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ProcureTech100 / Market Intelligence
Market intelligence software
Data and software that show procurement what is happening in their supply markets: commodity prices and indices, cost drivers, supplier landscapes and market outlooks, used to set category strategy and negotiate from evidence. This page covers what the category does, what to ask before you buy, and the providers who serve it.
What to consider before you compare tools
Market data is only useful when it reaches a decision: a category strategy, a negotiation or a price review. What separates providers is how well they cover your categories and how easily the data gets into the work.
1
Does it cover your categories?
Coverage varies widely by commodity, service category and region. Bring your top 20 categories and ask for the depth on each.
2
Where does the data come from?
Ask which data is the provider's own, which is licensed and which is modelled, and how often each is refreshed.
3
Can a buyer take it into a negotiation?
Indices, cost breakdowns and price forecasts should be easy to use in a supplier conversation. Ask to see what a category manager would actually bring to the table.
4
Does it connect to your spend?
Market intelligence is most useful when it is matched to what you buy and from whom. Check how each tool links market movements to your contracts and suppliers.
The market, and your toolkit
What the category looks like now, and the buyer toolkit to run your own evaluation.
What it is
Information on supply markets for procurement teams: commodity and price indices, cost models and drivers, supplier and market profiles, risk and outlook reports, and analyst support. It comes as data feeds, platforms or research services, increasingly with AI that answers category questions directly.
The shape of the market
- Price and cost data: indices, cost drivers and should-cost inputs
- Supplier and market profiles: who supplies what, and how concentrated the market is
- Category insight: outlooks and analysis to set strategy
Where attention is moving
From reports read once a quarter toward market signals delivered inside category plans and negotiations, and toward AI that can answer a buyer's question about a market in minutes.
Market Intelligence across Art of Procurement
The research, explainers and conversations behind the category.
Webinar
Data Governance: Procurement’s Quiet Competitive Advantage
Regardless of what a procurement organization’s objectives are, they can’t hope to achieve them without actionable data.
Watch the session →
What practitioners actually say
Pulled from Art of Procurement episodes and webinars about this category. Sourced from our own transcripts, and each links back to where it was said.
FM
Capability
This was about enriching the procurement community's lives and allowing them, whether buyers or supervisors or commodity managers or whatever the title is, to actually go understand the category of the commodity, build relationships, build up the knowledge, and not be data entry clerks.
Frank McKay · Chief Supply Chain and Procurement Officer, Jabil
FromMeeting Supply Chain Volatility with Agility and Resilience · Art of Procurement
AS
Category strategy
We constantly back-test against the delivery of category strategies. Are they updated? When we have got new market intelligence or a new data point, has that been updated in your category strategy, and has it been executed against?
Andrew Savage · Global Lead, Procurement Excellence, MTN
FromAchieving a Winning Difference · Art of Procurement
FAQ: Your Market Intelligence questions, answered
What is procurement market intelligence?
Information about supply markets that helps procurement decide what to buy, from whom and when: prices and indices, cost drivers, supplier landscapes and outlooks.
How is market intelligence used in category management?
To set category strategy: understanding cost drivers, supplier concentration and where prices are heading, then deciding when to go to market, what to lock in and what to negotiate.
How is market intelligence different from spend analytics?
Spend analytics looks inward at what you bought and from whom. Market intelligence looks outward at supply markets, prices and suppliers. Used together, they show where your prices sit against the market.
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