We often highlight the thought-leadership reports and presentations that Ardent Partners publishes/presents on the pages of CPO Rising as a way to share some of our key research findings and provide a view and perspective on trends, best practices, and other topics that matter to our readers (i.e. supply management leaders).

But, Ardent Partners also actively covers the supply management technology market and advises companies on their solution selection and overall technology strategies. Ardent’s technology-oriented research is designed to help business decision-makers navigate the technology marketplace to understand (1) the underlying business value that can be derived from an investment in technology and (2) the surest and most direct approaches to attaining that value. Over the next few weeks, we will be introducing Ardent Partners’ first SMARTSet in a series of articles that will complement and, not displace, our normal publishing agenda.

The SMARTSet™ (SMART = “Supply Management Assessment & Research Toolkit”) is a low-cost, comprehensive set of research tools and templates designed to guide organizations though the process of automating their processes and selecting the best-fit solutions for their specific requirements and budgets.

Our first SMARTSet addresses the ePayables Market. Ardent Partners defines ePayables as the solutions that allow organizations to automate all or some part of the accounts payable (“AP”) process. Of even greater interest for this audience may be Ardent’s next SMARTSet which will address the Strategic Sourcing technology market and will be published in Q1 2012.

[NOTE: The thousands of you who have signed up for the newsletter (either on this site or here) will gain exclusive access and special discounts to Ardent’s research including this and future SMARTSets, as well as our ongoing thought-leadership research. The SMARTSets will only be available at ardentpartners.com and will not be licensed or used by any solution providers for any commercial purpose. We will initiate our newsletter distribution this Fall.]

The ePayables SMARTSet

We have designed the ePayables SMARTSet to be flexible enough to meet the needs of enterprises just starting to think about AP transformation and process automation, mature organizations seeking to extend the value of their current investments, and those in between. The following research documents and tools are included in the ePayables SMARTSet:

1. Business Case Template – Convincing others to fund the initiative can be very challenging; but, one thing is certain, those groups that fail to make the business case for an investment in ePayables solutions will continue to struggle for awareness and budget in the future. This research document helps end-users prepare a clear and compelling business case for an investment in specific solutions.
2. ROI Calculator – A clear understanding and presentation of the underlying costs and potential benefits of an investment in supply management technology can help propel a business case forward. This interactive research tool will help enterprises build an ROI model that is specific to its planned investment.
3. RFP Template – Ardent believes that the core business and technology requirements for most supply management solutions have a common thread that can be leveraged by most organizations to accelerate the completion of their unique RFP. This interactive research tool will help enterprises clearly define their requirements and organize them into a comprehensive and well-structured Request for Proposal.
4. Solution Provider Landscape – The solution provider landscape can be crowded and confusing. This report will help enterprises navigate the solution provider landscape by cutting to the chase and discussing the key capabilities and performance of the main solution providers in the space and how they each match to different organizational requirements.
5. Best Practices and Case Studies – Once a solution is selected, the returns generated from it are far from guaranteed. These reports will highlight a collection of best practices and case studies drawn from Best-in-Class practitioners around the deployment and subsequent usage of supply management solutions.

Watch for more details in the coming days…

Tagged in: Ardent Partners Research, ePayables, Technology