National Business Furniture Boosts Business Through Ariba

Business commerce is hard. But with the help of Ariba, an SAP company, National Business Furniture (NBF) is making it easy. And racking up results in the process.

More than a decade ago, NBF joined the Ariba® Network, the world’s largest, most global business-to-business trading community. At the time, the company was simply looking to streamline the ordering process for its customers. So it set up an online catalog and began receiving purchase orders (POs) electronically. Within a year, the company’s sales on the Ariba Network quadrupled.

Simple Wins
To build on its success, NBF expanded its use of the network to include electronically flipping and acknowledging POs and responding to requests for proposal. And again, the move paid off.

“It has really streamlined the whole business process for us,” said Brady Seiberlich, IT eProcurement Manager, NBF. “Through the network, we can quickly and easily flip and acknowledge orders and invoice customers as soon as they ship in a completely automated way. And this has not only eliminated errors, but led to faster payments”

It has also made it easier than ever to do business with NBF, which according to Seiberlich, has boosted both customer satisfaction and sales. “We continue to see double-digit growth from year-to-year and more consistent spending from our customers on Ariba,” he said.

Simple Delivers
NBF continues to push the envelope and deliver innovations through the Ariba Network that create value for its customers. Leveraging transaction data and other intelligence available on the network, for instance, the company is transforming the way its customers buy, helping them to maximize their spend and drive a standard, compliant process for purchasing that delivers savings and efficiencies.

“We were seeing a lot of rogue purchases from branches of larger companies,” Seiberlich said. “We knew we could help them with this if we could get them connected to the Ariba Network where all of their purchases can be managed in one place.”

NBF has done just this and is reaping the rewards, landing more corporate-level deals and expanding within existing accounts.

“Digital commerce is fast becoming a real source of value creation and competitive advantage,” said Dr. Chakib Bouhdary, President, Business Networks, SAP. “The Ariba Network is a highly effective sales and marketing channel and efficient transactional platform that innovative companies like NBF can leverage to create a world-class experience for their customers and help them better manage their costs.”

Ariba offers a wide-range of solutions designed to help selling organizations create effective eCommerce strategies that fuel business innovation and growth. Click here to learn more about these offerings and the value they can deliver.

About National Business Furniture
National Business Furniture was founded in 1975 and is a leading provider of office furniture and equipment to large and small businesses, government institutions, healthcare facilities and educational organizations. With the mission to improve every workplace, NBF provides fast shipping, expert service, and a lifetime guarantee to nearly one million customers. For a free catalog, or to browse the complete selection of office furniture, such as desks, chairs, file cabinets, bookcases and reception furniture, visit www.nbf.com.

About Ariba, an SAP Company
Ariba is the world’s business commerce network. Ariba combines industry-leading cloud-based applications with the world's largest web-based trading community to help companies discover and collaborate with a global network of partners. Using the Ariba® Network, businesses of all sizes can connect to their trading partners anywhere, at any time from any application or device to buy, sell and manage their cash more efficiently and effectively than ever before. Companies around the world use the Ariba Network to simplify inter-enterprise commerce and enhance the results that they deliver. Join them at: www.ariba.com

About SAP
As market leader in enterprise application software, SAP (NYSE: SAP) helps companies of all sizes and industries run better. From back office to boardroom, warehouse to storefront, desktop to mobile device – SAP empowers people and organizations to work together more efficiently and use business insight more effectively to stay ahead of the competition. SAP applications and services enable more than 263,000 customers to operate profitably, adapt continuously, and grow sustainably. For more information, visit www.sap.com.

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