JOHANNESBURG, South Africa — Procurement is playing an increasingly important role within African organisations, with technology supporting the shift from operational to strategic value generation.
This is the view of Busisiwe Sibanyoni, Executive Director at Bayajula Services (Bayajula), who adds: “Solutions such as the SAP Business Network help companies leverage rich datasets, best practices and a global database of suppliers that can enhance procurement functions and unlock significant value. Technologies such as cloud computing and artificial intelligence are being leveraged by high-performing companies to improve the value delivered by procurement functions, helping them make better buying decisions that drive benefits throughout the business.”
Bayajula Services is a 100% black-owned and 63,33% black women owned technology and advisory company, specialising in procurement and supply chain management solutions and strategic support. The company helps organisations throughout Africa with expert guidance, strategic insight and technology deployment to enhance procurement functions.
Bayajula means “people with extensive depth” in IsiZulu language. A culture of innovation and focus has seen the company build depth and become a recognised expertise partner of SAP in procurement solutions, driven by a strategic intent to become a dominant SAP procurement solution provider in Africa.
AI accelerating procurement innovation
Mandla Madi, Managing Director at Bayajula Services, adds that AI is particularly useful in improving decision-making by procurement teams. “Thanks to the growing digitisation of business, companies can access a wealth of information that can be analysed to improve decision-making within procurement activities. AI can also play a vital support role in areas such as approvals, market analysis, and supplier management.”
One Deloitte study found that high-performing procurement organisations are eighteen times more likely to have deployed AI capabilities than their lower-performing peers. A report by IDC also highlighted the use of AI to improve spend visibility, support compliance, and optimise resource management.
“Considering the wealth of predefined business rules within procurement, AI is also a helpful tool in driving greater transparency over procurement processes,” says Madi. “Organisations should start building use cases for AI within their procurement functions to ensure they can reap the rewards later on.”
Procurement planning vital in public sector
Earlier this year, Bayajula took part in SAP’s low-code / no-code innovation initiative Hack2Build, where the company developed a cloud-based automated procurement planning solution that integrates seamlessly with strategic sourcing and operational procurement systems.
“Procurement planning addresses part of a broader issue: the demand management requirement that is inherent in buying processes,” explains Sibanyoni. “In light of the instruction from National Treasury that all public sector organisations must submit a procurement plan, we believe our solution will ease compliance and support broader procurement functions within both public and private organisations.”
The system will be able to integrate to any platform created by the National Treasury to submit and monitor the procurement plans.
Madi adds that the objective of a procurement plan is to drive the sourcing of goods and services directly from a predetermined plan without interference. “The procurement plan details precisely what procurement activities take place and when. Our solution then triggers a buying process in line with the procurement plan, ensuring companies remain compliant to Treasury regulations while freeing procurement teams up to focus on higher-value functions.”
Procurement as a value driver
The concept of procurement as a value driver for businesses resonates strongly with the Bayajula team. Sibanyoni notes the shift within businesses, with procurement moving from a tactical business function to a strategic one. “Procurement specialists are increasingly savvy with understanding the supplier market, identifying substitute goods that can drive costs down, and ensuring suppliers support broader business objectives such as sustainability goals. Technology is also helping procurement teams to automate mundane tasks and focus on more strategic, value-adding activities.”
Madi sees procurement as a support function for broader Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) efforts, as sourcing teams can make certain criteria part of their vendor management or onboarding processes to ensure potential sourcing partners have the appropriate credentials and business processes.
“One of the major benefits the SAP Business Network brings is the rich data that procurement specialists can access about millions of suppliers that transact via the platform,” says Madi. “This data can guide sourcing decisions and enable companies to choose suppliers that help them meet their ESG goals.”
Looking ahead, Madi sees companies leverage their procurement functions to drive business value throughout the organisation. “The concept of value-based procurement is gaining ground, and presents an immense opportunity to African organisations. Effective strategic procurement can even enhance the quality of products that a company produces. This shift away from a pure operational function to a value-generating function is in large part being enabled by technology tools. The entry of AI, machine learning and other emerging technologies should also accelerate value generation within procurement teams, driving benefits throughout the organisation.”
Nazia Pillay, Partner Head at SAP Africa, says specialists such as Bayajula play an invaluable role by supporting African organisations in their efforts at unlocking greater value from procurement functions. “Our partner ecosystem is essential to our ability to provide organisations with the technology, insight and support they need to transform their operations and attain intelligent enterprise capabilities. As businesses across the continent accelerate their digitisation efforts, organisations such as Bayajula become invaluable partners on their innovation journeys.”
