Q1 2023 PRO roundup: A deep dive into procurement tech market movements; updated coverage of 26 vendors

Throughout the year our analyst team provides vendor-specific profiles and tech solution analyses as part of Spend Matters PRO content. Our coverage also explores the latest thought leadership topics about procurement and supply, the technology that serves it and comparative analyses based on demos and the scoring of more than 65 solution RFIs that create our Vendor Ranking data. In this quarterly roundup, we review the Vendor Analyses and other PRO content that the team produced in the previous quarter. We then look ahead to what subscribers can expect in the coming months.

Exploring the world of procurement tech in Q1

Spend Matters PRO coverage last quarter included more than just our staple Vendor Analyses. Our team keeps tabs on the latest news in the procurement world and explores ideas that will inform that world’s future. A collection of these quick takes, conference insights and solution comparisons is below.

• Amex to acquire Nipendo: M&A Quick Take and Nipendo background — In January, Amex acquired Nipendo, an AP automation solution. In light of the news, the analyst team gave the context for the deal and a broad overview of Nipendo’s strengths and weaknesses. The team then sketched out how Amex may intend to incorporate Nipendo in its attempt to differentiate itself from Mastercard, Visa and FleetCor.
• Insights from SAP Spend Connect: Can SAP evolve beyond S2P apps and networks to business platforms and ecosystems? — In January, Pierre Mitchell, Spend Matters managing director and chief research officer, shared his takeaways from SAP Spend Connect conference, specifically highlighting the company’s move from disparate apps to a holistic platform or ecosystem, its business acquisition and integration strategy and the new crop of leadership at the helm.
• Making sense of Corcentric: SaaS and Managed Services for source-to-pay and order-to-cash — In February, Jason Busch, founder and CEO of Spend Matters, explored the rapid expansion of Corcentric’s source-to-pay and order-to-cash capabilities. Corcentric, an everything-as-a-service provider, has spent the past two decades pursuing an aggressive acquisition strategy, and, as Jason concludes looking forward, it has achieved strong offerings that have yet to cohere.
• apexanalytix acquires ESG Enterprise: M&A Quick Take — In March, apexanalytix, global supply chain risk management data, software and services provider, acquired ESG Enterprise, an ESG SaaS and data analytics software provider. In light of the news, the analyst team gave the context for the deal and a broad overview of ESH Enterprise’s strengths and weaknesses. They then sketched out how the deal will affect ESG Enterprise customers, how it will affect apexanalytix customers and what the acquisition may mean for apexanalytix’s broader strategy.

Vendor in focus in Q1

In Q1, Spend Matters published 26 Vendor Analyses as part of our PRO coverage. As detailed below, the analysts’ work this quarter took a special interest in solution providers that tackle issues of Intelligence and Supplier Discovery.

Supplier management and discovery — SxM

• Procurated provides a solution that consolidates honest reviews about a vendor’s past performance into one easy-to-use platform.
• Scoutbee is an SIM (supplier information management) and SDM (supplier discovery management) solution built to help organizations tackle the challenges of collecting and maintaining data across various suppliers.
• TealBook supplier management strategy places data at the forefront of supplier management and uses AI to remove manual tasks on both the buyer and supplier side.

Contingent Labor management

• NHD provides a solution that works to mitigate the risks with tracking and management of temporary hires for short-term to long-term projects.
• MBO Partners provides a solution for independent talent contracting and management that serves both companies in need of high-end contract workers and high-end contract workers trying to develop their own independent businesses.

Intelligence and analytics

• Vendigital combines its spend and supplier analytics platform with its consultancy business to offer data-driven insights into how businesses can save costs and become more efficient.
• Calculum focuses on the niche of payment terms to assist and uses its ADA platform to produce customized negotiation scripts to make the negotiation process easier.
• Raindrop is a source-to-pay solution provider that has recently introduced modules for spend intelligence, contract intelligence and supplier intelligence. (Note: this is an addendum to our 2021 Vendor Analysis.)
• Contify is a market intelligence platform that helps businesses track information concerning competitors, customers, suppliers and industry segments.
• Mithra-Ai conducts complex spend analyses on customer data while strictly adhering to a code of user-friendly UI so that almost anyone can benefit from the solution’s insight into their spend.

Design for supply

• Makersite can quickly and easily perform detailed analyses of complex BoMs to identify improvements in design of the product and/or supply chain to improve costs, make the product more sustainable and reduce risk.
• LevaData is a supply management platform that enables customers to improve the way they launch new products and manage existing ones by allowing them to optimize for cost and risk.

Contract management and analytics

• Visual Lease is a lease accounting and administration solution that enables users to manage real estate and equipment leases and make day-to-day contract decisions.
• Terzo’s no-code, configurable platform derives financial insights from contracts that more standard contract lifecycle management (CLM) and contract analytics tools neglect.
• dSilo is a new vendor with an emphasis on AI. As the name implies, its founders’ vision is to literally “de-silo” organizations so they can realize the value in their existing data.

Sourcing

• Tropic is an up-and-coming solution vendor that sets itself apart by offering an all-in-one software sourcing and spend optimization platform.
• oboloo is a young source-to-contract (S2C) vendor with an emphasis on simplicity that targets SMEs. The solution is designed to deliver key information throughout the procurement process with minimal effort.
• DeepStream provides a solution for e-sourcing, which covers the entire source-to-contract process.
• Jiga provides an easy and efficient way to source and order manufactured parts and assemblies by collaborating with suppliers and/or by finding new suppliers on the solutions marketplace.

Orchestration

• ORO Labs is a procurement orchestration platform that aims to make procurement easier and more efficient by using powerful, easy-to-configure and smart workflows.
• akirolabs a category strategy management solution, transforms procurement from a tactical function to the role of value orchestrator.

Supply chain risk and visibility

• Portcast focuses on tracking cargo with its AI solution to monitor and help mitigate the problems associated with tracking said goods across varying different ocean ports.
• Everstream Analytics is a Supply Chain Risk Management (SCRM) solution that pairs its advanced AI with the perspective of its proprietary partner network to provide customers with end-to-end and multi-tier visibility into supply chain risks.
• Circularise is a blockchain-based traceability solution that helps companies trace products and materials to verify their origins, CO2 footprint and other material data.
• Owlin helps organizations stay on top of vital information about emerging risks, opportunities or trends, thereby increasing their productivity and efficiency.

Payments Automation

• Planergy offers a highly configurable P2P solution that automates AP and purchasing processes for SME and MM companies.

Coming up in Q2

In Q2, Spend Matters will release its semiannual vendor rankings. These twice-yearly updated rankings equally comprise customer and analyst input, reflect different organizational needs through ‘buying personas’ and show vendor market developments and trends. It is the information you need to stay on top of technology advancements, understand how they compare in the marketplace and how they can work to streamline your processes.

Additionally, PRO subscribers will also enjoy two new series:

• Blockchain has the potential to be extremely useful to procurement teams. The Spend Matters analyst team will highlight the uses of blockchain in the procurement process by exploring current use cases and theoretical use cases. The team will then consider some of the challenges companies may face in implementing blockchain technology for the first time or in a new way and how those challenges may be mitigated.
• Following our release of the TechMatch module for Expense Management solutions this spring, we will be publishing a series on Expense Management that highlights the vendors we have assessed in our first Expense Management module and provide context on the current state of Expense Management, including T&E.

Stay tuned!