NTT DATA: Unifying and standardizing global procurement and supplier management
Explore NTT DATA’s journey with SAP
NTT DATA is a global business and IT services provider for clients in more than 50 countries. As the company continues to grow through acquisitions, its procurement team must keep pace. To unify source-to-pay processes and manage supplier risk while also bringing on new employees, contingent workers, and vendors, NTT DATA selected SAP solutions.
| Industry | Region | Company Size |
| Professional services | Plano, Texas | >190,000 employees |
savings in controllable spend from 2018 to 2021.
run-rate reduction from 2018 to 2021.
ratio of controllable spend to revenue, down from 32.1%.
Vice President of Global Procurement, NTT DATA Services
Staying on top of procurement spending and monitoring supply chain risk
From initial advising to long-term project management, Texas-based NTT DATA Services offers clients across a wide range of industries the support, guidance, and know-how they need to digitally transform their businesses. NTT DATA Corporation operates in more than 50 countries around the globe.
The job of the NTT DATA procurement team is to make sure that all employees can procure the goods and services they need to meet client demands while also controlling costs and protecting the company’s bottom line. NTT DATA Services monitors more than 4,000 suppliers globally to manage contract compliance, and identifying the risk of supply chain disruption proved challenging. There was also a lack of visibility into future spend based on recurring payments, making it hard to determine savings opportunities at any given time.
On top of all that, NTT DATA was continuing to grow through targeted acquisitions, which meant new financial systems, employees, suppliers, and contingent workers had to be integrated quickly and efficiently.
The only way to manage it all and continue to expand and operate was through unified, integrated, and cloud-based procurement and vendor management.
Vice President of Global Procurement, NTT DATA Services
Unifying and standardizing procurement processes and supplier management
To unify and standardize source-to-pay processes, NTT DATA turned to SAP Ariba solutions, SAP Fieldglass solutions, and SAP Business Network.
SAP Business Network allows buyers to collaborate with suppliers around the world using a single platform.
The guided buying capability combined with the PunchOut feature for a major e-commerce platform gives employees an intuitive and familiar interface plus all the required controls and approval workflows.
The SAP Ariba Collaborative Sourcing bundle provides the functionality of the SAP Ariba Sourcing, SAP Ariba Contracts, SAP Business Network Discovery, and SAP Ariba Supplier Information and Performance Management solutions all in a single user interface. This makes it easier to compete for products and services, secure the most advantageous contracts, and monitor compliance. Plus, the SAP Ariba Discount Management solution helps maximize the company’s working capital and provide suppliers with cash-flow flexibility.
SAP Fieldglass solutions are also used to identify, enlist, and manage contingent labor resources. SAP Fieldglass solutions are integrated with NTT DATA’s time entry system to allow automation in invoice and payment approvals. This enables the company to achieve nearly 100% of on-time payments.
The SAP Signature Management application by DocuSign allows NTT DATA to centrally manage procurement- and vendor-related signatures and document storage.
Senior Director of Global Procurement, NTT DATA Services
Improving visibility into contracts and payments to optimize cash flow
With SAP solutions in place, the NTT DATA procurement team has the standardization it needs to incorporate new companies and suppliers quickly while also maintaining the flexibility to accommodate specific process requirements. Furthermore, due to the prevalence of SAP Business Network in the market, many are already familiar with the tools and the interface.
NTT DATA is continuing to automate processes and digital document management to simplify how contracts are signed and managed and how transactions are approved – while centralizing all that information in one repository.
Visibility into supplier performance, compliance, and payments has greatly improved. Every new supplier is automatically added to the system, and e-mail risk alerts provide insight into the supply base. Timely data and reporting make it easier to review things like automatic renewals and committed spend, then adjust payment schedules to avoid fees, capture discounts, and maximize cash flow. Suppliers also have more visibility, so working with NTT DATA is streamlined for everyone.
This same level of standardization, automation, and visibility is also available for the company’s contingent workforce. Contractors can be onboarded promptly, and workers can enter their time and get paid automatically due to validations and integrations in place. Standard payment terms and validations enable a touchless payment process, which allows users to spend far less time managing disputes and late payments.
Vice President of Global Procurement, NTT DATA Services
Deepening spend insight, increasing savings, and growing the supplier base
As NTT DATA moves forward with its global rollout of SAP Ariba solutions, it will focus on expanding supplier risk management to the enterprise level. This way, depending on content, risk notifications can go to more than one person or department.
It’s also fine-tuning reporting capabilities around contracts so that category managers and their teams can have even more insight into renewals and committed spend.
For discount management, the procurement team is looking for ways to put more control into the hands of suppliers so that vendors can offer NTT DATA discounts based on their own capacity and cash flow. The company will explore the expanded capability for supplier-initiated discounts within SAP Business Network, allowing suppliers to initiate the need for cash and get paid early at rates that are mutually beneficial. It’s also reviewing the SAP Business Network Discovery solution to help identify the best suppliers to meet the company’s buying needs.