Featured Feature Content

Editor’s Note: This article is part of our series The Featured Feature, where we explore unique technology capabilities that differentiate procurement software companies. Read our introductory post to learn more.

Supply chain visibility is a major concern for today’s procurement organizations. In a 2017 Geodis survey of 623 companies, respondents named improving supply chain visibility as the third most important priority for their businesses, behind only full deliveries and product availability. Yet only 6% of those respondents said they had full visibility of their supply chains. Acknowledging this need for better visibility and information about their suppliers, businesses are increasingly turning their attention to the latest generation of supplier management solutions. ConnXus, a more recent entrant to this sector, is one such example, with a particular expertise in supplier diversity tracking and reporting.

Editor’s Note: This article is part of our series The Featured Feature, where we explore unique technology capabilities that differentiate procurement solution providers. Read our introductory post to learn more.

Behind every module in a source-to-pay suite is a business process that organizations want to improve. Standout software offerings, therefore, do much more than merely digitize processes such as sourcing or invoice validation. At their best, these tools enable entirely new ways of managing actions and communicating throughout the source-to-pay process, both internally between procurement and its stakeholders and throughout the supply chain with various third parties. It’s no surprise, then, that when comparing features that differentiate source-to-pay table stakes from the winning hand, Ivalua’s workflow engine is a frequent mention.

Software is eating the world, and there’s no sign the beast is even close to satiated. Nearly seven years after venture capitalist Marc Andreessen’s oft-quoted defense of the long-term viability of companies like Facebook and Amazon, businesses have more options than ever when it comes to selecting enterprise software services. Along with this glut of technology providers also comes a sense of déjà vu — the same kind of companies pushing the same features that, for the most part, offer the same solution to the same problems procurement faces on a yearly basis. Here at Spend Matters, however, we strive to bring clarity to the increasingly murky procurement technology market, and we'll be bringing you yet another way to do so starting this week.