What Does Real Value Look Like in Source-to-Pay?

by Alex Saric

A few weeks ago Spend Matters took the initiative to publish the first evaluation in the industry that covers provider capabilities across the entire, Source-to-Pay (S2P) suite spectrum through their Q1 2018 S2P SolutionMap.

Based on both customer feedback, as well as first hand capability assessment, Spend Matters took into consideration suite-level technology, integration capability and supplier experience, as well as front-end and administrative user experience as part of their evaluation to assess the spend management solutions market holistically.

This is a significant step in the right direction of evaluating end-to-end suite capabilities in the procurement industry.  It aligns with growing demand from procurement and finance practitioners for a complete, fully integrated suite solution in place of several different point solutions, in order to garner greater visibility and control across all their areas of spend.

What is also different in Spend Matters’ approach to evaluating the solutions market, is that it takes into consideration that different companies have different needs, addressing this through a persona-based scoring system.

As the only truly native end-to-end suite provider for S2P, Ivalua is proud to be recognized as a Value Leader by Spend Matters across all five personas. “Ivalua is an ideal fit for organizations that need depth of capability across an entire suite” said Jason Busch of Spend Matters

So what does Value really mean when it comes to delivering a S2P solution?

1. Flexibility – It is clear that a “one size fits all” approach does not enable organizations to drive maximum value from their procurement solution for their specific business needs. As a Value Leader, Ivalua has one of the strongest configuration capabilities according to Spend Matters. This empowers business users to quickly meet unique requirements of their industry or profile, and enable procurement agility in the face of a highlight uncertain and dynamic market. Users have the ability to act quickly to new requirements rather than be a slave to vendor roadmaps or expensive consulting projects.
2. Visibility – A truly natively integrated and unified S2P suite enables organizations to optimize the use of strong upstream data to drive downstream decision making, as there is clear visibility across the entire Source-to-Pay spectrum. Visibility also brings the ability for procurement practitioners to pivot from a reactive to a proactive approach, gaining greater control over their spending and the ability to identify additional areas of opportunity when it comes to both cost savings and efficiency gains.
3. Compliance – Compliance is one of the key requirements when it comes to successful procurement practices. Practitioners must not only adhere to internal processes but also external regulations and requirements. Best-in-class S2P solutions provide flexible workflow capabilities to ensure adherence to internal processes. Guided buying for example, is another key cornerstone to ensure compliance. A S2P solution that helps guide the user through the requisition process, provides value by ensuring off-contract spending is curbed and the buyer is guided to the correct suppliers, products and services. Invoicing compliance as another key element, ensures that external rules and regulations are adhered to throughout the invoicing process, such as country-specific compliance.

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