EC Sourcing: Vendor Analysis, 2021 update (Part 2) — Product Strengths and Weaknesses

This Spend Matters PRO Vendor Analysis update explores EC Sourcing’s strengths and weaknesses, providing facts and expert analysis to help procurement organizations determine if they should shortlist the vendor as a potential provider.

Many procurement organizations at larger firms will soon be on their second (or even third) set of e-sourcing technologies, with many using multiple solutions. The middle market is different, with scattered adoption and a much more recent track record of “sourcing” tools for the first time, if at all. Both trends favor lesser-known providers like EC Sourcing, a closely held technology and solutions firm that has compiled a commendable e-sourcing package that now has all of the core capabilities of a broader “upstream” suite — albeit with strengths and weaknesses in different areas.

EC Sourcing built out its suite from an e-negotiation core, and now it has a range of surprisingly deep capabilities that go beyond modular capability alone, including workflow management. On a functional basis, the provider offers e-sourcing, basic contract management, supplier management (which includes supplier corrective action reporting, or SCAR), and now advanced strategic sourcing decision optimization (by acquiring BidMode) and spend analysis.

Part 1 of our update provided a company and detailed solution overview, as well as a summary recommended fit suggestion for what types of organizations should consider EC Sourcing. Part 3 of this series will offer a SWOT analysis of the company, a discussion of EC Sourcing’s competitors, tech selection recommendations and a summary analysis.

Now, let’s examine the solution’s strengths and weaknesses.