Demystifying The 2018 Gartner Magic Quadrant For Procure-to-Pay Suites

Gartner named Basware a Leader in the 2018 Magic Quadrant for Procure-to-Pay Suites for the third time – but it’s not as mysterious as it seems. Read on for a demystification of the Gartner Magic Quadrant evaluation process.

It’s Not Magic – It’s Basware

I’m not sure why it’s called the Gartner Magic Quadrant but I’m sure that there’s no magic behind our recognition as a Leader. In my role as Senior Analyst Relations Manager, I have the unique opportunity to interface with nearly every aspect of our global business from research and development to product management to customer support to sales and marketing, and I can tell you our success boils down to 2 things – we’re 100 per cent obsessed with customer success and we work hard to deliver.

Why is Gartner so influential and how are purchase-to-pay vendors evaluated?

With over 15,000 employees and over $3 billion in annual revenue, Gartner is a massive research and advisory firm that has a strong reach in the purchase-to-pay market, particularly with CIOs. Its reports are widely read, and the Magic Quadrant is regarded as a useful tool in creating vendor shortlists. The report comes with a graphic that depicts the purchase-to-pay market using a two-dimensional matrix that evaluates vendors based on their ‘Completeness of Vision’ (horizontal axis) and ‘Ability to Execute’ (vertical axis).

‘Ability to Execute’ primarily focuses on the caliber of the vendor’s products and services, including core pieces of purchase-to-pay functionality such as e-procurement, catalog management, e-invoicing, and accounts payable invoice automation. Another key piece of execution is customer experience, which takes into account feedback gathered via online surveys, inquiries into Gartner, and calls between Gartner and purchase-to-pay customers.

‘Completeness of Vision’ is an appraisal of the vendor’s ability to map the direction of the market and outflank competitors, as well as innovate to meet customer needs. Vendors are evaluated around vertical/industry strategy and the speed with which they can bring innovation to their offering (e.g. robotic process automation, advanced analytics and machine learning).

Gartner’s evaluation of vendors is supported by inquiry calls, face-to-face meetings, survey tools, product demos, and briefings. We feel they are looking to understand how solution providers appeal to CPOs, CFOs, and CIOs and how the product meets the needs of those key stakeholders. Gartner first issues an online survey and then talks to two different customers verbally for each provider.

How are solutions evaluated?

Gartner uses surveys, customer interviews, and extensive solution demos, to evaluate the provider’s vision and their ability to execute on that vision by bringing innovation to life within the product.

Through our experience with the process, we believe that the following capabilities are being assessed:

• Core procure-to-pay functionality from e-procurement through ok-to-pay
• Global deployment suitability to maximize the value across the world
• Platform capabilities like mobile features
• AI & machine learning and smart technology applications
• Integration to ERPs and other back-office systems
• e-Invoicing sophistication and network reach
• Customer support and implementation aspects
• Packaged analytics
• Supplier information management tools
• Source-to-settle solution integrations
• Personal consumable workstream support for configuring complex workflows
• Requisition MRO workstream support to automate more processes
• Contingent work force procurement to automate the requesting of labor
• SOW services governance and procurement
• Direct order support
• Travel & expense capabilities to capture more enterprise spending
• Supply chain finance to support cash flow management

What factors make Basware a Leader in the Gartner Magic Quadrant for Procure-to-Pay Suites?

Based on the information contained in the 2018 Gartner Magic Quadrant for Procure-to-Pay Suites, we believe our 30+ years of industry expertise, strategic vertical approach, market-leading products and obsession with customer success landed us in the Leaders’ quadrant for the third time.

Our number one goal as a company is customer success. We empower customers to simplify operations and spend smarter to reach competitive agility by getting 100 per cent spend visibility through on-boarding 100 per cent of suppliers, capturing 100 per cent of invoices and achieving 100 per cent user adoption of e-procurement.

So, I think it’s important to call out four areas that Gartner commented on in the report that best demonstrate our 100 per cent promise:

• Global deployment suitability to connect, streamline and strengthen operations with ease for enterprises across the world, helping them collect 100 per cent of financial data from all locations
• World-class products that enable organizations to capture 100 per cent of invoices and achieve 100 per cent user adoption of e-procurement to leverage the power of their financial data and create a competitive advantage
• Ease of integration using standard APIs and tools so companies can easily connect the solutions they already have for more visibility and value
• An extensive global e-invoicing network that connects small and large businesses world-wide to on-board 100 per cent of suppliers.

Read more here 

Gartner Inc., Magic Quadrant for Procure-to-Pay Suites, Desere Edwards, William McNeill, Magnus Bergfors, Patrick M Connaughton, Kaitlynn N. Sommers, May 29, 2018.