Trust & Transparency: Judging the 2025/26 ProcureTech100

It has been a (hectic) month since we announced our acquisition of the ProcureTech100 program, with the goal of creating the definitive peer-driven resource for procuretech intelligence.

We’ve been talking to procuretech companies, procurement executives, and other industry participants to share our goals and gather feedback on how we can continue to grow the program.

One of the questions that we have been asked the most is how exactly the ProcureTech100 list is determined. We are committed to making the process as transparent as possible. 

Here is the key process for identifying and ranking the companies that make the final ProcureTech100. 

1. Identification of ProcureTech providers
2. Shortlisting based on quantitative and narrative-based information
3. Judging panels & final selection

Identification of ProcureTech Providers

We will start by scouring the technology landscape for companies that provide software targeted at procurement. These can be technologies dedicated to procurement or those that include procurement as part of a broader set of offerings. They may span capabilities, countries, different customer sizes, and industries.

To do this, we will utilize our database of over 750 technology companies that touch the procurement process, we will buy data from third party sources (to identify additional companies and to enrich the data we already have about these companies), and we will invite companies to submit their information directly to us via an RFI. This will provide us with answers to a combination of narrative-based and data-based questions along with a short demo. Note: submission of an RFI is not a requirement - it just gives us more information to support our judges.

With this information gathered, we will proceed to the initial shortlisting process.

Shortlisting Providers

The next step is to shortlist the 750+ providers down to a shortlist of around 200 companies.

To shortlist, we will combine thousands of data points from our proprietary databases, sources, and company submissions. We’ll be looking at customer and employee reviews, sales and headcount growth, market momentum, patents, lawsuits, product categorization, and other elements to inform the shortlist we present to our judging panels.

Judging Panels & Final Selection

We will convene judging panels for each of the ten product categories that make up the ProcureTech100. In 2024, these categories were: 

• Analytics, Data & Intelligence
• Sourcing & Cost Management 
• Contract & Legal 
• Supplier Management 
• Risk Management 
• Finance 
• Source-to-Pay 
• B2B Marketplaces 
• Sustainable Procurement 
• Strategy, Process & Performance 

With over 80 judges to call on (you can find the 2024 judges here), our judging panels will be composed of procurement executives with significant experience - not just with procurement technology solutions, but, more importantly, with the impact of technology solutions on their operating models and the outcomes their teams are able to deliver.

Our judges will represent companies of all sizes to ensure representation across the spectrum of use cases and investment levels. Many of them have been part of the ProcureTech100 in the past. They are predominantly CPOs, Heads of Procurement, Heads of Procurement Transformation, and Heads of Procurement Digitization. They will be assigned to category panels based on their specific areas of interest and expertise.

The judging panels are where the magic happens! The Art of Procurement team will facilitate each one, driving conversations about the shortlisted providers, gathering personal experiences, and perspectives on each provider’s growth plans against the specific pain points they exist to address.

Each panel will make recommendations for final consideration. Our team will then work with the judges - should over 100 companies make the final recommendation - to curate the final list.  This will balance the final 100 across the 10 product categories.  There is no minimum or maximum number of providers in each category.

Managing Perceived Conflicts of Interest

The most important aspect of the ProcureTech100 is that this program is the voice of procurement executives and bears no bias, favoritism, or pay-to-play.

Here are two of the guardrails in place:

Firstly, should any judges have any interest in any of the solutions under consideration, they will be excluded from the panel that judges that particular category. For example, they may work for a company as a practitioner that also has its own procuretech solution or they may be on a solution provider advisory board.

Secondly, the Art of Procurement team will not be involved in judging in any way. Our role is to facilitate, curate, and report the decisions of our independent judges. It is no secret that a part of our business model is to work with sponsors across our portfolio of events, webinars, podcasts, and whitepapers. While we have maintained a strict policy of never recommending specific providers for over 10 years (we are here to inspire, educate, and inform - not tell you who to use), it is equally important that we play no role in judging for the sake of maintaining trust in the ProcureTech100 program. 

The 2025/26 Program, which will be published in November, will be our first. We’re looking forward to facilitating this process and learning lessons along the way that will help craft even stronger programs in the future.

If you are interested in the 2025/26 ProcureTech100, here is how to get involved:

If you are a procurement technology company and would like to submit information for consideration, email us at contact@artofprocurement.com for a link to our submission RFI.  Submissions are due by September 5th, 2025, but are not a prerequisite for consideration.

If you are a procurement executive (CPO, Head of, or leading Digital transformation) and would like to express an interest in filling one of our remaining judging spots, click here.

For all other questions, email us at contact@artofprocurement.com.