Columbia Sportswear Company has tapped Ariba, an SAP company, to transform its procure-to-pay function.
Ariba solutions and its business network are supporting Columbia Sportswear Company to fuel their processes in order to achieve efficiencies, savings and competitive advantage.
On April 8, the company will share the story of its success at Ariba LIVE 2015, a business commerce event on April 7–9 at The Venetian hotel, Las Vegas.
“We’re focused on developing products that enable our customers to maximize their performance. This requires efficient and innovative systems in order to maximize our own,” said Mike Peel, head, Indirect Procurement, Columbia Sportswear.
Before tapping Ariba solutions, Columbia struggled with procure-to-pay operations that relied on paper and manual processing. Lengthy processing cycles, high administrative processing costs, too many invoice errors and a difficult time enforcing compliance were the outcome of the earlier business IT model.
By integrating Ariba solutions for procurement and invoicing delivered through the Ariba Network with its SAP ERP software, the company has automated its procure-to-pay process and better aligned its purchase and accounts payable functions.
“In Ariba solutions, Columbia has a powerful set of tools it can use to optimize its supply chain, cost structure and performance while continuing to help its customers reach new levels of excellence,” said Tim Minahan, senior vice president, Ariba.
In less than a year, Columbia Sportswear Company has transitioned more than 1,200 suppliers to electronic invoicing, reducing the amount of paper invoices it receives. It has compressed its invoice processing cycle time by enabling electronic workflow, including email approval from mobile devices.
Columbia Sportswear Company has improved compliance, assisted by a PO flip process through which it can automatically convert electronic purchase orders to electronic invoices that are error-free and an exact match.
