Trish Toovey
Supplier management software is key to overcoming common supplier issues and payment problems quickly. Think issues like changing details, inaccurate records, scalability, integration, and compliance, all of which add up to a major headache when it comes to managing suppliers and keeping businesses running smoothly. Find out why the right software makes all the difference and why prioritising supplier management can leave you with clearer insights for a healthier bottom line.
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Facing expense management challenges in the automotive industry? Or working in finance for an eBike company and drowning in receipts? You're not alone. From wading through excessive paperwork to juggling reimbursements, what you actually need is proper finance automation, complete spend data visibility, and empowered spending (all without compromising on control).
So far, so unrealistic? Actually, no. You can transform your current processes into transparent and ultra-efficient workflows, and here's how:
Transform the way you spend with integrated procure-to-pay features
The right supplier management software delivers big benefits. It breaks down silos, helps teams work better together, and keeps procurement, finance, and suppliers aligned. It also gives internal users and customers a smoother experience. In short, it’s a tool that drives efficiency across your entire supply chain. But what does it actually do, and what should you look for?
Supplier management software is a system that makes managing everything to do with suppliers as painless and automated as possible, from centralising supplier records for consistency to automating supplier onboarding and invoice payment matching.
The right supplier management software can supercharge your supplier management efficiency, improve relationships, and eliminate the tedious manual tasks that add extra bullet points to your to-do lists.
Excellent supplier management software isn't a 'nice to have.' Your suppliers make up a huge part of your business structure, and working together efficiently (including with an accurate payment flow) is vital to remaining competitive, compliant, and cost-effective. The best news? All this means you can reinvest time and money elsewhere in the organisation.
So far, so obvious, but how do you choose the right supplier management software for you? Here, we explore key features to look for in a breakdown of the top software choices.
Supplier management is under pressure. In fact, 41% of Chief Procurement Officers say outdated or inadequate technology is the single biggest barrier to improving procurement. And with teams juggling fragmented systems, manual approvals, and inconsistent supplier data, it's easy to see why. More tech isn't the answer. The right tech is.
That's where supplier management software comes in. The right platform automates the entire procure-to-pay process, centralises supplier data, and gives finance leaders the necessary visibility to stay in control. Aventum Group's finance team has seen these benefits first-hand.
From accurate payment matching to seamless ERP integration, their experience shows how the right tools can reduce errors, save weeks of manual work, and give complete oversight of spend.
Here are the six key features to look for, featuring real-world insights from Aventum Group's finance leaders.
1. Centralised supplier records. Centralising your supplier records ensures that data remains consistent, which is crucial when processing invoice payments or auditing your vendor list.
2. Invoice and payment matching. Manually matching and approving spend details across your receipt note, invoice, and purchase order is time-consuming and often riddled with clumsy human error. With three-way matching technology, all three items are automatically checked, with the system flagging discrepancies or mistakes immediately.
Tim Green, Head of Finance Transformation at Aventum Group, has seen these benefits first-hand. For him, accurate payment matching through supplier management software delivers clearer insights and a healthier bottom line. He explains:
Payhawk's PO features have given us a lot more visibility and control…With the approval workflows in PO, we can embed the controls and give our procurement manager complete control.
3. Integration with ERPs and accounting tools. You need your current tech stack to integrate to create seamless processes and user experiences. Finding a supplier management software that integrates seamlessly with popular tools, like NetSuite, will make life a lot easier and impact your bottom line.
Alex Curme, Group CFO at Aventum Group, explains:
Now [with Payhawk], every expense flows seamlessly into NetSuite in real time. No more delays! We've freed up weeks of work for our team, and we have complete finance visibility to support our decisions.
4. Support for multi-entity and multi-currency. Let's say you're a mid-market SaaS company expanding into Europe that needs to pay suppliers in EUR and GBP while consolidating spend in USD. Without multi-currency support, your finance team faces delays, currency conversion errors, and inaccurate reporting.
However, the right supplier management software can change that, giving you insights into all group spending through connected real-time dashboards. Monitor and track spending across your entire organisation and pay invoices in local currencies without delay.
"The US business spends in dollars, and the UK spends in GBP, etc, but all in Payhawk," explains Alex. "This means we can see the spend all in one place, even across entities… letting teams cooperate and work together."
5. Spend visibility and reporting. Real-time analytics allow you to make impactful, proactive business decisions and confidently report to stakeholders about budgets, committed spend, and more.
Alex says:
We have a lot more visibility and control [with Payhawk]… It's now much easier to spot opportunities for cost savings and find discounts that help the bottom line.
6. Secure data handling and approvals. Fragmented sign-off processes can cause bottlenecks in supplier invoice payments, which can damage supplier relationships. With custom-built approval workflows, invoices are approved and paid promptly. Look for supplier management software that holds PCI DSS certification to ensure robust data security.
Choosing software is not just about features. A structured approach, like the following, helps reduce risk. You should:
How Aventum Group achieve 100% supplier spend visibility across more than ten entities
Good supplier management is a clear priority. The challenge is knowing where to start when there are so many tools to choose from. To make it easier, here's a quick rundown of some of the most popular options on the market and the key features and benefits that set them apart.
Best for a finance-first, all-in-one spend management platform with integrated supplier management capabilities. Unlike traditional procurement tools that require manual input or separate supplier modules, Payhawk builds supplier management directly into how you handle expenses, invoices, and card spend.
Pros:
If you have complex procurement needs, SAP Ariba could be a good fit for your large enterprise.
Key features:
Although the platform integrates seamlessly with other SAP products, if you want to integrate a third-party system (i.e. non-SAP systems), it can be complex.
If your organisation has mature processes and is procurement-driven, Coupa may be a strong fit.
Key features:
Coupa can be expensive for smaller companies as the platform is designed for companies with mature processes, which means small to mid-sized companies might find a better fit elsewhere.
If you value procurement automation and centralised supplier management, i.e. you have complex supplier networks and multiple subsidiaries, then Precoro is worth exploring.
Key features:
If you’re looking for accounts payable automation and you have a global supplier base, Tiplati’s software could be a good fit.
Key features:
Payhawk is a complete spend management solution for growing, mid-size, and enterprise companies. Alongside accounts payable, expense management, and corporate cards, it includes robust and secure supplier management features. With Payhawk, you can analyse purchase patterns, track spend by supplier, and spot cost-saving opportunities — all while improving financial performance and optimising budgets.
Here's what you get in a nutshell:
You need to rely on smart integrations to save time and streamline supplier management processes. Payhawk ensures your cards, invoices, and supplier data all integrate natively, which means important data flows seamlessly between business systems like accounting platforms and ERPs. This not only keeps your data safe and secure but also means less manual work for your finance and procurement teams and improved financial accuracy.
Eric Olombel, CFO of Flowdesk, finds the supplier management integrations very useful. He describes:
With Payhawk, new suppliers can be integrated in one go, without wasting time. This is a real bonus because we now have hundreds of suppliers. The interface is easy to use and ergonomic. Payhawk is already connected to NetSuite, and the accounting is practically done automatically!
Supplier data automatically syncs from your ERP, minimising onboarding errors and standardising supplier onboarding across the company. Only administrators can create new suppliers (although employees can flag a supplier as new, they can't create new suppliers). This ensures any supplier onboarded goes through the correct approval workflow process and, therefore, adheres to company policy.
All changes made to suppliers are logged in an audit trail, so everyone remains accountable, which mitigates fraudulent supplier accounts. And systems are further kept secure by allowing system admins a chance to carry out diligence checks before approving a new supplier.
You can capture invoice data automatically, save time, and cut down on errors with Payhawk’s AI-driven OCR. Simply photograph or upload your invoices and receipts, and it extracts all required fields from invoices in over 60 languages. And with three-way matching, you check every quantity and price against the goods receipt, invoice, and purchase order — stopping fraudulent or inaccurate payments before they go through.
You can further reduce errors and eliminate fraudulent invoice payments by using Payhawk’s three-way matching technology, too. This technology automatically checks quantities and price matches the goods note receipt, the invoice, and the purchase order.
Monitoring company-wide spend is essential to business health. With Payhawk's group dashboard, you can centralise all payments, including supplier payments, from multiple entities. This approach means there will be no surprise supplier payments in any branch of your organisation.
Payhawk becomes that single source of truth for financial data, so you can rest easy knowing that your supplier management processes are standardised and compliant, and fraud risk is minimal.
As your supplier base grows, keeping track of spend gets harder. That's why real-time visibility matters — you always know who's spending what across the organisation. This creates complete transparency and accountability, essential when managing supplier payments across multiple entities.
Payhawk's custom approval workflows put you in control. You set the business rules and spend thresholds, and the system routes payments to the right approvers every time. Even in complex structures, you prevent unauthorised or fraudulent payments before they happen.
Limited visibility over suppliers hampers efficiency and scalability. Tutoring and exam training company AthenaStudies said that before Payhawk, that was exactly their problem. They struggled with a lack of insight and control over cost.
Jan-Willem Gmelig Meyling, CFO & CTO at AthenaStudies, says:
[Before Payhawk], real-time insight into marketing and IT expenditures was missing. Now, we do have that insight, per month and per supplier.
Software integrations make life easier (and your data more accurate). Without them, you're working with multiple siloed tools, which means less team collaboration, more manual entry, more mistakes and more inefficiencies.
Payhawk's ERP integrations with market-leading tools mean you can effortlessly sync supplier data, which makes invoice processing quicker and less error-prone. And with Payhawk logging all supplier data changes, any data discrepancies are flagged immediately for investigation, preventing fraud and enforcing compliance.
Plus, the real-time data flow from Payhawk to your ERP means real-time reconciliations, reporting, and supplier payments. So, you're well-equipped to make off-the-cuff spending decisions instead of manually reconciling your transactions.
Thanks to the Payhawk and Exact Online integration, procurement industry heavyweight Mercell has enjoyed faster, error-free month-end.
Leon Steenbrink, CFO at Mercell Nederland, says. "The integration with Exact Online means less manual input is required, thus reducing the risk of error. It also saves us time every month by creating a journal entry, and the invoice support will appear directly in Exact Online, rather than us having to refer back to Payhawk for it."
The right tool makes supplier management smoother, more secure, and faster — three things you shouldn't compromise on.
As you scale your business, processes become more complex, you have more users to manage, more suppliers to onboard and pay promptly, and a greater need for spend visibility and control.
Payhawk helps make all those processes effortless, secure, and error-free. It helps you transform your supplier management processes to positively impact everyone involved — from vendors and suppliers to cardholders, budget holders, finance, and procurement team members.
Supplier management tools are no longer optional but essential for scaling
businesses.
Next steps:
Book your personalised product demo to see how Payhawk addresses these challenges in practice.
Trish Toovey works across the UK and US markets to craft content at Payhawk. Covering anything from ad copy to video scripting, Trish leans on a super varied background in copy and content creation for the finance, fashion, and travel industries.
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