SciQuest: A First Step to Integrating Sourcing and Supplier Management with P2P (Part 1)

SciQuest made the rather smart -- in terms of both valuation and product and upsell synergy -- acquisition of AECSoft late last year (see our coverage of the deal here, here, and here). Just over half a year later, the company has taken the first integration steps to joining the two separate solutions together. According to this announcement from last week, "the solution reflects the first phase in integrating SciQuest's eProcurement suite with the supplier management and sourcing technology from AECsoft...The new release integrates Sourcing Director into the base modular source-to-settle solution suite. This integration includes seamless process flows from requisitioning to conducting sourcing events and from sourcing events back into the requisitioning process."

Last week, I spoke with SciQuest to get the full low-down on the integration -- including taking a look at the touch points of the products in a demonstration -- and I'll share what I learn in the coming weeks. But in Spend Matters' view, a more valuable Holy Spend Management Grail than integrating sourcing with P2P, which is no doubt valuable for putting a process around collecting the proverbial "three bids in a box," is the integration of supplier management capabilities, including diversity, risk, certification, registration and related details with an actual requisitioning environment. And further, I might suggest if to be so bold, the integration of true line-item level spend analysis capability into this mix to drill into past purchases, enable real-time compliance, etc. in real-time would be an even greater feat.

Now, SciQuest is not behind the market here. All the other out-of-the-box integrations between P2P and supplier management we've seen are loosely coupled at best, although customization is more than possible for those with material budgets and a vision in mind. Moreover, Spend Matters has yet to see line-item level spend analysis capabilities linked into a supplier management platform on a native basis (partnerships do exist in this area, however), let alone a broader P2P suite. The Spend Matters bottom supplier management line is that if SciQuest can move quickly here, they could very well gain an advantage over other providers by enabling potentially critical enabling supplier management and P2P touch points. Stay tuned as we offer a preview about what may be to come, as well as examining exactly what SciQuest has on offer today with this new release.

- Jason Busch