Top 10: Tail Spend Platforms

Tail spend management has become a critical focus for procurement teams seeking to optimise costs and streamline operations. 

These low-value, high-volume purchases often fly under the radar, leading to inefficiencies and missed savings opportunities. To address this challenge, innovative platforms have emerged, leveraging AI and automation to bring visibility and control to tail spend. 

Procurement Magazine takes a look at the top 10 tail spend platforms that are revolutionising procurement processes, helping organisations reduce costs, improve compliance and drive strategic value from their entire spend portfolio.

10. Fairmarkit 

Employees:119
CEO: Kevin Frechette
Founded: 2017

Fairmarkit specialises in automating tail spend management through its AI-powered platform. The solution helps organisations streamline their procurement processes by automatically sourcing and comparing quotes from multiple vendors.

By leveraging machine learning algorithms, Fairmarkit identifies cost-saving opportunities and suggests optimal suppliers for each purchase.

The platform's user-friendly interface and integration capabilities make it easy for businesses to implement and start realising benefits quickly.

9. Proactis 

Employees: ~450
CEO: Stephen Line
Founded: 1996

Proactis offers a comprehensive spend management solution that includes robust tail spend capabilities.

The platform centralises procurement through its procure-to-pay (P2P) solution, combining automated workflows, real-time spend analytics and supplier collaboration tools.

Proactis helps organisations gain better control over their tail spend by providing visibility into purchasing patterns and streamlining the buying process for low-value items.

8. Ivalua 

Employees: 1,000+
CEO: Franck Lheureux
Founded: 2000

Ivalua's Source-to-Pay platform provides a powerful solution for managing tail spend effectively.

The platform offers a user-friendly, "Amazon-like" buying experience that encourages adoption and compliance. Ivalua's solution helps organisations centralise and standardise procurement processes, improving visibility into tail spend and driving significant savings.

The platform's AI-powered capabilities assist in identifying cost-saving opportunities and optimising supplier selection.

7. JAGGAER 

Employees: 1,200
CEO: Andy Hovancik
Founded: 1995

JAGGAER's tail spend management solution focuses on bringing visibility and control to unmanaged spend.

It offers advanced analytics and AI-driven insights to help organisations identify patterns and opportunities within their tail spend.

JAGGAER's solution includes features such as guided buying, automated supplier onboarding and contract compliance monitoring, all designed to streamline the procurement process for low-value purchases.

6. Airbase

Employees: 450+
CEO: Thejo Kote
Founded: 2017

Airbase provides a comprehensive spend management platform that includes robust tail spend capabilities.

The solution combines purchasing, accounts payable automation and expense management in a single platform.

Airbase's approach to tail spend management focuses on automating approval workflows, providing real-time visibility into expenses and offering virtual cards for simplified purchasing. This integrated approach helps organisations gain better control over their entire spend spectrum.

5. Procurify 

Employees: 200
CEO: Aman Mann
Founded: 2011​

Procurify offers an AI-powered procurement platform that simplifies tail spend management. The solution automates the entire procure-to-pay process, providing full visibility and control over spend in one easy-to-use platform.

Procurify's features include streamlined purchasing workflows, automated approval routing and real-time budget tracking.

The platform's mobile app allows for on-the-go spend management, making it easier for organisations to control tail spend across their operations.

4. Amazon Business 

Employees: N/A
CEO: Andy Jassy
Founded: 2015

Amazon Business provides a comprehensive solution for tail spend management, leveraging the familiar Amazon shopping experience.

The platform offers business-specific features such as approval workflows, spending limits and detailed analytics. Organisations can consolidate tail spend to a single location, gaining full visibility into purchases and reducing lead times.

Amazon Business also provides access to competitive pricing, quantity discounts and a vast selection of products, making it an attractive option for managing indirect and tail spend3.

3. SAP 

Employees: 112,000
CEO: Christian Klein
Founded: 1996

SAP's Spot Buy capability, part of the SAP Ariba suite, offers a powerful solution for managing tail spend. The platform leverages SAP Ariba's extensive business network to provide access to millions of items from trusted suppliers.

With Spot Buy, businesses can achieve effective tail spend management while offering employees an on-demand catalogue of approximately 200 million items.

The goods and services that employees can choose from are provided by trusted, vetted suppliers on SAP Business Network and pre-enabled B2B marketplaces. So, employees can comply with purchasing policies while using an intuitive, consumer-like shopping experience to quickly search for items and place orders.

2. GEP 

Employees: 6,000
CEO: Subhash Makhija
Founded: 1999

GEP SMART is a comprehensive, AI-powered spend management platform that excels in tail spend management. The solution leverages advanced analytics and machine learning to provide deep insights into spending patterns, identify savings opportunities and optimise supplier selection.

GEP's platform offers end-to-end procurement capabilities, from spend analysis and sourcing to contract management and supplier relationship management. For tail spend specifically, GEP SMART automates low-value purchases, enforces compliance and provides real-time visibility into all transactions.

The platform's user-friendly interface and mobile capabilities ensure high adoption rates, crucial for effective tail spend management.

1. Coupa

Employees: 3,000+
CEO: Leagh Turner
Founded: 2006

Coupa leads the pack in tail spend management with its comprehensive, AI-driven spend management platform. The solution offers unparalleled visibility and control over all types of spend, including tail spend.

Coupa's Business Spend Management (BSM) platform unifies procurement, invoicing and expense management processes, providing a single source of truth for all spending activities.

For tail spend, Coupa offers features like guided buying, automated approval workflows and AI-powered spend analysis to identify savings opportunities and prevent maverick spending. The platform's Coupa Advantage marketplace provides access to pre-negotiated deals from trusted suppliers, helping organisations maximise savings on tail spend purchases.

With its continuous innovation and focus on user experience, Coupa empowers organisations to transform their approach to tail spend management.

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