efficiently . That way , they are able to deliver more to their bottom line , saving funds for the public sector that can be better deployed to front line services that make a real difference , or in private sector return savings that directly translate to P & L benefits and in turn shareholder value and / or dividends . It ’ s a compelling position ,” she says .
“ When I think of how procurement has changed over time , it ’ s interesting – we have actually challenged most of the people in our team to stop using the word procurement , as we ’ re fundamentally involved in a company ’ s total financials . It ’ s commerce across the board , and our toolset with a collaboratively established sustainable business case offers a quick way to find and drive value .”
Leveraging Ariba ’ s technology is not just about driving efficiencies and improving productivity , however ; it ’ s also about creating transparency and building organisational reputation . This is achieved through a commitment to sustainable procurement , finance and business practices . Every C-level executive and or shareholder has a vested interest in transparency ,
governance and value , delivering on all these key criteria with a simplified user experience ensures business integrity and continuity . In a digital world where the rate of change is constant , and fraud and cyber security risks prevail , it is imperative to have a business benefits plan , an implementation road map , change management process defined and a collaborative environment where these benefits can be maintained and sustained over time .
Interestingly , Lorraine was head of sustainability in one of her previous roles . By applying her end-to-end operational engineering with her sustainable procurement experience , Lorraine is able to get right to the heart of the matter , which centres on the fact that technology and sustainability essentially go hand-in-hand .
“ We have a lot of sustainability initiatives , not just around our environment but also around people and programs . One is our One Billion Lives initiative , which involves combining SAP , our products , our people , our passion and our time to engage with NGOs , government agencies and our ecosystem to
108 January 2017