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SAP Business Suite for Spend Management
SAP Business Suite for Spend Management Professional S Industries ofessiona ssional Ser Profession INTERNAL ONLY
Services al Servi rvices I nal Servi
Professional Services Industries Industry at a Glance
In the professional services industry, sourcing and procurement play a critical role in driving strategic growth and operational efficiency. As firms navigate complex market conditions, procurement teams must strike a balance between cost management and strategic investments in technology and talent. The integration of AI and digital tools is revolutionizing procurement processes, enabling data-driven decision-making and improved supplier management. Talent management and digital skills development are increasingly important for procurement teams to adapt to evolving industry demands. Given the industry's focus on knowledge-based services, procurement strategies must align with broader organizational objectives such as innovation and client satisfaction. In the APAC region, where regulatory environments are diverse, effective procurement practices are essential for maintaining competitiveness, ensuring compliance with evolving regulations, and fostering strategic partnerships that support business goals. By leveraging technology and strategic partnerships, professional services firms can enhance their procurement capabilities and achieve sustainable growth.
Opportunities
43%
43% of the C-Suite identified cost savings as procurements primary value proposition, and 74% identified cost savings as the primary benefit of the increased collaboration. However, only 46% are highly confident in procurement teams' ability to manage strategic sourcing.
74%
74% identified cost savings as a primary driver of the increased use of the external workforce.
38%
38% identified digitalization as a priority for procurement, and 67% identified spend analytics as the top driver of digital transformation in procurement for the 3rd year in a row.
39%
39% prioritized digital procurement tools as a top talent development area in the next 18 months in procurement. 46% identified digital adoption metrics as a top KPI to measure procurement performance and 62% identified that increased digital adoption was a top benefit of improved internal collaboration. 63% identified geopolitical risk as the top organizational risk area for procurement to focus on, and 45% identified supply chain reconfigurations as a top strategic priority for the next 18 months. However, only 28% were highly confident in procurements ability to manage global external risks, and only 21% were highly confident in procurements ability to manage risk management strategies for different categories.
63%
Source: Economist Impact study, The Resilient Edge – Procurement in an era of polycrisis
Spend Under Management
Supplier onboarding cycle time
Best in Class Metrics*
Sourcing Savings Rate
1 Week
93.2%
15.7%
*SAP Customer Benchmarking program
Spend Management Solutions
SAP Fieldglass empowers Professional Services firms to optimize the management of external talent and services procurement, enabling them to scale delivery, control costs, and maintain high client service standards in a fast-paced, project-based business environment. 1. Scalable Access to External Expertise Professional Services firms often rely on freelance consultants, contractors, and specialized third-party providers to meet project demands. Fieldglass enables firms to efficiently source, onboard, and manage this external workforce—allowing rapid scalability across engagements, geographies, and industries. 2. Improved Visibility and Control Over Services Spend In a sector where labor is the largest cost, Fieldglass provides granular visibility into external labor usage and associated costs. This allows firms to monitor budgets, track project profitability, and
reduce overbilling or misclassification of services. 3. Enhanced Compliance and Risk Management
Client-facing industries must comply with contractual, legal, and regulatory obligations. Fieldglass helps ensure that external workers are properly classified, vetted, and documented—reducing risk related to co-employment, tax liabilities, or compliance breaches. 4. Faster Time-to-Delivery for Client Engagements Speed is essential in consulting and professional services. Fieldglass streamlines the entire external workforce lifecycle—from requisition to invoice—reducing onboarding delays and accelerating time-to-productivity for temporary staff and service providers. 5. Optimized Talent Mix and Resource Utilization With Fieldglass, firms can make informed decisions about whether to staff projects with internal employees, contractors, or external vendors. This flexibility ensures optimal use of resources based on availability, cost, and skill fit—supporting both margin improvement and client satisfaction. 6. Global Standardization with Local Adaptability Large firms operating across borders can standardize external workforce processes while accommodating local labor laws, tax codes, and procurement practices. Fieldglass supports multilingual, multi-currency, and region-specific compliance requirements. 7. Better Supplier and Statement of Work (SOW) Management Professional Services projects often involve SOW-based engagements with deliverables and milestones. Fieldglass enables firms to manage these complex service contracts with transparency, ensuring accountability, performance tracking, and clear billing against defined outputs.
Manage services and material purchases to increase compliance, and drive better Sourcing, Supplier/Risk & Sustainability outcomes
Top Spend Categories
TRAVEL EXPENSE
15%
EXTERNAL LABOR
30%
TACTICAL SOURCING
15%
20%
20%
RECURRING SERVICES
OPERATIONAL “CATALOG” SPEND
Spend Management Solutions
Reimagining Spend Management for Professional Services with SAP Spend Control Tower Today’s automated technologies generate vast volumes of data — a potential goldmine of insights for professional services organizations navigating rising client expectations, workforce complexities, and margin pressures. But collecting data alone doesn’t create value. What truly matters is the ability to rapidly convert multi-source datasets into actionable intelligence. That’s where SAP Spend Control Tower delivers unmatched value. Through consolidated dashboards, detailed reporting, and AI-powered recommendations, SAP Spend Control Tower transforms fragmented procurement and spend data into clear, strategic insights. Whether it’s optimizing internal costs, managing supplier contracts, meeting sustainability goals, or improving operational agility, professional services organizations gain the visibility and control they need to deliver value — to clients and the business — with greater speed and precision. Harness Complete Visibility Across All Spend In the professional services sector — where agility, project profitability, and resource optimization are essential — having a complete, unified view of enterprise-wide spend is a critical advantage. SAP Spend Control Tower enables professional services firms to access a single data lake that integrates seamlessly with both SAP and ERP systems. Teams can capture, merge, and harmonize data from SAP and non-SAP sources, creating a consistent, enterprise-wide view of spend. With pre-built automated connectors , firms can dramatically reduce the time and effort required to integrate data and ensure real-time access to procurement intelligence. With many firms operating across regions and project teams, controlling decentralized or maverick spend becomes a challenge. SAP Spend Control Tower helps unify procurement oversight, ensuring visibility into indirect spend categories such as IT, travel, legal services, contingent labor, and marketing. It also supports better vendor management and contract compliance, while enabling proactive sourcing strategies across fast-moving, project-based environments.
Leverage AI/ML-assisted Insights to Drive Action Powered by SAP Business AI , Spend Control Tower empowers professional services organizations to move from passive tracking to proactive, insight-driven decision-making. It automatically classifies and analyzes spend across all systems, surfacing opportunities for cost savings, optimizing supplier performance, and reducing risk — especially in high-volume or tail spend areas. These AI-driven insights have shown measurable benefits, including a 56% reduction in onboarding time for category managers through accelerated development of procurement strategies. Additionally, sourcing events can be launched up to 50% faster, enabling greater responsiveness to business needs and client demands. In an industry where margins are tight and talent is costly , SAP Spend Control Tower helps uncover inefficiencies and streamline procurement across all operational areas — from outsourced services to office operations and SaaS subscriptions. The platform enables project managers and procurement leaders to make faster, data-backed decisions that reduce costs without compromising service quality.
Spend Management Solutions
SAP Ariba Sourcing enables Professional Services firms to strategically source external expertise, service providers, and project-based engagements with greater speed, transparency, and cost control—helping them stay agile, competitive, and client-focused in a dynamic services-driven economy. 1. Efficient Sourcing of Specialized Talent and Services Professional Services firms frequently source external partners, consultants, legal counsel, IT specialists, or marketing agencies. Ariba Sourcing streamlines these processes through standardized RFx templates, scoring criteria, and configurable workflows—reducing cycle times and administrative burden. 2. Cost Optimization and Margin Protection With tight project margins and client rate pressures, firms need to ensure they’re getting the best value. Ariba Sourcing enables competitive bidding, e-auctions, and supplier benchmarking, helping firms reduce sourcing costs while maintaining quality and service standards. 3. Better Visibility and Compliance in Vendor Selection Firms must ensure that vendors meet internal compliance, legal, and diversity standards. Ariba integrates risk and compliance data directly into sourcing events, enabling smarter, policy-aligned decisions while reducing exposure to reputational and regulatory risk. 4. Accelerated Time-to-Engagement Time is money in professional services. Ariba Sourcing reduces delays in vendor selection by automating the RFx lifecycle, facilitating faster shortlisting and approval. This allows firms to onboard suppliers and consultants quickly to meet client deadlines or scale up engagements. 5. Standardized Sourcing Across Categories and Regions Global firms deal with decentralized teams and local sourcing practices. Ariba provides a unified platform to standardize sourcing processes across categories—legal, HR, IT, marketing—and geographies, while maintaining flexibility to address local compliance and market dynamics. 6. Transparent and Defensible Sourcing Decisions In client-facing work, firms must often demonstrate due diligence in supplier selection. Ariba Sourcing provides a clear audit trail, documented scoring, and decision logic—ensuring
transparency, mitigating risk, and supporting internal or client audits. 7. Improved Collaboration Between Procurement and Business Units
With Ariba’s intuitive interface and guided workflows, sourcing becomes more accessible to non-procurement users—such as practice leads or project managers—while maintaining governance. This enhances stakeholder alignment and speeds up approvals
Manage services and material purchases to increase compliance, and drive better Sourcing, Supplier/Risk & Sustainability outcomes
Top Spend Categories
TRAVEL EXPENSE
15%
EXTERNAL LABOR
30%
TACTICAL SOURCING
15%
20%
20%
RECURRING SERVICES
OPERATIONAL “CATALOG” SPEND
Spend Management Solutions
SAP Ariba Supplier Lifecycle and Performance together with SAP Ariba Supplier Risk provides Professional Services firms with a powerful, integrated solution to qualify, monitor, and manage third-party providers and subcontractors —ensuring business continuity, regulatory compliance,
and high service quality across all client engagements. 1. Streamlined Supplier Onboarding and Qualification
Professional Services firms frequently engage a wide range of suppliers, such as freelance consultants, legal advisors, IT contractors, and specialized agencies. Ariba SLP automates onboarding with configurable workflows, document collection, and compliance checks—reducing onboarding time while ensuring proper vetting. 2. Centralized Supplier Information Management Firms often operate across multiple service lines and geographies, making it hard to maintain consistent supplier data. Ariba SLP centralizes and cleans supplier records, ensuring accurate, up-to-date information is available to all teams—supporting better sourcing, contracting, and compliance. 3. Ongoing Monitoring of Supplier Risk and Performance In project-based work, the reliability of external partners is critical. Ariba Supplier Risk continuously monitors suppliers across key risk domains (e.g., financial stability, cybersecurity, legal issues, geopolitical exposure) and triggers alerts—enabling proactive risk mitigation before it impacts client delivery. 4. Regulatory and Contractual Compliance Assurance Firms must comply with laws like GDPR, anti-bribery statutes, and labor regulations—especially when outsourcing services. Ariba ensures that only qualified, compliant suppliers are engaged and
supports audits with a clear trail of due diligence and certifications. 5. Performance Evaluation and Continuous Improvement
Ariba SLP provides tools to track supplier performance against KPIs and client expectations, including project timelines, quality standards, and responsiveness. This enables data-driven supplier development and helps identify high-performing partners for strategic engagements. 6. Support for ESG and Supplier Diversity Goals Clients increasingly expect their service providers to demonstrate environmental and social responsibility. Ariba allows firms to track supplier diversity, sustainability credentials, and ethical practices—supporting both internal ESG initiatives and client requirements. 7. Reduced Operational and Reputational Risk Whether outsourcing project delivery or support functions, working with the wrong supplier can harm
Manage services and material purchases to increase compliance, and drive better Sourcing, Supplier/Risk & Sustainability outcomes
Top Spend Categories
TRAVEL EXPENSE
15%
EXTERNAL LABOR
30%
TACTICAL SOURCING
15%
20%
20%
RECURRING SERVICES
OPERATIONAL “CATALOG” SPEND
Improving collaboration for a smarter, more agile supply chain
of organizations view a lack of visibility to see necessary changes in time to react to them effectively to be a challenge for their supply chain. 59% of organizations believe that a lack of effective collaboration with external suppliers is a significant impediment to better business performance. 43%
of organizations view collaboration as a work in progress. 75%
Business Network Solutions
In Professional Services, where agility, talent, and trusted partnerships drive value, the SAP Business Network for Procurement enables smarter sourcing, streamlined operations, and greater compliance across your services supply chain. Trusted Partner Discovery Access a global network of suppliers and service providers with rich profiles featuring: Verified business credentials Certifications and qualifications Risk, ESG, and performance insights Quickly identify and engage the right partners to support client delivery and business goals. Real-Time Collaboration and Transparency Enable seamless digital exchange of POs, invoices, and supplier information—with full visibility and auditable traceability across every transaction. Maintain control while accelerating service delivery. Efficient and Compliant Indirect Spend Management Automate procurement workflows for services and indirect spend with: Configurable business rules Real-time validation and policy enforcement Digital document exchange to reduce manual effort and errors Increase operational efficiency while ensuring compliance with internal controls and client commitments. Centralized Supplier Risk and Qualification Management Manage supplier qualifications, certifications, and risk assessments all in one place. Integrate with SAP Ariba to guide teams to preferred, compliant partners—critical for project success and client trust. Designed for Dynamic, People-Centric Businesses SAP Business Network for Procurement helps Professional Services firms: Reduce procurement complexity Ensure service quality and compliance Strengthen supplier relationships and mitigate risk
Customers are achieving outstanding outcomes
Before: Challenges and opportunities Desire to ensure all employees have the goods and services they need while also controlling costs Incorporation of nancial systems, employees, suppliers, and contingent workers from new acquisitions Di culty monitoring over 4,000 suppliers for contract compliance and risk of supply chain disruption Lack of visibility into future spend based on recurring payments, making it hard to determine cash ow Why SAP SAP® Ariba® solutions to unify and standardize source-to-pay processes SAP Business Network to identify and collaborate with suppliers around the world SAP Fieldglass® solutions to identify, enlist, and manage contingent labor resources SAP Signature Management application by DocuSign to centrally manage procurement- and vendor-related documentation After: Value-driven results Standard processes for new companies and suppliers, with the ability to accommodate specific needs Process automation and digital document management, simplifying contracts and transaction workflows and centralizing data Automated supplier risk alerts covering the entire supplier base, enabling immediate review and action Real-time reporting on autorenewals, committed spend, payment schedules, discounts, and more – helping maximize cash flow Ability to onboard contractors quickly and process time cards and payments for contingent workers in a timely manner, thanks to built-in validations and integrations that automate payments
NTT DATA Services Plano, Texas www.nttdata.com
Industry Professional services
Products and services Technology-enabled services and innovative solutions for clients worldwide
Employees >19,000
“We had to build a lean and agile procurement team that could operate on a global basis and manage more than $1 billion in annual spend. That’s why we needed a world-class set of enterprise tools provided through SAP solutions.”
Jeffrey Tramel, Vice President of Global Procurement, NTT DATA Services
$250 million 21% Savings in controllable spend from 2018 to 2021 Run-rate reduction from 2018 to 2021
22.7% Ratio of controllable spend revenue, down from 32.1%
Revenue US$16.3 billion
Featured Solutions SAP Ariba solutions, SAP Business Network, SAP Fieldglass solutions, and SAP Signature Management by DocuSign
THE BEST RUN
ThankYou
* Research documentation has been used from work commissioned by SAP Ariba and produced by Economist Impact
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