SAP Ariba review

SAP Ariba is the procurement backbone for many large SAP customers. SAP positions its spend management portfolio as an integrated source-to-pay suite: procurement strategy, source-to-contract, procure-to-pay and supplier management, with SAP Ariba Buying and Invoicing automating requisitions, orders and invoice processing in the cloud. A Spot Buy capability gives employees a controlled way to buy tail-spend items from suppliers. SAP has added Joule and a set of AI assistants for purchasing, sourcing, supplier management and category management, and builds policy checks, audit rules and approvals into the process. Supplier collaboration runs through SAP Business Network, and SAP also sells contingent workforce and travel and expense management alongside it. The tradeoffs are the familiar enterprise ones: no published prices, longer projects, and a learning curve that mid-market purchasing tools avoid. For a company not already on SAP, the integration advantage largely disappears.

Who it is for

Large enterprises, especially SAP ERP customers, running global sourcing and procure-to-pay.

Price

See vendor pricing (USD check pending).

US price check pending. See the vendor pricing page.

Key features

• SAP Ariba Buying and Invoicing for cloud procure-to-pay
• Spot Buy capability for controlled tail spend
• Source-to-contract and supplier management
• AI assistants for purchasing, sourcing, supplier management and category management
• Built-in policy checks, audit rules and approvals

Strengths and weaknesses

• Strength: Covers procurement strategy, sourcing, contracts and procure-to-pay
• Strength: Supplier collaboration through SAP Business Network
• Strength: Also offers contingent workforce and travel and expense management
• Weakness: No published pricing
• Weakness: Implementation scale suits large organizations
• Weakness: Interface and setup are heavier than mid-market tools

Key facts

• Suite areas: Procurement strategy, source-to-contract, procure-to-pay, supplier management
• AI: Joule and spend management assistants
• Pricing: Quote on request

Where it ranks

SAP Ariba is No. 10 in our Best Procurement Software verdict.