Why UX matters when choosing a procurement software

A CFO approves a new procurement platform expecting a simple outcome: better control over company spending and earlier visibility into what the business is committing to buy.

A procurement software is designed to make that possible. In theory, it creates a structured workflow across the purchasing lifecycle — purchase requests, approvals, and invoices — giving finance teams clear visibility and governance over company spend.

Yet many implementations fail to deliver those benefits.

The reason is often simpler than expected: employees don’t consistently use the tool or follow the procurement processes defined by the company.

When the procurement software UX is slow, confusing, or difficult to navigate, people naturally look for faster alternatives. Requests happen in email, approvals in chat messages, and purchases directly with vendors. Over time, the structured workflow breaks down and maverick spend and shadow procurement begin to appear.

In a recent Payhawk interview about how procurement processes break down as companies scale, Raphael Bautz (PMM for Procurement) spoke with Kiril Kavardzhikov (Procurement Manager) about the real challenges teams face as organisations grow. In that conversation, Kiril noted:

“Companies are usually using what they have at the moment — emails, Slack messages, and different collaboration tools. The process becomes very scattered and it’s difficult to follow from start to finish.”

For finance leaders, this leads to an important realisation.

The success of a procurement software is not determined only by features or integrations. It depends on whether employees actually follow the workflow.

This is why leading finance teams increasingly focus on orchestrating procurement processes rather than simply integrating more tools. When requests, approvals, purchasing, and invoices are orchestrated into a workflow that employees naturally follow, finance gains the visibility and control the procurement software was meant to provide.

In other words, the path to stronger financial governance is not stricter policy — it is a procurement systems that people actually use.

Why UX matters when choosing a procurement software?

Many organisations still evaluate procurement tools based on features, integrations, or compliance capabilities. Yet a procurement software user experience often determines whether those capabilities are actually used.

Procurement systems are not tools for a single department. They are used across the organisation by employees requesting purchases, managers approving them, and finance teams monitoring budgets and invoices.

If procurement system usability is poor, employees avoid the system.

Once that happens, purchasing activity moves outside the workflow. Governance weakens, visibility declines, and finance teams lose control over committed spend.

This is why a procurement software UX should be treated as a business decision rather than a design preference.

Why UX matters even more for mid-market companies

UX becomes even more critical in mid-market organisations.

These companies often operate with smaller teams and broader responsibilities within finance. Procurement is frequently managed by finance rather than a dedicated procurement function.

They also tend to share several realities:

• Many employees only use procurement systems occasionally
• Training resources are limited across departments
• Procurement processes are often managed by finance
• Operational complexity increases as the company grows

In this environment, an easy to use procurement software is essential.

Employees who submit requests only occasionally will not learn complex workflows or procurement terminology. If the system feels difficult, they will simply bypass it.

Even feature-rich tools struggle when the experience creates friction.

Consider a common situation. An employee urgently needs a new software subscription. If submitting a request takes 15 minutes and the approval path is unclear, the employee will likely purchase it directly from the vendor.

As Kiril explaines:

“People tend to get very creative to avoid a process instead of following it if it’s not clearly defined and easy to use.”

The most common UX friction points that kill adoption

Most procurement software adoption challenges do not come from resistance to policy.

They come from usability friction that makes the approved workflow feel harder than the workaround.

Small UX problems accumulate over time. Eventually, employees learn that bypassing the system is simply faster.

The system is too complex or has too many steps to submit a request

Many procurement tools require employees to understand complicated workflows before they can submit a request.

Long forms, multiple screens, repeated fields, and unclear instructions slow the process down.

A helpful concept here is time-to-request — the time it takes a new user to submit a purchase request successfully.

If the process takes too long, employees abandon it.

Jargon-heavy workflows designed for procurement experts

Another common issue is procurement-specific terminology.

Employees may be asked to select categories, supplier types, or PO structures that make sense to procurement professionals but not to everyday users.

Questions such as “Is this a service, supplier, or PO type?” create confusion rather than clarity.

A better approach is guided forms with smart defaults that allow users to submit requests without understanding procurement terminology.

No transparency into approvals and status

Employees often cannot see where their request is in the approval process.

They may not know who needs to approve it next or why it is delayed.

Without transparency, users start chasing approvals through email or chat.

Over time, they lose trust in the system as the fastest way to get something approved.

Exceptions are painful

Real procurement processes include many exceptions.

Employees may need to request new suppliers, purchase unique items, or handle urgent requests.

If the system makes these situations difficult, users often buy first and explain later.

Good UX allows employees to submit exceptions clearly, explain the situation, and provide the necessary documentation without breaking the workflow.

Approvals are not fast or mobile-friendly

Approval delays are another major cause of low procurement software adoption.

Managers may be traveling, working remotely, or away from their desks.

If approving a request requires navigating a complicated system, approvals stall.

Modern procurement workflow automation should support fast approvals with clear notifications and mobile actions.

Training burden is too high

Mid-market companies rarely have the capacity to train every employee extensively on procurement tools.

That is why a user-friendly procurement software matters.

The system should be intuitive enough that occasional users can submit requests without training.

Employees do not see the value of the system

Many procurement platforms are designed primarily for procurement teams.

Business users often struggle to understand why they must follow the process.

If the system does not make their work easier — for example by providing transparency or faster approvals — compliance feels like unnecessary friction.

Legacy procurement tools were not designed for usability

Many older procurement platforms were built primarily for governance rather than usability.

As a result, employees carry much of the system’s complexity.

Kiril illustrates this clearly:

“For many employees, procurement feels complicated and unfamiliar. They worry they need to understand suppliers, pricing, or categories — which isn’t their expertise.”

He added:

“It should be very easy for employees to submit a request with just a few clicks. They shouldn’t need training or procurement expertise to get what they need.”

How poor adoption leads to maverick spend

When the procurement software adoption is low, employees find easier ways to purchase what they need.

This leads to maverick spend — purchases made outside approved procurement workflows.

Maverick spend typically results in:

• Lost spend visibility
• Compliance risk
• Policy violations

Another common outcome is shadow procurement, where teams create their own purchasing processes using spreadsheets, Slack approvals, or informal vendor lists.

Kiril explaines:

“As the company grows, teams become more autonomous and start purchasing things on their own. Nobody has the full picture anymore.”

The operational cost of poor procurement adoption

Low adoption does not simply mean employees dislike the tool.

It creates a fragmented purchasing environment that undermines the purpose of an end to end procurement software.

Instead of one structured workflow, procurement activity spreads across multiple channels such as email, corporate cards, supplier portals, and spreadsheets.

This fragmentation weakens the procure to pay software process and makes financial control reactive rather than proactive.

The operational impact is significant:

• Off-system purchases occur when employees buy directly from suppliers because the compliant process feels slower
• Shadow procurement emerges when teams manage purchasing through their own tools and spreadsheets
• Manual reconciliation increases as finance and AP teams chase missing approvals, coding, or purchase context
• Financial visibility becomes incomplete because committed spend is only visible once invoices arrive

Low adoption can also lead to duplicate purchases when different teams buy the same tools independently. Without central visibility, companies lose negotiating power and pay more than necessary.

Discrepancies between orders and invoices also become harder to detect, which is why structured processes such as three-way matching exist in modern procurement systems.

Why UX is the key to a procurement software adoption?

The logic is straightforward.

Procurement software fails when adoption fails.

And adoption fails when a procurement software UX creates friction.

This means UX should be treated as a procurement software selection criteria, not simply a design preference.

A strong procurement software user experience improves adoption in several important ways:

• It reduces time-to-request so users complete submissions rather than abandoning them
• It makes approval paths visible and easy to understand
• It supports exceptions so employees do not “buy first and explain later”
• It builds trust through transparent status tracking and notifications

UX also encourages compliance by embedding policy directly into the workflow rather than forcing employees to interpret policies themselves.

This is where orchestration delivers fast, visible ROI.

When procurement workflows stay connected end to end, employees do not need to switch systems or duplicate information. The process becomes easier for users while finance gains stronger control.

What good procurement UX looks like?

“The interface should be self-explanatory and connected to tools employees already use every day.”

Strong UX in an easy to use procurement software shows up in everyday interactions that shape behaviour.

A casual user should be able to submit a request in minutes without training.

Modern procurement systems increasingly support conversational request submission, AI-assisted workflows, and minimal required fields. OCR can extract information automatically from invoices or documents, while AI agents, and especially financial ai agents, populate system fields so employees do not need to understand procurement terminology. Check further information on AI readiness here.

A well-designed system usually includes several core experience patterns:

• AI-assisted request submission that simplifies the process for occasional users
• Guided buying procurement that steers employees toward preferred suppliers and compliant purchases
• Fast approvals with clear routing and notifications
• Real-time request tracking so users always know the status of their request

Mobile approvals also help prevent delays when managers are traveling or away from their desks.

Ultimately, strong UX is not just about a visually clean interface.

It is about supporting the entire procurement journey — request, approval, purchasing, invoice handling, and visibility — in a single flow. This is why an end to end procurement software typically achieves higher adoption than fragmented tools.

How to evaluate an procurement software for usability: an 8-step procurement UX framework

As Kiril explains:

“The simplest way to see if a procurement tool truly works end-to-end is to ask the vendor to demonstrate the full process — from request to invoice payment.”

A strong procurement software evaluation should focus on measurable usability, not just vendor claims. Finance and procurement teams should test realistic scenarios during demos or pilot phases to understand how the system performs in everyday use.

A practical way to do this is by applying the following eight UX evaluation tests:

1. Time-to-Request Test
   Determine whether a new user can submit a purchase request in under two to three minutes without assistance.

2. Transparency Test
   Check if users can clearly see the request status, including the next approver and the full approval timeline.

3. Exception Handling Test
   Verify whether users can request non-catalog items or add a new supplier without disrupting the workflow.

4. Approval Speed Test
   Evaluate whether a manager can review and approve a request on mobile in under 30 seconds.

5. Rework Clarity Test
   If required information is missing, assess whether the system clearly explains what needs to be corrected.

6. Training Burden Test
   Measure how much training occasional users require before they can use the system effectively.

7. Workflow Flexibility Test
   Confirm that procurement or finance teams can adjust approval rules or workflows without heavy IT involvement.

8. End-to-End Continuity Test
   Ensure the process remains fully connected from approvals to purchasing, invoice handling, and reporting.

By applying these tests, teams can evaluate a procurement software UX objectively, turning usability from a subjective impression into something clear, practical, and measurable.

How to improve the procurement software adoption and spend visibility

Procurement technology only creates value when people actually use it.

Three insights matter most for finance leaders.

UX drives the procurement software adoption. Adoption determines whether finance teams gain real control and visibility. And an end to end procurement software only works when employees follow the process.

For many organisations, improving procurement adoption does not require stricter policy enforcement. It requires improving the user experience so the compliant path becomes the easiest path.

If you are evaluating a procurement software or comparing platforms that support growing organisations, the next step is understanding how procurement workflows, approvals, invoices, and spend visibility connect in one system.

You can explore procure to pay software, learn more about procurement workflow automation or procure to pay automation, or book a demo to see how Payhawk helps finance teams manage company spending with greater visibility and control. Check also our article on how to choose a p2p solution.