In our last post, we asked how do you evaluate a sourcing suite and pretty much said that you start with the Spend Matters Solution Map RFI whose creation is currently being led by the doctor in his role as Consulting Analyst for Advanced Supply Management Technologies. Which leaves the question, how does the doctor evaluate a Sourcing Suite?
The short answer is extensively and rigorously. The forthcoming solution map for Sourcing will evaluate vendors across the following categories of functionality:
- Opportunity Identification and Management
- Project Definition and Management
- Supplier Portal Functionality
- Spend Analysis
- e-Negotiation: RFX and e-Auction
- Optimization
- Contract Management and Analytics
- Execution Management across Performance, Risk, and Compliance
- Core Technology Platform, Stack, and Delivery Methodology
- Configurability and UX
In addition, vendors are also evaluated on:
- company stability and growth capability
- service capability
- customer references [which will degrade in value 10% a quarter unless refreshed by the customer]
And the goal will be to flush out the true platform (and vendor) strengths and capabilities for you as a buyer to help you figure out what vendors should be on your shortlist when the time comes to acquire new, or upgraded, Sourcing functionality.
So, in short, the doctor evaluates sourcing suites against the full breadth of functionality required to maximize your value as a strategic buyer. No solution areas should be left unexplored in a good evaluation.