Whether you’re trying to improve your company’s sourcing, procurement, or payment procedures, there’s no question that SAP Ariba can help to minimize risk and ensure compliance. Unfortunately, getting Ariba to play nicely with the rest of your SAP organization is easier said than done.
In this article, we’ll take a closer look at some common Ariba integration challenges, as well as how an experienced SAP consultant can help you solve them.
Common Ariba Integration Challenges
Acts Like a Third-Party Vendor
Despite SAP’s purchase of Ariba back in 2012 (nearly a decade ago!), SAP and Ariba still don’t play nicely together, with the latter acting a bit more like a third-party vendor than another SAP module. Obviously, this inter-platform friction can be incredibly frustrating—anything that’s handling the amount of money involved in your average procurement or sourcing process had better be integrated correctly, lest you find out your company’s money isn’t doing what it’s supposed to be doing…
Connects to Vital Modules (But Not Easily…)
The good news is that Ariba can integrate with SAP S/4HANA, so if you’ve already made the switch to the new platform, congrats! The bad news is that setting up that integration so that it’s as seamless as possible—especially when it comes to your SD (Sales and Distribution), MM (Materials Management), and FICO (Finance and Controlling) modules—can be a challenge.
As all of these modules are vital business processes, Ariba must integrate with all of them correctly, which costs time, effort, and money. And as is true of most things, if you rush to get things done more quickly, that can come back to bite you later. As the old saying goes, “The cheapest way to do something is correctly the first time.” A good consultant can help integrate Ariba with the rest of your SAP ecosystem, but finding the right one introduces its own set of challenges.
The Right Consultant is Hard to Find
Your average Ariba consultant knows their stuff…as far as Ariba goes. Sourcing an Ariba consultant that you can rely on as a truly functional consultant, however, is a challenge. Why? Because successfully integrating Ariba with SAP SD, MM, and FICO requires somebody who understands the tech side of things just as well as they do the business side of things. (In other words, you need somebody who knows what buttons to push as well as why those buttons should be pushed.)
There are plenty of folks out there who understand Ariba, but if you hire a consultant who doesn’t have a firm grasp of how Ariba needs to integrate with SAP SD, MM, or FICO, their expertise could actually do more harm than good. Add in the difficulty of locating a US-based consultant with all of the above skills, and things get even trickier.
That’s where Surety Systems comes in.
We’ve Got the Consultant You Need
If you need a senior-level SAP consultant that has a strong grasp of Ariba, as well as experience with standard SAP business processes, you’re in luck—Surety Systems has an expansive network of talented SAP consultants who fit the bill, and what’s more, our consultants are US-based and able to work on your schedule. (They’re basically SAP superheroes.)
So say goodbye to your Ariba integration challenges, and say hello to your new favorite SAP consultant. Contact us today to get things rolling.
