Daily Archives: August 1, 2017

The UX One Should Expect from Best-in-Class Spend Analysis … Part V

In this post we wrap up our deep dive into spend analysis and what is required for a great user experience. We take our vertical torpedo as far as it can go and wrap the series up with insights beyond what you’re likely to find anywhere else. We’ve described necessary capabilities that go well beyond the capabilities of many of the vendors on the market, and more will fall by the wayside today. But that’s okay. The best will get up, brush off the dirt, and keep moving forward. (And the rest will be eaten by the vultures.)

And forward momentum is absolutely necessary. One of the keys to Procurement’s survival (unless it really wants to meet it’s end in the Procurement Wasteland we described in bitter detail last week) is an ability to continually identify value in excess of 10% year-over-year. Regardless of what eventually comes to pass, the individuals who are capable of always identifying value will survive in the organizations of the future.

But if this level of value is to be identified, buyers are going to need powerful, usable, analytics — much more powerful and usable then what the average buyer has today. Much more.

As per our series to date, this requires over a dozen key useablity features, many of which are not found in your average first, and even second generation, “reporting” and “business intelligence” analytics tool. In our brief overview series to date here on SI (on The UX One Should Expect from Best-in-Class Spend Analysis … Part I, Part II, Part III, and Part IV) we’ve covered four key features:

  • real, true dynamic dashboards,
  • simultaneous support for multiple cubes,
  • real-time idiot-proof data categorization, and
  • descriptive, predictive, and prescriptive analytics

And deep details on each were provided in the linked posts. But even prescriptive analytics, which, for many vendors, is really pushing the envelope, is not enough. Great solutions really push the envelope. For example, the most advanced solutions will also offer permissive analytics. As the doctor has recently explained in his two-part series (Are We About to Enter the Age of Permissive Analytics and When Selecting Your Prescriptive, and Future, Permissive, Analytics System), a great spend analysis system goes beyond prescriptive and uses AR and a rules-engine to enable a permissive system that will not only prescribe opportunities to find value but initiate action on those opportunities.

For example, if the opportunity is a tail-spend opportunity that could best be captured by a spot-auction, approved products that meet the bill, and approved suppliers that can automatically be invited to an auction to provide them, the system will automatically set up the auction and invite the suppliers, and if the total spend is within an acceptable amount, automatically offer an award (subject to pre-defined standard terms and conditions).

And that’s just the tip of the iceberg. For more insight onto just how much a permissive analytics platform can offer, check out the doctor and the prophet‘s fifth and final instalment on What To Expect from Best-in-Class Spend Analysis Technology and User Design (Part V) over on Spend Matters Pro (membership required). It’s worth it. And maybe, just maybe, when you identify, and adopt, the right solution, you won’t end up wandering the Procurement Wasteland.