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Directworks: Vendor Analysis (Part 2) — Product Strengths & Weaknesses

08/12/2016 By

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The market for direct materials procurement technology and suites is well established in Western Europe. In North America, manufacturing is a component of a more complex GDP equation. Perhaps this is more of a political statement than anything else: Countries like Germany depend on manufacturing as the basis of their economy, the US less so today. Yet Directworks is one of a small number of providers attempting to create a separate market in North America that carves out source-to-contract (S2C) — and in the case of competitors, source-to-pay (S2P) — capabilities for direct spend from generic procurement technology providers.In many areas, direct procurement solution providers are as different from regular procurement technology suite vendors as a vendor management system (VMS) is from e-procurement. Granted, in certain components, there is material overlap with generic tools. But manufacturers will understand the difference between purpose-built solutions and regular procurement suites immediately (although whether they will budget for a specialized solution is a different question entirely).

This Spend Matters PRO vendor snapshot explores Directworks’ strengths and weaknesses in direct materials sourcing and related areas, providing facts and expert analysis to help manufacturers and procurement organizations decide if they should shortlist the provider. Part 1 of our analysis comprised a company and detailed solution overview and a SWOT analysis, as well as a summary recommended fit suggestion for what types of organizations should consider Directworks. The remaining parts of this multipart series will offer a user selection guide, user interface and experience (UI/UX) analysis, competitive alternatives and evaluation and selection considerations.

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Series
Vendor Analysis