Nearly 5 million people — mostly women and children — have now fled Ukraine because of the war, according to the United Nations, making it the  fastest-growing refugee crisis in Europe since World War II according to the United Nations.

One of the keys to providing effective humanitarian aid to these refugees is to make it easier for public and private organizations providing humanitarian help to find the supplies they need quickly and efficiently.

To help ensure essential supplies are reaching Ukrainian refugees, SAP is continuing to provide open access to its business network tool SAP Ariba Discovery, and has reconfigured the tool to help meet this urgent need effectively and efficiently. Now, with a simple click on the “Support Ukraine“ toggle button, suppliers can update their profiles on SAP Business Network to declare their readiness to provide humanitarian aid.

Similarly, any supporting organization facing shortages can post their immediate sourcing needs and find suppliers ready to meet their requirements for humanitarian aid. Organizations looking for aid can now flag their posts to indicate they need donated supplies versus seeking to purchase. SAP hopes this will help to facilitate faster connections between buyers in need and suppliers that can deliver with urgency and quality

During this time of pressing need, SAP Ariba Discovery can help buyers connect with millions of companies in 190 nations on SAP Business Network — free to post, free to respond.

In the first 15 hours after it went live, 301 suppliers offered help via the platform. To date, this number has increased to more than 2,500.

“Supply chains have become even more fragile due to the war in Ukraine,” said Tony Harris, senior vice president and head of Marketing & Solutions for SAP Business Network. “With continued open access to SAP Ariba Discovery, we hope to make it easier for organizations in need to connect with suppliers who can help on our network. We are encouraged by the positive response we’re already seeing from suppliers looking to assist Ukraine during this time.”

The move to speed access to humanitarian supplies represents a continuation of SAP’s policy to help facilitate the pairing of buyers and suppliers during times of exceptional need. SAP previously opened access to SAP Ariba Discovery during the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic helping, for example, a construction company seeking beds for an emergency hospital it was building in New York City to be matched with a supplier within just 30 minutes.

Source: SAP