LUPR - SRM Product Review by Spend Matters (Part 1)
January 15, 2018
While not all procurement groups have adopted the “supplier” flavor of customer lifecycle management — that is, supplier relationship management (SRM) — an increasing number of organizations are taking the plunge and purchasing supplier management capabilities, either from standalone providers or as part of integrated suites — and sometimes both. The SRM sector is a crowded one, and Spend Matters has covered many of its newest entrants. From specialized initiative management providers to on-boarding and master data management (MDM) specialists and spend-specific vendors (e.g., manufacturing, services) there is no shortage of solutions to choose from, let alone individual technology providers.
One of these new entrants, LUPR, was co-founded by Sean Harley, a former colleague of one of the authors of this brief. (Harley and Jason Busch worked together at FreeMarkets). The name LUPR is a play on words, as one of the goals of the firm is to close the loop between buyers and suppliers with relevant data to help both parties sustain relationships, improve quality levels, resolve performance issues and collaborate on innovation. LUPR is not yet a full-featured supplier information management solution, but it does go deep in specific supplier management areas and excels in meeting a range of initiative-based requirements for manufacturers.
Vendor Snapshot (Part 2) — LUPR Product Strengths and Weaknesses
January 16, 2018
This vendor snapshot series is focused on LUPR, a new entrant in the supplier management technology arena. Pronounced “looper,” but not spelled looper, as that’s a media site dedicated to bite-sized entertainment news and pop culture, and procurement technology is usually not that scintillating, the name certainly caught our attention. And maybe yours.
Perhaps you’re chuckling about the various puns on the name LUPR (e.g., that supplier threw me for a …). But once you get past the name — which we believe positively calls out and reinforces the need for closed loop supplier and customer engagement — it becomes clear that LUPR is addressing a number of areas that most procurement organizations have not yet gotten around to automating through technology outside Excel, primarily centered on supplier quality and supplier development in a direct materials context.
Built on the Salesforce platform, LUPR has two different solutions: a buyer platform and a supplier platform, which is free for suppliers to use. This Spend Matters PRO Vendor Snapshot explores LUPR’s strengths and weaknesses, providing facts and expert analysis to help procurement organizations decide whether they should consider the provider. Part 1 of our analysis provided a company and detailed solution overview and a recommend fit list of criteria for firms considering LUPR. The third part of this series will offer a SWOT analysis, user selection guide, competitive alternatives, and additional evaluation and selection considerations.