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SolutionMap Fall 2020 new vendors (Part 3) — Symfact, AvidXchange, ProcurePort, SourceDay, graphiteConnect

11/24/2020 By and

On Oct. 1, Spend Matters launched the Fall 2020 update of its free-to-use SolutionMap, which evaluates procurement technology solutions on their technical capabilities and how customers rate them.

Twelve new vendors participated in the latest release, which has grown to evaluate 77 providers. Read our SolutionMap Fall 2020 launch post for more details, like how to use the benchmark tool for tech selection or how to get your solution into the mix.

We’re excited to introduce you to a few of the vendors who entered SolutionMap this time around:

In our bios of the recommended new vendors, we will detail in which of our 13 technology categories they compete and where they rank (see the chart below), share some of our analyst research written for subscribers to our PRO content, give feedback from our subscription SolutionMap Insider content called the Provider Scoring Summary reports (subscribers can use the summaries to compare vendors and their scores in more detail — see a sample summary). You’ll also hear from some vendors about being part of the SolutionMap benchmarking process.

Where Vendors Rank:

Symfact

Symfact is a Switzerland-based contract lifecycle management (CLM) solution provider. Part of Symfact’s offerings include a well-tested CLM solution that also links to other GRC-related apps (e.g., legal entity management, third-party risk management).

Symfact sits within the Contract Lifecycle Management category of the SolutionMap.

In recent Spend Matters’ PRO coverage, Nick Heinzmann wrote that the company has a unique flavor in the CLM marketplace.

“The vendor offers a well-tested CLM solution that also links to other GRC-related apps (e.g., legal entity management, third-party risk management),” Heinzmann wrote. “This of course extends well to procurement, as suppliers also are third parties that need to be managed for many risks, which makes Symfact an interesting potential partner for buy-side CLM beyond its legal/GRC roots.”

The SolutionMap Provider Scoring Summary for CLM states: “Symfact’s XML engine makes it highly configurable to client requirements. While all customers use a common code base, deployment modifications are supported by XML file changes to adapt information-gathering and other business process needs to the client. Users can define data fields as they desire so that compliance items, deliverables and obligations are understood in the vernacular of the organization.”

Dan Townsend, the director of sales at Symfact, told Spend Matters: “The depth of analysis that the SolutionMap undertakes is a cogent review of real-world use cases in the product and delivery capabilities of the vendor community that well serves as the key knowledge base for the marketplace.”

AvidXchange

AvidXchange, a Charlotte, North Carolina-based company, is a software solution offering three business processes under one SaaS platform: AP automation (captures, validates and matches invoices to be sent for approval to buyers), payment services (specialized service teams dedicated to enrollment, payment execution and encouraging e-payment adoption), and invoice acceleration (early payment service on qualified invoices).

AvidXchange serves the largest network of unique suppliers in the mid-market with more than 680,000 suppliers in North America. It can integrate with more than 150 accounting systems — including MRI, Tops, NetSuite and Sage 300 as the most-used ERP systems.

AvidXchange sits within the AP Automation and Invoice-to-Pay categories of SolutionMap and has acquired the following positions in SolutionMap Fall 2020 for AP Automation:

  • Nimble persona: Value Leader
  • Deep persona: Customer Leader
  • Configurator persona: Customer Leader
  • Turn-Key persona: Customer Leader

In recent Spend Matters’ PRO coverage of AvidXchange, Xavier Olivera lauded AvidXchange’s ability to stand out in the SME marketplace.

“AvidXchange greatly simplifies AP work for its clients,” Olivera wrote. “It does this with its AP automation technology solution, which captures, validates and approves invoices, while integrating with companies’ accounting systems and in conjunction with payments-processing managed services, which basically acts as the AP department for its clients to process payments to providers.”

The matrix below shows the Nimble persona and the quadrant in which AvidXchange performs particularly well as a Value Leader for AP Automation. (See additional matrices for the other personas in which the firm performs.)

(Click image to enlarge)

The SolutionMap Provider Scoring Summary for AP Automation states: “AvidXchange acts as a managed invoice intake and payment service, supported by its solution; its payment service is what gives AvidXchange a great positioning within SME organizations.”

Michael Praeger, CEO of AvidXchange, told Spend Matters: “Middle market businesses pay everyone from companies with a handful of employees to multi-billion dollar corporations, so they need a solution that eliminates paper invoices and checks while supporting many different types of suppliers. Our Value Leader position with Spend Matters is a testament to AvidXchange’s unique ability to meet that need and drive value for our middle market customers to help them operate more efficiently.”

ProcurePort

ProcurePort is new to SolutionMap for Fall 2020, and it participates in the highly competitive Sourcing category. ProcurePort offers a strategic sourcing solution that focuses on configuring and managing RFX and auction processes. The vendor started out in 2011 as a reverse auction platform, later adding support for RFX creation and adjacent capabilities for contract and supplier information management (SIM).

ProcurePort has a separate P2P platform that’s not sold as a unified source-to-pay offering. ProcurePort’s customers include larger manufacturers and small companies, meaning teams of two or three practitioners managing approximately $50 million in spend. Manufacturers use ProcurePort for its ability to handle large item counts — ranging from 1,000 to 15,000 items in some cases — as well as its positioning as a competitively priced tool (single seats and bundles are priced significantly below those of S2P competitors like Coupa, Ivalua and Jaggaer). In addition to its cloud solutions, ProcurePort also offers managed services for reverse auction management and spend analysis (e.g., spend classification).

Comment from our PRO Vendor Analysis about ProcurePort:

Spend Matters’ Analyst Nick Heinzmann found ProcurePort strong in these areas:

  • Modern UX/UI promotes ease of use and minimal training requirements
  • Dynamic RFX capability caters to supplier adoption needs
  • Strategic sourcing tool that: “Organizations that have low complexity requirements for their sourcing tools — for example, no need for BOM-based sourcing or the ability to orchestrate events involving multiple supply chain tiers — will likely find ProcurePort meets the bulk of their needs with fewer hurdles to pitching and implementing the solution within their firm.”

The SolutionMap Provider Scoring Summary for Sourcing shows that ProcurePort got solid scores for its e-auction capabilities and that customers appreciated ProcurePort in several areas, including quick deployments and ROI.

SourceDay

SourceDay participates in SolutionMap’s growing AP Automation category. The Austin, Texas-based vendor, founded in 2013, focuses on direct procurement and directly integrates with ERP and MRP systems to automate the management of purchase orders and supplier performance. By providing a more usable and procurement-centric layer over the data housed by a legacy ERP or supply chain application, SourceDay takes on many of the problems that procurement organizations find in managing direct materials spend.

The result is that procurement can save time, reduce errors and systematically manage supplier performance from a common cloud or mobile interface while still claiming the benefits that an ERP system can offer.

Spend Matters’ PRO analyst coverage from Nick Heinzmann and Pierre Mitchell said this about SourceDay:

“Within the North American procurement technology market, there are only a handful of choices for direct materials purchasing systems, and while interest in dedicated technology for these processes is rising, the reality today is that most manufacturers still use ERP or MRP systems to coordinate purchasing, shipment, delivery and invoicing.

“SourceDay wisely decided to design its offering around this current technology ecosystem, rather than attempt to upend it completely (which would never work for many reasons). The solution augments an ERP/MRP system with a portal-like tool that uses the ERP as the system-of-record for the plan (that generated the demand for the POs), inventory, item master, supplier master, and, finally, the POs.

“The business case is based on saving procurement time, reducing data entry errors and improving supplier performance and collaboration.”

The SolutionMap Provider Scoring Summary for AP Automation shows that SourceDay got high marks for invoice collaboration functionality, and on its customer scores, it got high marks for “level of perceived value” and “quick deployment.”

SourceDay CEO Tom Kieley told Spend Matters:

“SpendMatters SolutionMaps are a prestigious, trusted resource, and SourceDay is honored to be considered for the AP Automation map. The evaluation process has confirmed many of our product strategies and strengthened our plans for the road ahead. With a record year coming to a close, we look forward to further defining our place within the market.”

graphiteConnect

The graphiteConnect solution is ranked as a Customer Leader in the SolutionMap category for Supplier Relationship Management and Risk. graphiteConnect comes from the Utah company that’s a couple of years old, Graphite Systems — which is part of a larger story.

Networks are nothing new in the procurement technology space. But the focus of most networks has so far been primarily on transactions — connecting trading partners in a many-to-many network to facilitate exchange of purchase orders and invoices. Now, most of these networks have expanded somewhat, and many also include some supplier information, but that has typically been limited to the most basic information needed to support the transaction.

This is now changing with Graphite System’s entrance into the marketplace.

It is arguably the first supplier management vendor that is building its solution, graphiteConnect, on a network model where suppliers enter and maintain their information once and can share it with any and all buyers in the network.

In a Spend Matters’ PRO Vendor Analysis, Magnus Bergfors said:

“The most obvious and significant strength of the graphiteConnect solution lies in the architecture and approach to data sharing. By leveraging a network approach that enables suppliers to share data that they only need to upload or enter and then maintain in one place, the solution is very scalable for suppliers, something that has not been a strength of SIM solutions in the past.”

In SolutionMap’s SRM category, graphiteConnect ranks as a Customer Leader in all personas. Here is a map for the CIO-Friendly persona, which stresses IT support, integration with existing systems and ROI.

(Click image to enlarge)

The SolutionMap Provider Scoring Summary for SXM says: “The focus of the solution is primarily in collecting and managing clean supplier data. Accordingly, its key strengths are in supplier onboarding and SIM, with good support for supplier MDM.”

Graphite Systems Founder and CEO Conrad Smith told Spend Matters: “While the SolutionMap process was intensive, I found it to be a thoughtful and educational process. The Spend Matters analyst team understands the procurement tech space, so I was able to gain additional insights through the process. Bottom line, we have an exceptional solution that our customers LOVE. It was great to see that reflected accurately on the SolutionMap.”

Subscribe to PRO content here.

If you are wondering how to get your solution included in Spend Matters’ SolutionMap rankings, read SolutionMap Vendor Selection here.

Become a SolutionMap Insider member here to get the behind-the-scenes details.