Spend analysis

Spend analysis or spend analytics is the process of collecting, cleansing, classifying and analyzing expenditure data with the purpose of decreasing procurement costs, improving efficiency, and monitoring controls and compliance.

In addition to improving compliance and reducing cycle times, performing detailed spend analysis helps companies find new areas of savings that previously went untapped, and hold on to past areas of savings that they have already negotiated.

By leveraging all three, companies can generate answers to the crucial questions affecting their spending, including: Spend visibility helps chief procurement officers (CPOs), category managers (retail and wholesale) and senior financial officers to gain insight into what their company buys and from whom, and it helps them realize savings promised by past sourcing efforts.

It plays an important role in enabling procurement teams to plan and prioritise their work and is a useful tool for a new-in-post procurement leader aiming to make a positive impact on an organisations costs.

Dimensions of the cube usually reviewed include:[2][better source needed] Automated spend analysis software can be a valuable tool for chief procurement officers (CPOs) at large, global, diversified enterprises, and a useful tool for many others.