In an economy with high market velocity, low margins, and unavoidable spending increases, consumer products companies are finding that it is vital to tune and refine every aspect of the procurement process.

A 2007 Aberdeen survey of chief procurement officers indicated that cost savings is the top procurement metric. Furthermore, the study found that the misalignment between systems and policies represents the biggest barrier to delivering on cost-saving objectives.

Sustaining savings in procurement while maintaining the flexibility to serve dynamic demand can be realized only by closing the loop between your strategic sourcing activities and your procurement order cycle. This approach is enabling critical transparency into the end-to-end procurement process, from the identification of savings opportunities to the delivery of tangible cost savings.

Solutions Designed for Integrating Sourcing and Procurement

Solutions from SAP and our partners can help your consumer products company fully integrate the source-to-pay process to maximize cost savings. By integrating all aspects of sourcing and procurement, you can sustain savings, reduce operating costs, and ensure compliance with contracts and policies – all key to driving real competitive differentiation.

Gain Complete Transparency

Transparency into procurement activities can help you see how your data can flow from opportunities identified through spend analysis to cost savings captured from strategic sourcing of suppliers. Savings can then be captured as they are locked into contracts and ultimately delivered in the procurement order cycle.

Automate Procurement

With automated operations, you can streamline procurement of all goods and services, eliminate manual tasks, and reduce purchasing errors. Your procurement staff can also make decisions and take action more quickly with simplified and personalized access to key information.

Ensure Compliance with Contracts and Policies

By managing the entire life of a contract, you can ensure compliance with critical contracts, corporate guidelines, and regulatory requirements as well as monitor the sustainability implication of your products. Further, you can dynamically link suppliers to your procurement process to ensure efficient collaboration. SAP NetWeaver can help you integrate business partners and enable data sharing across heterogeneous systems within your global supplier network.

With more than 105,000 installations in 120 countries, SAP Services can help you assess and analyze procurement processes by delivering a clear road map based on best business practices to achieve rapidly your key objectives.

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