Vendor Analysis and Shortlist: “Strategic Sourcing” or E-Sourcing (Part 2)
In Part 2 of our series looking at shortlists of “strategic sourcing” or e-sourcing vendors, we’ll tackle specialist optimization providers Trade Extensions and CombineNet. I will caveat this post (as I have and will continue to do with others in the series) with the point that these views represent the opinions of a single person […]
Vendor Analysis: Breaking out Strategic Sourcing as Gartner Defines It
In Gartner’s most recent magic quadrant analyzing the “strategic sourcing” market as they call it, Debbie Wilson lumps together a hodge-podge of solution areas such as “strategic sourcing suites.” Debbie bundles “strategic sourcing applications,” “spending analysis,” “supply base management” and “enterprise contract management” as part of her definition of strategic sourcing suites. Some of Gartner’s […]
Supplierforce: Supplier Information Management and Beyond (Part 1)
In years past, I introduced Spend Matters readers to a little-known supplier information-management vendor, Supplierforce, which is based in Dublin (you can read previous posts on Supplierforce here and here. Supplierforce has moved beyond its SIM pa…
Gartner’s Strategic Sourcing Magic Quadrant: We Report, You Read and We All Decide
I usually have a more op/ed than reporting take on analyzing the news, but I thought I’d use this post to highlight some of the findings of Gartner’s latest Strategic Sourcing Magic Quadrant, authored by Debbie Wilson, to kick off the inevitable comm…
Friday Rant: What’s Holding Ariba Back? (Part 2)
In the first part of this column from last Friday’s Rant, I shared a few thoughts on what I thought was holding Ariba back from even larger growth, from the perspective of solution and customer communications. In the second installment of this rant t…
Will the Industry Analyst’s Micro-Definition of Sourcing Ever Change?
I remember the first time I read a Gartner report at FreeMarkets. Our account representative at the time pointed out a new
report dedicated to examining “strategic sourcing” — something that
would be right up our alley. He referred me to a pri…
Jim Wetekamp Chimes In: What Can Procurement Learn From Sales and Account Management?
Last week, courtesy of Paul Martyn, BravoSolution’s new VP of
Marketing in North American, I came across a column over on Supply Chain Brain. The article explores the decades-old
subject of treating procurement and category management like a sa…
A Thriving Procurement Function for the Next Five Years — Part 1: Do You Speak Finance?
What will a thriving procurement function look like over the next five or so years? I’d like to begin a dialogue here on this blog, hoping that a number of people can share their perspectives on what a thriving procurement function helps to make happ…
Debbie Wilson: Baking up a New Magic Quadrant ? Too Little Time in the Oven?
Over on Gartner Blogs, Debbie Wilson shared with her readers after Thanksgiving that “In between
baking pies, eating turkey, watching hockey (go Monarchs!), playing
tennis, and spending time with my family [that] first pass ratings
are unde…
Should You Ever Bypass an RFP Process?
Over on The Strategic Sourcerer, there’s a useful post that examines when it might make sense to bypass an RFP to better engage a list of potential suppliers or bidders for a project. But is there ever a place for breaking with the routine RFP part o…
