TECH CHOICES

November 16, 2005

eSourcing Suites Scorecard Summary: Emptoris
Key Findings From “The Forrester Wave™: eSourcing Suites, Q4 2005”
by Andrew Bartels
with John Ragsdale, Tom Pohlmann, G. Oliver Young, and Katherine Brown

EXECUT I V E S U M MA RY
Measured purely on strength of functions, Emptoris is the top eSourcing suite vendor. With an edge over
its closest competitor, Ariba, in key functions like spend analysis, supplier assessment, and optimized
bid decisions, Emptoris got top scores in spend analysis, supplier discovery (tied with Ariba), supplier
assessment (tied with Frictionless), RFx/reverse auctions, sourcing decision, and sourcing activity
management (tied with Ariba). It ranks lower in features like integration (where its tools are in the
middle of the pack) and hosted options (where it only offers hosting of licensed software and does not
provide either fully-managed hosted sourcing or self-service shared-instance hosting). However, it gets
top marks for its globalization features.

EMPTORIS IS BEST FOR GLOBAL 2000 FIRMS THAT ARE WORLD-CLASS SOURCERS
Emptoris was one of the first vendors to recognize the value of providing a broad sourcing suite that
includes spend analysis, supplier discovery and assessment, and contract management, along with
the standard eSourcing tools of RFx and reverse auction support. Through internal development and
acquisition of specialist vendors like Zeborg and Intigma in spend analysis, and Valuedge in supplier
assessment, it has created the strongest eSourcing suite in terms of functions. This strong product
offering in turn has attracted a client base of over 100 Global 2000 firms that are very satisfied with
Emptoris’ hand in helping them become world-class sources of goods and services.

Forrester evaluated Emptoris’ current offering and strategy for eSourcing suites against 127 criteria
(see Figure 1). Overall, the product has the most sophisticated spend analysis, supplier assessment, and
sophisticated bid optimization functions, as well as strong supplier discovery, RFx/reverse auctions,
and sourcing activity management functions. Its globalization features are also strong. However, its
integration and hosting options are weaker than Ariba’s. This means that the product is an especially
good fit for buyers that are:

· Global 2000 companies that are already expert in eSourcing. Approximately 100 of the Global
2000 companies and equivalent public-sector enterprises are truly expert in eSourcing, while others
are becoming so every month. For these world-class sourcing companies, Emptoris offers the best
tools on the market to help them identify sourcing opportunities, identify qualified suppliers, and
choose the right mix of suppliers.

To see how Emptoris stacks up against 11 other competitors, see the Forrester Wave™ evaluation of the
eSourcing market.1

Headquarters
Forrester Research, Inc., 400 Technology Square, Cambridge, MA 02139 USA
Tel: +1 617/613-6000 • Fax: +1 617/613-5000 • www.forrester.com
Tech Choices | eSourcing Suites Scorecard Summary: Emptoris 2

Figure 1 Emptoris Evaluation Overview

CURRENT OFFERING
Spend analysis Emptoris' spend analysis capabilities are very good and best in
class in spend data cleansing, normalizing, and classifying, and in
spend analysis reporting.

Supplier discovery The product is generally strong in all aspects of supplier discovery,
with its only weakness being in support for UDDI-based supplier
searches.

Supplier assessment The product is very good in almost all aspects of supplier
assessment, with only the absence of alerts on underperforming
suppliers keeping it from top scores across the board.

RFx/reverse auctions The product is very good in all aspects of reverse auction and RFx
support.

Sourcing decision The product is very strong in all but one aspect of optimized
sourcing decisions; it is average in automated evaluation of
multiple RFx's.

Sourcing activity management The product is very good in terms of sourcing activity
management, with a very good sourcing initiative dashboard and
very good sourcing project management functionality.

Integration The product is good in its integration capabilities, with very good
scores for inclusion of integration tools, as well as good scores for
contract management application integration and for integration
with third-party tools, but with average scores for prebuilt
integration with related applications.

Hosted options Emptoris offers only single-instance hosting, which most clients are
using. This offering is very good.

Globalization The product is very good against all criteria for globalization and
localization.

STRATEGY
Product strategy Emptoris' product strategy is competitive, with a very strong future
enhancement plan but a pricing model that leaves it vulnerable to
competitors and average technology partnerships.

Corporate strategy Emptoris' corporate strategy is a very competitive one, with a

sizeable workforce dedicated exclusively to this product and with a
focus on Global 2000 companies in specific verticals that can take
advantage of its high-end product.

Financial resources to pursue strategy While private, Emptoris is growing, profitable, and has a solid
balance sheet.

Source: Forrester Research, Inc.

November 16, 2005 © 2005, Forrester Research, Inc. Reproduction Prohibited

Tech Choices | eSourcing Suites Scorecard Summary: Emptoris 3

Figure 1 Emptoris Evaluation Overview (Cont.)

MARKET PRESENCE
Installed base Emptoris has a substantial and growing installed base of over 100
clients for its sourcing products, with 22 net new customers added
in the past year.

Employees Emptoris is a mid size company, with over 200 employees,

including 112 engineers and 33 sales people. It has five or more
systems integrator partners.

Revenue As a private company, Emptoris does not disclose revenue figures.

Forrester estimates that it had $50 million in revenues in 2004 and
will have over $70 million in 2005.

Revenue growth Emptoris' revenues for year-to-date 2005 are 138% higher than in
the same period in 2004.

Source: Forrester Research, Inc.

Go online to download additional in-depth data and scores for this vendor and other vendors
included in this Forrester Wave evaluation.

SUPPLEMENTAL MATERIAL
Online Resource
The underlying spreadsheet for Figure 1 is available online. The spreadsheet includes more detailed
data and scores for this vendor.
The detailed data and scores for this vendor are also available online through an Excel-based vendor
comparison tool that provides detailed product evaluations and customizable rankings.
Forrester Wave Methodology
We conduct primary research to develop a list of vendors that meet our criteria to be evaluated in
this market. From that initial pool of vendors, we narrow our final list to those presented here. We
choose these vendors based on: 1) product fit; 2) customer success; and 3) Forrester client demand.
We eliminate vendors that have limited customer references and products that don’t fit the scope of
our evaluation.
After examining past research, user need assessments, and vendor and expert interviews, we develop
the initial evaluation criteria. To evaluate the vendors and their products against our set of criteria,
we gather details of product qualifications through a combination of lab evaluations, questionnaires,
demos, and/or discussions with client references. We send evaluations to the vendors for their

November 16, 2005 © 2005, Forrester Research, Inc. Reproduction Prohibited

Tech Choices | eSourcing Suites Scorecard Summary: Emptoris 4

review, and we adjust the evaluations to provide the most accurate view of vendor offerings and
strategies.
We set default weightings to reflect our analysis of the needs of large user companies — and/or other
scenarios as outlined in this document — and then score the vendors based on a clearly defined
scale. These default weightings are intended only as a starting point, and readers are encouraged
to adapt the weighting to fit their individual needs through the Excel-based tool. The final scores
generate the graphical depiction of the market based on current offering, strategy, and market
presence. Forrester intends to update vendor evaluations regularly as product capabilities and
vendor strategies evolve.

ENDNOTES
1
eSourcing and spend analysis solutions help companies identify and negotiate savings on the goods and
services that they buy from suppliers. While demand for fully managed sourcing services pioneered by
FreeMarkets has been shrinking, demand is strong for both hosted self-service sourcing and licensed
software. As a result, the market is still crowded, with two to three dozen different offerings available if
vertical and geographic eMarkets are included. To cut through the clutter, Forrester evaluated top eSourcing
solution vendors across 127 criteria. The result: Emptoris and Ariba are the clear leaders in current offering,
with broader SRM suite vendors like Oracle and SAP starting to close in on the second-tier vendors like
Frictionless Commerce, Perfect Commerce, Procuri, SynerTrade, and Verticalnet. While lower-cost vendors
like Global eProcure and Iasta lack the functionality of the top vendors, their low cost gives them an edge at
the bottom. Included in this report is an interactive vendor comparison tool that provides detailed product
evaluations and customizable rankings. See the November 16, 2005, Tech Choices “The Forrester Wave™:
eSourcing Suites, Q4 2005.”

Forrester Research (Nasdaq: FORR) is an independent technology and market research company that provides pragmatic and forward-thinking advice about
technology’s impact on business and consumers. For 22 years, Forrester has been a thought leader and trusted advisor, helping global clients lead in their markets
through its research, consulting, events, and peer-to-peer executive programs. For more information, visit www.forrester.com.
© 2005, Forrester Research, Inc. All rights reserved. Forrester, Forrester Oval Program, Forrester Wave, Forrester’s Ultimate Consumer Panel, WholeView 2,
Technographics, TechRankings, and Total Economic Impact are trademarks of Forrester Research, Inc. All other trademarks are the property of their respective
companies. Forrester clients may make one attributed copy or slide of each figure contained herein. Additional reproduction is strictly prohibited. For additional
reproduction rights and usage information, go to www.forrester.com. Information is based on best available resources. Opinions reflect judgment at the time
and are subject to change. To purchase reprints of this document, please email resourcecenter@forrester.com. 37942