Featured Downloads
Published: February 7, 2017
Jason Busch, Xavier Olivera and Pierre Mitchell
Published: January 31, 2017
Jason Busch, Michael Lamoureux and Pierre Mitchell
January 2017
| Pierre Mitchell
Spend Matters - Free Research DownloadYou've heard this debate play out hundreds of times — we all have. But here are 3 quick takeaways to help your organization put it to rest for good.
January 2017
| The Spend Matters Analyst Team
Today’s corporate procurement systems operate similarly to the way people shop at a supermarket. Users make all purchase decisions individually, decide which aisles to go down, compare products, place the items they want in their shopping cart and pay for them at checkout. At the end, the user will have had a good or a bad experience and will decide whether to frequent that supermarket again.
Corporate purchasing has similarly become a self-service activity. And just as in supermarkets, providing a successful shopping experience is key for getting people to use a purchasing system consistently.
While this evolution in corporate procurement would not have been possible without the foundation laid by ERP systems, these technologies have not evolved to accommodate this new style of purchasing. This is why e-procurement solutions exist.
These solutions are capable of tackling new procurement challenges and providing successful purchasing experience in complex scenarios for organizations with multiple ERP systems; dozens of offices; hundreds or thousands of employees; transactions in multiple currencies and languages, mobile, and automation requirements; and, critically, the need to analyze, control and optimize all organizational spend.
Download this white paper and explore what is required from e-procurement solutions to succeed in the era of evolved corporate procurement and our predictions for what the e-procurement solution of 2020 will require.
January 2017
| Andrew Karpie, Research Director, Azul Partners, Spend Matters
This white paper has been developed to assist contingent workforce management (CWM) practitioners—and others— to sort out and understand this new, evolving and often confusing self-sourcing technology solution space.
January 2017
| Andrew Karpie and Jason Busch
Spend Matters - Free Research DownloadHow will disruptive technology affect contingent workforce and services procurement? Download the only primer of its kind to find out.
November 2016
| Pierre Mitchell, Chief Research Officer, Managing Partner, Azul Partners, Inc.
Spend Matters - Free Research DownloadThe best procurement organizations in the world are intently focused on creating value in their extended supply chains, and they are very good at measuring this value. Benchmarking complements this effort, helping procurement groups identify new sources of value, pinpoint new capabilities and make a case for change.
But benchmarking itself is part of a broader competency in performance management that keeps procurement aligned with stakeholders and their dynamic needs. So before delving into particular benchmarks, you need to learn to benchmark better to get any value out of them. You need to not just buy better but also measure better so that you’re focused on doing the right things before focusing on just doing them the right way relative to others.
Suffice to say, benchmarking/performance management is not a simple exercise. Learn how to link procurement performance to value chain performance and enterprise performance — and then pull in relevant benchmarks. Download this paper today!
October 2016
| Jason Busch, Founder and Head of Strategy, Spend Matters
There's no question that bicycles represent a giant evolutionary leap from human locomotion. But they also provide a great metaphor for the opportunity that accounts payable (AP) organizations have to move away from manual processes to automated ones – with even greater efficiency and speed returns than a two-wheeler can provide.
In this white paper, we provide a number of benefits that AP organizations can realize from automation and digitization. These examples can help not only make the case for high-value technology investments to drive AP efficiency improvements, but also to build AP finance and procurement value in the eyes of constituents and stakeholders.
Download this paper to take off the training wheels – it's better to learn to ride properly from the start – and explore five benefits of putting AP on two wheels.
September 2016
| Jason Busch, Founder and Head of Strategy
They say every picture tells a story. So, if you take a picture of your accounts receivable (A/R) function through the camera lens of A/R data, what will it tell you about your transactional order-to-cash processes? And
what light will it shed on your approaches to cash collection, customer engagement and risk and compliance management — or your overall ability to influence business performance?
When it comes to painting a picture of business health, unedited photographs rarely distort the truth, and that’s true for A/R data, too. The good news is that the more unflattering the picture, the more opportunity you have in front of you to provide better visibility to the business, improve cash flow and reduce risk.
Now it’s time to grab your camera as we take you on a quick journey with how-to steps to improve overall A/R performance, starting first with explaining the role of A/R in overall business terms (i.e., why it matters!)
September 2016
| Jason Busch, Founder and Head of Strategy, Spend Matters
The humble vendor management system (VMS) has come a long way.
Yet many procurement organizations still find themselves in the midst of an evolution — from using a VMS to manage staffing firms and contractors to leveraging this same technology to actively manage and influence broader services procurement spend. This involves individual project-based contracting arrangements and other outsourcing and services agreements. Statement of work (SOW) spend can range from tactical services vendors (like those providing facilities support and maintenance) to highly strategic agreements with “partner” suppliers (such as consultancies or outsourcing vendors) and everything in-between.
Most organizations’ SOW/services procurement management is at a very early stage of maturity, but leading organizations will achieve significant advantages by moving up the maturity curve through tactical and onto strategic management SOW services.
This is a big shift — and it’s one we should not take lightly. Download this paper to learn more.
August 2016
| Spend Matters Analyst Team
Spend Matters - Free Research DownloadNumerous industries are critically dependent on inputs that aren’t neatly wrapped and packaged in cardboard boxes. From ingredients, chemicals, powdered metals and slurries to other bulk materials, many industries have unique purchasing challenges.
Even amidst this diversity, the research lab is a special breed. Its inputs are acquired spontaneously and from diverse suppliers and information sources, have to be available quickly and often come with special handling and exposure compliance rules. From extreme outliers like radioactive materials to day- to-day compounds, all chemicals need to have clear handling guidelines, even fairly innocuous ones. Researchers, who are often prized for their independent thinking, are key decision makers. Gaining their adoption requires processes that are simple, effective and add value.
Download this case study to see how a global pharmaceutical research leader drives procurement success!
August 2016
| Jason Busch, Founder and Head of Strategy, and Michael Lamoureux, Research Consulting Analyst
Spend Matters - Free Research DownloadIt’s hard to talk about the evolution of procurement technology without using at least a few buzzwords. So before we delve into the heart of our argument in this paper, let’s dispense with some industry jargon (which we’ve put in scare quotes below), as we share a quick history of the sector and how the market began to favor suites over point solutions.
When procurement applications first hit the scene, in the early 1990s, they were what we might term “module-based,” “best-of-breed solutions” that addressed “point-based problems” that, when properly deployed, could often generate a significant return to procurement. In many ways, they brought the then-called purchasing function out of the spreadsheet-laden dark ages and into modern times. But these tools, like all promises that appear too good to be true, had their downsides.
Download this paper to learn more!