Our Key Takeaways for Procurement Leaders from the 2025 Gartner® Market Guide for Sourcing Applications

As procurement continues to evolve, technology plays a crucial role in shaping sourcing strategies.  According to the Gartner Market Guide for Sourcing Application, “sourcing technology plays a key role in enabling sourcing goals like reducing cost, mitigating risk, improving resilience and fostering innovation. Procurement technology leaders can use this research to gain insight into market dynamics and representative vendors before making investment decisions.”

Why Sourcing Technology Matters More Than Ever

The sourcing technology market is rapidly advancing, with increasing adoption of AI, automation, and generative AI (GenAI) to enhance efficiency and decision-making. According to Gartner, “organizations are revisiting their overarching sourcing strategy and relying more heavily on technology as strategic sourcing pressure rises due to ongoing economic volatility, inflation and supply uncertainty.”

Key Takeaways from the Gartner Guide

• 1 – The Rise of AI and Automation
  According to the Gartner guide, “sourcing applications help improve inefficiencies attached to traditional, labor-intensive sourcing activities. The automation sourcing applications provide allows for more time to conduct more intensive negotiations to secure improved cost, terms and policy compliance. The centralization of these activities also improves standardization and cycle time, and streamlines both internal and external communications.”
• 2 – Three Main Types of Sourcing Solutions
  According to Gartner, “There are three primary types of sourcing applications in the market:
  • Standard Sourcing: “Standard sourcing applications support requests for proposal, information, and quote (RFx), and digitize sourcing processes. These applications are used to solicit supplier responses and pricing information.”
  • Sourcing Optimisation: “An advanced sourcing optimizer supports decision making for large, complex spend categories. These solutions use complex algorithms and data analytics to analyze thousands of data points and optimize sourcing decisions with customizable charts.”2 –
  • Autonomous Sourcing: “An autonomous sourcing solution uses AI and machine learning to automate parts of the sourcing process and facilitate decision support for awarding spend to suppliers.”
• 3 – Strategic Selection of Vendors
  Gartner advises procurement teams to assess their organisation’s digital maturity and sourcing objectives before selecting a solution. Whether adopting a suite-based or point solution, procurement leaders should evaluate AI capabilities, automation potential, and integration with existing procurement systems.

Esker Sourcing (Market Dojo) is Recognised in the Gartner Guide

Esker (Market Dojo) has been recognised in the Gartner Market Guide as a  Representative Suite Solution Vendor in the Sourcing Applications Market. We believe, this recognition highlights its ability to support procurement teams with user-friendly, scalable, and efficient e-sourcing capabilities.

How Esker Sourcing (Market Dojo) Helps Procurement Teams:

• Simplifies RFx processes through digital automation.
• Enhances supplier negotiations with structured bidding and auctions.
• Supports cost savings and compliance with robust reporting and analytics.
• Seamlessly integrates with procurement ecosystems for better data visibility and control including Esker S2P suite.

What Procurement Professionals Should Do Next

With sourcing technology becoming increasingly sophisticated, procurement leaders should:  

• Assess their current sourcing processes and identify inefficiencies.
• Evaluate sourcing solutions based on business needs and spend categories. 
• Leverage AI and automation to enhance efficiency and supplier collaboration.
• Consider suite solutions like Esker Sourcing (Market Dojo) for seamless integration and strategic spend management.

Final Thoughts

In our opinion, the 2025 Gartner Market Guide provides a valuable roadmap for procurement teams navigating the complex landscape of sourcing technology. As AI and automation continue to redefine sourcing, organisations that embrace digital transformation will gain a competitive advantage in managing supplier relationships, optimising costs, and mitigating risks. We believe, Market Esker Sourcing (Market Dojo) stands out as a trusted partner, helping procurement teams simplify and streamline their sourcing activities in this evolving landscape.

With a 4.6/5(23 Ratings, as of February 2025) rating from customers on Gartner Peer Insights™, find out for yourself just how our accessible and powerful tools are solving procurements sourcing and supplier management challenges today whilst futureproofing for a high-performing tomorrow visit marketdojo.com/sourcing.

Gartner, Market Guide for Sourcing Applications, 30 January 2025. GARTNER is a registered trademark and service mark and Peer Insights is a trademark of Gartner, Inc. and/or its affiliates in the U.S. and internationally and is used herein with permission. All rights reserved. Gartner does not endorse any vendor, product or service depicted in its research publications, and does not advise technology users to select only those vendors with the highest ratings or other designation. Gartner research publications consist of the opinions of Gartner’s research organization and should not be construed as statements of fact. Gartner disclaims all warranties, expressed or implied, with respect to this research, including any warranties of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose. Gartner Peer Insights content consists of the opinions of individual end users based on their own experiences, and should not be construed as statements of fact, nor do they represent the views of Gartner or its affiliates.