When selecting a ProcureTech Solution, you have all the following buckets:

And if you do the multiplication, that’s 297 combinations … and that’s just the tip of the iceberg when there are 10 core areas of SXM, multiple niche areas being addressed (some classic solutions were just for print/telco), multiple buckets of risk management solution, generic and scope-3 specific sustainability solutions, different approaches to intake-to-orchestrate, and that’s just addressing the functional areas of Source-to-Pay+.

Then you have the situation where some vendors only offer a single best of breed (BoB) module, others offer a mini-suite, and others still offer a mega-suite with all of the core modules and often a half dozen more on top of that.

While most are SaaS apps these days, they vary from heavy standalone apps that implement full functions to lightweight apps designed for specific tasks (that are usually missing from larger standalone apps that purport to completely cover a function but don’t) to bolt-ons that offer advanced functionality, but require a core module to work on top of.

One also has to consider how you integrate them into a comprehensive workflow that supports Source-to-Pay+. Sometime modules integrate into one-or-more suite ecosystems out of the box (like the SAP Store or The Coupa Store), other times they just come with a (semi) open API, and now some, not built for integration, are integrating into one or more of the new orchestration ecosystems.

And while functionality should come first, you have to consider all of these other factors as well because if you select a suite for a module, you’re probably locking yourself into the other modules you need as those the suite offers due to cost and integration cost considerations, if you select light-weight or bolt-on apps, then you better have something to integrate them into, and you better be sure the ecosystem has all of the modules you will need to implement over the next five years or so before locking yourself into an ecosystem.

So even though THE REVELATOR believes that everything is going to be a bolt-on or an app and that’s all your going to have to worry about, unfortunately the ProcureTech world is NOT going to make it that simple. Overlooking traditional category and integration can completely destroy the value you require if you can’t easily integrate with complementary modules/apps (and especially if you are in a [primarily] direct industry and need to integrate with supply chain applications for the data you need to make good supply chain aware decisions).

However, it will be interesting to see the primary solution category, breadth, and integration of ProcureTech Solutions (by, and independent of, function) in the future.