Challenge
Merz Aesthetics is a global leader in medical aesthetics, providing innovative treatment solutions to healthcare professionals and their patients.
In recent years, the company has experienced tremendous growth, and its contract lifecycle management (CLM) system was struggling to keep up. Contracts are integral to Merz’s business model—supporting enterprise processes ranging from direct and indirect sourcing, to engaging outside experts, to executing sales agreements. Its CLM could only support the buy side of the business, and even then had serious limitations.
Led by the Global Indirect Sourcing department, with support from Legal, Finance, IT and Sales, Merz Aesthetics began looking for a modern solution that could support the entire enterprise as it charted a path to continued success. This meant not only functionality to handle a wide range of contracts from procurement to sales but also the ability to integrate with the systems those teams use—including OCTA SSO, SAP, Ariba, Salesforce and AdobeSign
Solution
After evaluating a wide range of options, Merz Aesthetics turned to Icertis and PwC.
The Icertis Contract Intelligence (ICI) platform is built to handle any contract and contract process in an enterprise, meaning it could serve as a single, enterprise-wide solution for all of Merz’s contracting needs moving forward. Best-in-class CLM capabilities provide intuitive, guided workflows for the entire contract lifecycle, from initiation to post-signature management.
The platform's integration with Ariba brings all supplier data into a single location, with commercial contracts in Icertis automatically populating purchase requisitions in Ariba— streamlining the purchase to pay process.
Icertis also offered Merz the ability to connect contract data across systems. ICI is the only CLM designated as an Endorsed App for SAP Ariba, offering extensive system integrations that creates seamless sourcing workflows. As implemented by PwC, the Icertis system can ingest master supplier data from SAP at contract initiation, then send detailed contract information back to Ariba upon contract execution.
On the sell-side, Icertis’ integration with Salesforce means sellers can access the power of the Icertis platform without leaving their CRM, communicating more effectively with customers, accelerating deals, and improving compliance.
Benefits
Today, Merz Aesthetics has a contract intelligence platform that can support its continued success—not hinder it.
Standardized processes and workflows ensure that the right contracts are being executed at the right time, leading to greater efficiencies and cost savings. Consistent platform performance means users are confident they can always access the information and processes they need, driving adoption.
The platform's integration with Ariba brings all supplier data into a single location, with commercial contracts in Icertis automatically populating purchase requisitions in Ariba— streamlining the purchase-to-pay process. And for the first time, using defined contract templates, Merz sales representatives are able to generate individual agreements in the field, enabling them to work faster and more efficiently. And thanks to Icertis’ support for 30+ languages, Merz is now considering a global expansion of the platform.
As one team member describes their selection of Icertis, "Every day when I get into the office, I know we made the right decision."
