Accenture and Ariba, an SAP AG company, are expanding their global alliance through a first-of-its-kind agreement to offer new cloud-based solutions designed to transform the delivery of procurement and finance and accounting (F&A) business services to clients.
Together, the two companies will redefine business process outsourcing (BPO) and define business operations services that can help clients become a best-run business by achieving significant process efficiencies and related cost savings.
The first solution to be delivered, which provides electronic invoicing capabilities via the Ariba Network, would enable clients to realise the value of the largest global business-to-business trading network.
The Ariba Network, used by more than 1,5-million companies to transact over half a trillion dollars in commerce on an annual basis, will enable clients to drive a touchless global invoicing process that helps reduce operating costs, supports complex compliance requirements and improves business commerce collaboration. As a result, clients could drive more efficient enterprise-wide commerce, while at the same time optimising working capital.
“This agreement represents an entirely new way that Accenture and SAP are teaming together to deliver innovative, industry-specific and technology-enabled operations solutions to clients,” says Mike Salvino, group chief executive, Accenture Operations.
“Together, we can help our clients streamline their procurement processes to improve financial and business performance and increase competitiveness through insight generation, greater automation and speed, enhanced transparency, and higher levels of control and quality.”
“Business networks have changed the way companies collaborate with their supply chains,” says Dr. Chakib Bouhdary, executive vice-president, Industry Solution and Business Networks, SAP.
“By digitising the interactions between companies, business networks are transforming how business is done in a global economy. Accenture will be able to deliver the next generation of BPO solutions with the Ariba Network and provide greater results for clients worldwide.”
Accenture intends to combine the industry leading business process and technology expertise of Accenture Operations, including key assets and capabilities resulting from its acquisition of procurement solutions provider Procurian, along with Ariba’s market leading cloud solutions and the Ariba Network to develop next generation offerings that further automate the procure-to-pay process.
These procurement and F&A BPO offerings, as well as other future solutions, will be defined in part through the recently launched Accenture and SAP Business Solutions Group. The new business solutions group brings together the companies’ respective co-innovation, joint solution development and go-to-market teams in an effort to focus on significantly accelerating time to value for clients globally.
