msg group

With more than 10,000 employees all over the world, msg group offers systems integrations consulting for accounting, finance, regulatory reporting, performance management, customer experience and IoT technology needs. Headquartered in Germany with clients in industries ranging from automotive manufacturing to banking, msg sought to streamline purchasing for its growing and geographically distributed workforce. msg worked with HAQM Business to integrate with SAP Ariba, creating a direct source of supply for its workforce with spend policies and approvals mapping to a procurement system.

Centralizing tail spend across a decentralized workforce

As more of the msg team began to work from home and the company continued to grow in headcount to meet client needs, centralizing spend and saving time corralling expenses became a priority for several internal departments. To simplify business buying, they discovered their need for automated approvals workflows according to their spend policies.

Rather than having the procurement leaders order IT accessories, office supplies and literature for employees, Christiane Rimat, msg’s Head of Procurement, aimed to empower employees across departments to self-service their own purchasing while simultaneously providing the procurement team visibility into these transactions.

Creating a fast, easy to use mechanism for business buying was their first goal. To initially create a direct connection from HAQM Business to msg’s procurement system, SAP Ariba, the msg team set up HAQM Business’ Punchout integration, which allows users to punchout from SAP Ariba to HAQM Business’ wide selection of products. Then msg chose to also tap HAQM Business’ Integrated Search integration, which allows users to search HAQM Business products directly from the SAP Ariba environment.

Before msg implemented SAP Ariba, the msg team performed extensive testing internally to benchmark about how long it took employees to place orders, from the beginning of a product search to the final receipt entry for reimbursement.

“This was significantly faster with Punchout, on average cutting the time spent in half, and thus a significant reduction in our process costs,” Graf said. With Integrated Search, the team found they spent less time comparison shopping and also accessed cost savings.

About msg group

msg group, a leading global manufacturer of fasteners head quartered in Germany, faced challenges in streamlining their procurement processes. By partnering with HAQM Business, msg group leveraged tools like Business Prime, enhanced analytics, and bulk purchasing features to simplify operations and reduce costs. These solutions provided increased efficiency, better oversight, and scalable options, ultimately transforming their supply chain management and aligning with their evolving business needs.