While the year is not officially over until a few more weeks, we are getting closer to the holidays, and this will be the last Magnus Monday article for this year. But don’t despair, we’ll be back next year with brand new topics and opinions.
It’s been a little more than one year since I joined Ardent Partners. So, in this last 2024 Magnus Monday article, I would like to look back at my first-plus year at Ardent Partners.
As I mentioned in last week’s article, the year has been focused on cost savings and AI, and I suspect we’ll see more of the same in 2025 with potential trade tariff wars looming. But I want to take a more personal perspective on the year. While GenAI is continuing to conquer the world (although I’m still waiting for the real killer use cases to materialize for procurement), I’m still doing all my writing on my own!
Back in the Analyst Role
After a couple of years working on the solution provider side (shoutout to Basware and Keelvar, great products and even greater people), I returned to the analyst world towards the end of last year. While I enjoyed my time with both Basware and Keelvar, there is no role I enjoy more than the analyst role. The variety in discussions and topics is unmatched and it’s a true privilege to get access to CEOs, founders, senior executives, and experts at all the different solution providers out there. Writing my Monday articles has also been fun and hope you are enjoying them.
As I’ve mentioned before, innovation is at an all-time high in our industry, and during the year I’ve engaged with new (i.e., that I haven’t worked with before) solution providers like Zip, Arkestro, ORO Labs, FairMarkit, Opstream, Ignite, Levelpath, Pactum, Suplari, Airbase and Varis. Each one of them brings new products and/or better ways of doing things to the market.
I also spent a lot of time catching up with old acquaintances who are certainly not resting on their laurels either. The suite providers like Coupa, SAP, Ivalua, GEP, Synertrade, Workday, and Corcentric are continuing to deepen and broaden their offerings. At the same time, specialists like AkiroLabs, Globality, SpendHQ, Graphite Connect, Cirtuo, Kodiak Hub, Apex Analytix, Beroe, and Vizibl are challenging or complementing the suites with increasingly capable and sophisticated solutions and offerings.
I’m excited to work with all of you in the new year, as well as connect with new solution providers I didn’t meet in 2024.
On the Road Again …
Attending conferences is one of my favorite things as an analyst. Getting to meet people in person still makes a difference, not to mention all the other good reasons to attend user conferences described in this article — making them extremely valuable for me as an analyst. The conferences I attended this year, Ivalua Now, Coupa Inspire, Zip Forward, Keelvar Konnect, and SAP Spend Connect were all very well organized and informative (not to mention, fun!). DPW was another conference I attended, and it was a different but great experience.
Hopefully, I will be invited back to all these great events next year as well as attend a few new ones!
As the last Magnus Monday article of 2024, I want to thank everyone for reading. If you have any topics or questions you’d like me to address next year, please reach out to Ardent Partners. The same goes if you are a solution provider that wants to brief us on your solution or even invite us to a conference!
Happy holidays to everyone and here’s to a great 2025!
