For our recent webinar, we invited gicom client and international retailer, SPAR Group, to discuss what it’s like implementing gicom’s innovative agreement lifecycle management technology.
On May 19, 2022, Stefan Hilger, member of the executive board, gicom and Petya White, project lead for SPAR Group, gicom were joined by Eugene Quass, program director, SPAR Group. During the discussion, Euguene explained to attendees why SPAR Group turned to gicom to improve synergy across their international operations.
What was SPAR’s business challenge?
With 7,000 suppliers, 1,100 ongoing contracts and 3,700 business conditions across multiple countries, SPAR Group has a lot to manage throughout its agreement lifecycle. Prior to working with gicom, the retail merchandising solutions company was conducting conditions management manually and with Excel. This outdated process further complicated negotiations and invoicing, creating silos of information and limiting progress.
Eugene shared how in addition to managing numerous stakeholders, contracts, and conditions, SPAR was struggling with synergy. Each business group within SPAR was at a different level of maturity with respect to agreement management processes and systems.
What was SPAR looking to achieve?
With these challenges in mind, SPAR was looking to create a single template for agreement lifecycle management that was based on industry best practices and could be rolled out internationally. With gicom, SPAR had the opportunity to develop common processes and solutions for agreement management and margin calculation.
Throughout the project, SPAR’s ultimate goal was to streamline its international contract negotiation both internally and externally, ultimately improving business value.
How were SPAR and gicom successful?
Eugene then explained the benefits SPAR witnessed once integrated with gicom. These benefits included:
- Exclusive use of standard functionality: The use of standard workflows for contract approval and automatic, digital documentation reduced processing times and improved harmony.
- A sophisticated change management process: SPAR ensures a smooth transition from previous diverging processes to a digitized and streamlined approach.
- Simplified invoice processes: With SAP and gicom, invoices are triggered automatically and sent directly to the buyer or supplier, minimizing the potential for manual errors and wait times. The digital settlement is then stored in a central, easy-to-access location.
- Overview of all claims (realised / not realised) across suppliers: With gicom, no opportunity goes unnoticed. All claims, both realized and not realized are visible, along with direct margin calculations for negotiations and group comparisons for possible suppliers.
SPAR Group successfully achieved its goals with gicom and developed a more efficient and profitable agreement lifecycle process. Now according to Eugene, SPAR Group’s new process can be implemented across all international branches without hesitation. With new global synergy around agreement profitability, SPAR Group can gain a clear and concise view of their KPIs and ensure every deal is optimized.
Why did SPAR choose gicom? And why you should too!
This successful integration with SPAR Group isn’t an outlier. gicom has successfully improved the agreement lifecycle process for retail industry leaders around the world and has the award recognitions to prove it.
Are you interested in learning how gicom can help your business achieve your business goals, improve company synergy and increase profits? Reach out to us today!
And be sure to join our next webinar “How to Manage & Control Vendor Funds With SAP and gicom” on June 29th! Register here!