Having the right tools makes doing any job easier and enables you to do it well. We can’t expect someone to frame a house without hammers, drills, and nails, and screws. And we can’t expect you to function well as procurement professionals without the right tools for your work.
In procurement, rather than table saws and sanders, your tools consist of Software as a Service (SaaS) procurement applications. As technology continues to advance and more services become available, procurement teams need to know which SaaS applications to use. You need to know which tools to put in your toolbox.
The Procurement Toolbox
According to an April 2020 survey by IDC, SAP Ariba and Oracle Procurement Cloud are the most used and primary vendors for procurement applications. But that’s only the top shelf of the toolbox. Nearly all of the 130 organizations surveyed actively use a collection of vendors to meet their needs.
The survey showed that procurement teams are using multiple Enterprise Resource Management (ERP) vendors to build best of breed solutions to “optimize processes, bring clarity to data within their current standard applications, and to focus in on the supplier data to improve supplier relationships.” Rather than using one single tool, they are building a well-organized toolbox to ensure procurement teams have the tools they need when they need it.
The Most Used SaaS Procurement Applications
The top ten SaaS procurement applications used as part of these best of breed software solutions are used by 20% or more of the organizations surveyed.
- SAP Ariba — used by 38% of procurement teams
- NetSuite — used by 34% of procurement teams
- Oracle Procurement Cloud — used by 33% of procurement teams
- Tealbook — used by 25% of procurement teams
- Take Supply Chain — used by 22% of procurement teams
- FairmarketIT — used by 22% of procurement teams
- Determine — used by 21% of procurement teams
- GEP — used by 21% of procurement teams
- JAGGAER — used by 20% of procurement teams
- Zycus — used by 20% of procurement teams
There were 22 vendors mentioned in the survey, each used by 12% to 38% of procurement teams.
Only one application is used as the primary tool by more than 20% percent of procurement teams—23% of survey respondents listed SAP Ariba as their primary SaaS procurement application. The next highest response to primary use is Oracle Procurement Cloud at 18%, and NetSuite at 8%.
Procurement teams recognize that there’s no longer one tool that does it all. Using a combination of best of breed SaaS applications enables procurement professionals to quickly optimize sourcing events, use artificial intelligence to make better decisions, and develop sourcing programs that deliver cost reductions and time savings.
Tealbook is a Tool for the Procurement Toolbox
We’re proud to be in that top ten list. No tool does it all, and at Tealbook, we focus on what we do well—supplier data. Tealbook can help you build your strong data foundation to select and manage your suppliers. Other tools can send purchase requisitions, generate purchase orders, and review invoices.
The IDC survey shows that different applications are needed for different tasks within the procurement workflow. Finding the best of breed tools for your team’s needs is imperative to building a strong procurement function.
