E-sourcing applications enable organizations to organize, solicit and evaluate requests for information (RFIs) and requests for proposals (RFPs) from suppliers. These applications enable competitive bidding where the outcome is typically a long-term agreement. Most e-sourcing applications also support reverse auction capabilities. Some applications enable large-scale complex bid events with thousands of line items and awards spanning multiple suppliers.

E-Sourcing Applications

Gartner defines the source-to-pay (S2P) suite market as an integrated set of solutions to source, contract, request, procure, receive and pay for goods and services across an enterprise. These solutions typically are sold as cloud-based software as a service.
Source-to-pay suites allow organizations to manage all of their sourcing and procurement activities within a single integrated solution. These solutions are modular in nature allowing customers to activate the functionality that is relevant for their needs. The integrated nature of these solutions allows for data to easily flow across the source-to-pay process providing needed visibility to upstream and downstream documents. An example of this would be the ability to view a purchase order and see the contract that the purchase is related to, the e-sourcing event that led to the contract and downstream documents such as receipts, invoices and payments.

Source-to-Pay Suites

Gartner defines contract life cycle management (CLM) market as a solution that proactively manages contracts from initiation through negotiation, execution, compliance and renewal. In this context, a contract is any agreement or contractual document containing rights and obligations that affect an organization now or in the future (e.g., a nondisclosure agreement).
CLM solutions allow organizations to create, negotiate and store contracts in a centralized repository. Using these solutions helps mitigate organizational risk by enabling regulatory and policy compliance, providing governance over what is signed and with whom, and role-based access to terms and obligations with third parties. CLM solutions drive visibility, consistency and efficiency in the contracting process across an enterprise. Use cases are primarily aligned to parts of the process, such as presignature and postsignature. Different departments often prioritize a certain use case based on their involvement in the contracting process.

Contract Life Cycle Management

Strategic sourcing application suites are a set of related, integrated solutions that support upstream procurement activities; in other words, the strategic work the procurement team does for planning, assessment and performance management. Strategic sourcing application suites are used primarily by companies with $800 million or more in annual revenue that, typically, have the necessary critical mass of spend. The strategic sourcing application suite delivers four primary capabilities. Most vendors offer these capabilities as separately licensable modules: Spend analysis is a software- and service-based solution for cleansing, enhancing, classifying and analyzing spend data. It features rule-based data cleansing, automated category-level classification, analytics and decision support. Automated spend analysis is used in procurement and sourcing to quantify spend by supplier, category and part, and to identify opportunities for cost reduction and supply base resizing.

Strategic Sourcing Application Suites

Category management solutions allow category managers to create and monitor their midterm to long-term sourcing by enabling strategic management of categories in procurement and supply chain processes. They optimize category performance, enhance supplier relationships, and improve cost efficiencies. The key features include spend analysis, strategic sourcing, supplier management, contract tracking, and analytics. These solutions empower data-driven decision-making, identify cost-saving opportunities, and align category strategies with organizational goals, ultimately driving operational excellence and value delivery.

Category Management Solutions

GEP SMART Reviews, Ratings & Features 2024 | Gartner Peer Insights

Evaluation and contract negotiation

Evaluation & Contracting

Timely and complete response to product questions

Pricing and contract flexibility (pricing and terms)

Integration and deployment

Integration & Deployment

Ease of integration using standard APIs and tools

Quality and availability of end-user training

Ease of deployment

Service and support

Service & Support

Timeliness of vendor's response

Quality of technical support

Quality of peer user community

Product capabilities

Product Capabilities

Scalability

Integration

Customization

Ease of deployment, administration, and maintenance

Additional Context

Coupa

Market Dojo Sourcing

Market Dojo

ZHENYUN Technology Digital Procurement Platform

ZHENYUN Technology

Promena Strategic Procurement Solutions

Promena

Ivalua Sourcing

Ivalua

JAGGAER ONE

JAGGAER

VENDX

MavenVista Technologies

SAP Ariba Sourcing Suite

GEP SMART

Unit4 Source-to-contract by Scanmarket

Unit4

10B - 30B USD

Country Manager Austria and Head of International Sourcing

The solution is ok but far from being outstanding. Customer service is not what one would expect from the "packaging" 

Supply Chain Associate

Strong implementation team, high level of integration capability with experience.  Capability for reporting sub-supplier diversity spend.  

Oracle

SAP Ariba

Proactis

Synertrade

Zycus

Active

Find the top E-Sourcing Applications with Gartner. Compare and filter by verified product reviews and choose the software that’s right for your organization.

10B+ USD

GEP is a global enterprise specializing in transformative supply chain solutions. It offers agile and resilient operations to enhance efficiency and productivity, while boosting profitability and shareholder value. GEP is comprised of three entities: GEP SOFTWARE, GEP STRATEGY, and GEP MANAGED SERVICES, all of which work collectively to address supply chain challenges. With the aid of its innovative products and dedicated team, GEP continues to cater to enterprises globally, assisting in the attainment of strategic, financial, and operational goals. As an AI-first, cloud-native company, GEP uses digital business platforms to support and streamline processes. It is a global enterprise, headquartered in Clark, New Jersey, with operational centers across Europe, Asia, Africa, and the Americas.

GEP is a global enterprise specializing in transformative supply chain solutions. It offers agile and resilient operations to enhance efficiency and productivity, while boosting profitability and shareholder value. GEP is comprised of three entities: GEP SOFTWARE, GEP STRATEGY, and GEP MANAGED SERVICES, all of which work collectively to address supply chain challenges. With the aid of its innovative products and dedicated team, GEP continues to cater to enterprises globally, assisting in the attainment of strategic, financial, and operational goals. As a cloud-native company, GEP uses digital business platforms to support and streamline processes. It is a global enterprise, headquartered in Clark, New Jersey, with operational centers across Europe, Asia, Africa, and the Americas.