Anaplan: Vendor Analysis (Part 1) — Spend analysis solution overview, SWOT, Anaplan competitors, tech selection tips

This two-part Spend Matters PRO Vendor Analysis introduces the spend analytics specialist Anaplan to the procurement market and explores its new spend analytics offering.

Spend analysis is a relatively mature procurement technology market segment. Recent entrants represent the beginning of Spend Analysis 3.0 — with powerful real-time analytics on large data sets, multi-taxonomy support, multi-cube support, advanced formula and calculation support, machine learning, AI and predictive analytics. And more established entrants, even if they are on Spend Analytics 2.0 stacks, are expanding their out-of-the-box reporting and functionality, deepening integrations, adding market and community intelligence, and using their platforms to power risk, contract and supplier analytics.

What’s more, spend analytics is no longer the domain of specialists only. All of the suite providers have spend analytics, are building it or partner for it. Sourcing providers have consulting partners that do opportunity analysis, and these providers either have their own in-house tools or their own partnerships with spend analysis providers. With these in addition to new best-of-breed providers emerging on a quarterly basis over the last few years, spend analytics is getting crowded.

Yet the market is so attractive, it’s even bringing in crossovers from other spaces. This includes Anaplan, a connected planning solution that is best known for supporting the S&OP process.

Part 1 includes a company background, high-level solution overview, a company SWOT analysis, a look at Anaplan’s competitors and a few tech selection tips.

Part 2 will examine the Anaplan solution strengths and weaknesses, take a deeper dive into the solution functionality and include an analyst summary.