Company amps up vetting process for suppliers in SAP Ariba Spot Buy, setting new standard for ethics and compliance among marketplaces for indirect goods 

There are plenty of online sites where businesses can shop for industrial products and buy them in the same fast, easy way as consumer goods. But where can they go to purchase those hard-to-find, one-off items that account for a good chunk of their spend in a compliant manner from trusted suppliers who align with their values?  SAP Ariba. The company today announced that it has expanded the vetting capabilities in  SAP Ariba® Spot Buy to include additional risk assessments for suppliers delivered by Global Risk Management Solutions (GRMS), making it not only the largest marketplace for industrial goods, but among the most trusted, ethical and compliant.

“Marketplaces create tremendous value in providing easy access to a range of SKUs and a consumer-like experience for making purchases,” says Kurt Albertson, Principal Advisor at The Hackett Group and co-author of “Spot Buy Software: A Modern Approach to Managing Tail Spend.” “But business buying is different from consumer purchasing in that it not only has to be simple, but compliant.”

Robert Ward, Procurement Process and Performance Manager, at NSG Group, one of the world’s largest manufacturers of glass and glazing products, agrees. “When it comes to some indirect spend, the role of procurement is changing from negotiating deals to creating a dynamic market place within a compliant environment where users can get what they need,” he says. “And with SAP Ariba Spot Buy, we can do this.”

A unique marketplace that goes beyond simple catalogs for indirect goods, SAP Ariba Spot Buy provides the technology, content and expertise organizations need to gain greater visibility into their “tail” spend and fuel the compliance needed to get it under control.  But there’s more to it than that.

“With SAP Ariba Spot Buy, you can do more than just speed and simplify the purchase of non-contracted goods,” said Tony Alvarez, General Manager, SAP Ariba Spot Buy. “You can actually control your spend and buy from compliant and ethical suppliers in a trusted B2B marketplace to reduce your supply chain risk and purchase with purpose.”

Pairing SAP Ariba’s business network and cloud-based procurement applications, SAP Ariba Spot Buy combines the convenience of a consumer-like shopping experience with business controls, enabling even the most casual users to quickly find and immediately buy thousands of contracted and non-contracted items in accordance with their company’s procurement policies and procedures. And through a three-tier vetting process that is the most stringent in the industry, they can ensure they are purchasing from trusted, ethical suppliers who comply with state, federal, and local regulations and share their corporate and personal values.

GRMS enhances the vetting capabilities within SAP Ariba Spot Buy by evaluating and continuously monitoring suppliers against more than 1,500 global governmental watch lists and enforcement and sanctions sources. GRMS also offers the following risk assessment modules:

• Regulatory Compliance
• Financial Stability
• Insurance Management
• Reputational Protection
• Health and Safety
• Social Responsibility
• Cyber Security
• Document Management

“Monitoring key supplier performance metrics is tough enough, but identifying and monitoring supplier managing risk on an enterprise -wide basis is an entirely different matter and a difficult challenge that frankly, most companies have a hard time even scoping,” said Joe Fabiani, Chief Operating Officer, GRMS. “The combination of highly configurable software, data and transparent, expert human interventions powers a practical, effective and market-leading approach.”

To learn more about SAP Ariba Spot Buy and the value it can deliver to your organization, visit www.ariba.com/go/spotbuy