Modern Smart Applications Are Transforming Supplier Value Management

The software category that Forrester calls supplier value management (SVM) is seeing a wave of innovation, from both established players and VC-backed new entrants, using various types of AI. The best early examples automate high-volume tasks that require some skill but are mostly mundane, such as invoice processing and contract redlining. The next wave of innovation will go further, alerting them to issues and risks that require action. Tech leaders should focus on use cases that liberate and empower skilled sourcing professionals to focus on more important, more interesting work, not on trying to replace them — fully autonomous procurement is much hyped but won't be the reality anytime soon.