Imagine running a marketplace where 90% of the transactions happen off the books
Most vertical SaaS platforms are marketplaces. They just don't know it yet.
In the world of vertical SaaS, many companies don’t realize they’re already operating as marketplaces—or at least, as critical nodes in a broader procurement workflow. Whether you’re managing vendor relationships, customer orders, or supply chains, your software isn’t just a tool; it’s a hub where value is exchanged, decisions are made, and critical communication happens. And yet, despite this central role, most of the communication and transaction activity happens outside the platform, in an unstructured and chaotic manner.
The Hidden Marketplace in Your Workflow
Every vertical SaaS platform that facilitates communication between vendors and customers is inherently involved in procurement to some degree. Whether you’re coordinating orders, managing supplier relationships, or processing invoices, your platform is more than just software—it’s a marketplace where supply meets demand. The problem? Most of this activity happens off-platform.
Think about the emails, phone calls, PDFs, and spreadsheets that fly around daily between your users and their vendors. All these interactions are critical to the procurement process, yet they’re happening in a fragmented, unstructured way, outside the very software that’s supposed to manage them.
The Reality of Off-Platform Chaos
In most cases, procurement software doesn’t fully capture the scope of its users’ workflows. It’s easy to focus on what’s happening inside the platform—the data points you can see and control—but the reality is that the most crucial interactions often occur outside of it. This disconnect leads to inefficiencies, data silos, and the need for manual workarounds.
Imagine running a marketplace where 90% of the transactions happen off the books. That’s the current state of procurement software in many industries. The solution isn’t just about bringing these interactions onto the platform; it’s about transforming how your software understands and processes these unstructured communications.
Embrace the Marketplace Mentality
If your software is involved in the procurement workflow, it’s time to start thinking like a marketplace. This means recognizing that your users are constantly interacting with suppliers, vendors, and partners in ways that extend beyond your platform. By embracing this reality and building tools that accommodate it, you can create a more integrated, efficient, and valuable experience for your users.
The future of procurement software isn’t just about managing transactions; it’s about facilitating the entire communication and decision-making process, no matter where it happens. With the bem Router, we’re giving you the ability to do just that.
We’re excited to see how you’ll use this new tool to transform your platform and better serve your users. As always, your feedback will be instrumental as we continue to evolve and push the boundaries of what’s possible in data management.
Let’s build software that makes sense—software that sees the bigger picture.