3 Ways to Make Procurement Software Rankings Work for You

If you’ve been living in a cave — or have been, say, mired in a labyrinthine procurement software RFI process with no hope of finding your way out — you may have missed Spend Matters’ Q1 2018 SolutionMap release earlier this week.

The Spend Matters analysts and extended team unveiled comparative rankings of 40 procurement software solution providers, based on buying personas across nine total solution categories and presented in the form of two-by-two graphics.

Check out the free ranking graphics here. (And get a quick navigation primer here.)

But that’s only the tip of the iceberg. Jason Busch, Spend Matters’ founder and member of the analyst team, had some fessing up to do.

“Admittedly, the ‘free’ stuff is designed to pique your interest,” he wrote recently in an explanatory Spend Matters PRO brief. “Unlike some of our peers in the analyst world, we have not made SolutionMap ‘reprint-friendly’ for the maximum number of vendors through grade inflation.”

Why?

“Because in the world of procurement technology, not everyone is ‘above average’ like the children of Lake Wobegon,” he continued. “There’s an average, and there’s a deviation from average — positive and negative. Obfuscating these deviations might produce charts that make people feel good about buying decisions up front, but other than a near-term CYA, how useful will these be in the long run for those relying on them for, well, anything?”

3 Ways to Access SolutionMap Intelligence that Pulls No Punches

1. Coming Soon: SolutionMap Insider

On a self-service basis, anyone can sign up for our new SolutionMap Insider subscription. This includes members-only access to Provider Scoring Summary reports and to the ratings of all participating providers.

In addition to these reports, the subscription also features:

• Provider Scoring Summary reports for SolutionMap providers, which in addition to Summary Solution Scoring include:
  • Ranking overviews by buying persona
  • Buying recommendations and considerations
• Quarterly updates to SolutionMap Summary Solution Scoring
• SolutionMap results interpretation (Release Notes) and persona deep-dive articles
• Exclusive historical views of SolutionMap rankings and support materials (beyond current quarter)

Learn more about pricing here. (Discounts are available for multiple subscription areas.)

2. Get the Advice You Need

The real magic lives beyond the subscriber view. In Q4 2017, Spend Matters began advising practitioner organizations with SolutionMap data in selection processes. We have now formalized these offerings to cover the “80/20” of scenarios we’ve seen so far in which a deeper or custom view of data can be important.

The programs thus far have consisted of two components, which Spend Matters can separate out as needed. Based on the templated approach supported by the underlying SolutionMap data, completing these programs takes only four to six weeks.

The first program component is a technology gap analysis, which determines an organization’s desired future state and informs technology selection processes.

The second component focuses on requirements identification and shortlist selection. It enables users to tailor RFIs and identify best-fit provider shortlists, as well as access granular insight into provider SolutionMap performance not published externally.

As a follow-up to these quick-hit programs, the Spend Matters team can offer end-to-end technology guidance, including advisory check-in calls to review the technology selection process at key milestones (e.g., provider scoring review, negotiations, integration, implementation and optimization planning). The idea is to be as “low touch” (and low cost) as possible, while providing as much support as required.

3. Provider Benchmarking and M&A Due Diligence

In addition to the above, we also offer specific SolutionMap benchmarking and strategy programs for technology providers (subject to the terms of our competitive intelligence policy).

Finally, we offer M&A due diligence benchmarking and analysis services for corporate development and private equity teams engaged in analysis of target companies. Due diligence engagements are carried out with the utmost discretion, with the consent of all participants.

Please contact your Spend Matters client services team member for more details, or drop a line directly.