GEP vs. SAP Ariba: Supplier Management Head-to-Head Technology Evaluation and Comparison

A decade ago, supplier management solutions had not even established themselves as an independent category of procurement software. At the time, Aravo was fighting for credibility as the only focused solution in the space. But today, supplier management is more than established — it is one the core components of both procurement suites and specialist solutions, many of which tend to excel in specific functional areas.

Within the supplier management software market, GEP and SAP Ariba go head-to-head as two suite providers with functional capabilities at or above the benchmark for the Q2 2018 Supplier Management SolutionMap. While nearly all potential GEP and SAP Ariba customers will evaluate supplier management in the context of a suite selection — GEP is even adamant that it does not sell “modules” — supplier management is an important factor in an increasing number of source-to-pay suite selections. But how do the two companies stack up against each other in a head-to-head bout?

Join us in this unfiltered SolutionMap results analysis from our Q2 2018 dataset, along with the commentary of the Spend Matters analyst team. These “Head-to-Head” columns share the insights of each quarterly SolutionMap report for SolutionMap Insider Subscribers, providing unique comparative cuts of SolutionMap benchmark data along with the trademark quips that Spend Matters was better known for in its early years. So buckle your seat belt, prepare for some real data and expect a few sparks to fly as we pit GEP and SAP Ariba against each other in the supplier management software evaluation ring.

Not yet an Insider member? Here’s a preview: In the majority of supplier management categories — which include master data management (MDM), supplier information management (SIM), supplier portal, supplier initiative management, technology, configurability and services — SAP Ariba comes out on top (sometimes convincingly so). But GEP shines in specific areas that could tip the scales in cases when a broader suite, managed services or BPO selection is involved.

Overall, the results suggest that the right solution will vary based on different initiative and organizational requirements — and how much “heavy lifting” procurement or AP organizations want to take on to enable supplier management versus working with a partner. There’s no debate that supplier management solutions will reward procurement organizations that tailor provider selection to their specific needs and even specific supplier management initiative requirements.

GEP and SAP Ariba: Best-Fit Supplier Management Personas

GEP and SAP Ariba deliver above average performances from a functional benchmark perspective in the Q2 2018 SolutionMap. Despite this, GEP scores in the Emergent Contender (lower left) quadrant for all common supplier management buying personas, owing to scores below the SolutionMap benchmark for technical capability and customer scoring. SAP Ariba ranks in the Value Leader quadrant (upper right) for four out of five SolutionMap personas (Deep, Configurator, Turn-Key and CIO-Friendly). It also scores in the Customer Leader quadrant (lower right) for one persona (Nimble).

SAP Ariba delivers higher analyst scores, but as noted, both providers are “above the benchmark” overall. And GEP sets the benchmark standard for services, with the highest overall scoring for this area.

Overall: How Do They Stack Up?

When we consider the raw Analyst scoring across the approximately 100 areas that make up the results of the SolutionMap Supplier Management RFI and compare this with other providers in the SolutionMap analysis, both GEP and SAP Ariba have different areas of strength, although SAP Ariba generally delivers stronger overall functional capability on a consistent basis.

When it comes to the SolutionMap functional benchmark, based on aggregate scoring for individual fields within each area:

• GEP exceeds the functional benchmark in three areas (supplier portal, services and overall average score, the latter by the slightest of margins). It ties the functional benchmark for configurability and is below the functional benchmark for MDM, SIM, SXM and technology.
• SAP Ariba exceeds the functional benchmark in five areas (SIM, SXM, p ortal, technology and services). It is below the functional benchmark for MDM and it ties the functional benchmark for configurability.

Overall, here’s how the two providers stack up, area by area, compared to both each other and the average benchmark:

Note: The precise scoring is intentionally blinded, but the scoring/height is representatively accurate based on the underlying data.

In the Functional Weeds: How Do They Stack Up? 

It’s critical to take a detailed look at how GEP and SAP Ariba perform on a subfunctional basis for supplier management, as there is significant variance between the two in many categories (and subcategories).

Master Data Management (MDM)

GEP: Stands out relative to SAP Ariba for Data Archival and Auditing

SAP Ariba: Stands out relative to GEP for Multi-Sourced Federation Control and Fine-Grained Access/Permission Control and Document and Version Management

GEP and SAP Ariba are tied for scoring in Schema Support, Supplier Information (industry codes), Product/Service Information (e.g., UNSPSC) and Form Support.

GEP also exceeds the functional benchmark in the following areas (in which SAP Ariba delivers a higher overall score or the two providers are tied): OCR and Automatic (meta-data) indexing.

Supplier Information Management

GEP: Stands out relative to SAP Ariba for in no areas

SAP Ariba: Stands out relative to GEP for Supplier (pre-registration), Invitation Management, Self-Registration, Integrated Off-Line Reach Out (phone, fax, etc.), Supplier Network Integration (where it scores a “5”), Auto Data Verification, Data Collection, Delegation of Control, Supplier Data Management, Financial Data/ACH Integration, Third-Party Data Integration, Product/Catalog Management and Real-Time Messaging

GEP and SAP Ariba are tied for scoring in SIC Support, Suppler On-Boarding, On-Boarding Templates, Supplier Qualification, Auto Document Identification and Verification, Entity Core Data, Document Management, Certificates/Insurance, Ratings, Approvals and Preferred Suppliers and Supplier Collaboration.

GEP also exceeds the functional benchmark in the following areas (in which SAP Ariba delivers a higher overall score or the two providers are tied): Supplier On-Boarding, Auto-Document Identification and Verification, Entity Core Data, Document Management, Certificates/Insurance and Supplier Collaboration.

SXM

GEP: Stands out relative to SAP Ariba for Automatic Data/Scorecard Updates, Analytics and Out-Of-The-Box Scorecards

SAP Ariba: Stands out relative to GEP for Conflict Resolution (Plan Development), Conflict Resolution (Status Updates), Third-Party Data Integration, Monitoring, Risk Management (where it scores a “5”), Risk Identification, Mitigation Plan, Trend Monitoring, Event Monitoring, Product Management (Support for NPD/NPI), BoM Management, Innovation Management, Out-Of-The-Box Trend Reports and Out-Of-The-Box Risk Reports

GEP and SAP Ariba are tied for scoring in Measurement, Survey Integration, Scorecards With Automated Updates, Development and Innovation Management, Challenge Definition, Unsolicited Idea Management, Review and Decision Support, Alerts and Notifications, Report Builder and Out-Of-The-Box Metric Reports.

GEP also exceeds the functional benchmark in the following areas (in which SAP Ariba delivers a higher overall score or the two providers are tied): Plan Development and Milestone Definition, Status Updates, Resolution Mechanisms, NPD/NPI, BoM Management and Process Management.

Supplier Portal

GEP: Stands out relative to SAP Ariba for in no functional areas

SAP Ariba: Stands out relative to GEP for VMI

GEP and SAP Ariba are tied for scoring in Single View and Sign-On, Deep On-Boarding Support, Collaboration, SPM/SRM Data Review, 360-Degree Scorecards, Document Management and Updates and PO/Invoice/Payment Support.

GEP also exceeds the functional benchmark in the following areas (in which SAP Ariba delivers a higher overall score or the two providers are tied): Single View and Sign-On, Deep On-Boarding Support, Collaboration, SPM/SRM Data Review, Document Management and Updates and PO/Invoice/Payment Support.

Technology 

GEP: Stands out relative to SAP Ariba for Core Tech Platform

SAP Ariba: Stands out relative to GEP for On-Premise Software Option, AR/Auto Detection of Missing/Needed/Data, Big Data, Blockchain, OCR, Intelligent Apps, Personalization, Open Standards and Integrations

GEP and SAP Ariba are tied for scoring in SaaS/Cloud, Mobile and Fine-Grained Role/Data/Action-Based Security.

GEP also exceeds the functional benchmark in the following areas (in which SAP Ariba delivers a higher overall score and/or the two providers are tied): Mobile.

Configurability 

GEP: Stands out relative to SAP Ariba in no functional areas

SAP Ariba: Stands out relative to GEP in no functional areas

GEP and SAP Ariba are tied for scoring in SIM/SPM/SRM Configuration, Network Data Model, Multi-Tier, Supplier Portal Configuration, Business Rules/Workflow, Globalization, Multi-Currency and Multi-Lingual.

GEP also exceeds the functional benchmark in the following areas (in which SAP Ariba delivers a higher overall score or the two providers are tied): Network Data Model, Supplier Portal Configuration, Multi-Currency and Multi-Lingual.

Services

GEP: Stands out relative to SAP Ariba for Data/Document Management Services and Supplier Development/Innovation

SAP Ariba: Stands out relative to GEP in no areas

GEP and SAP Ariba are tied for scoring in Supplier On-Boarding and Supplier Management Services.

GEP also exceeds the functional benchmark in the following areas (in which SAP Ariba delivers a higher overall score or the two providers are tied): Supplier On-Boarding and Supplier Management Services.

Average Supplier Management Score

SAP Ariba delivers a higher overall supplier management score than GEP.

Findings Commentary

If there were a provider that qualified for “most improved” functional rating in supplier management in recent years, SAP Ariba would be high on the list. Our preliminary Q3 2018 SolutionMap results suggest continued enhancement across a range of areas beyond the Q2 scoring on which this SolutionMap Head-to-Head analysis is based.

For companies looking to integrate core supplier management capability as adjacent to procure-to-pay processes or separate from it to drive specific initiatives (e.g., supplier information management, risk management, performance management), SAP Ariba has become a must-shortlist candidate — even for non-SAP shops. It’s that solid overall.

SAP Ariba is comparatively stronger in supplier management in the latest benchmark than it is for sourcing and contract lifecycle management (CLM). In fact, SAP Ariba delivers more robust capabilities in support of supplier management (on an overall functional basis) than all of the best-of-breed providers in the sector. This will no doubt this will come as a surprise to many organizations that are not familiar with SAP Ariba’s recent enhancements in the supplier management area.

GEP, on the other hand, excels in other SolutionMap modules on a comparative functional basis (e.g., sourcing) but not in supplier management. Still, on an overall basis, GEP delivers a solution that is at or above the functional benchmark for a significant number of areas, and its services scores are the highest in the overall benchmark for Q2. This suggests that for organizations that turn to GEP for managed services and BPO engagements, they will be in highly capable hands when it comes to the Turn-Key persona enablement of supplier management.

The Final Word 

We decided to write our first Head-to-Head for supplier management on GEP and SAP Ariba because the two providers have been involved in a number of high-profile competitive battles in recent quarters in which supplier management was at least a supporting consideration when companies were evaluating broader suites. Fortunately, the choice between the two providers for supplier management should be an easy one in nearly all scenarios.

In cases where functional capability is the primary driver of the selection process and supplier management is a priority, SAP Ariba will emerge as the superior solution in just about any combination of selection considerations (beyond SolutionMap personas alone) that we can think of. But for companies looking for “one throat to choke” for supplier management enabling capability and services as part of a managed services or BPO program with a primary emphasis on either source-to-pay or procure-to-pay, GEP is the top game in town.

Finally, we need to give a shout-out to SAP Ariba for its investment in supplier risk management above and beyond both suite and best-of-breed supplier management solutions. While supplier risk management remains a fragmented, early and nascent sector in which specialists such as riskmethods, Resilinc, DHL, RapidRatings, D&B and LexisNexis have all carved out different (albeit sometimes overlapping) niches for themselves, SAP Ariba provides a viable alternative depending on customer requirements with its own networked and intelligence-driven offering.