Spend Matters product enhancements

Alongside our free-to-read content, Spend Matters provides a subscription service of data-driven procurement technology analysis, research and thought leadership based on granular rankings of procurement technology capabilities and customer satisfaction surveys.

We strive to improve how we communicate this procurement tech market intelligence based on customers’ requests. Recently that has involved adding detail and context to clarify what our data means. Solution providers wanted their strengths, weaknesses and differences portrayed in a more visual way. Practitioners wanted more terms defined so they could better understand what each solution does. To address this feedback, we made changes in the following areas:

• SolutionMap Insider comparison app (all customers)
• TechMatch shortlisting app (practitioner and consultant customers)
• Spend Matters website (visitors and customers)

SolutionMap Insider comparison app updates

A major effort in this update is to make more data readily available and more easily understood. One example is that each vendor profile now includes ‘Year Founded’ and ‘Public/Private’ sections in the demographics section.

More striking, to better illustrate the strengths of each vendor and how those strengths stack up against other vendors, we added more granularity to the visuals for the market fit ‘Harvey balls.’ Now, in addition to full and half bubbles, the balls present capabilities that score one-quarter and three-quarters of a ball. We have also given vendors further visibility into how they stack up by allowing them to see their own data within the app, including what their customers say. This will make it easier for solution providers to understand what Spend Matters analysts and customers consider to be strengths and areas for improvement.

None of this helps much if users cannot understand the analysis. To address this, we have included in the right-side column of the dashboard links to the pages that explain the methodology we use to gather intelligence for SolutionMap, how market fits work and a ‘review a vendor’ form. Similarly, we have improved the technical definitions for the terms we use and the capabilities we score.

For quality of life, logged-in users can now move between their profile page on the Spend Matters site and our other apps — SolutionMap Insider and TechMatch — via a dropdown menu in the top right.

TechMatch app updates

We now offer a free demo of TechMatch, so anyone interested in the tool can instantly access the new public-access dashboard to explore TechMatch with dummy data. Procurement practitioners and consultants can then subscribe to gain access to the actual data to flesh out requirements, generate shortlists and compare solution functionalities.

Other updates to TechMatch followed the desire for further clarity. We have added detailed definitions for technical functionality terms on the results page and to the downloadable shortlisting pdfs. The results screen also now features the TechMatch Index panel as the first result, giving you a best-fit indicator with which you can measure vendors against your requirements.

We have also made the tool easier to use. From the results page, you can go to a vendor’s profile page in the Spend Matters directory, which contains relevant members-only vendor analyses and articles, by clicking on the ‘expansion’ icon next to its name.

Spend Matters website updates

We also made a few changes to our website.

On the ‘Content Hub’ dropdown menu, you can now find a direct link to the SolutionMap Insider rankings app and content pages for Core Membership and (free) Basic Membership.

The AI in Procurement landing page now includes the ‘AI in Procurement’ 10-part series and a replay of the webinar that summarized our analysts’ findings.

A new Intake and Orchestration landing page gives an in-depth guide to intake and orchestration solutions, via a content page and downloadable pdf and contains links to informative materials, such as practitioner case studies and vendor insights.

Finally, we added credit card payment processes for procurement practitioners to buy Insider membership, which includes TechMatch. Payment is pre-authorized and processed upon approval.

Coming soon

Our next set of updates will include the following:

• Team functionality in TechMatch to reflect all stakeholder needs for an optimal shortlist
• ERP-filter to be added to both the TechMatch and Insider apps (for basic tech stack compatibility assurance)

If you have suggestions for further innovation or improvements let us know!