How Accenture’s resolution erases the blind spots of companies spend administration

Going through the potential of an financial recession, one of many world’s main skilled companies corporations felt the urgency to enhance its grasp on spend administration – the follow of absolutely understanding and managing provider relations and firm buying.

With 738,000 workers and $3.8 billion in companies contracts, it was essential for Accenture to not solely determine each greenback being spent but in addition assess whether or not the group was absolutely exploiting every expenditure.

However a way of frustration pervaded the corporate, as procurement groups complained about restricted visibility into contract phrases and challenges monitoring assertion of labor (SOW) agreements, pacts specifying objectives, and deadlines anticipated of exterior workers.

The capability to generate the SOW contracts and successfully handle companies spend depended upon the area since every was reliant on totally different processes and documentation necessities.

Insufficient companies spend visibility additionally elevated publicity to native authorized and regulatory dangers.

Likewise, clients had been unhappy with a procurement course of that was disjointed and rigid when fast modifications had been wanted.  

Enhancements had been wanted and the deadline was tight.

“Procurement features require a variety of effort and time working with suppliers to barter the most effective contract with the most effective phrases,” stated Patricia Miller, Accenture’s interim Chief Procurement Officer (CPO), “but when we’re not capable of evaluate the delivered service towards that settlement in a scientific means, how can we guarantee that the hard-earned negotiated phrases had been utilized?” 

To alleviate this quandary, Accenture launched a marketing campaign to construct a vigorous, dynamic procurement perform to unlock extra worth by offering extraordinary visibility into companies spend. 

The worldwide normal at lightning velocity

Based mostly in Dublin, Eire, Accenture focuses on digital, cloud, and safety know-how methods, consulting, and operations, serving greater than 40 industries in additional than 120 nations.

Now, because it conceptualized a brand new platform to successfully handle companies spend, it was pressured to alter its deployment system.

Beforehand, deployment planning was laborious, requiring substantial time and funding.  The prolonged course of slowed suggestions on resolution design, in addition to supply instances on modifications.

But, Accenture had a reliable, long-term associate in enterprise useful resource planning (ERP) software program pioneer SAP, first adopting the corporate’s options in 2004.

Because it confronted its newest problem, Accenture selected SAP Fieldglass, a vendor administration system for companies procurement and exterior workforce group, to supply reporting and analytics.

Along with implementing a worldwide normal template – reasonably than a wide range of country-specific prototypes – the answer can be personalized to satisfy native invoicing, authorized, and regulatory necessities.

From submission to fee, not solely would turnaround time be decreased, however collaboration and communication with suppliers had been about to succeed in unprecedented ranges.

Assembly altering markets and enterprise calls for

The perform was deployed again in 2020 within the first of many country-by-country rollouts.

Though the everyday know-how deployment had taken a median of 1 12 months per nation, the expedited timeline enabled 14 nations to start utilizing the answer inside 12 months.

A worldwide administration staff was additionally shaped to help the hassle.

Given the significance of the implementation, fixed suggestions was wanted, and the improved know-how amplified the extent of dialogue, streamlining each testing actions and the flexibility to ship required modifications.

In the present day, Accenture’s procurement arm is healthier geared up to satisfy altering market and enterprise calls for than ever earlier than.

For the primary time, Accenture has a heightened understanding of the “hidden” workforce related to its service enterprise.  Since exterior staff might not at all times match conventional profiles, customers are capable of cull contract data to hyperlink particular workers to their particular person talent units.

Defined Jane M. Kennedy, International Exterior Administration Director for Accenture, “In the present day, we have now much-proved…visibility for administration (on account of) a web based resolution that aligns to every employee’s kind of engagement.” 

Suppliers famous the benefit of transitioning to SAP Fieldglass, and the tempo at which whole corporations had been capable of undertake the platform.

At the moment, 2,000 suppliers have carried out the system, whereas $ 1 billion in companies spend are managed by means of the perform every year, leading to a extra clear provide chain and vital price financial savings.

That features the decreased charges for doc storage in areas the place procurement practices had been primarily paper based mostly.

Customers report 99% larger accuracy, in addition to 7% error discount per 10,000 SOWs.

For creating a worldwide normal procurement course of by means of its growth of a novel resolution, Accenture was distinguished as a finalist on the 2023 SAP Innovation Awards, a yearly ceremony honoring organizations utilizing SAP applied sciences to enhance enterprise and society. You may learn their pitch deck to see what they achieved to earn this honor.