SapienceS2P: Using the latest cloud technologies to build better eProcurement systems

It’s impossible to compete in today’s business environment without making use of the latest cloud procurement technologies and making the most of these technologies is impossible without the right software consultancy. Modern digital procurement solutions like SAP Ariba and S/4 Hana have the capacity to help every size organization meet complex business goals, improve sustainability, and more. However, without the right deployment partner, businesses won’t get the most out of these complex and highly customizable products.

SapienceS2P is an enterprise software consultancy specializing in deploying and maintaining industry-leading SAP procurement solutions like SAP Ariba, S/4 Hana, the SAP Ariba Cloud Integration Gateway and predecessor applications like SAP SRM, ECC, and CI9. Their hand-picked team of expert consultants are ready to work with clients worldwide to help them get the most out of their procurement software. With top consultants averaging around 20 years of industry experience each, Additionally, while working to improve customer experience and reduce pain points SapienceS2P has developed a range of SAP-approved add-ons and off-the-peg migration pathways that help save clients time and money. SapienceS2P is a Sliver level SAP Build Partner several powerful applications in the SAP App Store.

I sat down with Lovkesh Kapur, SapienceS2P’s founder and Managing Director, to talk about some of the things that SapienceS2P does best.

“SapienceS2P is the realization of my dream to give every business the best possible procurement system, regardless of industry, location, or size. I feel digital procurement has the potential to benefit everyone with improved sustainability and fewer supply chain problems worldwide. It’s exciting to be a part of the industry’s digital transformation journey.”

Interview Highlights

Q. What are some things that are only available from SapienceS2P?

There are several things that make SapieceS2P stand out against their competitors. Our onshore/offshore model and hand-picked consulting team enable us to design and deploy solutions for clients faster, cheaper and more accurately than our competition. With a range of industry and subject matter experts permanently on-call, we can assemble the right team  for any client and situation and hit the ground running. We offer a range of bespoke solutions, including a range of pre-built upgrade pathways ready to help customers with legacy SAP systems upgrade as their existing systems come to the end of their lifespan.

Planning and enacting integrations of various types is another area where we excel, whether we’re talking about legacy systems or a new SAP installation. Finally, SapienceS2P offers every client a free audit assessment and a tailored roadmap detailing the right deployment and upgrade pathway for their needs.

Q. How is Sapience Satori the best chatbot for SAP Ariba?

While there’s been plenty of chatter about how helpful chatbots could be in the procurement space, many of the offerings are extremely limited in scope, are from non-specialist publishers, or are built from the ground up at great expense and risk. SapienceS2P’s in-depth procurement knowledge makes a huge difference to Satori. It’s also instantly learnable by anyone who can use Teams or Slack, plus it’s mobile friendly.

Satori has shown itself time and again to offer much more than the almost alternatives. By leveraging SAP’s ever-growing API library to power its abilities, Satori can evolve quickly to meet client needs. What’s more, Satori can include training links, creating a rich content experience that  can benefit every employee by giving them an easy-to-learn mobile friendly interface for  your procurement system.

Q. How do you work to improve procurement software on a daily basis?

SAP software has excellent reporting capabilities. We combine this with feedback from our customers and from procurement news and communities around the world to help us come up with ways to make things better for all SAP users. The result is the development of tools like RPAwesome, our Robotic Process Automation solution, our Satori chatbot, and our partnership with ValueWeaver with their SRM EasyHelp booster for SAP SRM.

 Tell us more about S/4 HANA ERP

SAP’s S/4 HANA ERP platform is a hugely powerful enterprise resource planning solution that integrates with SAP Ariba and 3rd party systems to help companies manage their procurement and supply chain space. There’s overlap between SAP Ariba and S/4 Hana at key points, so choosing the right combination of features to deploy together is an important part of what we do.

S/4 HANA extends further into financial management, while SAP Ariba is more concerned with indirect procurement and helping buyers and vendors meet their supply chain goals. That said, both platforms are rapidly evolving, as is the knowledge needed by consultants who are involved with their installation and maintenance. 

Q. What are some of the things you do to improve customer satisfaction?

Customer satisfaction is a vital part of what we do here at SapienceS2P. Whether we’re demonstrating our products or helping a client build the perfect upgrade roadmap, we’re always thinking of ways to improve the experience in both the short and long term.

Consultants make the best use of their skills because they’re matched with the right clients. At the same time, customers  with even the most complex needs are supported at every stage of their project. All of this serves to make SapienceS2P a truly global organization that’s capable of benefitting every size and type of customer.

Q. How do you work to reduce pain points from SAP procurement software?

We’ve always got our ear to the ground when it comes to our customer’s pain points, including potential future problems. Our range of custom-built upgrade roadmaps, in-house developed add-ons, bolt-ons for legacy software all serve to smooth our clients’ experience with SAP software. The audit report we do before each new project helps identify even the pain points clients didn’t know were there. Often, we’re able to prevent problems before they start or make a few small changes that rectify something the customer thought was “just a part of the software”.

Tell us more about RPAwesome

Our clients know there’s more to Robotic Process Automation (RPA) than the software. With RPAwesome clients get access to our team of industry experts and the knowledge that they will do their utmost to get them the best outcomes from their procurement software.

By reducing manual touchpoints and automating repetitive tasks, RPAwesome is able to make efficiency savings of 70% or more. Combined with some of our other products like the Satori chatbot customers can gain huge time and resource savings, and of course RPAwesome comes with a free audit report and support from our team of experts.

The Visionary Leader at the Helm of SapienceS2P

Lovkesh Kapur is the founder and Managing Director of SapienceS2P. He founded the company in 2018 to build on his dream of providing customers everywhere with access to the best procurement talent. Working with a range of different cultures and locations, Lovkesh had the opportunity to see where a new way of working could benefit clients and consultants alike. This is how SapienceS2P’s onshore-offshore model was born.

With over 21 years of expertise in the industry, Lovkesh has worked on procurement transformation with a range of multinationals.

As a key contributor to many major enterprise software projects, Mr. Kapur is a subject-matter expert in SAP Ariba, SRM, and MM. He has a wealth of experience in designing, implementing, and supporting large procurement software installations.

“Satori is morethan just a chatbot– it’s a natural language-enabled interface that enables users to access a range of complex SAP Ariba functions in just a couple of steps and from any device that supports MS Teams or Slack.”