By delivering sophisticated collaboration and automation capabilities and by transforming tangles of data into actionable insights, SAP Ariba solutions help businesses reduce inefficiencies and discover opportunities for value. SAP Ariba offers an extensive suite of feature-rich solutions-covering sourcing, contract management, supplier management (including supplier risk), procurement, working capital optimization, and spend visibility-to help businesses better visualize information, make meaningful decisions, and execute effectively. Increasingly, solutions from SAP Ariba® provide organizations with new ways to develop that value. The traditional supply chain has transformed into a value chain, in which each step of the business process-from sourcing to sale-represents an opportunity to realize efficiencies, to innovate, and to deliver value. It’s about managing the entire chain of goods, services, and activities that extend from the supplier all the way to the customer and the customer’s experience. However, strategic sourcing is a larger concept that aims to improve the procurement process of your business and ensure the lowest cost for the whole process.Effective leaders understand that managing a business today is about more than managing the enterprise. Sourcing is simply the process of identifying the suitable suppliers for your business to procure products and services at the optimal price.

You will also see a difference between two terms – sourcing and strategic sourcing.

You will have to factor in the total sourcing cost, including the price for creating contracts, time factors, and transportations, not just the direct purchase cost. However, if you consider long-term prospects, you will have to consider many additional factors where the concept of sustainable savings comes into play. But can the lowest price always guarantee you the highest savings for your business? For a very short-term, it might. In a traditional sense, many of us often look at sourcing with a narrower view: finding a supplier and negotiating to secure the lowest possible price.

Sap ariba sourcing