SAP has a broader set of collaboration solutions than other vendors. They also cover supplier managed inventory, quality collaboration, production line collaboration and asset collaboration. Asset collaboration includes process flows and documentation related to the commissioning or maintenance of capital equipment. Structured messaging groups can connect OEMs, component suppliers, plant operators and maintenance service providers.
The wider an SCCN network, the more benefits sellers and buyers get from participating. The buyer usually pays for the trading partners to participate. The larger the network, the more likely a buyer will find some suppliers they want to do a better job of working with already in the network. This makes the integration of trading partners much more straightforward.
If the network is built correctly, it also means that the network becomes a marketplace where sellers and buyers can find each other. The SAP Business Network has millions of companies conducting nearly $6 trillion in annual trade on the platform. Most of the spending moving through the network is for indirect materials, although executives stated that procurement of direct materials on the network is growing much faster.
In the first quarter of 2025, the Business Network will launch a new service that allows sellers to pay a subscription fee and receive value-added features that will help those suppliers attract new buyers. For example, a UK pallet supplier could look at analytics and see what their UK market share is. The solution can also provide suggestions like “your D&B data is not up to date” or “you didn’t notice you’re a minority-owned business in the directory” that can help sellers garner more business.
The Business Network is also building its capability to capture carbon emissions and provide footprints and footprints. Carbon certificates can be viewed in the catalog or captured via advanced ship notifications. SAP has partnered with Shippeo, a real-time shipping visibility provider, to allow tracking of the carbon associated with shipments. Track and trace is supported through batch serial number capture.