IBM has been contracted by ABB, a global technology company, to help support its procurement digitisation journey with the launch of SmartBuy, a newly designed end-to-end employee purchasing programme that aims to match the ease of on-line shopping with the intuitiveness and speed of a search engine
The solution is also designed to automate the process of finding, procuring and managing ABB’s supplier network, with services such as self-registration and contract processes.
“We wanted to transform our eProcurement processes to drive business value and create a better experience for our user community and suppliers while avoiding the need for major training and allowing for an increased level of self-service,’ said Daniel Stumm, ABB’s head of indirect procurement. “Along with IBM’s industry experience and guidance, we chose SAP Ariba solutions because we believe in their ability to help elevate our procurement function and support our longer-term business objectives.”
With SAP Ariba solutions at its core, SmartBuy is designed to help provide ABB employees with an enhanced self-service method to purchase indirect materials and services, guiding users to preferred suppliers, processes and policies. SmartBuy provides 24/7 support with an intuitive, single, self-service interface for ABB’s employees and suppliers across the globe, creating a seamless experience that also aligns with ABB corporate policies.
“With SmartBuy, ABB can tap into the power of AI to help remove manual, error-prone repetitive tasks and long search times for products and manufacturers, allowing procurement resources to focus on more strategic operations,” said Neil McCormack, managing partner - Geo Leader, IBM Services EMEA. “And while running SAP Ariba solutions in a hybrid cloud environment, we are able to make ABB’s systems and processes more intelligent without sacrificing existing security controls.”
