Skolkovo and TAdviser have identified the leaders of the Russian market for systems for managing supplier relationships

Today, more than 30 systems are represented on the Russian SRM systems market. At the same time, the market is fragmented: along with mature complex products, there are specialized niche solutions (primarily for public procurement), as well as new systems developed on Low-code platforms, which have their own features both functional and technological.

This study analyzes customer experience and summarizes the views of supply and procurement managers on the practices and perspectives of SRM systems in the IT landscape of large businesses.

As an analysis of the market offer, the results of a survey of 18 vendors, as well as an expert assessment of 11 systems with the highest degree of functional readiness according to the developed reference model of universal SRM systems, are presented.

The project was carried out by experts from the Skolkovo Foundation and the TAdviser analytical center.

Based on the results of the study, a group of leaders among SRM developers was identified, expert assessment based on the results of demo sessions confirmed a high level of functional readiness of products: B2B Atlis, LotExpert, Agora, ELMA365 and Norbit SRM.

The project consisted of several stages: survey of developers (self-assessment of the software developer), demonstration of software products (evaluation of software by independent market experts) and in-depth interviews with customers (assessment of demand).

The questionnaires were based on a specially developed reference model of the "best in class" SRM, which included 233 functional, technological and organizational criteria. This approach made it possible to see the breadth of the coverage of the functionality, the features of the technological platform, as well as to assess the organizational potential of the study participants.

During the in-depth interviews with end customers, the general problems of automating supplier relationship management in various sectors of the economy were identified, answers were received about the current practice of using SRM systems, as well as about market development, priorities and preferences in choosing suppliers.

{{quote 'author = Aleksei Borisov, Director of Consulting, Research and Analytics of the Center for Expertise and Commercialization in the Information and Financial Technology Sector of the Skolkovo Foundation. | The study showed that the market of Russian SRM systems is quite highly developed and continues to actively develop. Several systems at once showed a high level of functionality, design experience and adaptability to the needs of end customers. However, this situation in the market complicates the choice for customers, since each solution somehow has bottlenecks and features. Therefore, it is difficult to identify a universal platform that will close the needs of customers without improvements. Potential leaders, according to the study experts, are clearly visible, their important difference is the presence of a large platform (trading platform) for interaction between suppliers and customers. In view of the trend towards the development of platforms, this is a competitive advantage. The main tasks of the SRM system are the transparency of the procurement process and its seamless relationship with other processes of the enterprise in a single integrated landscape, and a convenient platform for interacting with suppliers. In the coming years, we can expect the consolidation of the solutions market towards platform solutions. }}

{{quote 'author = Nikolay Kamennov, deputy editor-in-chief of TAdviser. | Through communication with major SRM systems end customers, research experts have identified several approaches to using SRM for supplier relationship management processes. Despite the difference in approaches, customer experience has shown that the capabilities of the systems on the market at the moment do not completely close the functionality demanded by the market and Russian SRM developers have good potential for developing their solutions.}}

The study materials can be downloaded from the link.