Find the best Vendor Management Systems

Overview
ON THIS PAGE

Compare Products

Showing 1 - 20 of 259 products

Precoro

Precoro is a cloud-based purchasing software that streamlines procurement processes for SMBs and Enterprises. Key features include purchase order creation and delivery, blanket PO, visual analytics on spends by departments, billin...Read more about Precoro

4.8 (211 reviews)

10 recommendations

Tradogram

Tradogram is a cloud-based procurement management solution. Users can choose from a list of integrated modules such as supplier management, purchase-to-pay, contract management, strategic sourcing and order management. Team manag...Read more about Tradogram

4.5 (67 reviews)

7 recommendations

Order.co

Order.co is the first and only Spend Efficiency Platform that helps businesses save time, save money, and gain clarity into their spend. Order.co eliminates manual purchasing and payment tasks and gives your team one place to purc...Read more about Order.co

4.3 (102 reviews)

6 recommendations

Gatekeeper

Gatekeeper is a cloud-based vendor and contact management solution. Key features include automated alerts, customization and collaboration tools and integrations with other software. Users can manage contracts and vendor in...Read more about Gatekeeper

4.7 (67 reviews)

6 recommendations

Talk with us for a free15-minute consultation
Software Advice is free because vendors pay us when they receive sales opportunities.
This allows us to provide comprehensive software lists and an advisor service at no cost to you.

Form Illustration Options

Meet Eric, a software expert who has helped 1,534 companies select the right product for their needs.

Tell us more about your business and an advisor will reach out with a list of software recommendations customized for your specific needs.


STEP 1 OF 4

How many employees are in your company?

NetSuite

With an integrated system that includes ERP, financials, commerce, inventory management, HR, PSA, supply chain management, CRM and more – NetSuite enables fast-growing businesses across all industries to work more effectively by a...Read more about NetSuite

4.1 (1454 reviews)

5 recommendations

Teampay

Teampay empowers employees to make necessary purchases quickly without sacrificing control and visibility for the finance team. With Teampay’s spend management platform, finance teams can set spend policies, automate purchase requ...Read more about Teampay

4.3 (47 reviews)

5 recommendations

Team Procure

Team Procure is a cloud-based procurement platform that streamlines the management of all your purchasing processes and inventory through a unified application. We cater to both SMB and Enterprise customers across a broad spectrum...Read more about Team Procure

4.7 (3 reviews)

5 recommendations

Procurify

Procurify’s easy-to-use Intelligent Spend Management platform provides hundreds of organizations worldwide with real-time visibility and control over all business spend. By bringing more spend under management, our customers captu...Read more about Procurify

4.5 (145 reviews)

4 recommendations

Oracle Fusion Cloud SCM

Oracle Supply Chain Management (SCM) With Oracle Supply Chain Management (SCM) & Manufacturing, organizations can respond quickly to changing demand, supply, and market conditions. Seamlessly connect your supply chain to create a...Read more about Oracle Fusion Cloud SCM

3.9 (9 reviews)

4 recommendations

Coupa

Point solutions are pointless: spend smarter with the leading spend management platform built for companies like you. The Coupa platform allows you to take control of your spend and position your business for resilience and growth...Read more about Coupa

4.1 (88 reviews)

2 recommendations

Contract Logix

Contract Logix is a data-driven contract lifecycle management software platform that provides the ability to automate and digitize the drafting, negotiation, approval, execution, and management of contracts and related documents. ...Read more about Contract Logix

4.2 (19 reviews)

2 recommendations

Planergy

Planergy (previously PurchaseControl) is a cloud-based solution that helps businesses streamline the entire procurement lifecycle, from managing purchasing to receiving. It enables users to generate order requests via forms with p...Read more about Planergy

4.6 (10 reviews)

1 recommendations

ProcurementExpress.com

We bring your entire purchasing process together in a single cloud based app that magically automates away your most boring, time-consuming purchasing tasks. Easy to use Purchase Approval System for Small Business CFOs. Procure...Read more about ProcurementExpress.com

Quickbase

Quickbase is a no-code collaborative work management platform that empowers citizen developers to improve operations through real-time insights and automations across complex processes and disparate systems. Here's why Quickbase i...Read more about Quickbase

AuditBoard

AuditBoard is the leading cloud-based platform transforming audit, risk, and compliance management. More than 40% of the Fortune 500 leverage AuditBoard to move their businesses forward with greater clarity and agility. AuditBoa...Read more about AuditBoard

IT Glue

IT Glue is a cloud-based IT documentation solution that caters to small businesses across various industries. Features include checklists, relationship mapping, runbooks, document automation, asset tracking and more. IT Glue's r...Read more about IT Glue

SecureLink

SecureLink is the industry leader in critical access management, empowering organizations to secure access to their most valuable assets, including networks, systems, and data. By leveraging Zero Trust principles, machine learning...Read more about SecureLink

Vendasta

Vendasta is an end-to-end platform for local experts. Channel partners can utilize Vendasta to market, sell, bill, and fulfill digital solutions for small and medium business clients. They can also offer clients white-label operat...Read more about Vendasta

Zoho Creator

Zoho Creator is an all-in-one low-code application development software platform that is designed to help businesses digitize their business operations without the hassle of traditional development. The solution enables profession...Read more about Zoho Creator

Bizagi

Bizagi offers a business process management (BPM) suite for enterprises. Key features include automation, modeling and execution of business operations. It has been recognized as a Challenger in Gartner’s Magic Quadrant report for...Read more about Bizagi

Buyers Guide

Last Updated: March 16, 2023

Before we can get into specifics about vendor management software (VMS) and the role it plays along the supply chain, we first need to understand some of the terminology commonly used to describe and talk about this type of software.

For starters, the word "vendor" can mean a lot of different things depending on the market. Broadly speaking, a vendor is any person or entity that sells goods or services. A supply chain vendor refers to a very specific instance. Supply chain vendors are not your employees—they are contracted, third-party organizations that manufacture and/or sell stock to you.

Another phrase you're going to see a lot when researching vendor management software is third-party risk management. This language has come about fairly recently as a result of federal regulations and guidance regarding the liability a company assumes when contracting a third-party vendor. This is becoming more important as issues of cybersecurity and stolen data are increasingly present in the public mind.

Vendor management plays a significant role in a well-run supply chain, and there's a great deal to consider when exploring this type of software.

In this buyer's guide, we'll explain the fundamentals of vendor management software along with what you need to know as a small business when making your software selection.

Here's what we'll cover:

What Is Vendor Management Software?

Common Functionality of Vendor Management Software

How Are Vendor Management Systems Priced?

Key Considerations When Shopping for Vendor Management Software

What Is Vendor Management Software?

One way to think of vendor management software is as a much more robust version of supplier relationship management (SRM) tools. All the things SRM software can do—performance and risk assessment, sourcing, compliance etc.—VMS can also do. But it also provides additional important features. We'll get into specific features later, but for now, let's talk about the four biggest roles vendor management systems perform.

It's a channel of communication between managers and vendors. Having one centralized location where every party involved in a transaction can discuss expectations, setbacks and the task at hand is vital to getting a job done correctly. VMS provides that central platform.

It's a one-stop shop for task management. Basically, it's project management for vendors. It can handle assigning, tracking, coordinating and collaborating.

It's a way to pay the bills. Because third-party operators are not technically employed by the companies they're creating products for or selling products to, it can be difficult to keep track of contracts, payments, hours and other expenses. VMS automates a lot of that work.

It mitigates risk. VMS plays a crucial role in assessing any risks your company may be taking on by working with certain vendors. Most vendor management and risk solutions do this by requiring any vendors you're considering working with to complete detailed questionnaires that identify any potential issues with the vendor's services. For instance, vendors might have to explain what data they'll require access to and how exactly they'll protect that data from exposure.

Common Functionality of Vendor Management Software

Vendor management tools differ depending on your business, and a lot of the systems available can be customized and tailored to do exactly what you need them to. Above all, the goal of VMS is to simplify and streamline every aspect of working with outside vendors. To achieve this, most systems will offer the following capabilities:

Sourcing and selecting vendors

Identify potential vendors, assess risks, obtain quotes and ultimately determine which one you want to work with.

Engaging and communicating with vendors

Initiate contract negotiations, come to terms and promote an engaged client-vendor relationship.

Onboarding vendors and ensuring compliance

Get new vendors up to speed on your business's practices and policies while also checking every box for federal and state regulations that require compliance.

Paying vendors

Track billable hours, payments made and owed and any other billing information necessary for accurately completing vendor transactions.

Evaluating vendors

Document how well or how poorly vendors performed once the transaction or task is done so that you can 1) address any failure to meet expectations and 2) identify both subpar and exemplary vendors.

Other features of VMS include options such as budgeting, invoice/receipt creation and vendor portals.

Supplier-home-page-in-Ivalua's-vendor-management-software-platform

Supplier home page in Ivalua's Supplier Management product

How Are Vendor Management Systems Priced?

Pricing and packaging models for VMS vary quite a bit. By and large, your best option will be to go directly to the source and obtain a price quote, as that's the only way many of these software providers offer to explore their costs.

Still, there are a few out there who make that information available on their websites. For the most part, these systems are cloud-based or SaaS platforms that require subscription payments either monthly or yearly. Costs can range from nothing at all for basic packages to as much as $2,000 per month per user.

Key Considerations When Shopping for Vendor Management Software

You may wonder whether VMS justifies the cost. That depends on your size and current vendor relationships. If you haven't had any problems connecting your small business with reliable, trustworthy suppliers and working with them through things such as payments and communication, you may not need this software right now. That said, if your business is likely to scale, you'll need a system that can manage added complexity.

Supply chain businesses of all sizes can benefit from the features that VMS provides. These systems can improve the following business processes in particular:

  • Purchase orders, requisitions or procurement

  • Third-party billing and invoicing

  • Security and risk assessment

Here are some key questions you should consider when choosing a software vendor:

How difficult will it be to deploy, integrate and use this software?

Will it require the purchase of extra equipment? Will it integrate with existing software you're already using, such as warehouse management and accounting systems? What kind of training will be needed to help you and your employees master this software?

How will this product impact my existing vendors?

Are they capable or willing to use this product? Will this improve communication between them and you? Will this disrupt their way of doing things?

You don't have to have all the answers right now, but it can be useful to ask yourself these critical questions when evaluating different vendor management systems. And if you're still having trouble, you can always reach out to our expert advisors at (844) 687-6771 for a quick and easy consultation to identify products that meet your requirements.