DCR Workforce: Vendor Analysis (Part 3) — Commentary and Summary Analysis

It’s hard to dispute the data. Companies are increasingly buying all kinds of services, including those that do not neatly fit a common profile (parts, components or even outcomes, such as “power by the hour,” in the case of manufacturing outsourcing). Yet today’s procurement solutions are designed primarily to support either the purchasing of materials (direct and indirect) or targeted types of services procurement spend (namely, contingent workforce).

Today, many procurement organizations, such as Coupa and SAP Ariba customers, are putting large percentages of services spend through indirect procurement systems. These solutions are not yet specialized in influencing, capturing and managing all aspects of the sourcing, buying and supplier management lifecycle for services. Moreover, from a depth perspective, vendor management systems (VMS) tend to have functional gaps across the source-to-pay continuum in supporting statement of work (SOW) and freelancer management needs, compared with source-to-contract suite capability or specialized tools.

This third and final installment of the Spend Matters Vendor Snapshot on DCR Workforce provides an objective SWOT analysis of DCR and offers a competitive segmentation analysis and comparison. It also includes recommended shortlist candidates as alternative vendors to DCR Workforce and offers provider selection guidance. Finally, it provides summary analysis and recommendations for companies considering DCR Workforce as a potential vendor. Part 1 of this series provided an in-depth look at DCR Workforce as a firm and its specific solutions, and Part 2 offered a detailed analysis of solution strengths and weaknesses and a review of the product’s user experience.