SolutionMap Methodology

Spend Matters strives for transparency in all
of our data practices.

Spend Matters data set sample

SolutionMap dataset sample. Source: Spend Matters

Why SolutionMap?

With more than 1,500 relevant technology and services providers across source-to-pay alone, it’s impossible to find a best-fit solution when those who happen to have a talented analyst relations team and the marketing budgets get the visibility and “buzz.”

But: do they fit in your specific industry, company size, region or tech stack? Do they have the integrations required to work? Can they actually do what they say they can do, and if so … how long will implementing actually take?

We’re guessing that most procurement teams don’t have the time (or wherewithal) to research all of the available technology solutions and sit through hundreds of hours of demos to verify all of the above.

That’s where we come in. 

Spend Matters has built a better way to help companies — and their consultants — advance procurement practices via technology, whether a brand new start-up or an established player, and whether you’re putting in tech for the first time or are augmenting or replacing what you already have. SolutionMap includes both new and established vendors, and compares technologies on two main factors: technical capability (gathered via a rigorous ‘Request for Information’ or RFI process) and customer ratings. Data is refreshed every 6 months.

Note: Vendors never pay to participate in SolutionMap, and Spend Matters will never accept kick-backs from a vendor that may win business because of their participation. 

SolutionMap Request for Information (RFI)

SolutionMap data is acquired through the completion of an in-depth RFI to validate the true capabilities of procurement solutions. The RFI is built by a combination of the Spend Matters analyst team, customers and consultants to ensure requirements are comprehensive and relevant to procurement tech buyers.

Capability definitions, market segments and capability weightings are determined  before issuing the RFI to ensure consistent application across all reviewed vendors’ solutions.

The RFI requirements cover:

– All elements of a technology*
– In-depth platform scoring and integrations**
– Supplier experience
– Front-end user and administrator user experience

Illustrative RFI question

Source: Spend Matters proprietary SolutionMap scoring portal

The SolutionMap vendor capability assessment methodology

A quick overview of the SolutionMap process

Assessment

Analysts complete a mini-assessment of a vendor to determine SolutionMap fit.

Demos

Analyst scores are shared with the vendor and they are given a chance to dispute live with the analyst team.

Vendor Self-Score

Vendors self-score on a 0-5 rating scale; some RFIs (S2P) have up to 600 requirements!

Analysts Score

Spend Matters analysts counterscore based on vendor materials and tech demos (all capabilities are validated).

Customer Scores

Vendors submit customer references (at least 3 required per module) and Spend Matters sources public references.

Release

Analysts finalize and validate technology and customer reference scores and release the intelligence to members.

More on the vendor capability assessment methodology

Twice annually, Spend Matters initiates an RFI process with participating vendors via the Spend Matters scoring portal.

Vendors self-score* their solutions on a 0-5 scale the core platform and module-specific capability requirements and are required to provide reasoning and supporting information.

Analysts review, counter-score and conduct in-depth demos to validate the scores.

The vendor receives the analyst counter scores and updates self-scores in ensuing scoring rounds with additional reasoning, documentation and demos as required by the analyst.

The analyst finalizes the scores after considering the vendor inputs and technology against the set scoring scale. The lead analyst for a module determines the final scores for all participating vendors.

Vendors complete a company information survey detailing company and customer demographics, describing all solution-related services available to customers and supply documentation regarding revenue models, buyer and supplier fees, customer TCO, ROI, success metrics and case studies.

Customer references are solicited by vendors and publicly by Spend Matters. A vendor is required to provide and maintain at least 3 customer references. References remain valid for 2.5 years.

Vendors are required to review and update their full RFI scoring inputs every 12 months (‘general’ platform-level inputs as well as module-specific self-scores). They are also allowed to submit intermittent module updates (max. twice every 12 months for each single module). Any scoring updates require validation demos.*

Also, the RFI is dynamic and the Spend Matters analyst team makes updates from time to time by adding, removing and editing requirements to ensure it reflects current solution market capabilities. Vendors are invited to review and update their scores twice a year to adjust their self-scores. However, to ensure a complete dataset, the analysts will score the new requirements if a vendor is not active in an RFI cycle based on demos, or the score is algorithmically determined by Spend Matters based on the vendor’s overall score and peers’ scores for the given element until the next vendor validation review.

 * If a solution is deemed relevant by the analyst but the vendor does not wish to participate in the rigorous scoring process, Spend Matters may score the vendor based on tech demos provided by a third party (e.g., an implementer) and other sources (i.e. public sources, investors, the press, case studies and social media). Whenever this is the case, the vendor scores are marked with an asterisk denoting “not validated by vendor,” ensuring buyers can trust the completeness of the dataset as they embark on identifying vendors with the right technical capabilities.

More about Customer References

Validated customers complete a detailed survey on the vendor’s key differentiators, delivery against expectations/requirements, strengths, net promoter score, collaborativeness, improvement areas, problem-solving skills, features/capabilities improvement needs, shortcomings and more. Vendor feedback from an individual customer is never directly attributed. Customer inputs are anonymized, aggregated and applied during each scoring cycle.

Entries are manually reviewed and validated by the Spend Matters team by checking the identity of the submitter (ensuring the submitter is an end user of the solution/s) and by checking the responses aren’t suspicious (i.e. extreme scoring throughout the survey out of line with the average for that provider).

In Conclusion

Spend Matters SolutionMap data flows from a master database to fuel and inform:

If you wish to learn more about the scoring and comparison methodology or available memberships and services, please contact us at info@spendmatters.com.