SAP Ariba Offers Swiss Medical More Traceability, Automation and Transparency of Operations
11/1/2022
“From our purchasing management, we acquire everything related to the company's projects: construction works, medical and non-medical equipment, hardware and technology services. We use SAP Ariba for the comparison of many of these purchases, which meant a remarkable improvement in the traceability and transparency of the operations.“
- Pablo Cooperberg, Assistant Purchasing Manager, Swiss Medical
“From our purchasing management, we acquire everything related to the company's projects: construction works, medical and non-medical equipment, hardware and technology services. We use SAP Ariba for the comparison of many of these purchases, which meant a remarkable improvement in the traceability and transparency of the operations.“
- Pablo Cooperberg, Assistant Purchasing Manager, Swiss Medical
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At a glance
The Challenge
The company implemented SAP in 2008, however, as the volume of purchasing operations increased and audit requirements became more demanding, the possibility and need to work with SAP Ariba arose. The objective was to make purchasing management operations more transparent, more secure and more efficient. Swiss Medical acquired the licenses in 2019, but during the project setup, the pandemic surprised them. As a consequence, many changes were made, such as adapting the infrastructure to the new health conditions and ensuring the supply of critical medical supplies. The project was even on the verge of slowing down, but it was possible to reallocate resources, reformulate the implementation methodology, improve analysis times, hold online meetings, and complete the project within the initially established timeframe.
The Benefits
- SAP Ariba made it possible to automate part of the work and obtain an operational improvement – being the only tool for supplier registration.
- The avoidance of manual price uploading and the receipt of quotations via e-mail minimized uploading errors, ensuring transparency.
- The implementation facilitated the stages for the procurement of medical supplies in the SAP Maintenance Goods and Services area. The tendering process was also streamlined as the platform is linked to SAP ERP, which allows the generation of purchase orders relating to both systems.
The Solution
The implementation of the Sourcing, Contract and SLP modules integrated with its SAP ERP allowed Swiss Medical to change the logic in the purchasing segment, i.e. the burden was reversed. Today, suppliers must register by filling in their details if they are interested in working with the company, which reduces costs and frees up staff for other purposes. Once the supplier is registered, purchase orders can be generated by tying the two platforms together.
Key Facts
About Swiss Medical
Swiss Medical is one of the main business groups in Argentina dedicated to the protection of people and is a leader in the health sector. Its companies include Swiss Medical Medicina Privada, six clinics of the highest level and quality, thirteen outpatient medical centers in different parts of the country, nine dental clinics, SMG Seguros, SMG LIFE, Instituto de Salta, SMG ART, ECCO Emergencia y Prevención and BlueCross & BlueShield de Uruguay.
