Recently I wrote a blog about SAP’s Finance Operations which were being showcased at SAPPHIRENOW. These included Collaborative Invoice Management, which we presented as one integrated demonstration for the solutions of the Ariba Network, SAP Vendor Invoice Management by OpenText and SAP Accounts Payable. Bringing these solutions together in a seamless demo really highlights the benefits any company can achieve and it’s something that ExxonMobil has been doing for a couple of years now. The presentation at SAPPHIRENOW by Lionel Jellins, Manager- Global IT Ventures and Operations ExxonMobil Global Procurement, captured the strategic advantages of automating the invoice to pay process, and many of his comments are very compelling for anyone looking to improve their accounts payable management.
To begin with, the magnitude of ExxonMobil’s invoice operations is staggering…$500 Billion in disbursements annually, consisting of 5.2 million invoices from 1400 suppliers. As Lionel mentioned, such volumes necessitated a touch-less, intuitive, connected and cost-effective solution such as SAP Collaborative Invoice Management. The goal was to bring money to the bottom line for shareholders by taking advantage of early-pay discounts and ExxonMobil’s ability to pay faster (commonly referred to as dynamic discounting). They use the Ariba Network to exchange purchase orders and invoices electronically, which helps them lower order costs, reduce cycle times and improve visibility into the procurement to pay process. The SAP Vendor Invoice Management solution supports their invoice approval and exception management processes, all in one easily-accessed workplace. The benefits include faster response to price changes and consolidated payables activities, all within a user-friendly interface with enhanced workflow capabilities.
While the ExxonMobil presentation was excellent and deserving of your viewing here, (search: Line of Business-Finance, video #10) I also want to highlight the interest we experienced in our other Finance Operations, notably for the Receivables Management and the Shared Services for Financials solutions. Today, finance managers must contribute more strategic value to their corporate objectives, and these applications help to improve employee productivity, cash flow, cost reductions and profitability. Clearly this was why we had a constant flow of interested attendees for three straight days, looking for the latest innovations to support their finance operations processes. If you didn’t stop by our Expert Table, I encourage you to view these solution links and short demo videos to enjoy the experience of the SAPPHIRENOW participants, making Finance Operations shine brightly: Receivables Management, Shared
Services for Financials, Collaborative Invoice Management (second demo in search) and Fiori for Collections.