Users of the SAP Ariba procurement platform soon will be able to use American Express corporate cards to make payments. Amex will become a network extension partner for Ariba, enabling corporate buyers to use their existing Amex corporate cards to generate virtual payments within Ariba, starting this year. Ariba's procurement platform connects more than 3.8 million companies worldwide and hosts more than $7.2 billion in goods and services traded daily, according to the company.
More than half of Amex' largest global customers already use Ariba for procurement, the card network noted. The integration means users won't need to set up and maintain separate standalone payment accounts within Ariba. Buyers also will gain more control over payment amounts and timing, as well as easier reconciliation, Amex said.
The pact deepens an existing relationship between the two companies, which in 2016 streamlined noncontract purchases by automatically matching transaction data from Amex commercial accounts to purchase order data from Ariba's Spot Buy platform.
The companies plan to partner on "additional digital solutions" in the future.