Buyers Gain Insight Into Peers’ Spending Habits

For public sector B2B buyers, it can often be difficult to know whether the price they pay for goods and services is a fair one – or, at least, is comparable to prices paid by their market counterparts.

Now, only days after the company announced a new partnership with fellow payment service provider Transcepta, SciQuest is launching a new project that will look to offer B2B buyers a new level of insight into how their buying habits compare with those of their public sector peers.

Its new product, SciQuest Benchmarking, aggregates data flowing in from thousands of sources revealing purchasing information. The service includes data related to what other companies paid for services as well as who paid for which products, allowing buyers to connect with fellow procurers if they have any questions regarding what they are buying.

Buyers can compare prices paid between other buyers for the same services and products, and will benefit from visibility into new or unknown suppliers, the company said.

The new cloud-based solution will roll out in partnership with SmartProcure, a software service provider that collects government procurement data, say reports.

“With the launch of SciQuest Benchmarking, we are offering deep insight that is integrated into our Spend Management Suite,” said SciQuest VP Product Management Eric Zoetmulder. “We take pride in our customer-driven product roadmap, and this product fills a real need for our e-procurement customers.”

The executive added that more than 7,000 public purchasing agencies’ spending information will be collected on the platform, which is already available to existing SciQuest business customers.

According to SmartProcure CEO Jeff Rubenstein, the partnership is a way for the software firm to strengthen its position among B2B buyers and will fill a demand the company has noticed. “We’ve had many requests from customers to purely benchmark pricing and suppliers,” he said, “and this solution we’ve created in conjunction with SciQuest will help deliver real value to customers across the globe.”

SciQuest announced earlier this month that it would team up with Transcepta to offer automated e-invoicing services to an extended client base.