Having been immersed in the world of supply management technology (development, packaging, usage) for many years, I was startled by the market adoption numbers I found in my first market research study conducted five or six years ago. The adoption of eSourcing was not pervasive (how could this be?), nor was the adoption of eProcurement, even in the largest of enterprises. The adoption rates of other solutions, which were newer in their development, made some sense but were still quite low.

Fast forward to 2011, and we see that supply management technologies (which include Spend Analysis, eSourcing, Contracts, eProcurement, and ePayables across the Source-to-Settle process and other solutions that include Supplier Performance Management, Supplier Information Management, Services Procurement for complex categories like temp labor and travel) by and large have not been globally accepted by enterprises (how can this be?).

Beyond the first stage of market adoption (or how many enterprises adopt the solution), there is the secondary issue of user adoption. Solutions may be in place, but are they being used? And how well?

Over the summer (and interspersed between the ongoing CPOs on the Rise series and the discussion of different findings from our latest research effort tied to our soon to be published report), we will look at supply management technology adoption from different vantages in an attempt to better understand why we are where we are today and what we can do to improve our course.

Tagged in: Adoption, Technology