I had become bored with eProcurement.  The technology was more than 15 years old and the whole category, along with related categories, were well along in their “hype cycle” according to Gartner (my emphasis added).

Gartner Sourcing and Procurement Hype Cycle

Ariba, had been purchased by SAP, Oracle continued to ignore the eProcurement market, SciQuest stagnated, and the only new news seemed to be the unicorn, Coupa–whose newer technology and more supplier-friendly approach brought some needed innovation and differentiation to the eProcurement world.

But now:

  • Tradeshift has announced its long-awaited e-procurement entry.
  • Selectica has cobbled together some piece parts for a source to settle solution and has partnered with Tradeshift for a sourcing application
  • Coupa and IBM are throwing the Watson FUD out there
  • Deem should be coming with something in the eProcurement space
  • VC and PE firms are interested in eProcurement again.

Of all these changes, the most important would seem to be Tradeshift Buy,  Tradeshift’s e-procurement offering announced today.  Tradeshift’s e-procurement solution has cross-catalog search, a nifty browser plug-in and integrates single use cards into the e-procurement process.  Nice features to be sure, but in this market, just because you build it, does not mean they will come.  It’s going to be a real dogfight out there, which makes it exciting again.

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