With SMBs grappling with COVID-19 lockdown, enterprise software maker SAP has decided to offer SAP Ariba spend management solutions for free for 90 days in a bid handhold them.
“The current slowdown will have a lasting impact on the Indian economy. We need to handhold SMBs in the country, and as part of this, SAP has decided to offer free Ariba onboarding for the next 90 days,” Deb Deep Sengupta, president and MD, SAP India, told The Hindu . As per SAP India, technology today is the grid leveller and also a competitive differentiator.
“For companies to be competitive globally, three things matter viz. leadership and vision, level of automation and skill development. Manufacturing is going back to the western world.. You can compete on price and quality. Industry 4.0 is a major shift that we have seen and India is on the right track. Given the demographic advantage and technology resources, we can leapfrog with automation and digitisation of the manufacturing industry,” said Mr. Sengupta.
There’s a need for SMBs to respond powerfully to today’s global challenges by digitalising their source-to-pay process with SAP Ariba spend management solutions.
“Reduce costs and strengthen control with user-friendly procurement and contract management tools that help you do more with less. Thus, strengthen your financial supply chain through accounts payable automation and working capital optimisation,” he said. SAP Ariba currently has more than 70,000 Indian companies and the platform connects SMB communities around the globe with Fortune 500 enterprises.
Ariba globally has 3.2 million suppliers and through the network, annually $3.2 trillion of transactions happen, which is bigger than India’s GDP. “If I look at the opportunity for MSMEs in India, we have only 2,000 SMBs listed on our Ariba catalogue and others are Fortune 500 companies,”
Mr. Sengupta further said, “Given the opportunity, SAP has made Ariba free of charge for the next 90 days. The product and services will be accessible all over the world.”
