When an $80B technology corporation’s existing purchase-to-pay (P2P) solution, which was based on RosettaNet interfaces, could not support the submission of invoices and the receipt of updates from its suppliers, forcing its accounts payable team to manually manage thousands of invoices per month, they searched for a solution that would complement what they had already invested in, but automate as much of their purchase-to-pay processes as possible.

Nipendo developed a RosettaNet interface that connected with the buying corporation’s existing P2P process. Then, we enabled all suppliers to easily connect to Nipendo through their existing accounting systems using a plug-in that was easily installable and operational in less than an hour.

Nipendo onboarded thousands of their suppliers within a few months, for an end-to-end P2P collaboration, automating many of the processes that had plagued its accounts payable team.

The system facilitated communication between the Buyer and its suppliers. It validated invoices against purchase orders, shipping notifications, and goods receipt, and notified suppliers instantly about any discrepancy, advising them on ways to fix it. As a result, it reduced invoice reconciliation work to fraction of what it used to be prior to the implementation of Nipendo platform.

Over time, however, RosettaNet was replaced with GXS, which was then replaced with an SAP system. Throughout both transitions, there was zero effect on suppliers. Nipendo’s complementary solution enabled the Buyer to switch ERP systems, while maintaining its P2P hyper-automation processes untouched with no impact on their suppliers, who had previously invested in the on-boarding process.

It was an ideal engagement for both the Buyer and for Nipendo. From the Buyer’s perspective, they automated their P2P processes, enabled all their suppliers to opt-in and enjoy the digital transformation, and gained flexibility to change systems as needed, while we were able to deliver a complementary solution built on our two claims to fame. First, we do a lot of the heavy lifting in on-boarding suppliers. Second, we rapidly scale supplier adoption rate to over 90%.

In these types of engagements, Nipendo functions as a bridge between the customer and its suppliers. We provide easy on-boarding while maintaining supplier connectivity and all business rules on both sides of the equation.

Nipendo is a huge upgrade over the ideas of API and EDI. They typically fail to scale due to the intensive work and cost related with supplier on-boarding, a point-to-point project that spreads over months with an investment that ranges between tens and hundreds of thousands of dollars per connection, and which demand massive on-going maintenance.

As a result, globally, less than 15% of suppliers and their customers are fully integrated into each other’s systems, and the connections in place are rigid, not scalable, manually nurtured by costly engineers, and limited in the spend category they can support. Nipendo’s platform supports all types of suppliers and all spend types, through a cutting-edge distributed network connectivity enablement and intelligent bridge between buyers and suppliers. With a track record showing 93% of enterprise’s total spend managed through Nipendo’s platform with each of our customers (Buyer organization) and same portion of supplier adoption rate, our complementary solution is transforming the way procurement, supply-chain, and accounts payable teams operates.

Three Types of Complementary Engagements

There are three different types of situations where customers ask us to complement their existing
solution and extend its functionality to improve their purchase-to-pay process.

Complementing Supplier Portals and Sourcing Application

There are a lot of solutions out there that replace ERP functionality in the source-to-contract space and offer a supplier portal solution. Expecting suppliers to work on each of their customers’ portals while their business is managed in their internal ERP systems is unrealistic.

Additionally, expecting suppliers to understand how to interact with their customer when it comes to complex processes such as those that involve order fulfilment in line/delivery level, scheduling deliveries, sending ASN then SN, or attaching certifications to specific events in the process is, again, unrealistic. Consequently, only small suppliers can adopt portals while the majority of the spend is left outside.

Nipendo augments existing solutions without replacing any of the existing systems or processes. The hyper-automation platform enables suppliers to join using their existing ERP or accounting systems, interact through email, mobile app, web app or the combination of all the above. It does not require suppliers to understand how to respond to their customers’ complex processes. Instead, it dynamically tells them what they need to do next, through our software bots and AI. Consequently, our customers leverage their investment and enjoy hyper-automation across all spend categories with all suppliers size and types.

Scaling Supplier Adoption Rate

One of the biggest challenges facing accounts payable teams is the need to onboard suppliers into the system. Most existing solutions in the market are either too expensive to make it worthwhile or too complicated for suppliers to bother with.

Our solution, however, is much more affordable and was designed to simplify supplier onboarding. Over 93% of suppliers connect to Nipendo purchase-to-pay systems, which makes it significantly easier to submit invoices and get paid. Very often our customers don’t want to scrap their entire system. Instead, they turn to us to extend the functionality of their existing solution.

The work we did with Teva Pharmaceuticals is a great example of this type of engagement. Teva was using Ariba, a SAP product, but needed a better tool to connect with their suppliers. We were able to fill the gap, and extend Ariba’s functionality.

Extending Capabilities

Often times companies have existing solutions that might not have all the modules or functionality needed. For example, they may be able to work with certain types of suppliers or spend types but lack the ability govern and manage processes, the ability to validate and automatically reconcile invoices, or are unable to support needed functionalities.

Nipendo can come in and add functions, modules and capabilities that will work alongside the existing solution. As a result, accounts payable teams get the functionality they need, such as the ability to automate processes, diversify the communication methods enabled to suppliers ,or reduce manual error handling through automated reconciliation and discrepancy resolution without having the expense of replacing a legacy system and starting over with a new system.

Does Your System Have All the Functionality You Need?

Interested in extending your purchase-to-pay capabilities? Request a demo and see what we
can do for you.