This week’s SolutionMap Customer Insights report focuses on customer reviews for Vroozi, a provider of spend management, marketplace and invoicing automation solutions. The applicable SolutionMap category for this report is in E-Procurement, Invoice-to-Pay and Procure-to-Pay. SolutionMap Insider members can read about Vroozi in our latest report.
In each Customer Insights report, we provide a one-page summary of details from the SolutionMap peer review process. It includes ratings on how well the vendor meets its customers' expectations, three key differentiators for the vendor and a list of quotes from customers about the vendor’s greatest strengths.
Spend Matters today released its Q4 2019 SolutionMap, ranking 59 procurement software companies across 12 solution categories, including E-Procurement, Sourcing, Spend Analytics, Supplier Relationship Management, Contract Lifecycle Management and Contingent Workforce & Services. Click on this article to see which new providers joined the rankings this quarter — and to see how to access the rankings for free!
This week’s SolutionMap Customer Insights report focuses on customer reviews for Bonfire, a cloud-based provider of sourcing whose offering is known for its ease of use.
The applicable SolutionMap category for this report is in Sourcing. SolutionMap Insider members can read about Bonfire in our latest report.
In each Customer Insights report, we provide a one-page summary of details from the SolutionMap peer review process. It includes ratings on how well the vendor meets its customers' expectations, three key differentiators for the vendor and a list of quotes from customers about the vendor’s greatest strengths.
Direct materials sourcing is the elephant in the procurement technology suite room. While many source-to-pay solutions offer strong functionality in support of sourcing processes, only a handful truly support all of the requirements to enable the complexities of direct materials sourcing (e.g., sourcing optimization, bill of materials-based sourcing, commodity management).
Among this select group, Synertrade is capable of delivering a comprehensive, fully integrated and rapidly deployable source-to-pay suite that also provides organizations the ability to rapidly configure heavy internationalization and systems integration requirements. This is particularly visible in its sourcing module, where it scores above the benchmark for two-thirds of requirements evaluated, including dozens of cases where it posts some of the highest scores of any provider in the Sourcing SolutionMap.
But where does Synertrade stand out most and help “set the bar” in sourcing, and why should this matter for procurement and finance organizations? Let’s delve into the SolutionMap benchmark to find out where Synertrade is great.
“What Makes It Great” is a recurring column that shares insights from each quarterly SolutionMap report for SolutionMap Insider subscribers. Based on both our rigorous evaluation process and customer reference reviews, each brief offers quick facts on the provider, describes where it excels, provides hard data on where it beats the SolutionMap benchmark and concludes with a checklist for ideal customer scenarios in which procurement, finance and supply chain organizations should consider it.
Shiftgig, which was founded in 2012 as an on-demand work marketplace, pivoted to become a pure-play technology provider. The company divested the staffing portion of its business and, in early 2019, launched its flagship software solution, Deploy: a deployment and engagement platform for staffing firms.
Shiftgig was able to pivot so quickly, in less than one year, to a software-as-a-solution business for staffing firms, because much of the original underlying technology functionalities/capabilities were built to power Shiftgig’s original business model, a technology enabled on-demand work marketplace. So while Deploy was brought to market this year, underlying it is an advanced, highly scalable, fit-for-purpose technology solution that has been developed and enhanced/updated over the previous seven years.
Staffing firms can use the Deploy SaaS under subscription pricing to establish their own new “on-demand, mobile-gig-workforce” staffing channels; that is to say, alternative, digitally transformed versions of their traditional ones. At this time, Shiftgig mainly targets staffing firms serving the hospitality, light industrial and experiential marketing staffing segments (but it can also be used by other businesses like per-diem nursing, catering or event management companies).
Within this new digital staffing model (enabled by Deploy), staffing firms continue to be the sourcer, curator, employer of record and payroller of the temporary workers utilized by client businesses. But Deploy enables a staffing firm’s own on-demand, mobile/digitally-connected temp workforce and 24/7 self-sourcing capability for clients. Operationally, Deploy reduces time-to-fill, and it improves the quality of deployed workers based on data and analytics. Shiftgig Deploy allows staffing firms to “up their game” and create a win-win scenario that also includes clients and workers.
Spend Matters breaks down the broadening and evolving enterprise technology solution market for contingent workforce and services (CW/S) into three main categories in SolutionMap, our free vendor ranking system. Those are solutions to manage:
* Temp Staffing, the primary historical focus and largest category of spend under management for established VMS providers (e.g., Beeline, Coupa-DCR Contingent Workforce, SAP Fieldglass, etc.) * Contract Services/SOW (Statement of Work), the spend category now contributing the highest growth to VMS providers’ spend under management. * Direct Sourcing of Workforce/Services (DSW/S), while the largest volume of spend under management and numbers of users lie in the Temp Staffing solution category, top VMS providers have been evolving and increasingly providing capabilities to enable clients to directly source and engage contingent workers and manage the corresponding spend and risk.
So where does Shiftgig Deploy fit into the burgeoning CW/S solution market?
Shiftgig participated and was scored in the Direct Sourcing of Workforce/Services Q3 2019 SolutionMap research cycle. Given its unique purpose and target market, Shiftgig Deploy differs from many of the other solutions (targeted to enterprises, not staffing firms) in Spend Matters in the Direct Sourcing of Workforce/Services SolutionMap. These may offer capabilities that Deploy does not — and vice versa. For example, some of the FMS-like platforms may provide complete invoicing and payment capabilities for independent contract workers, while Deploy provides an open API that transfers timesheet data to a staffing firms payrolling system. Accordingly, because Spend Matters’ scoring RFI had not anticipated a solution like Deploy, the SolutionMap Solution Scores may not provide an adequate score for this very strong, highly specialized solution.
As of Q3 2019, SolutionMap contains functional and customer satisfaction benchmarks on more than 50 providers within the overall procurement technology landscape, including 14 providers within the CW/S segment. But, taking into account the qualifications above, where does Shiftgig Deploy stand out most and help “set the bar” for the Direct Sourcing of Workforce/Services segment? And why should this matter for procurement and HR organizations? Let’s delve into the SolutionMap benchmark to find out where Shiftgig is great.
“What Makes It Great” is a recurring column that shares insights from each quarterly SolutionMap report for SolutionMap Insider subscribers. Based on both our rigorous evaluation process and customer reference reviews, each brief offers quick facts on the provider, describes where it excels, provides hard data on where it beats the SolutionMap benchmark and concludes with a checklist for ideal customer scenarios in which procurement, finance and supply chain organizations should consider it.
The e-procurement solutions market has been growing for the last seven years. Because of this rapid growth, the market is also fragmented, with numerous vendors competing for procurement organizations’ attention. Yet no one vendor is an ideal fit for all companies, due to the unique requirements of different organizations’ sizes, industry/vertical and prior technology investments (or lack thereof).
So how can companies with different needs evaluate procurement solutions amid an array of vendors with different capabilities?
Spend Matters’ vendor rankings in SolutionMap account for these differences using a persona-based approach. Each SolutionMap persona is calibrated to weight evaluation requirements so that it reflects the profile of certain kinds of buyers. For example, the “Nimble” persona reflects small and medium-size businesses that prioritize fast time-to-value and ease of use in the selections; the “CIO Friendly” persona emphasizes technical foundation and interoperability with other enterprise systems to make for a straightforward implementation.
So what do SolutionMap personas look at for e-procurement, and how can they help your organization make better technology decisions?
In a series of PRO articles, we’ll analyze the market according to the different SolutionMap E-Procurement personas: Nimble, Deep, Turn-Key, Configurator and CIO Friendly. (See persona definitions* below.)
This review is organized just like the RFI for SolutionMap, according to these topics: platform capabilities, features & functionalities, and customer value.
Let’s look at the e-procurement features and vendors as viewed by the Configurator persona.
This week’s SolutionMap Customer Insights report focuses on customer reviews for Keelvar, an e-sourcing vendor known for its sourcing optimization software.
The applicable SolutionMap category for this report is in Sourcing.
SolutionMap Insider members can click here to read about Keelvar in our latest report.
In each Customer Insights report, we provide a one-page summary of details from the SolutionMap peer review process. It includes ratings on how well the vendor meets its customers' expectations, three key differentiators for the vendor and a list of quotes from customers about the vendor’s greatest strengths.
Direct materials procurement technology has always been a bit of a blind spot for North American manufacturers. Many such businesses are already using indirect materials-centric and services-centric applications (e.g., procure-to-pay, vendor management systems), but few also have specialized direct materials-centric procurement tools as a part of their solution belt. A host of factors, however, is starting to change this, to include recent trade volatility, digital transformation of manufacturing alongside business in general, and increasingly complex supply chains that demand a more advanced approach to sourcing and supplier management.
Well-poised to address these drivers is Allocation, a German solution provider that, based on its performance for the past year in our Sourcing SolutionMap vendor rankings, offers one of the broadest and deepest platforms for direct supplier management and direct material sourcing on the market today. With a strong customer base in discrete manufacturing, Allocation can walk into just about any automotive, aerospace, CPG or other manufacturing-based procurement organization and talk the talk, backing up its knowledge with a set of specialized capabilities.
But where does Allocation stand out most and help “set the bar” in sourcing, and why should this matter for procurement and finance organizations? Let’s delve into the SolutionMap benchmark to find out where Allocation is great.
“What Makes It Great” is a recurring column that shares insights from each quarterly SolutionMap report for SolutionMap Insider subscribers. Based on both our rigorous evaluation process and customer reference reviews, each brief offers quick facts on the provider, describes where it excels, provides hard data on where it beats the SolutionMap benchmark and concludes with a checklist for ideal customer scenarios in which procurement, finance and supply chain organizations should consider it.
The e-procurement solutions market has been growing for the last seven years. Because of this rapid growth, the market is also fragmented, with numerous vendors competing for procurement organizations’ attention. Yet no one vendor is an ideal fit for all companies, due to the unique requirements of different organizations’ sizes, industry/vertical and prior technology investments (or lack thereof).
So how can companies with different needs evaluate procurement solutions amid an array of vendors with different capabilities?
Spend Matters’ vendor rankings in SolutionMap account for these differences using a persona-based approach. Each SolutionMap persona is calibrated to weight evaluation requirements so that it reflects the profile of certain kinds of buyers. For example, the “Nimble” persona reflects small and medium-size businesses that prioritize fast time-to-value and ease of use in the selections; the “CIO Friendly” persona emphasizes technical foundation and interoperability with other enterprise systems to make for a straightforward implementation.
So what do SolutionMap personas look at for e-procurement, and how can they help your organization make better technology decisions?
In a series of PRO articles, we’ll analyze the market according to the different e-procurement personas: Nimble, Deep, Turn-key, Configurator and CIO Friendly. (See persona definitions* below.)
This review is organized just like the RFI for SolutionMap, according to these topics: platform capabilities, features & functionalities, and customer value.
Now let’s look at the e-procurement features and vendors as viewed by the Deep persona.
This week’s SolutionMap Customer Insights report focuses on customer reviews for the suite provider Determine, a Corcentric company.
The applicable SolutionMap categories for this report are Source-to-Pay, Procure-to-Pay, and Strategic Procurement Technologies (SPT includes Sourcing, Analytics, CLM and SRM). Determine has been bought by Corcentric. Integrations between the two provider platforms are not factored into the Customer Insights analysis, which is entirely based on Determine’s capabilities.
SolutionMap Insider members can read about Determine in our latest report.
In each Customer Insights report, we provide a one-page summary of details from the SolutionMap peer review process. It includes ratings on how well the vendor meets its customers' expectations, three key differentiators for the vendor and a list of quotes from customers about the vendor’s greatest strengths.
If you’re going to invest in an e-procurement solution, you’d at least hope that your employees use it. But this is often easier said than done. The usability of enterprise software like e-procurement has been low more often than not, and end users from procurement and other functions alike have not always been keen to requisition, punch out and slog through approvals in systems that recall the days of Windows 2000.
Fortunately, a new breed of procurement solutions is rectifying these past missteps, offering simple, intuitive user experiences that remind users more of the applications they use in their daily lives than at the office. The benefits are attractive: higher solution adoption, faster realization of the benefits of technology and greater overall ROI from the technology investment.
This is exactly what attracts customers to a company like Procurify.
Based in Canada, but with clients around the world, Procurify is an e-procurement solution designed for the needs of small and medium-size businesses. This is most visible in its best-in-class UX/UI, which along with other factors helped Procurify claim the highest customer satisfaction scores in our E-Procurement SolutionMap.
But where does Procurify stand out most and help “set the bar” in e-procurement, and why should this matter for procurement and finance organizations? Let’s delve into the SolutionMap benchmark to find out where Procurify is great.
“What Makes It Great” is a recurring column that shares insights from each quarterly SolutionMap report for SolutionMap Insider subscribers. Based on both our rigorous evaluation process and customer reference reviews, each brief offers quick facts on the provider, describes where it excels, provides hard data on where it beats the SolutionMap benchmark and concludes with a checklist for ideal customer scenarios in which procurement, finance and supply chain organizations should consider it.
The e-procurement solutions market has been growing for the last seven years. Because of this rapid growth, the market is also fragmented, with numerous vendors competing for procurement organizations’ attention. Yet no one vendor is an ideal fit for all companies, due to the unique requirements of different organizations’ sizes, industry/vertical and prior technology investments (or lack thereof).
So how can companies with different needs evaluate procurement solutions amid an array of vendors with different capabilities?
Spend Matters’ vendor rankings in SolutionMap account for these differences using a persona-based approach. Each SolutionMap persona is calibrated to weight evaluation requirements so that it reflects the profile of certain kinds of buyers. For example, the “Nimble” persona reflects small and medium-size businesses that prioritize fast time-to-value and ease of use in the selections; the “CIO Friendly” persona emphasizes technical foundation and interoperability with other enterprise systems to make for a straightforward implementation.
So what do SolutionMap personas look at for e-procurement, and how can they help your organization make better technology decisions?
In a series of PRO articles, we’ll analyze the market according to the different e-procurement personas: Nimble, Deep, Turn-key, Configurator and CIO Friendly. (See persona definitions* below.)
This review is organized just like the RFI for SolutionMap, according to these topics: platform capabilities, features & functionalities, and customer value.
To start, let’s look at the e-procurement features and vendors as viewed by the Nimble persona.
