He adds that the use of Ariba until March next year is an interim measure, as Transnet will standardize on SAP R/3 for all aspects of the business over the next year. "Ariba will meet our mandate to cut costs and generate significant return on investment in the short term," he adds.

According to Sanjay Sewraj, program manager at Arivia.kom, Transnet realized that working with Ariba offered benefits that included: delivery lead time; far less or no paperwork; full approval control; total automation and security; more educated suppliers; and better prices.

SAA also noticed that working with the Ariba package produced a lot of benefits, and will use it until next March as well.

"Our users are already using Ariba since it went live in March this year. The feedback is extremely positive," says Mike Re, CIO at SAA.