Q4 2024 Insider roundup: A deep dive into procurement tech market movements; updated coverage of 12 vendors

Throughout the year our analyst team provides vendor-specific profiles and tech solution analyses as part of Spend Matters Insider 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 500+ RFI requirements across 12 source-to-pay (S2P) categories that create our Vendor Ranking data. In this roundup of Q4, we review the Vendor Analyses and other Insider content that the team produced in the previous quarter. We then look ahead to what members can expect in the coming months.

Each article is followed by a pair of parentheses containing information about the membership level needed to read that piece. If there is no information, the article is free to read. More information about the differences in membership levels can be found on the Spend Matters Insider page.

Exploring the world of procurement tech in Q4

Spend Matters Insider coverage in Q4 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.

Tariffs and Procurement: Build your action plan to cut back risk

With Donald Trump winning the election, tariffs have gained renewed attention, and Procurement should prepare itself in the case of these proposals making their way into enacted policy. Tariffs and the disruption they pose to international trade forces Procurement professionals, the frontline managers of supply chains, to develop strategies that will mitigate cost increases while ensuring the flow of materials and services remain efficient and resilient.

Part 1: What tariffs are and what they mean for procurement

Part 2: Tariff management and building an action plan (Basic)

Part 3: Tech capabilities for proper tariff management (AP/I2P,CO2,CLM,Core,ePro,P2P,Risk,S2C,S2P,Sourcing,Analytics,SxM,SRM,VMS)

Part 4: Tariff management and technology: A deep dive into how solution types and vendors can help (Sourcing,SxM,SRM)

Risk Management for procurement professionals

We continued our risk management series in which we interviewed seasoned Procurement professionals and examined the risks companies face and the tech that mitigates them.

Risk management:

Key capabilities of risk management (Basic)

Key takeaways from SolutionMap: Supplier risk, TPRM and SCRM (SRM)

Navigating the top 5 third-party risks in procure-to-pay processes (Basic)

How contract management solutions support risk management (Basic)

How spend analytics solutions support risk management (Basic)

Resilience in times of uncertainty and ‘permacrisis’: making the case for SCRM (Basic)

The risk solution landscape is complicated (Basic)

Interviews:

A procurement professional’s guide to risk events and mitigation strategies — FMCG

In an interview with Spend Matters, Ashish Dhongde, Associate Director Procurement for Beauty and Wellbeing North America at the multinational FMCG giant Unilever, gives a succinct guide to the types of risk procurement professionals face and how he would manage them.

ESG goals are a risk management necessity — An interview with Peter Smith

In an interview with Spend Matters, Peter Smith, ex-President of CIPS, ex-MD of Spend Matters Europe and author of Bad Buying, talks about how increased scrutiny over human rights abuses in supply chains leaves organizations open to risk and how procurement can address this problem.

Autogmentation Part 5: A detailed examination of GenAI features in procurement tech

The Spend Matters analyst team updated the final part of the Autogmentation series with a renewed look at the ways vendors have implemented generative AI in their solutions. (AP/I2P,CO2,CLM,Core,ePro,P2P,Risk,S2C,S2P,Sourcing,Analytics,SxM,SRM,VMS)

GenAI and chatbots — The fallacy of “No UI is the new UI”

The phrase “no UI is the new UI” is a popular concept in user experience design that is closely related to the development of conversational user interfaces and chatbots. However, while the introduction of chatbots — enabled by advancements in GenAI — may bring benefits, the wholesale removal of more traditional UIs may not be the correct, Bertrand Maltaverne, Spend Matters Lead Analyst for Upstream Procurement, argues.

Part 1 (Basic)

Part 2 (Core)

The risks and rewards of carbon management

The wildfires in Los Angeles only highlight how the changes to the climate have become a permanent fixture. Writing with a procurement lens, Spend Matters Associate Research Analyst Mia Klein covers the rise of CO2 emissions, how they impact the environment and the direct risk they pose to supply chains in the form of natural disasters and the indirect ones they pose as companies have to comply with an ever-increasing number of regulations. (Basic)

Going global with your external workforce program

Expanding your local external workforce into a globalized one forces you to confront a large amount of programs you may not be ready for, such as deciding the region you expand to at first and running a uniform program that encompasses the regulations of various countries. Lauren Ancahas provides five tips for organizations readying themselves to make such a transition. (Core)

The modern Procurement Training landscape

Ongoing training is important for procurement teams to keep up with the constantly evolving and advancing procurement tech and services landscape. So, here, Associate Research Analyst Mia Klein provides a market overview and outlines some of the most well-known organizations offering procurement training and their respective training methods. (Basic)

Vendors in focus in Q4

In Q4, Spend Matters published 12 Vendor Analyses as part of our Insider coverage.

Aravo covers many risk and compliance requirements with a robust, configurable and scalable solution. (SRM)

ContractSafe focuses on ease of use, attacking common contract management pain points and using AI for metadata extraction and search. (CLM)

Docusign‘s CLM solution runs on an easy-to-use, low-code platform that supports organization-specific customizations and encourages rapid user adoption. (CLM)

IDAS, made by M. K. Technologies, is a PO/supply chain collaboration solution that goes beyond supporting just transactions to provide small to medium-sized companies a way to enhance collaboration with their suppliers and get visibility on potential issues. (P2P)

Onventis covers the full source-to-pay lifecycle and offers supplemental capabilities such as an e-procurement shop, meaning it can be a one-stop-shop for customers in Europe. (S2P)

PairSoft unified approach to P2P processes and payment execution provides finance teams a centralized solution to manage and streamline financial operations. (P2P)

smartKYC increases an organization’s productivity and compliance by ensuring they never miss emerging risks or events related to their supply chain. (SRM)

SpendHQ brings its decade-plus years of experience in spend analytics and procurement performance management to analyze spend and related areas, such as contracts, risk and carbon emissions. (Analytics)

Vroozi‘s easy-to-use interface and seamless ERP integration make it ideal for middle market and Fortune 1000 companies looking to optimize procure-to-pay processes and boost efficiency. (P2P)

What’s The Price is a valuable solution to enhance an organization’s capabilities related to price intelligence and management, and it may even be an interesting alternative to more complex and more costly PLMs for design-to-cost for purchased goods. (Sourcing,Analytics)

WNS Procurement, powered by The Smart Cube, offers customers a turnkey solution to monitor suppliers, categories and commodities with access to on-demand and forward-looking research. (Core,SRM)

Zip represents the trend in procurement of platforms moving towards a no-code/low-code platform that prioritizes user friendliness and configurability, positioning itself as a leader and innovator in redefining procurement technology. (Core,P2P,S2P)

Coming up in Q1

Looking beyond Q4 and into Q1, Insider members can expect the steady stream of Vendor Analyses to continue.

Members can also follow the creation of Spend Matters ‘Procurement digital transformation survival guide for practitioners: How to embrace digital without getting lost on the way.’ It will cover:

• Setting the stage: what digital transformation is and what it means for procurement; how to recognize the need; what are the unique barriers, pitfalls and lessons from failed initiatives.
• Building the foundation: where to start; how to build a digital roadmap; the critical role of data; identifying quick and long-term wins; how to make the case for digital.
• Driving organizational adoption: how to identify and engage key stakeholders, build coalitions to support the transformation journey; the psychological aspects of change, addressing resistance and building a culture of adaptability; aligning goals across teams.
• Designing and implementing the transformation: addressing the gaps (people, process, technology); designing the organization; rollout options and strategies; skills allocation.
• Making technology work for you: how to select the right technology; navigating the vendor landscape; avoiding the pitfalls in tech selection; how to build a flexible, scalable tech stack.
• Measuring and sustaining success: defining success metrics and tracking ROI; adapting to emerging technologies and future trends.

Stay tuned!