Winners, Losers and No-Shows in the AP Automation Market

Winners, Losers and No-Shows in the AP Automation Market

Spend Matters has just released its Spring 2020 iteration of SolutionMap benchmark rankings including, for the first time, an analysis of the AP Automation solution market

The latest SolutionMap compares 69 procurement technology providers across 13 categories — which includes the new ranking map for AP Automation vendors.

A few words about Solution Map

I’m a fan of SolutionMap. For specialists in Procurement, Sourcing, P2P, AP and everything above, it offers an invaluable assessment of the solution market both from a customer’s point of view and the expert analyst’s perspective.

One of the features I especially respect is the application of ‘personas’ to the analysis. No two businesses are the same but we can all be categorised. And depending on where we are coming from, we view solutions differently. SolutionMap offers analysis in a standard set of 4 personas and the ability to develop a unique persona. This means that you minimise the risk of finding yourself with a report that it irrelevant to your own particular needs.

See for yourself and get a copy of the report – you can get it here https://spendmatters.com/solutionmap/

My take on the AP Automation Solution Map

I’ve taken a look at the new AP analysis and it’s as interesting for what it says as for what it doesn’t say. It says that Basware and Coupa are both well liked by analysts and customers alike – in simple language, these solutions make big claims for themselves and by and large they deliver on what they say. They are joined as leaders, in the customers’ eyes at least,  by Yooz and SoftCo (a new one for me).

In contrast, Tipalti and Tradshift fare much less well in the eyes of customers compared to the analysts – again in plain language, this indicates that they are not delivering on the claims they make.

This analysis represents a collection of subjective views at a particular time and so should be handled with care. Analysts depend to a large extent on what companies tell them whereas customers go on actual learned experience but both views are subjective. But as a means of helping to develop a shortlist of possible vendors, it’s an extremely useful tool. I’d not have included Yooz or SoftCo in a shortlist but the report highlights that perhaps I should.

But what is most remarkable about the AP Solution Map is the gaps. AP specialists might have been looking out for mention of OpenText or Kofax for example and most notably, Ariba is absent. In many respects, these solutions can give any of the players assessed a good run for their money. I’m sure there are good reasons for them not to be included and I’ll leave it to Spend Matters to explain that but without them, there’s a gap.

Congratulation to Jason Busch and the team on some great and useful insights. I know I’ll continue to use SolutionMap.



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