Chandresh Sharma, CEO, Techpanion, holds as a core belief. Currently, he is responsible for leading his digital automation venture, where he reserves the position of the Chief Executive Officer. He is a hands-on executive overseeing customer delivery & satisfaction besides planning the actions and supervising the firm’s day-to-day operations.
Without procurement automation, your company will be stuck depending on manual processes and siloed data while attempting to decrease waste ineffectively. After all, no cost-cutting option can compare to automation’s ability to reduce costs. And automating your procure-to-pay process is one of the simplest ways to reap those benefits.
Procure-to-Pay Process
The procure-to-pay process describes how your firm asks, acquires, and pays for the resources and services it needs to operate. It specifically addresses how your company approves purchases, selects vendors, does quality assurance, and pays invoices. Procure-to-pay software simplifies the process of tracking vendors, performing purchases, and managing cash flow.
Many processes and workflows in your procurement process can be automated with these tools. By automating these systems, you can save money and eliminate waste by eliminating human operations. You’ll also cut down on human mistake caused by manual data entering. If done right, you’ll be well on your way to turning your procurement process into a strategic advantage for your company.
How Procure-to-Pay Automation Helps
Many steps in the procurement-to-pay process can be automated, lowering costs and enhancing efficiency. Many of the processes are automated, so they can flow from stage to stage in your procurement system without human participation. Each procurement automation system is unique in its own way. You must ensure that the system you select meets your company’s requirements.
Nonetheless, the majority of procure to pay systems will automate processes like Request for Proposals (RFP) where employees can submit proposals to a management for approval directly. It will also help in the automation of approvals. Guidelines can be developed so that permission is granted if the request falls within the parameters. Exceptions can be flagged and approved manually.
Automating vendor management will allow the use of an online portal to communicate with vendors, rank them according to their preferences or services, and sort them fast by availability and other constraints. It will also help collect invoices, QA deliverables, and issue payment during reconciliation. In other words, if your procure-to-pay system has a workflow or process, there is almost certainly a function to automate it. If not, a low-code version can be simply created.
Benefits of Automating Procure-To-Pay Process
It’s a waste of time to automate just for the sake of automating. In fact, you must be cautious given all of the hype surrounding digitalization (which manages to ignore the obstacles of integration). Nonetheless, there are numerous advantages to automating your procure-to-pay process.
Improved Cost Savings
Procure-to-pay automation results in significant cost reductions. You save paper and ink by printing invoices at the simplest level. Invoice automation, at a high level, reduces labour expenses, duplicate payments, and late fees.
Faster Invoice Processing
With procure-to-pay solutions, invoices flow seamlessly across your platform because everything is digital. Purchase managers can verify purchases, goods, and services in a timely manner. They can also transfer payments and documents to accounting in a timely manner. Additionally, in some cases, your organization may be eligible for early payment discounts.
Enhanced Supplier Relations
Suppliers appreciate being paid more quickly. Procure-to-pay automation will improve your supplier relationships for a variety of reasons. Suppliers can use self-service vendor portals to maintain their important information up to date. It also serves as a centralized communication platform. Finally, it provides you with more information so that you may build stronger relationships with your suppliers over time.
Conclusion
Despite the fact that procure-to-pay software has extended into numerous industries, many businesses still rely on manual methods. Spreadsheets and paper papers expose your company to unneeded risk, while also prohibiting your procurement process from gaining strategic relevance.
Procure-to-pay automation can help you break free from these laborious systems. That means there will be no more manually filling out thousands of purchase orders. There will be no more back-and-forth to get purchase orders approved. Spend less on mavericks and tails. And no more putting together sloppy data from a variety of spreadsheets.
You’ll save time and money with procure-to-pay automation because you’ll eliminate buy delays, keep your suppliers pleased with on-time payments, and offer your team more time. Best of all, you’ll turn your procurement process into the flexible system it requires to maintain your company competitive in today’s fast-paced industry.