International Business Machines Corporation (NYSE: IBM) has inked a five-year agreement with Honda Motor Europe. This agreement will allow IBM to handle Honda's finance and procurement operations across Europe. The agreement expands a current ten-year relationship by providing the IBM Global Business Services additional responsibility for procurement operations.
This agreement is inked between the firms at a crucial time when the automotive industry has witnessed revolutionary changes and enter into a connected, autonomous, shared, and electrified world. The revolutionary investments required to put even greater demands on back-office functions to enhance efficiencies and be flexible to help the changing business demands.
As per the agreement IBM intends to handle the Source-to-Pay, Record-to-Report, and Order-to-Cash processes. The standardization and streamlining of the processes are designed to enable the application of the latest developments in automation which can offer further cost and quality benefits.
Furthermore, the contract is intended to offer unified end-to-end service which can help Honda enhance efficiency, cut costs, standardize processes across its European operations, and eventually set it on course to a "Zero Touch" vision. IBM and Honda Motor Europe inked their Finance & Procurement Service agreement in 1Q 2021.