In a world with literally hundreds of millions of businesses, it can be kind of hard to stay on top of all of the lingo. Like, what exactly is an SAP Ariba consultant? What does a P2P consultant do? Also, while we’re on the topic, what is synergy?
Just kidding, we know what synergy is. As far as the other two items that we listed, it may not be as commonly known as the hallmark terms that you hear in most big business meetings these days. So, how do we go about figuring out exactly what these words mean?
Well, we do research. If you’ve found this article, you’re in the right place and definitely going down the right path. We’ve done a lot of our own research by means of talking to experts, reading literature on the topic, and even scouring the internet for answers.
This has been far from an easy venture, but we stand before you today with a good deal of information that you could potentially benefit from. Whether this is your first time running a business or you’re the type that sells a company for a few hundred thousand every other week, there’s a good chance that we’ll have some stellar information that you’ll find very useful.
What is SAP Ariba?
There has been a lot of buzz in the world of business about SAP Ariba, but what exactly is it and why do so many people love it so much? We plan on answering both of these questions for you so you can be more sure that you know what you’re talking about when you bring it up during meetings.
SAP Ariba is a piece of software that can help you along your S2P, or source-to-pay, process. It’s so great because it’s able to put a lot of steps of the process in one, easy-to-use place. There are three major things that this software can help you out with:
- Sourcing
- Finding the goods that your company needs.
- Procurement
- Getting your hands on the goods that your company needs.
- Payment
- Paying for said goods at whatever time was agreed upon by your company and the supplier.
These three things make up the three major steps of the S2P process, meaning that you can easily make everything run a lot more smoothly if you digitize it with a piece of software like SAP Ariba.
The reason why so many companies like SAP Ariba specifically is because it’s on the cutting edge of its field. Many people consider SAP Ariba to be a leader of their industry simply because they are so far ahead of the curve.
What is SAP Ariba Consulting?
Now that we’ve covered what SAP Ariba is, let’s take a look at what consultants for this program are able to do for your company. It’s pretty simple but it can be a little confusing if you’re new to this kind of software, which is ok.
S2P and P2P consultants that specialize in SAP Ariba can help you make sure that you’re getting your software set up correctly as well as providing some sort. We’ll cover S2P and P2P consultants more in detail in a moment, but for now, let’s look at what they do for SAP Ariba:
- Setting up SAP Ariba in the most optimal way possible based on industry research.
- Any kind of software is simply a tool, so knowing that your software is set up as good as it can be can make it work a lot better.
- In-depth testing after set-up.
- Things could be set up good enough, but sometimes good enough isn’t good enough. Having specialists test it after it’s set up can make a world of difference.
- Software support from specialists.
- Your I.T. department can help with software, but generally, they’re better suited for keeping your network up and running. Having a consultant that knows what they’re doing can take some stress off of their shoulders as well as provide them with some much-needed backup.
- Guarantee the easiest end-user experience.
- As an end-user, whether you’re the end-user or someone else is, it’s important that a piece of software is easy to use so that no mistakes are accidentally made.
- Easier implementation of the software.
- SAP Ariba isn’t too difficult a piece of software to implement into your company, but hiring someone who specializes in this kind of software can make your experience that much easier.
Essentially, consultants that have specialized in SAP Ariba can share their expertise with you. In most cases, these consultants have experience with this software from across multiple industries. That means that there’s a good idea that they’ll know what will and won’t work for your company.
In fact, there’s a good chance that most consultants will have experience in your industry. That means that you could have someone on your side who knows exactly how to use this kind of software for your business because they’ve worked with businesses just like yours.
S2P and P2P: What are They?
Now let’s take a look at some buzz words that are used a lot in business. Whether you realize it or not, your business goes through the S2P process constantly. Let’s take a look at exactly what that means before we cover what P2P and S2P consultants are.
P2P is short for procure-to-pay. It is a system that is meant to make your process of procuring goods simpler by putting as many of the steps in one. Many companies use P2P to optimize processes within their company to make buying a little easier.
S2P is short for source-to-pay and this is another process. It is the entire process from, well, finding suppliers to paying them. In a lot of cases, the process ends with cash on delivery, but if you have a contract that has it structured a different way it would end when you have your hands on the goods.
Both of these are important for businesses, and both can end up either saving you money or helping you make a bit more money. Every business undergoes these processes to some degree, some more than others.
What do P2P Consultants Do?
Alright, now that we understand what SAP Ariba is, what P2P is, and what S2P is, let’s take a look at what S2P consultants actually do to justify the price of obtaining their services. Hiring experts can be pretty pricey no matter the industry, but let’s look at what P2P consultants do:
- Take a look at your current processes.
- Find inefficiencies within them.
- Recommend ways to fix them.
- Suggest software to help with your processes and help get that software set up.
Sometimes these consultants will do a lot more than that. It really depends on the consultant as well as what you contracted them to do. In some cases, P2P consultants can get pretty hands-on with your company.
Most P2P consultants want to make sure that they leave the companies they work with better than they were when they got there. Of course, there are people that are bad at their job in every field.
That being said, many P2P consultants take their jobs really seriously. With the kind of expertise that they have many of them make it a point to share their talents as much as possible so they can make the companies that they work with succeed as much as possible.
It might not make a lot of sense from the outside but look at it this way. Every company a consultant works with ends up going into their portfolio. That means that the more companies that improved because of their help, the more likely they’ll be to get more work.
They, just like everyone else, don’t want to have to go back to their fallback jobs. On top of that, a lot of people just take a lot of pride in their work. Because of this, they’re going to do whatever they can to make sure that your company is improved by their efforts.
Also, at the end of the day, no one likes wasting their time. If a consultant goes to your business, there’s a good chance that they’d feel like they were wasting their time if they didn’t give your company the old college try.
It doesn’t matter how much of a mess your current process is, a consultant has probably seen bigger messes and can help you get everything set up to run as optimally as possible. Whether it’s just changing contracts or changing your processes from the ground up, where there’s a will there’s a way.
Getting the Best Software for Your Company
Sometimes, all of your issues could be solved with some good software that’s set up correctly. Sometimes it takes a lot more than that, but regardless of how much effort your company needs to be running optimally, there’s a way to do it and people that are willing to help you along your way so your company can experience the growth that you know its capable of.