The SME market fit for SolutionMap encompasses solutions for small and medium-sized enterprises with annual revenues of less than $100 million and/or point solutions. Typically, these solutions will cost less and have fewer or less advanced functionalities than other SolutionMap participants. Additionally, they tend to serve a single region and emphasize quick deployment. However, these may also be good fits for larger enterprises seeking a particularly nimble solution.
SME market fit technology capability weightings
Weightings vary across the source-to-pay (S2P) SolutionMap modules for SME market fit, although several themes persist. For example, core platform-level module capabilities such as ‘analytics reporting or data management’ are among the highest-weighted aspects of most modules. However, most module weightings vary significantly, depending on the specialization focus of the solution.
Sample of SME market fit weightings by module against functionality scoring elements:
Note: In this SME core platform capability weightings table: the darker the shading = the higher the emphasis
Across the SME market fit, we emphasize the following capabilities:
- Sourcing: For the core platform, we emphasize reporting and place a lower weighting on organizational modeling. For module-specific areas, which includes capabilities that all sourcing SolutionMap participants compete in, we emphasize reverse auctions and RFx modeling and creation. Conversely, sourcing project management and sourcing optimization receive lower weights for this market fit, as these capabilities are generally more important for larger organizations.
- Spend analytics (SA): For the core platform, we place lower weights on organizational modeling, project management and document management. As for module-specific capabilities, we emphasize analytics workspace support, analytics process support and mapping/familying, as SMEs tend to require more support in these areas.
- Supplier management (SxM): For the core platform, we emphasize data management, core underlying technology and reporting. SMEs tend to rely on supplier management solutions for most reporting capabilities, so more robust options are more important to them. We place a lower relevance on organizational modeling, and with respect to module-specific areas, we also place a lower emphasis on direct quality management and SxM knowledge management.
- Contract lifecycle management (CLM): For the core platform, we emphasize the underlying technology layer, as smaller firms tend to prefer a modern, easily adoptable solution built on a modern tech stack. Module-specific emphasis includes contract creation, authoring and negotiation, as smaller firms are generally more interested in standardization and automation of the front half of the CLM cycle. On the other hand, this market fit places a lower relevance on CLM services, organizational modeling and counterparty/supplier account management.
- Source-to-contract (S2C): For the core platform, we place a lower weight on organizational modeling. As for module-specific capabilities, we emphasize analytics workspace support, mapping/familying and RFx modeling and creation. We place less weight on CLM services and SxM services as these extra services are typically more useful for larger organizations. SMEs will benefit more from the S2C-specific capabilities.
- E-Procurement: For the core platform, we emphasize general services, core underlying technology and standards and integrations while placing a lower relevance on project management. For module-specific areas, we place a lower weighting on metric management and common P2P services, which are typically desired by larger organizations.
- AP Automation/Invoice-to-Pay (AP/I2P): For the core platform, we emphasize general services, reporting, core underlying technology and data management. Conversely, we place a lower relevance on project management, which SMEs tend to use less frequently than larger AP automation users. As for module-specific areas, we emphasize payment processing and place lower weightings on financing analytics and payment analytics.
- Procure-to-pay (P2P): For the core platform, we emphasize general services and core underlying technology while placing a lower weighting on project management. Payment processing is a module-specific emphasis, given its importance both in P2P overall and for smaller organizations that rely on a given solution for its processing. However, we place a lower relevance on common P2P services and assets requisitioning.
- Source-to-pay (S2P): Given the increased number of requirements for S2P providers, capability weightings for this market fit are slightly more uniform. However, module-specific weightings include an emphasis on analytics workspace support and a lower relevance on invoice compliance and supplier profiling.
Across the SME market fit, we also offer capability rankings for expense management and carbon management:
- Expense management: For the core platform, we emphasize workflow and core underlying technology, while placing least relevance on reporting and globalization. For module-specific areas, we place more emphasis on expense report creation, expense report validation and approval, and expense receipts capture. We place least emphasis on travel expense management.
- Carbon management: For the core platform, we emphasize supplier information management the most and general services and data storage model the least. For module-specific considerations, we emphasize on standards and supplier emissions management the most and ESG services the least.
SME market fit modifier weightings
In addition to capability weightings, Spend Matters uses modifiers that vary by market fit in order to account for factors, such as price, geography and value beyond technology, to better account for the needs of particular markets. Each market fit also receives an overall weighting emphasis, meaning Market-Fit-level modifiers are applied more heavily (or not) based on the market use case.
As a whole, the SME market fit tends to apply modifier weightings — notably ‘price’ — more heavily than other market fits.
