How did an Embedded Expert Unlock More from SAP Ariba
How did an Embedded Expert Unlock More from SAP Ariba
A UK company operating in a regulated sector had invested in SAP Ariba as their procurement platform, but without the right specialist in place, the system was running well below its potential. Workflows were misrouted, processes remained manual and technical queries piled up unanswered.
What the client needed was not a new system; they needed the right person inside the one they already had.
The Challenge: Existing Tool, Missing Expertise
Without a dedicated specialist to configure and support it, their SAP Ariba platform had quietly developed the following blind spots:
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- Outdated Approval Flows: Approvals were routed to the wrong people, triggering audit flags and slowing down requisitions and supplier onboarding.
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- No Dedicated Platform Support: No one could address technical queries, forcing the team to work around problems rather than resolve them.
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- Manual Supplier Surveys: Quarterly performance assessments were managed entirely over email and Excel, requiring manual sending, follow-ups, consolidation and reporting.
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- Manual Supplier Categorisation: Without automated logic in place, the team was manually categorising suppliers in spreadsheets, adding effort and inconsistency to a process Ariba could have handled.
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- Underutilised Platform: The client was paying for an end-to-end procurement system while only scratching the surface of what it could do for them.
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The Solution: Embedded SAP Ariba Specialist
Through Colleague-as-a-Service (CLaaS), Denova deployed a senior SAP Ariba specialist directly into the client’s procurement team as an embedded colleague. Rather than arriving with a fixed playbook, the engagement started by understanding the specific configuration gaps and business requirements before making any changes.
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- Reconfiguring the Approval Workflow Logic: The priority was getting approval flows back in sync with how the business operated by working through existing conditions and realigning outdated logic. The goal wasn’t just to fix what was broken; it was to build a configuration that could be maintained going forward.
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- Automating the Supplier Performance Management Process: The team automated the supplier performance survey process within Ariba, covering automatic survey distribution, business owner assignment and a consolidated reporting extract — giving the team a centralised place to track supplier performance.
- Automating the Supplier Performance Management Process: The team automated the supplier performance survey process within Ariba, covering automatic survey distribution, business owner assignment and a consolidated reporting extract — giving the team a centralised place to track supplier performance.
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- Setting Up Automatic Supplier Segmentation: The team configured automatic supplier segmentation based on responses captured through Ariba’s request forms, replacing a process that was previously done manually in Excel.
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- Building Internal Capability Through Training: Training sessions were delivered to the client’s operations team so they could handle day-to-day queries without relying on external support.
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- Establishing Structured Collaboration: Twice-weekly check-ins were set up with key stakeholders to ensure requirements were captured accurately before any configuration was locked in. A backup consultant, known internally as a “Shadow Buddy,” was also assigned to ensure continuity when unexpected demands arose.
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The Colleague Who Made It Possible
The specialist deployed on this engagement, Gellie, brought eight years of SAP Ariba experience into the team. Her contribution went beyond configuration work; she acted as the primary point of contact for the procurement team’s day-to-day queries, ran training sessions and pushed the boundaries of what the platform was capable of.
“Previous Ariba specialists mentioned that automatic supplier segmentation wasn’t possible, yet I managed to configure it and make it work. “
— Gellie, SAP Ariba Specialist, Denova
The Result: SAP Ariba at Full Capacity
Approval and Onboarding Turnaround Reduced
Supplier onboarding turnaround time dropped by an average of 39 percent compared to pre-engagement period. Reconfigured approval workflows cleared the backlog of misrouted approvals.
Supplier Survey Management Automated
The supplier relations team no longer needs to manually send surveys, chase suppliers or consolidate responses. The entire process, from survey distribution to business owner review, now runs through Ariba.
Automatic Supplier Segmentation Now Live
Suppliers are now categorised automatically based on responses, reducing manual work. A targeted clean-up of invalid commodity codes also resulted in a 35 percent drop in invalid code usage.
Fewer Queries, Faster Resolution
The volume of technical and functional queries dropped noticeably over time. The procurement team moved from working around issues to resolving them directly rather than being left to sit in a backlog.
The client now actively uses Ariba across ordering, supplier performance management and reporting functions that were previously untouched — finally realising the return their platform investment was always capable of delivering.
What This Engagement Taught Us
“Organisations can have any tool in the world, but without the right people to support it, the value they deliver will always be limited.”
— Gellie, SAP Ariba Specialist, Denova
Technology Without Expertise Delivers Limited Value
Even the best tools deliver limited value without the right people in place to support and optimise them. True digital transformation requires both the tool and the capability to maximise it.
Proactive Configuration Beats Reactive Workarounds
For years, the team had been manually compensating for an approval workflow that hadn’t kept pace with organisational change. Embedding specialist expertise made it possible to get ahead of those issues rather than continuously patching around them.
Embedded Expertise Accelerates Adoption
Since the specialist worked within the team day to day, knowledge transfer happened naturally. The client’s team did not just receive a better-configured system; they gained a clearer understanding of how to manage and optimise it themselves.
Many organisations find themselves in a similar position: the platform is in place, but the return on that investment is harder to see than it should be.
HOW WE CAN HELP
Whether the issue is underutilised modules or a lack of specialist support, there’s often more value sitting inside the system than the team has capacity to unlock.
If that sounds familiar, it might be worth a conversation about what embedded procurement expertise could look like for your organisation.
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