LEADERSHIP
32 don ’ t talk about a lot at SAP is that there are more than 3.3mn buyers and sellers on our network , and there ’ s a new one added every 60 seconds . Looking at the volume that goes through the network today it ’ s just over $ 1.6trn which , if you add up the volume globally of Alibaba , eBay and Amazon , the Ariba network is significantly bigger than all three of them combined ,” says Padgett .
As part of SAP ’ s march into the future one of the key things it has done recently is to open access to insights on its supplier risk solution . In Padgett ’ s own words this forms part of ‘ the key to the future of the company ’. So , in a nutshell , you ’ re bringing increased sophistication to people ’ s programmes and putting the customer in control ? “ Yes , the customer gets to be the dreamer instead of waiting for Ariba to come up the next great thing . Maybe it ’ s risk , maybe it ’ s environmental or a sophisticated piece of specific IP . Or maybe it ’ s an oil and gas company that has some really complex procedures with their suppliers to get their things onto its rig , or whatever it happens to be ; it can then go to its existing partners and work with them hand in hand .”
As we glance ahead , what does the
future of procurement look like to Padgett ? “ I think you ’ ll see two things : one , a lot of cognitive technology being applied and I think we ’ ll talk less and less about the technology and more about the business impact and how we drive transparency in the supply chain .
JULY 2018