作者档案：Magnus Bergfors

Spend Matters has just finished a series of procurement and supply chain predictions for 2021, with commentary from about 20 leading procurement technology and intelligence providers. Together their foresight runs to 60+ predictions, with the majority of providers unsurprisingly backing supply chain risk mitigation as the forerunner to get firms through 2021 and beyond.

Certain individual themes arose as priorities this year which combine to help procurement and supply chain managers and the organization survive, grow and face the challenges imposed by 2020 and the coronavirus crisis. Our analyst Magnus Bergfors identifies the standout themes and adds his own insight and foresight.

我们最新的第三部分支出的最终分期付款优先级欧共体采购系列的供应商分析提供了一家公司SWOT评估，了解EC采购的竞争对手以及提供者如何与客户可能希望入围的竞争供应商的竞争对手。此帖子还包括用户选择指南和摘要评估。

这re is a lot of competition in the e-sourcing and strategic sourcing suite marketplace today.

Granted, while new market entrants have largely if not entirely replaced some of the legacy providers from a decade or more ago, the amount of choice procurement organizations have in selecting a provider has never been greater.

EC采购is one such provider that companies — especially those in the middle market — may wish to add to their shortlists, not just for core sourcing and negotiation but to enable basic category management support and upstream (non-transactional) suite capability.

该分析的第1部分和第2部分提供了一个company and solution overview (with info on the BidMode integration)那product strengths and weaknesses，以及建议的适合分析什么类型的组织应该考虑EC采购。

Now, let’s take a deeper look at EC Sourcing and how it sits in the procurement technology market.

This Spend Matters PRO Vendor Analysis update explores EC Sourcing’s strengths and weaknesses, providing facts and expert analysis to help procurement organizations determine if they should shortlist the vendor as a potential provider.

Many procurement organizations at larger firms will soon be on their second (or even third) set of e-sourcing technologies, with many using multiple solutions. The middle market is different, with scattered adoption and a much more recent track record of “sourcing” tools for the first time, if at all. Both trends favor lesser-known providers like EC Sourcing, a closely held technology and solutions firm that has compiled a commendable e-sourcing package that now has all of the core capabilities of a broader “upstream” suite — albeit with strengths and weaknesses in different areas.

EC采购built out its suite from an e-negotiation core, and now it has a range of surprisingly deep capabilities that go beyond modular capability alone, including workflow management. On a functional basis, the provider offers e-sourcing, basic contract management, supplier management (which includes supplier corrective action reporting, or SCAR), and now advanced strategic sourcing decision optimization (by acquiring BidMode) and spend analysis.

Part 1 of our update provided a company and详细解决方案概况以及摘要建议适合适合哪些类型的组织应该考虑EC采购的建议。本系列的第3部分将提供对公司的SWOT分析，讨论EC采购竞争对手，技术选择建议和摘要分析。

Now, let’s examine the solution’s strengths and weaknesses.

This Spend Matters PRO Vendor Analysis 2021 update offers a refresh of our 2020 review of EC Sourcing’s solution based on EC Sourcing’s recent announcements of its BidMode acquisition and its new, native spend analysis capability.

而we normally wouldn’t do two complete PRO updates in a year, these announcements are quite substantial as they provide EC Sourcing with not only entry into the source-to-contract platform market (while they don’t have authoring, they support contract document and data management) but one with advanced optimization capabilities generally only found in the large enterprise source-to-pay platforms.

EC采购is one of a select group of procurement technology providers that have been aggressively targeting the middle market with an e-sourcing platform, one of a smaller group that offer relatively full source-to-contract capabilities (which are more than sufficient for the majority of mid-market companies because legal teams are usually quite happy to author contracts in Word and then just upload the signed contracts), and one of a smaller group still that can even serve Global the 3000 if they are just looking for S2C and are primarily indirect/services.

Moreover, EC Sourcing also happens to be one of the most mature in capability, with a set of clever features that only comes from the battle scars of decades of managing sourcing events. Spend Matters' analysis of the EC Sourcing platform positions it as a solid contender to fill the sourcing needs of middle to large middle-market procurement organizations as well as a subset of Global 3000 organizations looking for technology to transform their end-to-end sourcing efforts.

Since our initial three-part snapshot update, EC Sourcing has continued to address a number of the weaknesses we pointed out in addition to natively integrating the sourcing optimization specialist BidMode, adding native spend analytics capability, and continuing to enhance its UI and process-based workflow capability. That means its solution now consists of modules for spend analysis and insight, e-sourcing, optimization, workflow-based process management, contract management, and supplier management.

此更新将提供事实和专家分析，以帮助采购组织确定EC采购解决方案是否适合其需求，并将提供关于替代提供商的视角，以便在其旁边进行评估。

Part 1 will include a company and detailed solution overview. Part 2 will focus on product strengths and weaknesses. Part 3 will offer a company-level SWOT analysis, a look at EC Sourcing’s competitors, tech selection considerations and a summary analysis.

Scout RFP entered an already crowded e-sourcing market back in 2013 with a singular focus on ease-of-use, not unlike that of Coupa in the P2P space some years earlier. This focus, combined with rapid development of additional features and adjacent capabilities in project management, supplier management and contract management led to Scout RFP being acquired by Workday in 2019. Since the acquisition, it has been renamed Workday Strategic Sourcing and development has continued.

In the first part of this updated Spend Matters PRO Vendor Analysis, we looked atthe company background and solution overview那solution strengths and weaknesses as well as a simple tech selection guide.

In this second part, we will do a more detailed solution overview, offer a SWOT analysis and take a look at Workday Strategic Sourcing's competitors in the e-sourcing market.

About this time last year, Scout RFP made headlines by being acquired by Workday, a provider of finance and HR solutions. The acquisition itself might not have been a huge surprise, given that Workday was an investor in the company already, but the valuation of Scout RFP raised an eyebrow or two (seeherefor more info).

At first it operated as “Scout RFP (a Workday company).” But recently, the name was officially changed to Workday Strategic Sourcing. This is a natural evolution as the acquisition becomes a more integrated part of the larger Workday organization. That said, there are no plans to replatform. Workday Strategic Sourcing will remain a separate solution, although more extensively integrated to the rest of the Workday offering.

Since our last analysis, Workday has added contract management and some interesting bid analytics and negotiation support capabilities.

在这两个部分的花费优先考虑关于工作日的战略采购，我们将仔细看看公司及其解决方案 - 然后提供七种解决方案模块的详细信息，进行SWOT分析，并在电子采购市场中讨论工作日的竞争对手。

本花的第3部分重要专业供应商分析focuses on Graphite Systems’ offering and gives a detailed overview of the graphiteConnect solution.

这focus of its solution, graphiteConnect, has mainly been on SIM, but it has also expanded into SRM and supplier risk management.

In Part 1, we discussed the company background andgraphiteConnect’s strengths and weaknesses。In Part 2, we provided a company SWOT analysis and looked atthe graphiteConnect competitors。

Now, let’s dive into a detailed overview of the graphiteConnect solution.

For Part 2 of this Spend Matters PRO Vendor Analysis series, we will look at graphiteConnect's competitors in the supplier management solution market and we'll offer a SWOT analysis on the vendor, Graphite Systems.

这supplier management solution market is red hot, and there are new solutions popping up left, right and center. However, the market is fragmented, and most vendors have their unique take on what supplier management means.

Spend Matters has defined five core building blocks of supplier management — Supplier Information Management (SIM), Supplier Performance Management (SPM), Supplier Relationship Management (SRM), Supplier Risk Management, and Supplier Quality Management (SQM) — to提供如何在此空间中对供应商进行分类和比较供应商的框架。

Graphite Systems is a new vendor in this space that we introduced in Part 1. The focus of its solution,graphiteConnect, has mainly been on SIM, but it has also expanded into SRM and supplier risk management.

Let's take a look at graphiteConnect's competitors and the company's SWOT.

这first part of this Spend Matters PRO Vendor Analysis looks at Graphite Systems’ background, offers an overview of its graphiteConnect solution and details graphiteConnect’s strengths and weaknesses. But Graphite Systems is part of a larger story.

网络在采购技术空间中没有任何新的网络。但到目前为止，大多数网络的焦点主要是关于交易 - 在多对多网络中连接贸易伙伴，以方便汇兑采购订单和发票。现在，这些网络的大多数都扩展了一些，许多人还包括一些供应商信息，但通常仅限于支持交易所需的最基本信息。

This is now changing with Graphite System’s entrance into the marketplace.

It is arguably the first supplier management vendor that is building its solution, graphiteConnect, on a network model where suppliers enter and maintain their information once and can share it with any and all buyers in the network.

本系列的第2部分将提供公司SWOT分析和看看石墨系统的竞争对手。在第3部分中，我们将提供详细的解决方案概述。

这third and final installment of this updated Spend Matters PRO Vendor Analysis covering Scanmarket provides a SWOT analysis of the provider and looks at Scanmarket’s competitors in a competitive segmentation analysis and comparison.

这landscape for e-sourcing (RFX, auction, category management, sourcing optimization, etc.) is still highly fragmented. There is not a single market-share leader or “dual” leadership in this sector (as is the case with Coupa and SAP Ariba for the procure-to-pay category).

However, one trend in consolidation stands out: Providers focused on the “upstream” areas like sourcing but also supplier management, contract management and analytics have a strategy of either building or buying their way into the procure-to-pay sector — or merging their capabilities with other solution providers in this market.

Yet one nearly full upstream provider focused on this market remains independent: Scanmarket.

(We say “nearly full” because it remains dependent on a partner for spend classification, and it has some functional gaps in the supplier management and contract management areas.)

Of course Scanmarket faces competitors from different segments of providers with either more targeted or overlapping functional footprints. And a number of newer generation e-sourcing providers have set a course to build out their suites to more directly compete with Scanmarket, even if this is more on a regional basis currently.

本第3部分分期付款还包括推荐的候选人候选人作为扫描标记的替代供应商，并提供提供商选择指导。最后，它为考虑供应商的公司提供了摘要分析和建议。

Part 1 provided anin-depth look at Scanmarketas a firm and its specific solutions, and Part 2 gave a detailed analysis ofthe solution’s strengths and weaknesses。

让我们来看看Scanmarket的机会和威胁，以及扫描仪在电子采购中的竞争对手。

This updated Spend Matters PRO Vendor Analysis explores Scanmarket’s strengths and weaknesses, providing facts and expert analysis to help procurement organizations decide whether Scanmarket’s solution fits their needs and whether they should shortlist the vendor.

Scanmarket是最后剩余的独立“上游”采购技术套件提供商之一。虽然它在运行简单且复杂的RFX和拍卖进程（以及格式）时，它带来了特殊的能力和专业知识，但它还提供了一系列的项目管理，供应商管理和合同管理。

On many levels, Scanmarket is one of the heirs to the specialized e-sourcing capability pioneered by firms like FreeMarkets and Procuri. And it also represents a targeted and cost-effective alternative to full-suite providers. In addition, Scanmarket offers deeper sourcing capability than procure-to-pay specialists in the market today.

Part 1 of our analysis provided acompany background and solution overview那as well as a summary recommended fit suggestion for when organizations should consider Scanmarket in the procurement technology area.

这final installmentin this series will offer a SWOT analysis, user selection guide, a look at Scanmarket’s competitors, and additional evaluation and selection considerations.

Let’s examine at Scanmarket’s strengths and weaknesses.

In Spend Matters’ last PRO Vendor Analysis of Scanmarket, we noted that the market for source-to-contract suites (inclusive of spend analytics, e-sourcing, supplier management and contract management) was less crowded than before. Many providers with capabilities focused on this area expanded their product offering to transactional procurement, and the number of targeted suite providers focused solely on the source-to-contract (S2C) market declined.

但在过去的三年里，这里的竞争开始了再次增加。许多新一代的电子采购提供商在他们的前任的脚步上遵循了他们的产品的合同和供应商管理能力。在某些情况下，在合同生命周期管理（CLM）或供应基础管理（SBM）中开始的供应商也在扩展到电子采购中。

But given the demise of IBM Emptoris and Jaggaer’s acquisition of Bravo Solutions (although it technically added P2P before the acquisition), Scanmarket has emerged as the veteran vendor in the S2C space — and it is probably the vendor with the most traction and the largest customer base. Since our 2017 analysis, Scanmarket has focused primarily on improving its contract authoring and supplier management capabilities. And it is a solution provider that is more than standing its ground in a market where consolidation and the march to hybrid strategic and transactional suites is becoming the vendor norm.

This updated three-part PRO series provides facts and expert analysis to help buying organizations, suppliers and partners make informed decisions on Scanmarket’s source-to-contract capabilities. Part 1 of our analysis provides a company background and detailed solution overview, as well as a summary recommended fit suggestion for when organizations should consider Scanmarket in the procurement technology area. The rest of the research series will cover productstrengths and weaknesses那a look at竞争对手，公司SWOT分析和技术选择提示。

Let's take an updated look at Scanmarket.