Asian Businesses Drive Digital Commerce with SAP Ariba

Buyers and sellers across region connect to world’s largest B2B marketplace to collaborate more efficiently, enhance relationships and results.

Taguig, Philippines – As the region with the greatest number of connected and digitally savvy consumers, Asia is primed for e-commerce. And SAP Ariba is helping to fuel it, providing a dynamic, digital marketplace, where buyers and sellers can find each other, collaborate together and get more than $2.5 billion in commerce done every day.

“A digital transformation is taking hold around the world, and Asia is leading the way, as companies embrace the same technologies that have made their personal lives so easy to simplify the way business gets done,” said Alex Atzberger, President, SAP Ariba, in kicking off SAP Ariba Live, the premier global commerce event taking place this week at the Marina Bay Sands in Singapore.

Where Social and Business Meet
Every day, billions of Asian consumers tap into social networks like Alibaba, WeChat and Kakao to shop and share. Everything they need to manage their personal lives is in these networks – there’s no need to leave them to make things happen.

SAP Ariba delivers this same simplicity to the enterprise through its cloud-based applications and business network. And with increasing frequency, Asian companies are using these solutions to digitize their operations and transform commerce.

The Marketplace for Modern Business
With SAP Ariba, buying organizations can manage the entire purchasing process, while controlling spending, finding new sources of savings and building a healthy supply chain.

“Procurement is no longer about buying things at the best prices, but collaborating in new, more efficient ways that create value across the entire source-to-pay process,” said David Man, AIA Group Controller. “To do this requires more than just point solutions that address specific tasks. It takes an end-to-end offering that combines the convenience and agility of the cloud with the connectivity and global reach of business networks and strength of enterprise applications. With SAP Ariba, this is exactly what we get.”

And suppliers like Malaysia-based Alphamatic Systems can collaborate more efficiently with customers, streamlining sales cycles and improving cash control along the way.

“With SAP Ariba solutions, it is very easy to track purchase orders and invoices online,” said Chan Woei Liang, Sales Director, Enterprise Business Solutions, Alphamatic Systems. “Time spent on follow ups for payment has been reduced significantly and we have even seen business grow.”

Where Commerce Happens

In the three months ended June 30 Asian companies used the Ariba Network to:
· Source more than $29 billion in goods and services

· Exchange over 1.6 million purchase orders worth an estimated $9.5 billion

· Process nearly one million invoices worth close to half a million USD

· Share nearly $1 billion in new business opportunities via Ariba Discovery, the premier service for matching business buyers and sellers globally.

And in the last year, the number of suppliers connecting to the Ariba Network to efficiently collaborate on transactions and boost their revenue rose nearly 200 percent.

“Asia is among the most connected and digitally savvy economies in the world,” said Grant Clinch, Head of APJ, SAP Ariba. “And in embracing cloud-based solutions that enable them to connect in new and innovative ways, they will open the door to incredible opportunities for growth. And SAP Ariba will be there to support them along every step of the way.”

More than half a million buyers and suppliers in Asia use SAP Ariba’s solutions to digitize and simplify commerce. And last week, the company announced plans to make its source-to-pay applications available locally in China through a facility in Shanghai. The move will enable Chinese businesses to discover, connect and collaborate with trading partners through a single digital marketplace to simplify business commerce.

“We look forward to bringing the world’s leading cloud procurement solution to customers in China and to delivering a local, secure and reliable cloud infrastructure that enables them to drive innovation and growth,” Clinch said.