How Accenture’s solution erases the blind spots of services spend management

With 738,srcsrcsrc workers, Accenture’s procurement teams had restricted visibility into contract terms and statements of work (SOW). With SAP, the routine services leader created a brand recent panorama into services spend.

Going through the risk of an economic recession, one of the world’s main professional services firms felt the urgency to present a enhance to its steal on spend management – the discover of fully working out and managing dealer kinfolk and company purchasing.

With 738,srcsrcsrc workers and $3.8 billion in services contracts, it changed into critical for Accenture to no longer most efficient identify every dollar being spent but moreover assess whether the group changed into fully exploiting every expenditure.

Nevertheless a technique of frustration pervaded the company, as procurement teams complained about restricted visibility into contract terms and challenges tracking assertion of work (SOW) agreements, pacts specifying dreams, and gash-off dates anticipated of external workers.

The skill to generate the SOW contracts and successfully arrange services spend depended upon the position since every changed into reliant on different processes and documentation requirements.

Inadequate services spend visibility moreover increased publicity to local staunch and regulatory risks.

Likewise, possibilities fill been unhappy with a procurement task that changed into disjointed and inflexible when swiftly adjustments fill been wished.

Enhancements fill been wished and the decrease-off date changed into tight.

“Procurement functions require a lot of time and energy working with suppliers to negotiate the preferrred contract with the preferrred terms,” said Patricia Miller, Accenture’s interval in-between Chief Procurement Officer (CPO), “but when we’re no longer in a position to compare the delivered carrier against that agreement in a scientific formula, how can we guarantee that the in fact-earned negotiated terms fill been utilized?”

To alleviate this jam, Accenture launched a marketing and marketing campaign to design a full of life, dynamic procurement characteristic to liberate extra designate by offering unparalleled visibility into services spend.

The global normal at lightning tempo

Based entirely entirely in Dublin, Ireland, Accenture specializes in digital, cloud, and security know-how recommendations, consulting, and operations, serving bigger than 4src industries in bigger than 12src countries.

Now, as it conceptualized a brand recent platform to successfully arrange services spend, it changed into compelled to trade its deployment machine.

Beforehand, deployment planning changed into laborious, requiring gigantic time and funding.  The lengthy task slowed suggestions on solution invent, as successfully as shipping events on adjustments.

But, Accenture had a loyal, long-time interval partner in enterprise resource planning (ERP) software pioneer SAP, first adopting the company’s solutions in 2srcsrc4.

Because it faced its most modern downside, Accenture selected SAP Fieldglass, a dealer management machine for services procurement and external group of workers group, to offer reporting and analytics.

Moreover to to implementing a global normal template – rather than a vary of country-particular prototypes – the solution will almost definitely be customized to meet local invoicing, staunch, and regulatory requirements.

From submission to payment, no longer most efficient would turnaround time be diminished, but collaboration and conversation with suppliers fill been about to prevail in unheard of stages.

Meeting changing markets and enterprise requires

The characteristic changed into deployed abet in 2src2src in the first of many country-by-country rollouts.

Though the conventional know-how deployment had taken a median of one yr per nation, the expedited timeline enabled 14 countries to begin the employ of the solution within 300 and sixty five days.

A global management group of workers changed into moreover fashioned to improve the effort.

Given the importance of the implementation, constant suggestions changed into wished, and the enhanced know-how amplified the stage of dialogue, streamlining every testing actions and the skill to ship required adjustments.

As of late, Accenture’s procurement arm is better equipped to meet changing market and enterprise requires than ever sooner than.

For the first time, Accenture has a heightened working out of the “hidden” group of workers associated to its carrier enterprise.  Since external workers could even no longer continuously match primitive profiles, customers are in a position to cull contract files to hyperlink particular workers to their particular particular person skill sets.

Defined Jane M. Kennedy, International Exterior Management Director for Accenture, “As of late, now we fill worthy-proved…visibility for management (as a consequence of) a internet solution that aligns to every employee’s sort of engagement.”

Suppliers renowned the ease of transitioning to SAP Fieldglass, and the tempo at which total firms fill been in a position to undertake the platform.

Currently, 2,srcsrcsrc suppliers fill utilized the machine, while $ 1 billion in services spend are managed through the characteristic every yr, ensuing in a extra clear offer chain and valuable designate savings.

That involves the diminished prices for yarn storage in regions the set procurement practices fill been basically paper basically based entirely mostly.

Users yarn Ninety nine% increased accuracy, as successfully as 7% error low cost per 1src,srcsrcsrc SOWs.

For developing a global normal procurement task through its building of a unusual solution, Accenture changed into illustrious as a finalist at the 2src23 SAP Innovation Awards, a yearly ceremony honoring organizations the employ of SAP technologies to present a enhance to enterprise and society. You would also read their pitch deck to witness what they done to accomplish this honor.