When you ask suppliers to join Ariba Network, the first things they’ll want to know are why, how it benefits them, and what it costs.

Explain that you’ve invested in SAP Ariba’s solutions to help improve all or part of your procure-to-pay process through network connections and automation. And when you and your suppliers connect over Ariba Network, you can both speed up processing, reduce errors, minimize exceptions, and collaborate more easily.

Your suppliers can benefit in other ways, too, depending on the amount and type of business you conduct with them. For example:

• If you engage in just a handful of purchases with them, they’ll benefit primarily from timely, predictable payments.

• The more purchase orders and invoices you exchange with them, the greater their time and cost savings from improved accuracy and efficiency.

• If you’re accessing their catalog through the network, they’ll have a higher profile among your buyers, boosting their sales.

• Perhaps the biggest benefit of all: If you’re happy, they’re happy – and will be more likely to keep you as a customer.

As for cost…

Ariba Network subscriptions and fees for suppliers are determined by the following:

• The number of documents they transact on Ariba Network within a 12-month period.

• The extent of the automation technologies and support their business requires.

As your suppliers’ use of Ariba Network grows, their subscription level grows – providing ever-greater functionality, tools, and services to increase their opportunities for collaboration, automation, and marketing exposure.

To learn how fees are calculated for a given supplier, visit this page and download a fee schedule by selecting the region in which the supplier is based.

At its core, e-commerce is about change – changing the way you and your suppliers do business, internally and with each other.

While SAP Ariba’s supplier enablement team plays a leading technical role, you play an important leadership and communications role in getting your suppliers up and running with SAP Ariba.

You’ll facilitate enablement, program adoption, and positive results by first establishing your Collaborative Commerce Program Policy, which embodies your strategy, objectives, and expectations, and then clearly and consistently communicating it to your suppliers.

You’re not alone. Talk to your customer engagement executive.

When it comes to facilitating your suppliers’ use of SAP Ariba, your job is to be the visionary and change catalyst. But you also must be pragmatic, understanding both the benefits that will come with automated, network-based commerce and the challenges buyers and suppliers will face when undertaking significant business process changes.

So, let’s be clear: You’re not flying solo on this one.

SAP Ariba is your co-pilot, bringing along the knowledge and know-how we’ve gained from delivering the best network adoption services for more than a decade. No matter whether you’re launching your initiative, expanding your program, or just need to be reminded why you started down this path in the first place, SAP Ariba can help you to:

• Develop your strategy and roll-out plan

• Encourage collaboration between your suppliers and internal teams

• Get your suppliers trained and connected

• Track and monitor program progress and successes

To get help, talk with your customer engagement executive. Share your objectives, challenges, and concerns with them. In many cases, the help they can facilitate will come at no additional cost.

Let’s hold a seller summit

Once you’ve laid groundwork internally, a tried-and-true method for communicating with and training your suppliers is to schedule a seller summit.

During a summit, you can discuss your e-commerce initiative directly with your suppliers while providing them a comfortable environment in which to ask questions and voice concerns.

Together, we’ll introduce your suppliers to Ariba Network, its subscription levels, and its associated benefits. The education and experience that suppliers derive from these summits are proven to increase program adoption.

Your role in staging a summit includes:

• Identifying someone who will coordinate the event with SAP Ariba and participate as a co-presenter during the summit

• Identifying the suppliers to be invited

• Collaborating with SAP Ariba on the content

• Inviting your suppliers and encouraging their attendance

For more information on running a seller summit, contact your customer engagement executive.

Tutorials and demos for suppliers

Your suppliers might have questions about doing business on Ariba Network. While SAP Ariba solutions come with a lot of built-in help and guidance, we also offer an array of recorded tutorials and live demos through which your suppliers can learn how to

• change a password

• manage an account

• respond to an RFI, RFP, or auction

• create and load catalogs

• receive and process purchase orders

• initiate invoices

• promote their business to other SAP Ariba buyers

• and more

Suppliers can find tutorials and demos on the supplier login page by clicking Help Center in the upper right corner, then Documentation at the bottom of that column. Log in for even more.