Scoutbee makes the leap from a ‘Provider to Watch’ to a ‘Provider to Know’ in the 2023 best-in-class procurement solution lists

Spend Matters is once again delighted to release the ‘50 Procurement Providers to Know’ and ‘50 Procurement Providers to Watch’ lists, announced at the SIG Global Executive Summit on October 17.

For the tenth year in a row, our analysts have debated intensely to determine which companies across the procurement technology market sectors deserve closer attention as best-in-class or up-and-coming. ‘50 Procurement Providers to Watch’ are relative newcomers with innovative products that could propel the market forward; ‘50 Procurement Providers to Know’ lists the companies that we believe set the industry standard. Read our methodology here.

Each year, some providers transition from being worth watching to ones that every CPO should know about. This year, our analysts identified three solution providers that have proven their potential to be considered best-in-class, one of which is SIM (supplier information management) and SDM (supplier discovery management) specialist Scoutbee.

During the decision-making process, our analysts concurred:

“Scoutbee focuses on supplier intelligence by leveraging AI to understand who suppliers are, what they do and who they work with. It sits at the forefront of the application of AI in procurement and has been using Large Language Models (LLMs) and Knowledge Graph before Generative AI was even a thing, which puts the company in a strong position in the market.”

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We talked to Roger Blumberg, Senior Vice President of Global Marketing at Scoutbee, to learn what strategies or product enhancements the provider has implemented over the past year to effect this transition and what the road ahead looks like.

In the past 12 months, what has been Scoutbee’s major achievement to merit this leap to a Provider to Know?

“The primary transformation is that Scoutbee has gone from being a ‘supplier discovery solution,’ which is how we started out, and fully transitioned to become a ‘supplier intelligence’ platform. So, our role now is to give our customers a 360-degree view of not only their current supply base but their potential supply base too. Our discovery capability has always given customers a look into their supply universe, but, by adding the Scoutbee Intelligence Platform, we can now provide them with a complete view from within their organization. Another major step has been that, while developing this, we accelerated our utilization of AI. Scoutbee has always been an AI-capable company, but we’ve greatly accelerated its use to provide more data and therefore more insights.”

What has been the biggest secret to Scoutbee’s success since Spend Matters first named you a Provider to Watch in 2020?

“Since we became a company ‘To Watch,’ obviously a lot has happened in the market. Covid happened, supply chain issues followed, ESG priorities rose significantly, and diversity came to the fore. And it’s really those data points that we are working hard to tackle for our customers. Our discovery solution was incredibly impactful and effective during Covid. But customers now want to be more proactive, instead of reactive, with their programs when it comes to managing suppliers. And that’s how we’ve positioned ourselves: to be much more proactive in managing risks, and proactively managing diversity and sustainability.”

What’s next for Scoutbee’s roadmap and vision?

“Our big focus will be on accelerating the use of AI over the next year for GenAI use cases. Our customers tell us that they know they need to dip their toes into the GenAI waters. And they know it has to be fast and it has to be effective. They don’t want their first project in that area to be anything less than a huge success. Having spent much of my time in the source-to-pay provider marketplace, I realize that tackling this in that space is just too big of an apple to bite, so I see a point solution having a much more rapid impact, with the ability to do a ‘quick in’ and ‘quick win.’ So, we are focusing our energies on enabling that. We are creating bundles and packages with rapid AI enablement and quick wins for all aspects of change management.

“Another big event on our roadmap is that we have been named an SAP-endorsed partner, which means our product will be embedded in the SAP Ariba solution. That will also make us one of the few unique and special players in the market.”

What does it mean to your organization to become a Provider to Know in 2023?

“Scoutbee has a lot of respect for the work that Spend Matters does and the important role it plays in the industry. We have spent a lot of time with the Spend Matters team this past year, briefing them on the granularity of our solution. I’m confident that they are really on top of their game, and most likely the leader in the procurement tech analysis space. So, to be recognized by them as transitioning from a Provider to Watch to a Provider to Know showcases the hard work that everyone at Scoutbee has done to accelerate the value we bring to the market.”

We are delighted for Scoutbee and are excited to follow its progress in the coming months and years.

Learn more

A deep dive vendor analysis on the provider is available here as part of our membership service. For more in depth analysis of the solutions and services in the marketplace, join Spend Matters Insider.

To find out which procurement technology solutions best fit your organization’s needs consult Spend Matters TechMatch for a free rapid shortlist of providers.

If you missed our analyst-led webinar on October 31 but you’d still like to understand more about our 50/50 decision-making process, you can still receive for a recording of the event.

Get to know all the providers that made our lists this year here: