In our dynamic, interconnected world, every business thrives on the vital exchange of data and documents! No matter the size or industry, organizations rely on seamless communication through purchase orders, invoices, forecasts, and inventory levels that are all crucial for effective supply chain management. As market conditions shift and consumer demands evolve, companies are embracing the power of enhanced visibility in their supply chains, ensuring they stay competitive and resilient.
- Only 50% of executives can quickly find alternative sources of supply.
- 68% of companies still use email to transmit documents and information relevant to procurement commerce and supply chain to their supply base.
- 63% of companies say that incomplete information is their biggest problem.
Below are some of the most common customer challenges and needs:
Challenges:
Ineffective methods of collaboration, such as EDI, email, phone, fax, and portals, result in limited visibility and inefficient processes.
Capturing and collaborating on different data across the supply chain to support new initiatives, like ESG, is a growing challenge.
Ensuring supply chain transparency to prevent and address disruptions by having complete visibility across all collaborations with trading partners.
Customer Needs:
Customers require centralized operations to provide an intuitive, transparent, and secure e-commerce experience.
There is a demand for new functionalities, such as catalogs, to enhance the buyer experience and respond quickly to changing customer demands and market disruptions.
Inefficient technology use leads to poor collaboration methods. This results in critical questions, such as order status and supplier capability, remaining unanswered. Challenges include limited visibility, different processes per partner, lack of audit trails, high costs, and low adoption rates.
In an era of rapid change, businesses face pressure to meet evolving customer expectations and stay competitive through technology and data-driven insights. This drives organizations to redesign and streamline operations while following industry trends.
Trends:
The market is moving towards digitizing transactions and creating transparent, resilient, and sustainable supply chains.
Integration and extensibility capabilities are crucial, with a focus on integrating ERP systems, procurement modules, and other relevant applications.
There is a significant focus on enhancing collaboration with trading partners to address disruptions such as cybersecurity breaches, natural disasters, tariffs, geopolitical issues, and supply chain shortages.
SAP Business Network for Procurement is a B2B collaboration platform that connects people, processes, and systems across enterprises, enhancing supply chains and digitizing transactions. It fosters collaboration in various areas, including procurement (SAP Business Network Commerce Automation), supply chain (with modules like Quality and Forecast Collaboration), logistics (SAP Business Network Freight Collaboration), asset management (SAP Business Network Asset Collaboration), and finance (SAP Taulia Solutions).
SAP has been recognized as a leader in the IDC MarketScape for the 2023 worldwide multi-enterprise supply chain commerce network. Its strengths include a wide range of features, strong integration capabilities, and a future-oriented road map focused on logistics and sustainability. SAP's B2B platforms support global collaboration, making it a top choice for supply chain and procurement solutions.
