Five Scenarios for VMS 2025: Scenario 2 — Procurement Rules

This is “Scenario 2” of the Spend Matters PRO series in which we consider five scenarios for VMS in 2025. These scenarios represent exploratory thinking (not predictions) on our part. And they are not necessarily meant to be mutually exclusive (in fact, multiple scenarios will probably co-exist in 2025). In any case, they are intended to be tools to assist planners and executives in their thinking about the future. Spend Matters' Founder Jason Busch explored the issues in an introduction to the series.

The first scenario, named “The Status Quo,” explored a world in which VMS continues to evolve and flourish (alongside other enterprise software solutions, such as HCM) as a distinct, specialized enterprise solution for sourcing of temps and, potentially, other forms of contingent workforce.

This second scenario, named “Procurement Rules,” explores a world in which procure-to-pay (P2P) — or even source-to-pay S2P — technology suites integrate or subsume the capabilities of VMS (or vice-versa?). A trendline to this scenario has already emerged. SAP Ariba and Coupa have embarked on such a path through acquisition, and other procurement solutions could follow, whether by acquisition/integration or as extensions of their own platform.