Ariba: A Proven Procurement Solution with Rapid Results

Alexander Atzberger, President

Alex Atzberger, a new joinee in SAP’s business analysis department was spending a lonely weekend far from his hometown at the empty office during mid 2007, unaware of the presence of SAP CEO Bill McDermott. While at the same time, McDermott who was struggling to make a PowerPoint Presentation was looking for some help. He found Atzberger, working alone. After spending a long weekend making the presentation, Atzberger got a phone call—“Alex, I want all my future presentations to the board be done by you,” recalls Atzberger. It was McDermott himself, impressed by Atzberger’s business sense. After that incident, Atzberger climbed several steps in SAP’s ladder and was appointed as the president of newly acquired Palo Alto, CA based German Procurement software firm Ariba in 2012.

Ariba, on the other side, expanded greatly over the years in global procurement space with an unwavering aim to connect and collaborate with like-minded people. From a procurement firm to a cloud-based commerce, the company became a SAP member to change the legacy business process existing in the current space.

Under Atzberger’s strategic leadership, Ariba’s procurement software further improved to deliver more speed, performance, reach, and usability seamlessly integrated with customer’s existing ERP system. It helps businesses to enhance their entire Procure-to-Pay (P2P) lifecycle. With an aim to make Ariba the fastest growing startup within the big business, Atzberger took its solution onto the cloud. Ariba Procure-to-Pay solution has set a standard in the procurement software marketplace with its user friendly, streamlined catalog maintenance and configurable interface. This easy to use interface enables flawless product ordering and enhanced approval flows ensure the regulatory compliances are met in a timely manner. It supports end-to-end procurement process by collaborating with both buyers and suppliers through a single platform regardless of an ERP system working at the back-end.

Ariba’s certified multi tenant SaaS solution is secure, enables fast deployment, has a seamless commerce platform and has low IT impact

Ariba Procure-to- Pay solution gives buyers a fast, consumer-like shopping experience and quick ROI. It also gives a better visibility and more control to the shop-floor over all types of purchasing and complex business services.

“Ariba’s certified multi tenant SaaS solution is secure, enables fast deployment, has a seamless commerce platform and has low IT impact,” says Atzberger. Ariba also offers expert services to help its customers drive adoption, on-board new suppliers, and achieve their savings goals. It gives the customer the access to an online user community where they can exchange their procurement ideas and learn from peers.

In an instance, one of Ariba’s clients was struggling to get better control over their expenditure and decrease the supply risk without any additional headcount or budget. While their CIO was looking for the most effective P2P solution available, he came across Ariba. “Our globally spread trading networks helped the client manage the entire process—from placing complex orders to paying for a simple purchase,” expresses Atzberger. By using Ariba’s P2P solution, the customer could connect with their existing suppliers simply and quickly, and discover new suppliers to meet unplanned requirements at one go. The solution further enabled the client to control all its divisions by making their system more agile. “This solution ultimately helped our customer to lower up-front cost and drive up adoption,” extols Atzberger.

Apart from being popular among industry giants and large enterprises like Bank of America, Exxon Mobil, and UPS, Ariba has also tapped into SME sector. The company has recently introduced Spot Buy service which helps small business sellers and suppliers offer their products directly to enterprise customers via company-approved catalogs and eBay stores. This new service is expected to open a larger window for SMEs to market their products among large corporations.