At the SAP Spend Connect Live, the German tech giant announced innovations and significant milestones in spend management, as well as areas of focus for the future. The conference is the premier event for spend management in the industry, unveiling new products, enhancements to existing solutions, and a renewed focus on delivering customer value.
With the goal of maximizing prospects in enterprise contract intelligence, SAP and Icertis expanded their joint partnership in the Contract Lifecycle Management sector earlier this year. Through this strategic alliance, SAP has engaged with Icertis to create a product roadmap and further integrate solutions that will benefit their shared clients by increasing productivity, streamlining contracts and processes, and minimizing risks.
The two companies’ customer base were expected to benefit from cutting-edge analytics powered by artificial intelligence (AI), real-time contract intelligence, and outstanding compliance as a result of the combination of SAP’s intelligent enterprise applications with Icertis’ intelligent contract management solution, Icertis Contract Intelligence Platform (ICI). In addition, both the ICI for SAP Ariba solutions and the ICI for SAP Customer Experience solutions have been accepted into the SAP Endorsed Apps program, an invite-only initiative that adds weight to the credibility of SAP Partner solutions that have earned the German software giant’s premium certification.
Announcing Tighter Integration Between SAP Ariba and Icertis
At this year’s SAP Spend Connect Live virtual conference, the tech companies announced deeper integration between SAP Ariba and Icertis contract management management solutions, which will benefit clients in a broader range of contract management use cases. The SAP Ariba solutions team and the Icertis team collaborated on its development and maintenance in order to lay the groundwork for future developments.
Increased efficiency, adaptability, and user satisfaction in contract management are just some of the advantages of the tighter integration. Users can now more efficiently handle contract amendment processes by replicating contract workspaces from SAP Ariba solutions into Icertis, as well as beginning contract authoring in Icertis for contract workspaces that were originally created in SAP Ariba solutions.
In addition, the sourcing, onboarding, and off-boarding processes for external workers can be simplified through a direct integration between SAP Fieldglass solutions and ICI. This is available to customers who have SAP Fieldglass solutions but do not use SAP Ariba solutions. These integrations facilitate smoother negotiations, increased compliance, and AI-powered business analytics and automation, all of which are designed to provide value across an organization.
Significant Milestones Celebrated at SAP Spend Connect Live
In the present and going forward into the future, SAP’s market-leading spend management and business network solutions will be available to government agencies and highly regulated industries in the US. These solutions are deployed with enterprise-grade security, providing agencies and industries with the tools they need to manage spending and business processes effectively and securely.
Among the solutions portfolio’s most significant achievements are:
- In full compliance with the Federal Risk and Authorization Management Program (FedRAMP) moderate parameters, SAP Fieldglass solutions are already available in the SAP National Security Services (SAP NS2) portfolio in a commercially controlled market built to the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) baseline. It is also in accordance with the International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR).
- In 2023, the SAP NS2 portfolio will include SAP Business Network for Procurement and SAP Business Network for Supply Chain in a commercially compliant setting. Customers will be able to work together with their trading partners in an environment that passes the stringent security and compliance standards mandated by the federal government.
- SAP is now striving to incorporate SAP Ariba Procurement solutions within the SAP NS2 suite.
- Federal Risk and Authorization Management Program (FedRAMP) certification for SAP Concur services is “in process” at this time. The sponsoring agency has reviewed the security authorization package and a third-party assessment organization has determined the system is secure. By the year’s end, SAP Concur solutions should be available for purchase on the FedRAMP marketplace.
Meanwhile, SAP’s new category management solution — available to a limited number of customers by the end of the year — will be rolled out to more users throughout 2023. In the current post-pandemic economic climate, SAP understands that category management has become increasingly important as the foundation of an efficient procurement strategy. Muhammad Alam, President and Chief Product Officer of Intelligent Spend and Business Network at SAP, said:
“We are increasing our focus and investment in developing solutions that will help our customers truly digitalize category management to turn data into insights that can lead to improved business outcomes.”
