Introduction

Procurement technology is playing an important role in driving the Procurement Outsourcing (PO) market as organizations strive to transform their procurement process to take advantage of the business benefits and lower costs of global sourcing.

The PO technology landscape is aligned to the two broad divisions in the PO market, namely sourcing and Procure-to-Pay (P2P). The market is primarily served by packaged solutions like ERP and procurement-specific Commercially-Off-The Shelf (COTS) products. PO suppliers are also investing aggressively in developing technology capabilities to deliver sustainable cost savings to their clients.

The research is based on two key information sources

• Proprietary Everest database of 130+ multi-process PO contracts signed as of November 2008
• Capability fact-pack of 18 PO suppliers including Accenture, buyingTeam, Capgemini, Corbus, DSSI, Genpact, Global eProcure, HCL, EDS (an HP company), Hubwoo, IBM, ICG Commerce, Infosys, Surestock, TCS, Wipro, WNS, and Xchanging
  

Contents

The focus of this research study is to analyze the evolving global PO technology landscape and analyze the following perspectives:

• Role of technology in PO
• Technology landscape in PO
• Implications for key stakeholders, including PO buyers and suppliers

Each dimension is discussed in detail to provide the reader an in-depth and accurate overview of the supplier trends in the PO technology market. For example, the section on technology landscape in PO offers the following insights, among others:

• The technology landscape of a PO contract typically involves an underlying ERP solution along with a set of procurement-focused applications that could include both procurement specific COTS products and PO supplier’s proprietary tools
• SAP, Oracle, and Ariba have emerged as the leading S2P technologies though nearly 65% of PO buyers continue to have a fragmented S2P technology landscape
• Procurement-specific COTS (like Ariba and Emptoris) and proprietary technologies play a more prominent role in PO engagements as compared to HRO and FAO engagements. While ERPs like SAP continue to dominate the P2P space, procurement-specific COTS like Emptoris and Ariba have a stronghold in the sourcing space
• The procurement technology vendor landscape has also been actively involved in acquisitions and partnerships (with PO suppliers and other technology vendors). The market has seen the emergence of several players offering SaaS as a delivery model
• Top PO suppliers are building out their technology offerings through acquisitions and partnerships with procurement technology vendors. PO suppliers are also developing PO-specific proprietary tools/technologies; platform-based PO offerings are also emerging