SRM or Ariba ?

[former_member434499]

Hi,

We are currently evaluating two procurement solutions - SRM and Ariba. We  currently have SAP MM. Recently there was a demo from SAP sales folks on both SRM and Ariba solutions. They were inclined towards Ariba and told us that SAP's focus, henceforth will be mainly on cloud solutions i.e., Ariba is their go forward solution . Their focus on SRM might get slowed down and this means new features and new versions on SRM will be delayed or very less. It's an uncomfortable news for many SRM consultants but how true is this ?. Please putforth your realistic thoughts.

Regards,

Sat

[James_Marland]

SAP's stated approach for new implementations is to "lead with cloud", and this makes sense as it has the lowest implementation cost and gives access to rapid innovation cycles. It is true that we are making a lot of investments in the cloud, but where possible we make these solutions available to on-Prem users as well.

For example on-prem SRM sourcing users now have the ability to post RFQs and receive responses on the Ariba network, getting access to all of the 1.2m suppliers who are ready. And on-prem SRM users can send and receive orders, invoices, acknowledgements and shipping instructions).

In general we are moving lots of innovations away from "nodes" and to the Business Network, so it is available to both Cloud Procurement and On-Prem SRM customers.