Las Vegas—April 10, 2015—Consumer technologies and social networks are making it easier than ever for us to shop, share and consume. Companies want this same simplicity. And Ariba, an SAP Company, is delivering it. The company announced innovations to its cloud-based applications and global business network designed to deliver a personal, contextual and mobile user experience that enables businesses to run with greater simplicity and efficiency. The enhancements were unveiled during Ariba LIVE, a business commerce event being held at The Venetian Las Vegas.
“We live in a digital world, and are more connected and empowered by information than ever. And this has created an entirely new set of expectations for what business software should do,” said Sanish Mondkar, chief product officer, Ariba. “Just like the technologies we use in our personal lives, we expect our business software to simplify the way we work. To guide our decisions and trigger real-time actions within the context of our business process so that we can streamline how we discover, connect and collaborate with our trading partners, and improve how we buy, sell and manage our cash.”
A Total User Experience
Today’s employees want to be able manage work activities with the same ease that they manage their personal lives, and through a newly designed Ariba user interface (UI), they can. Inspired by SAP Fiori, Ariba renewed its UI to deliver an intuitive experience that simplifies task and process execution for all users—from frontline requisitioners to strategic sourcing professionals.
But it takes more than a pretty face to overcome today’s business commerce challenges. That’s why Ariba delivers a total user experience that includes:
- Powerful, scalable and secure network-centric solutions that are simple to use.
- Built-in access to a large global community of buyers and suppliers—and their expertise.
- Relevant information automatically delivered in the context of key business processes.
- Fast and easy trading partner onboarding.
- Adoption services.
- 24/7 global, multi-lingual support.
Ariba Anywhere
Whether they are technicians on the plant floor, service agents in the field or sales people at client meetings, employees must be empowered to do their jobs anytime, anywhere, on any device. And through new apps like Ariba Mobile, they can. Delivered as a feature of Ariba’s procurement solutions, and available for download through the Apple App Store and Google Play, Ariba Mobile works in all the places people work, and provides a fast, easy and intuitive way to conduct business commerce on the go.
Using the app, users can quickly and easily view, track and act on requisitions from their mobile devices, transforming the speed and efficiency with which work gets done. And, because Ariba’s approach is not just about replicating existing user interactions onto mobile devices, but providing continuity between desktop interactions and working outside the office, they can enable new, more efficient and effective processes.
“The Ariba Mobile app provides our requisition approvers with easy access to requisitions anywhere, anytime and gives them the information they need to make spend decisions while keeping up with global demand,” said Alice Hillary, procure-to-pay enablement lead, Wiley. “Using the app, approvers can view their requests in a sleek interface and access details in an easier-to-read format than general emails. The feature also helps us to address security concerns with approvals done through email.”
Information Delivered When and Where It’s Needed
Today’s users expect their apps to deliver relevant information when and where they need it to make better, more informed business decisions and act on them. The Ariba Network is an intelligent network that automatically delivers the right expertise, community-generated content and interactive support material at the right time. So whether finding a new, quality source of supply, optimizing cash flow or qualifying new business opportunities and determining how best to win them, buyers and sellers can do so in more informed ways.
And as part of planned innovations, Ariba provides access to templates, best practices, videos and more within many of its applications, beginning with its Seller solutions. Users can tap directly into the Ariba Exchange Community, enabling collaboration within the context of their apps with professionals who have the expertise, experience and knowledge to help them execute a process, such as responding to a request for proposal (RFP) or creating an auction.
“The future of business commerce is collaborative, efficient and informed,” Mondkar said.
