Perfecting procurement: How to streamline spend management from requisition to payment

The challenges of typical PO software

‘Traditional’ PO software services that are part of larger ERP solutions can certainly help your business make pre-approved purchases from onboarded suppliers at scale. These systems have been around forever and are designed to centralise procurement, giving you a clearer view of spend…

The problem? They’re often a) very expensive and b) not completely connected with the other ways your business spends.

Looking at a) first, research shows that an ERP licence for just one user can cost anywhere from $75 per month to a staggering $7000.

When you factor in the costs for multiple users across different teams, these systems quickly become prohibitively expensive, particularly for growing businesses that lack the scale to justify such a hefty investment. For many companies, the user fees are simply too high, creating a barrier to flexibility and preventing employees from submitting purchase requests without the risk of spiralling into unchecked costs.

Now b), Traditional PO software isn’t always integrated with the other ways your business spends. Think about how your business manages payments. It’s likely you use more than one method for procurement, from purchase orders and supplier invoices to employee expenses, subscription services, and even corporate cards.

Yet, most ERP systems fail to connect all these different payment methods. This fragmentation then leaves your business struggling to track and control spend in real time, increasing the chances of overspend and bad decision-making.

Why growing businesses need flexible, scalable solutions

As businesses scale, their procurement needs become more complex. The traditional approach — relying on fragmented systems or expensive, all-encompassing ERP solutions — just doesn't cut it anymore. Mid-market businesses, especially, often find themselves in a bind. They’re too large for simple ERP systems but too small to justify the cost of complex, enterprise-grade solutions like SAP.

The good news is that businesses don’t have to choose between fragmentation and high costs. Integrated solutions like Payhawk offer an ideal middle ground. They give companies the flexibility to manage multiple payment methods (POs, corporate cards, employee expenses) all in one place, without the overhead of traditional ERP systems. And with scalable, real-time spend tracking, businesses can stay in control while they grow, making smarter, faster decisions without being held back by expensive, disjointed systems.

How to get complete spend control and visibility with spend management software and PO — all in one

Well-connected spend management and P2P solutions provide control and visibility over all current and planned (via procurement) company spending. The most comprehensive solutions should support you in managing procurement and payment in multiple ways to suit all your business requirements, including expense management, corporate cards, POs, invoice payment, and accounting / ERP integrations.

The benefits of a complete solution are enormous, and some of the biggest ones include:

Improved financial control: With card controls, approval workflows across card spend and PO, and more, you can get a holistic view of spend and fully control expenses.

Cost savings: Pinpoint cost-saving opportunities using things like custom fields and categories. For example, you can give corporate cards to your sales managers and create project categories for them to select at the point of receipt submission. You can also categorise invoices to the proper class & GL code, eg ‘Sales Event X Y Z’, so you can check if they spent what was expected or not.

Time savings and efficiency: Increase productivity by automating a lot of the processes involved with your expense reporting, POs, and account payable. Introducing built-in AI and automation will help reduce manual tasks and save your team hours and even days.

Employee engagement: Improve productivity by giving time back to employees, both inside and outside the finance team. Instead of spending hours submitting receipts, non-finance people can focus on their actual roles. While, finance team colleagues can save days spent chasing receipts and reconciling, to focus on financial strategy and oversight instead.

Real-time visibility: Gain real-time visibility over your financial data to track spending as it occurs and make actionable, cost-saving decisions fast.

Accuracy and reduced errors: Automation can reduce the risk of data entry and processing errors, resulting in more accurate financial records (and even improved VAT or other tax-related savings).

Enhanced compliance: Enforce compliance with in-built spending policies and regulations across your card spending, like freezes, blocks, and limits. Plus, build in manual and automated approval workflows for invoices and PO requisitions.

Supplier collaboration and management: Ensure data integrity by preventing duplicates and fraud with updated supplier information. Plus, sync with your ERP or accounting system for accuracy, custom entry, and off-platform reporting.

Streamlined approvals: Automate approval workflows for POs, expenses, and invoices to help streamline processes, reduce delays and improve accountability.

Data analytics and reporting: Get robust reporting and analytics tools to generate insights into spending patterns, identify trends, and support data-driven decision-making.

Scalability: Scale how you manage business spending as you grow with customisable workflows, approvals, and automation.

Enhanced security: Rest assured with security features that protect sensitive financial data, including encryption and access control. You should expect your spend management solution to include the following and more: it should be PCI DSS and ISO 27001 certified, SOC 2 Type 2 and GDPR compliant, and leverage industry-standard AES 256 encryption.

Integration with accounting software: Seamlessly integrate your corporate card and non-PO invoice expenses with your chosen accounting software or ERP to reduce the need for manual data entry, simplify reconciliation, and ensure financial data consistency.

Mobile accessibility: Leverage user-friendly tools (including mobile apps) that make corporate cards and expense management easy for everyone, even on the go.

Audit trail: Get a complete audit trail, which is valuable for internal and external audits, ensuring compliance and accountability

The five biggest benefits of procure-to-pay from Payhawk

In a sea of PO and procurement solutions, Payhawk stands out by offering an all-in-one platform that elevates your purchasing process, from request to payment.

By boosting efficiency, enhancing visibility, providing custom workflows, enabling flexible processes, and seamlessly integrating with your ERP systems, Payhawk streamlines and optimises your entire spend management operation.

Want to stay ahead when it comes to controlling cash flow, runway, and more? Here are the top five procure-to-pay benefits from Payhawk you can't afford to miss:

1. Efficiency and visibility: Easily track purchases against your budget and follow the entire process from request to delivery without switching systems. With Payhawk, you can even use the platform as a central hub to communicate and add context to requisitions. This is exactly what Minihaus München did to get complete clarity at every step of the way.

2. Custom workflows and approvals: Tailor workflows to match your company’s approval process. At Payhawk, the workflow designer ensures all your requests go to the right approvers and gives them the flexibility to delegate, adjust, or push back on requests as needed, making your approval process smoother and more efficient.

3. Process flexibility: Whether it's a large purchase handled via invoice or a smaller one made with a Payhawk corporate card, you have the flexibility to manage purchases according to your company's needs. This ensures you have the right tools for day-to-day operations as well as larger strategic buys.

4. Automated order control: With 2-way and 3-way matching across all your purchases, you can automate the order fulfilment control and ensure that every order is checked and processed efficiently, with minimal manual oversight.

5. Seamless ERP integration: Payhawk seamlessly integrates with leading global ERP systems such as NetSuite, Sage Intacct, QuickBooks, and Microsoft Dynamics 365 Finance, ensuring smooth alignment with your existing tech stack and helping you build a lean, streamlined finance operation without the hassle of disconnected systems. For instance, Payhawk’s integration with QuickBooks Online enables you to create invoices directly from bills processed in Payhawk, automatically synchronising data like GL codes, tax rates, and custom fields and eliminating the need for manual entry.

Payhawk PO in action

Aventum Group:

Aventum Group, a leading global insurance business, uses Payhawk to manage spending across 450 employees in the UK, USA, Ireland, Dubai, Mauritius, and beyond. The group handles an impressive £1.9 billion in GWP, with a focus on building specialist schemes and strong relationships.

Before switching to Payhawk, Aventum’s Group Finance Team saw an opportunity to improve their spend management processes. The team was working hard to support the growing business and wanted to introduce more efficient systems to help them scale their efforts.

Pre-Payhawk, employees had to submit expenses manually through Excel spreadsheets and PDFs, which line managers then approved via email. Despite the team’s best efforts, the systems in place couldn’t keep up with the company’s growth, and reimbursements could take up to 45 days.

At the same time, the finance team spent time chasing receipts, entering expense data into NetSuite, navigating slow bank turnarounds, and trying to uncover more transparency across their PO processes. The team knew there had to be a more efficient way and wanted to empower their finance team to focus on adding more value to the business.

Since switching to Payhawk, Aventum has managed to consolidate all of its spend management, including PO and enable managers to approve supplier invoices and process payments all in one place

The finance team has also begun leveraging their PO insights to support cost optimisation. For example, when the procurement lead sees ten invoices for the same supplier, she can consolidate them into one and negotiate a bulk discount, reducing spend and optimising cash flow.

Greystone GT Ltd:

Greystone GT Ltd, a leading motor racing team, uses Payhawk to manage spend across its team and global operations. With a lean finance team supporting a wide range of high-value transactions, from race events to parts purchases, Greystone GT Ltd needed a solution to streamline its procurement processes and gain better control over its spend.
Before adopting Payhawk, Greystone's procurement processes were fragmented. There was no formal purchase order system in place, meaning expenses often went unchecked until after the fact. This element of missing control led to inefficiencies and made it difficult to manage the large-scale purchases associated with their operations.

Ryan Franklin, Financial Controller at Greystone GT Ltd, explains: "At Greystone, we have a broad range of expenses, from car parts to flights, accommodation, and staffing for events. Tires and race fuel, in particular, are costly, and I need to ensure we’re not overspending or holding unnecessary stock. Payhawk helps us keep everything efficient, allowing us to manage these diverse costs more effectively."

Since switching to Payhawk, Greystone has centralised its procurement process, integrating both PO and corporate card payments into a single system.

“I love the functionality of Payhawk and the way it breaks information down. It will draw the information from an invoice, then split it into lines. And it’s powerful in terms of analysing the lines in an invoice document — as opposed to drawing in the info from a purchase order template.”

By centralising procurement and enhancing visibility, the finance team at Greystone now has full control over business spend, enabling them to scale operations without losing sight of costs.

Your takeaway PO (& platform) checklist ✓

Aside from increased spend control, efficiency, and visibility thanks to corporate cards and invoice management, including subscriptions, does your company offer you a true P2P solution featuring POs and automated approvals?

Use the handy takeaway checklist to assess whether your solutions are helping you be as efficient as possible. You can also use it to help you investigate the best solution for your business in your next RFI or RFP.

Cards and expense management

• Can your company actively keep payment terms under 45 days?
• Does your company make employee reimbursements in less than three days?
• Can you approve invoices quickly without chasing multiple approvals?
• Can give your finance team more power and speed with AI agents embedded into the ways you manage spend?
• Can you manage subscriptions easily with subscription tracking built around card spend?
• Are you able to access corporate cards with credit limits of up to $/£500K based on assessment?
• Can you leverage multi-currency credit lines in GBP, EUR, and USD?
• Are you spending 0% FX in six currencies and paying low FX fees of just 1.99% across all others?
• Can you issue and control cards in bulk and build policies into your cards, apps, and platforms using card freezes, ATM blocks, daily limits, and other policies?
• Are you tracking your company's spend and monitoring every business expense and transaction as it happens in real time?
• Can you connect specific corporate visa cards to specific employees and teams so you always know who's spending?
• Can you set up your budget management per cost centre, track payments and expenses against them in real time, and stay agile by adjusting budgets and controls in seconds?
• Does your solution save you time by letting you set up cost centres, categories, and VAT and using AI to automatically suggest the correct expense data for your invoice and recurring payments?

Accounts Payable, including PO (and invoices)

• How do invoices from suppliers reach your finance team?
• How fast does your company approve, review and pay an invoice?
• Can you automatically require different approvals based on conditions like amount, team, category/GL, project, etc.?
• Can you automatically capture invoice data globally, regardless of language?
• Can you set default categories and custom field values based on supplier or employee to be 100% confident that invoice data will be exported to your ERP correctly?
• Can you make fast, low-cost payments to suppliers in any currency?
• How often do you find out that you’ve been overcharged by a supplier post-factum?
• Does your company use the most appropriate procurement flows?
• Can all of your colleagues follow the P2P process you have?
• Does your P2P process require a central person to manually orchestrate and involve different stakeholders and systems?
• Do you use full three-way matching with goods received notes for your goods POs?
• Can you choose between requiring three-way and two-way matching for different POs?
• How much time does it take you to process a PO invoice if there is a discrepancy? What about if there isn’t?
• Can you automatically link incoming invoices to POs and calculate discrepancies?
• Can you automatically commit funds from your budgets based on open POs?
• Can you check variance analysis in just seconds?
• Can you keep tabs on committed spend by tracking utilisation based on an amortisation schedule?
• Can your non-finance colleagues streamline purchase requests by auto-extracting data from documents like shopping cart screenshots?
• Can your finance team give procurement colleagues the control and speed they need with PO review steps?

Next steps

If you answered NO to more than three of the questions above, you could be working much more efficiently, quickly, and with fewer mistakes.

When it comes to procuring the best finance solutions for your business, who could do a better job than your finance and procurement teams? That's probably you, and you're probably halfway through your hunt for the perfect solution already. Stop now and fill in the list above, pinpoint the gaps in your current set-up, and start looking for a solution that will save you time and money, boost compliance, and improve overall spend visibility and control.

Tired of juggling disconnected tools for procure-to-pay, employee expenses, and more? Book a personalised demo today and let one of our experts walk you through the platform and uncover how it can simplify your processes, cut manual work, and give you complete and total control over company spend.