The SAP "Source to Pay" Roadmap

Posted At : May 28, 2008 3:07 AM
Related Categories: Spend Management

At Sapphire, SAP shared their source to pay roadmap for 2008-2010 on quite a high level. Still, I commend them for being open with their vision. I've written about many of the functional and architectural enhancements for 2008 already. But to sum it up, the 2008 SRM, Sourcing, and analytics releases will bring, in SAP's words, enhanced "procurement excellence", greater services procurement capabilities, enhanced sourcing, additional spend analytics and increased deployment flexibility. By 2009, SAP plans to make good on its collaborative supplier management vision, extend its services procurement capabilities further, fully integrate the legacy E-Sourcing (Frictionless) application into the SAP suite (which will have taken about 1/3 of a dog's life to do), deploy invoice management capability, and enhance risk & compliance analytics.

What's in store for 2010, you ask? SAP noted in both the presentation that provided this information and the slide that I copied down that the roadmap is subject to change. However, given current planning, SAP is planning to further enhance its supplier management capability in 2010 (let's hope they finally pay more attention to the need to enable more of a company's versus just a select few), "purchasing planning and optimization, best in class sourcing, best in class contract lifecycle management and extended invoice management".

So how does SAP's vision stack up to the rest of the market? It's not bad, honestly. SRM 7.0 will provide the fundamental building blocks to tightly integrate all of the objects and workflows within SRM with the rest of an SAP ERP deployment (including eventually SCM, PLM and other areas). This is no small feat. However, by 2010, the market will look dramatically different and what is best in class today could look entirely different tomorrow. I trust that once SAP SRM 7.0 is in place, that SAP will be more nimble as a fast follower of others, but I doubt that Waldorf will ever be truly best in class from an application standpoint relative to smaller providers that can move at 5x the innovation pace. Perhaps they'll prove me wrong. SRM 7.0 will be a big step in the right direction when it becomes available. But customers should not base any decisions on a roadmap. They should wait for SAP to deliver on promises, especially considering that past SRM releases have either been delayed or canceled (from a G/A standpoint).

- Jason Busch

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And, if SAP can EVER deliver any decent reporting they might prove to be a good tool

# Posted By Ned | 5/28/08 5:03 AM

Could you imagine if a company in a real industry (e.g., GE Aerospace or a supplier to Wal-Mart) told their customers that a promised product that had been planned for 3 years and specified into production or retail shelf space was canceled right before it came to market. The supplier would be outcast, shunted and probably sued. At least the roadmap for SRM 7.0 is printed in our office on recycled paper ...

Vision, smision! Let SAP's actual product and past release experiences speak for itself and do not believe what JB is reporting until you see it. Did he gaze upon the actual release with his own "generally available" eyes? No, he saw a PPT and a demo most likely. That coming from SAP at this point ain't good enough.

# Posted By wanting in waldorf | 5/28/08 5:34 AM

I call it as I see it. I did see a demo at Sapphire of multiple planned products (including SRM 7.0) -- did not just base this on powerpoints or briefings. And it was not just a screen shot or Flash walk through -- it appeared to be a functioning application (albeit with only a limited amount of dummy data loaded in). Still, I would agree with the skeptics here that seeing should be believing and not to base any decisions on what is coming down the pike -- from any vendor, for that matter! If you are an SAP shop that wants to go down the SRM path and are on an older version of SRM (or want to move to SRM for the first time today), do yourself a favor: call Hubwoo or Infosys -- or another SAP partner -- and move to a hosted environment on 5.0 until 7.0 is in production and references are widely available. The Fool's comment last night that SAP is now pushing 6.0 again -- albeit in a customized, non-GA way -- shows how much they need to get SRM 7.0 right to stay competitive. But it's not here yet and until it is, there are other options. Including those supported by SAP!

# Posted By Jason Busch | 5/28/08 5:55 AM

JB,

From your arguments, I could see the kickbacks you would have got from a vendor like Infosys for pushing the hosted model :), though credible references are difficult to spot at this stage. One thing for sure Jason you are very loyal to your clients!!!

# Posted By Senthil | 5/28/08 11:07 AM

Hubwoo and Infosys are the two preferred SAP SRM providers that I'm familiar with ... Hubwoo is not a client of mine, Infosys is. Actually, Senthil, what I would suggest is that I'm loyal to those who keep me in the loop! Silence does get providers anywhere (nor does cash).

# Posted By Jason Busch | 5/28/08 11:13 AM

Jason,

I'm surprised that you are actually recommending that customers simply wait. If I read you correctly, that's your recommendation "...They should wait for SAP to deliver on promises..."

In much of the sourcing and contracts space SAP customers have been in a holding pattern for 3 to 5 years (and missing on significant value realized by those who have opted not to wait, and go with Best of Breed). I would offer, that like many things in life, past performance is the best indication of future results. And, it is not unreasonable to have addition delays of 2,3, and even 5 years.

This passive "wait and see" recommendation might suite a passive procurement organization. However, I would argue that an active recommendation like "take the latest promises with a grain of salt, and get familiar with the proven value available from Best of Breed." Will better serve an active sourcing organization, a results driven sourcing organization, and for that matter any sourcing organization.

Just my thoughts on this particular topic, and yes, I am biased :-)

# Posted By Ammiel Kamon, SVP Marketing, Emptoris | 5/28/08 4:41 PM

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