The Hackett Group® Releases Spring 2026 SolutionMap Evaluating 118 Procurement Technology Providers

Key Terms

source-to-pay technical

Source-to-pay is the end-to-end process a company uses to find and vet suppliers, negotiate terms, buy goods or services, and complete payment. Investors care because a smooth source-to-pay system controls costs, reduces supplier and compliance risks, and speeds cash management—much like a household that shops smartly, secures good deals, and pays bills on time to keep its budget healthy.

ap automation technical

Accounts payable (AP) automation is the use of software and electronic workflows to replace manual steps in paying bills and processing supplier invoices. It matters to investors because automating these payments reduces mistakes and processing costs, speeds up approvals, and improves visibility into cash outflows—like swapping a paper mailroom for a digital conveyor belt—helping a company manage working capital, lower operational risk, and scale more efficiently.

contract lifecycle management technical

Contract lifecycle management is the organized process of creating, approving, storing and enforcing business contracts from start to finish, like a digital filing system and checklist that tracks each stage until a contract expires or is renewed. Investors care because efficient management reduces legal and operational risks, speeds revenue recognition and cost savings, and makes a company’s future cash flow and compliance more predictable — similar to keeping clear records that help avoid costly surprises.

procure-to-pay technical

A procure-to-pay process covers every step from deciding a needed purchase and placing the order to receiving the goods or services and completing the supplier payment. It matters to investors because an efficient process keeps costs predictable, speeds up or delays cash outflows, reduces risks like late deliveries or duplicate payments, and supports stronger supplier relationships—think of it like a company’s shopping and checkout system affecting its cash flow and reliability.

Comprehensive capability assessments across 16 source-to-pay categories enable organizations to make defensible technology decisions in an AI-driven market

MIAMI--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- The Hackett Group, Inc. (NASDAQ: HCKT), a leading Gen AI consultancy and enterprise digital transformation firm, today announced the Spring 2026 SolutionMap and TechMatch procurement technology assessments, spotlighting 118 procurement technology vendors.

Recognized as the industry’s most rigorous capability assessment of procurement technologies, SolutionMap evaluates vendors against 500+ detailed functional and capability requirements across 16 source-to-pay (S2P) categories, mandatory demos, and impartial, anonymized, verified customer value ratings. This methodology – developed over nearly a decade under the Spend Matters brand – is now integrated with The Hackett Group^® Solution Intelligence programs.

As artificial intelligence (AI) reshapes the technology landscape, procurement and finance leaders face rising stakes in selection decisions. While SolutionMap’s methodology delivers unmatched transparency and comparability, its impact goes beyond benchmarking – enabling faster shortlisting, clearer trade‑off analysis and validation of vendor claims vs. reality. This approach is increasingly critical as organizations evaluate whether to build, buy or optimize within their existing technology stacks.

“In today’s market, ‘build vs. buy’ decisions are increasingly driven by AI claims – and those claims are hard to validate. SolutionMap turns solution intelligence into decision-grade insurance by helping teams shortlist faster, de-risk selections and separate real capability from marketing narrative,” said Carina Kuhl, principal, Solution Intelligence, The Hackett Group^®. “That’s why SolutionMap is increasingly central to build/buy/hybrid decisions – not just feature comparisons.”

To view the full list of providers evaluated in this release, visit the SolutionMap webpage. This cycle introduces four new vendors to the following capability categories:

• AP Automation/Invoice-to-Pay: Serrala

• Contract Lifecycle Management: Pramata, Samsung SDS Caidentia

• Sourcing: Samsung SDS Caidentia

• Direct Sourcing: Samsung SDS Caidentia

• Spend Analytics: Samsung SDS Caidentia

• Supplier Management: Samsung SDS Caidentia

• Source-to-Contract: Samsung SDS Caidentia

• Risk Management (TPRM/SCRM): EiQ

Four existing vendors expanded into new capability categories:

• AP Automation/Invoice-to-Pay: Zip

• e-Procurement: Tipalti, Zip

• Procure-to-Pay: Tipalti, Zip

• Intake and Orchestration: Mercanis

• Direct Sourcing: ProcureForce

Launched in 2017 and updated biannually, SolutionMap has become the gold standard for procurement technology evaluation (see methodology), ensuring transparent, evidence-based comparisons. Thousands of procurement leaders, consultants and investors rely on SolutionMap and TechMatch for deeper data insights and sharper vendor intelligence to make defensible technology choices as AI changes what “best fit” really means.

Spend Matters started as one of the first and most influential voices in procurement and supply chain technology and has since grown into one of the leading sources for data-backed technology insights. Acquired by The Hackett Group^® in 2025, Spend Matters is now part of its Solution Intelligence practice, and the SolutionMap proprietary data platform fuels exclusive intellectual property that serves the global procurement, supply chain, and finance technology ecosystem.

For more information or to become a Solution Intelligence client, please contact us.

About The Hackett Group^®

The Hackett Group, Inc. (NASDAQ: HCKT) is a Gen AI strategic consulting and digital transformation firm that enables Digital World Class^® performance. Using Hackett AI XPLR™, ZBrain™, XT™, AIXelerator™, AskHackett™, and Quantum Leap^® platforms, the company’s experienced professionals and engineers help organizations realize the power of Gen AI from ideation through implementation to achieve quantifiable, breakthrough results with unprecedented speed, allowing it to be key architects of their Gen AI journey. The company’s expertise is grounded in unparalleled best practices insights from enterprise performance benchmarks from the world’s leading businesses – including 97% of the Dow Jones Industrials, 90% of the Fortune 100, 68% of the DAX 40 and 53% of the FTSE 100. Visit us at www.thehackettgroup.com/.

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Cautionary Statement Regarding “Forward-Looking” Statements

This release contains “forward-looking” statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933 as amended and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended. Statements including without limitation, words such as “expects,” “anticipates,” “intends,” “plans,” “believes,” “seeks,” “estimates,” or other similar phrases or variations of such words or similar expressions indicating, present or future anticipated or expected occurrences or outcomes are intended to identify such forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements are not statements of historical fact and involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause the Company’s actual results, performance or achievements to be materially different from the results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements. Factors that may impact such forward-looking statements include without limitation, the ability of The Hackett Group^® to effectively market its digital transformation, our ability to transition our capabilities to support generative artificial intelligence (AI)-related consulting services and solutions and other consulting services, our ability to effectively integrate acquisitions into our operations, our ability to manage joint ventures and successfully cooperate with our joint venture partners, competition from other consulting and technology companies that may have or develop in the future, similar offerings, the commercial viability of The Hackett Group^® and its services as well as other risk detailed in The Hackett Group’s reports filed with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission. The Hackett Group^® does not undertake any duty to update this release or any forward-looking statements contained herein.

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Source: The Hackett Group, Inc.