Determine: Vendor Analysis (Part 1) — Background and Solution

Something odd happened during Selectica’s roll-up strategy. Usually when a technology vendor acquires a number of providers at relatively low valuations, its focus tends to be on financially engineering the various SaaS, maintenance, upsell and other income schemes from the assets. But in Selectica’s case, the acquired became the basis of the company, in a manner in which the sum of the assets became an entirely different equation that it likely even bargained for before getting into the activity in the first place. But sometimes the uncertainty of post-merger integrations can lead to an outcome that benefits all parties involved (including customers) in ways that would be difficult to have imagined going into the process. This two-part Spend Matters PRO research brief traces the history of Determine and its solutions, including the recent re-platforming of the b-pack technology architecture. It also offers an introductory overview (necessary for those that even knew it in the past!) of the provider’s strengths and weaknesses and provides customer and partner recommendations.