SAP Ariba Network – history overview and new vision

A historical reflection and strategic direction for the world's largest business network for the digital support of purchasing processes and electronic communication with suppliers.

August 23, 2022

A little history

Launched in 1998, the SAP Ariba Network has fundamentally influenced the transition from paper and email documents to electronic communication in supplier-customer relationships.

The principle was simple and revolutionary at the time:

Digitize the paper documents such as purchase orders (POs) and invoices
Communicate them electronically

With a bit of a flourish, we can say that a single digital language has begun to be spoken through a worldwide network.

Innovation and the new vision

The Ariba Network has dynamically developed and expanded hand in hand with the new requirements of companies.

The last two years of the pandemic have shown how essential the relationship between procurement, planning, and logistics is to ensure delivery within the agreed timeframe.

A reflection on current topics was the introduction of a unified, open, intelligent SAP Business Network, which includes the SAP Ariba Network.

SAP Business Network consolidates business-to-business (B2B) cooperation within integrated networks:

SAP Business Network for Procurement (formerly SAP Ariba Network)
SAP Business Network for Supply Chain (formerly SAP Ariba Supply Chain Collaboration)
SAP Business Network for Logistics (formerly SAP Logistics Business Network)
SAP Business Network for Asset Management (formerly SAP Asset Intelligence Network)

In the near future, the portfolio of functionalities will be expanded to include working capital management and supplier evaluation, using the Taulia solution (a new SAP acquisition).

The strategic vision the solution brings is that participating companies will gain greater transparency, resilience, and sustainability within their supply chains.

con4PAS and SAP Ariba Network

Procurement processes and electronic document exchange is one of con4PAS’s domains, so the portfolio of procurement solutions was naturally extended to include SAP Ariba cloud solutions.

The con4PAS consultants set up their demo environment and verified the purchasing processes according to the best practice recommendations. They have also organized a series of webinars where they shared their process and technical knowledge.

The first project did not wait long. In 2019, the first implementation of SAP Ariba Network for Czech Post took place. It was also the very first implementation project in the Czech Republic for a purely Czech company.

Thus, con4PAS has successfully started its journey with SAP Ariba Network. Other projects followed soon after. In 2022, GasNet, the operator of the largest gas distribution system in the Czech Republic, also started utilizing electronic communication with suppliers. Furthermore, con4PAS also provides solution support abroad to other companies, such as Al-Elm Information Security (Elm), the provider of Saudi Arabia's electronic services for the government and private sector.