Sirion and Accenture’s Approach to Supplier Management

This article has been guest authored by Ben Tulloch, Managing Director, Accenture Australia.

What if large companies could unlock hundreds of millions of dollars in value from their billions of dollars of spend on highly complex contracts? That’s the idea behind our new relationship with Sirion.

Big, global organizations with hundreds of suppliers and complex contracts spend a lot of time manually reviewing vendor invoices, comparing those invoices with their related contract and terms, and determining whether the invoice accurately reflects what the company actually bought. Not only that, they’re never really sure they’re completely accurate. Dealing with these complex contracts is more than what spreadsheets and the human mind can handle, so there’s always the question that the company might be missing something and, thus, leaving money on the table.

Sirion’s innovative CLM platform changes all that. It automatically validates incoming invoices based on what was promised in a contract and reconciles the invoice amount against performance metrics. On average, Sirion can unlock between 3 percent and 7 percent of additional value. That doesn’t sound like much on its own, but when you apply that across billions of dollars of spend on complex multiyear contracts, it really adds up.

And that’s not all. Accenture’s also using the platform to help companies more strategically manage their suppliers, which can have far greater impact over the long term. Supplier relationship management has become critical to mitigating risk, increase savings and, in some industries, comply with regulatory requirements. With the insights that Sirion generates, a company and its supplier can get an objective view of the relationship. That helps establish trust between the parties and uncovers ways that company and supplier can work together better. That could mean setting up more mutually beneficial commercial agreements, addressing specific supplier performance issues, putting in place more effective governance, or fostering co-innovation.

For example, one major airline is enjoying the platform’s real-time reporting and data extraction, which enables the company to take timely actions to manage performance. The platform replaces streams of emails and files and provides a “single pane of glass” view of performance. That’s huge for a company with thousands of vendors around the world.

In today’s era of disruptive competition, companies are always on the lookout for new ways to boost the bottom line. Large, complex contracts have always been a big target, but also one that’s been tough to crack. Now, the technology exists to uncover the hidden value in these contracts, automating and streamlining what used to be a time-consuming, laborious process. With Sirion’s innovative platform, companies can enjoy far better visibility into contracts, gain greater control over fulfilment of performance obligations, and receive more accurate invoices. Even better, Sirion’s technology—combined with our deep procurement, supplier relationship, and risk management expertise and experience, plus our partnership with other technology ecosystem partners that help digitalize this area—can help companies create more strategic and mutually beneficial supplier relationships. It’s really a win for everyone involved.

Interested in more details on the Accenture-Sirion partnership?  Contact us to schedule a demonstration and rapid value assessment to determine the potential benefits in your organization.