Decideware: Vendor Analysis (Part 3) — Summary & Competitive Analysis

In the world of marketing “spend,” there is a decisive irony. On one level, agencies (and marketing organizations) tend to leverage extremely detailed analytical data (campaign performance analysis, competitive reporting, etc.) to manage and improve digital marketing efforts. Yet marketing and procurement organizations still tend to apply a less quantitative and rigorous approach to managing agencies of record themselves, including selecting them for specific projects and campaigns in a truly analytical manner.

In short, applying a category lifecycle management approach to strategic marketing services providers remains more art than science. And today, only a minority of procurement organizations typically having the upper hand — or an equivalent — as an agency when it comes to the age old question: “Who is managing whom? Granted, while digital campaigns may be managed and administered in a rigorous analytical manner, agency relationships and project/program selection are not.

Many procurement organizations work — or have worked — with consultants at one point in time to develop strategies and implement programs to shift this equation. Yet far fewer have invested in technology to address the same challenge. Decideware is the only technology vendor we have encountered that specializes in addressing this challenge, albeit the level of maturity in customer deployments and usage varies dramatically (based on the organization).

This third and final installment of this Spend Matters Vendor Snapshot covering Decideware provides a SWOT analysis of the provider and offers a competitive segmentation analysis. It also provides a summary analysis and recommendations for companies considering Decideware and some of the general challenges organizations encounter in attempting to strategically manage the lifecycle of agency engagement from a procurement perspective. Part 1 provided an in-depth look at Decideware as a firm and its specific solutions, and Part 2 gave a detailed analysis of solution strengths and weaknesses, as well as a review of the product’s user experience.