As governments and retail organizations become more and more cost-conscious and bottom-line-driven, certain trends are emerging in the sourcing software industry. These trends follow closely with trends in sourcing and procurement and have significantly raised the relative value of the best strategic sourcing software on the market. It’s safe to say that if you do not have a robust sourcing software application, your sourcing will suffer; here’s a synopsis of trends in the market.
Growth
Estimates have put the global sourcing software annual market growth rate to be at almost 19 percent for the years 2017 through 2021. This is in part due to international competitiveness, but also the desire on the part of manufacturers to reduce bottom line costs. A sourcing software solution is the first and easiest step a supply chain, logistics or production manager can take to get organized and to look at all sourcing options in a compact, yet easy to digest format.
Standardization
Manufacturing is standardizing at a record pace. There are multiple reasons for this. Some of this is due to the US federal government standardizing a lot of its regulatory requirements for quality standards, arms production, technology sharing, national security and workplace safety. Some of it is due to financial pressures on manufacturing in the USA and pressure to compete with foreign manufacturers who have dramatically lower overhead and operations costs; the thinking here is that quality will allow for a slightly higher per-unit cost. Part of it is due to the various “lean management” manufacturing standards, which have really allowed companies to produce more with less and much fewer mistakes.
Online Options
The sourcing market is truly international now. A company in Maine can now quickly locate parts or equipment across town, across the country or across the globe. That new variety has reduced prices while expanding options. That trend will continue as more and more businesses migrate to online selling.
Data Analysis
Data analysis has already played a major role in reinventing the sourcing market and forcing sourcing software suppliers to be innovative in how they help customers look at data. Price and quality analysis, trends in usage, each has become tools for a souring manager to use to select the best sourcing options for their company’s needs. No longer is it required or acceptable to have only one supplier and be at their mercy.
While it is impossible to easily select the best strategic sourcing software on the market, it’s easy to select software that applies to particular markets. Almost to a product, those tend to be sourcing solutions that are on top of market trends as well as demands.