SAP Ariba Next-Gen is the talk of the town, but what is really changing?

Online and at SAP events, increasing attention is being drawn to Ariba Next Gen. But what is Ariba Next Gen? And what will it mean for your organization?

What is SAP Ariba Next-Gen

Next-gen SAP Ariba marks a fundamental transformation of SAP's procurement platform. It is the first modern, AI-native source-to-pay suite, based on SAP BTP. Next-Gen is not an update of the current Ariba suite but an entirely new environment, allowing SAP to implement innovations more quickly.

This is relevant for all organizations currently using Ariba, as eventually all existing customers will be transitioned to Next Gen.

With improved integration between the various apps in Ariba and a revamped UI, the procurement process is more intuitive in Ariba Next-Gen. There are also standard AI - Joule agents available that automate tasks or assist the user in various tasks. With each release, new agents are added, and you also have the option to develop them yourself within Joule and N8N.

What is changing in SAP Ariba?

McCoy sees many improvements in Next-Gen, both for us as an implementation partner and administrator and for the users. For instance, the so-called Parent-Child model is being phased out, and it will become possible to work with 3-tier environments, which better aligns with the traditional SAP backend setup with a development, test, and production environment. It will also be possible to set up transports between these environments, similar to SAP S4HANA.

Practical examples within various modules

Within the apps, we also see a number of impressive new features. For instance, AI-supported Intake Management makes it easier for the user to create requests and provide them with the correct details. From the dashboard, the status of all requests can be easily tracked.

Supplier Information Management serves as a central hub for all supplier data used by all apps. A particularly practical feature is the ability to establish relationships and hierarchies between suppliers.

Ariba Contracts offers the capabilities of Icertis in Next-Gen native. It also becomes easier to make contract utilization from S/4 visible in Ariba contracts.

What does this mean for existing SAP Ariba customers?

At this moment, SAP only facilitates greenfield implementations. However, it will soon be possible to convert existing Ariba environments to Next-Gen. Eventually, all environments will transition.

As an existing customer, you will have a Next-Gen environment available at no cost, where you can test your current or improved processes before going live (in phases) with Next-Gen.

McCoy can guide these projects. They present a great opportunity to review existing processes and make the most of the new features that Next-Gen brings.

We are happy to look into which functionalities may not have been present during the implementation, but where Next-Gen does offer opportunities.

How is McCoy preparing for Next-Gen?

McCoy & Partners has been closely following the developments of Ariba Next-Gen from the start because we see significant improvements for customers. For instance, McCoy was the only Dutch SAP partner recently present at a two-day bootcamp for Ariba Next-Gen. Additionally, McCoy now has a functioning Ariba Next-Gen test environment where our consultants directly implement the new capabilities of Ariba Next-Gen.

Learn more about SAP Ariba Next-Gen?

Are you curious about Ariba Next-Gen, want to know more about how to handle the transition to Next-Gen as an existing customer, or would you like to see a demo in our Next-Gen demo environment? Contact us via Sjoerd Hageraats (sjoerd.hageraats@mccoy-partners.com).