Synertrade – Another European P2P Vendor Expanding Westward

While this vendor was effectively unknown in North America even a year ago, Synertrade has one of the broadest, and deepest, footprints in the S2P (Source to Pay) marketplace. And it has additional functionality, like innovation management, portfolio strategy, quality management, and a centralized supplier portal not generally found in most S2P platforms.

So while you might already have a dozen vendors on your P2P evaluation list, if your organization needs a solution that goes beyond the basics, this is one that should definitely be on your short list. Why?

As discussed by the doctor and the prophet over on the recent 3-part series that appeared on Spend Matters Pro (Part I, Part II, and Part III) [membership required], it has a number of strengths, including, but not limited to:

  • ease of use
  • role orientation
  • innovation management
  • risk intelligence
  • quick data integration

In addition, Synertrade is a well established with:

  • 16 years of P2P solution history
  • over 500 global customers
  • 15 global offices on 4 continents to support an international clint base
  • strong partner support

The Synertrade platform is a set of applications integrated across business processes to support an average enterprise in the full breadth of its Source to Pay activities. The 27 modules that are currently available (with another 6 coming by year end) can not only be configured as needed to support client requirements, but can be enabled or disabled as necessary, and the workflow adjusted accordingly, to customize the experience for each client, and each employee of each client.

The Source to Contract application contains RFX, auctions, and contract management capabilities with event (tender) management. The Procure to Pay application contains catalogue management capability (which supports the webshop), basic procure to pay, as well as order tracking and inventory management. In addition, the WebShop is comparable to any other web-based catalog purchasing solution with integrated EDI catalogs, custom catalogs, and free-form requisitions and checkouts. The Supplier Management application is built around a supplier database and supports supplier self-registration, qualification and assessment, certificate and document management, quality management, and development measures. The Purchasing Intelligence application, built around a harmonized data store that integrates all data from the platform and any relevant external applications (and pre-defined spend cubes), supports standard spend analysis, performance analysis, supplier scorecard analysis, and risk analysis.

There are a number of strengths to the platform, and major strengths include:

SynerConnect

The SynerConnect tool allows them to quickly map a client’s data to a common schema that has been developed using fifteen plus years of best practice data mapping and integration. With this tool, Synertrade can integrate just about any existing system or (real-time) (market) data feed that the organization wants to integrate in a manner of hours. Even obscure ERPs, custom-built supply management systems, and discontinued database products can be integrated quickly.

Risk Intelligence

The risk intelligence piece is quite powerful as it integrates supplier scorecards with Risk Methods and Ecovadis data and allows an organization, and a buyer, to evaluate supplier risk from multiple angles — financial, geographic, product/material availability, social responsibility, etc. The standard measurements and ratings can be overridden by the clients and the reports can be customized as needed. Plus, it is built on their analytics platform, which is built on Qlikview and extensive data cubes built up over years of platform extension (and cube definition).

Material Category / Supplier Portfolio Strategy

It’s great to know how much you are spending on a category, supplier, product, service, etc. and to be able to break it down across all of these dimensions, but if you do not know what to do with this data, that’s not that helpful. The Synertrade product helps buying teams and organizations overcome this by integrating the knowledge captured in the classic Kraljic matrix and the more modern AT Kearney Procurement chessboard and based upon this and extracted measures can recommended levers and strategies for categories, suppliers, and their intersection. This is extremely useful for organizations looking for a starting point in their strategic sourcing and procurement efforts.

For a deeper dive into Synertrade strengths, a full corporate SWOT analysis, a product selection guide, and an analyst commentary, see the in-depth three part series by the doctor and the prophet over on Spend Matters Pro (Part I, Part II, and Part III) [membership required].

Procurement is Complex. Is Your Platform Capable of Handling It?

There’s been a lot of analysis of Brexit — Britain’s decision to leave the EU — an analysis that SI has pretty much stayed out of. There’s a lot to be said about the issue, pro and con, and a lot of fallout that will occur in the times to come. But when you get right down to it, this is just another example of the dynamic, ever-changing nature, of supply chains — which cannot be predicted.

Supply chains are full of risks. There are risks that can be easily predicted, such as raw material shortages, strikes, fleet breakdowns, and so on. There are risks that can not be easily predicted — such as embargoes on regime changes, riots, and massive shifts in trade and politics almost overnight (such as what happens when a country votes to leave a political union that manages trade).

All of a sudden, your costs are changing. Some of your supply lanes are changing (as some lanes will no longer be feasible or viable for your carriers). And some of your partners are going away (as they decide that they don’t want to do business with you anymore or you decide they are too expensive). And you do not know how these costs are going to change, which lanes will suddenly be unavailable (or what new options will materialize), and which partners are the most likely to leave, or what the new supply chain will look like.

With so much changing, how do you figure out what your new costs are? Which carriers, and lanes, are viable? Which partners you still want to do business with, and which partners will still want to do business with you when all things are considered?

In order to figure this out, you need big damn cost models. Complex, formula-driven, calculations. Breakdowns that include all components, energy costs, labour costs, other overhead costs, logistics costs, storage costs, and other costs. Modifications for expected changes based on recent and projected trends. What if analysis based upon potential cost concessions for volume or cost increases for lack thereof. And so on.

And, as you should be well aware by now, advanced cost modelling, bill of materials, and value-optimization is not a capability found in the majority of Procurement platforms. Is it in yours? If it’s not, there will come a point, possibly very soon, where your platform fails to serve you. This is not something you can afford.

As the doctor has said many times, a modern procurement platform can be your salvation, but it has to be the right one. Or at least the right one for the task. The reality is, you might need two. If your organization has a lot of high-dollar indirect with complex transportation requirements but also has a lot of simple indirect and MRO, or has a lot of complex direct with a lot of simple or non-strategic tail spend, you might need an optimization-backed sourcing platform with a simple e-Negotiation suite for the junior buyers or a sophisticated direct sourcing platform with a tail-spend platform for the day to day Procurement professionals.

Before you get blindsided by an occurrence that has the potential to totally decimate your supply main models and destroy your cost baselines, make sure you have the right platforms in place to adapt and get the best value no matter what. Start now while your not-so-bright peers are taking this strange thing called “vacation”. You won’t be sorry.

5 Reasons Why You Need to Take the Direct Procurement Challenge!

Hopefully you attended last week’s webinar on the Direct Procurement Challenge, hosted by the ISM and featuring the doctor and the prophet, where we explained how a sourcing platform cost-centric perfect for indirect doesn’t meet the needs of direct sourcing. But in case you missed it, here are some key requirements not met by typical indirect procurement platforms.

Requirement Indirect Platform Direct Platform
Bill of Materials NO BoM Support Deep multi-level Bill of Materials Support
Cost Breakdown Analysis Limited to ancilliary costs (shipping, taxes, storage, etc.) Deep cost breakdown support across the bill of materials which allows costs to be broken down and spread out across components, the production process, distribution and inventory management, and overhead
EDI, WebEDI, & XML XML data exchange only (maybe) XML, EDI, and WebEDI and direct integration into supplier systems
Quality Management RMA & account credit request (maybe) APQP, sample test reports, standard 8D & QDX complaints report;
goods issue documents
PLM (Product Lifecycle Management) No PLM Support Integrated project management and product lifecycle management
from cost breakdown analysis and BoM definition in the
sourcing phase to production and inventory management in the
supply chain phase to quality management and return management
in the support phase

And in Sourcing Innovation’s latest paper on The Direct Material Procurement Challenge: An Indirect Tool for Direct Procurement is Mission Improbable – Direct Procurement Requires Different Capabilities, the doctor discusses 10 (ten) additional reasons why an average indirect platform cannot solve direct Procurement needs. Check it out!

One Hundred and Thirty Years Ago …

Karl Benz first unveiled the Benz Patent-Motorwagen, German patent number 37435, widely regarded as the world’s first automobile as it was designed to be propelled by an internal combustion engine.

The Benz Patent-Motorwagen was a three-wheeled automobile with a rear-mounted engine that was constructed of steel tubing with woodwork panels, steel-spoked wheels, and solid rubber tires.

It was pretty primitive by today’s standards, but it was an important advancement as we wouldn’t have the delivery modes we have today without this historic invention.

LOLCats loved it … the swing just didn’t fulfill their need for speed.