From request to payment: Transform your buying process with Payhawk’s AI Procurement Agent

As a finance leader, you care about getting the purchase request process right because it’s where you quickly risk losing control. When your procurement process is easy to follow, employees don’t work around it, spend stays visible, and policy is enforced automatically — without endless email chains, confusing approval loops, or manual spreadsheet hunting. You need a single flow from request to payment to keep your team in control before money leaves the business (not after problems surface).

This isn't some far-off dream. It's what Payhawk's AI Procurement Agent actually does. It takes plain-language requests and turns them into automated, end-to-end workflows, so your finance teams can move faster, make better decisions, and finally spend time on work that actually moves the business forward.

And the timing couldn't be better. According to Procurement Magazine's number one prediction for 2026, autonomous AI in procurement isn't just coming — it's already here. Industry leaders are predicting that manual approval processes will become obsolete as AI matures from basic digitization to true autonomy. Payhawk’s AI Procurement Agent is exactly that shift in action.

How Payhawk’s procurement agent makes finance fast, safe, and simple

You know the pain: one of your coworkers wants a new software tool. It makes sense, it'll help the business, the budget's there — but actually getting it approved for them? That's the hard part. You need sign-off from multiple people, someone has to track down pricing and context, and every step just adds more delay.

For multinational companies, the challenge is even bigger. Disparate systems, multiple entities, and inconsistent processes create friction at every turn. Finance leaders are forced to balance control, compliance, and speed — often sacrificing one to protect the others.

This is where our AI Procurement Agent comes in. Instead of forcing teams to figure out the process themselves, the agent transforms plain-language requests into fully compliant workflows. It routes approvals, applies policies, and drives payment — all behind the scenes, without slowing anyone down.

With the Procurement Agent, finance teams regain control, teams move faster, and the entire purchasing process becomes simple, safe, and transparent.

See Payhawk’s AI procurement agent in action

Ready to see how the AI Procurement Agent actually works?

In the short video below, Martin Reindl, our VP of Customer Success, walks through a purchase request in action.

• First, he submits his request using plain language
• The agent understands & confirms the type of request (eg, new subscription)
• Next, it pulls in the supplier and pricing context
• And routes it through the right approvals (chasing where needed to prevent delays)
• Once approved, it issues a single-use card and completes the payment

The result? Finance retains control while non-finance teams move faster, and every step remains fully auditable.

When good ideas get stuck: the real cost of broken procurement

Let me give you another example of a painful manual procurement process: You're the CFO of a growing multinational, and the operations team comes to you with an urgent request. They've found logistics software that could save time and cut errors across multiple regions. On paper, it's obvious. What slows everything down isn’t decision-making; it’s execution:

• Approvals are technically defined, but operationally fragmented. Finance, legal, and operations all know their role, but the process lives across inboxes, tools, and spreadsheets. Nothing moves unless someone manually pushes it.
• Context doesn’t travel with the request. Pricing, contract terms, budget impact, and vendor details are gathered in parallel, often late, and rarely in one place.
• Control happens after the fact. By the time finance sees the full picture, workarounds have already appeared, or spend has been committed outside the process.
• Speed becomes a trade-off against compliance. Teams either wait and lose momentum or move ahead and create exceptions that finance has to clean up later.

As a CFO, this isn't just annoying — it's a strategic problem. Slow procurement kills growth, tanks productivity, and makes compliance nearly impossible to enforce consistently.

And this isn't a one-off. Finance leaders everywhere spend more time managing the mess than making decisions that actually move the business.

Stop chasing approvals: faster, compliant purchasing with an AI procurement agent

The AI Procurement Agent fundamentally changes how procurement works by tackling the core problems that slow teams down and create risk. Instead of layering more manual processes on top of broken systems, it eliminates friction at every step.

Here's what that means in practice:

• Faster: Requests move through the correct workflows automatically, cutting days — sometimes weeks — off approval cycles. No more hunting down stakeholders or waiting for someone to respond to an email buried in their inbox.
• Safer: Compliance rules are applied consistently across every request, approvals are tracked in real time, and budgets are respected automatically. Finance doesn't have to rely on people remembering the rules — the system enforces them.
• Controlled: Finance can see every step of every request as it happens, not after the fact. This real-time visibility reduces the risk of overspend, catches errors before they become problems, and gives leadership the data they need to make informed decisions.
• Auditable: Every request is recorded with full context — who requested it, who approved it, what it cost, and why it was needed. This creates a clear, traceable history for reporting, analysis, and compliance reviews, without anyone having to scramble for receipts or approvals after the fact.

The difference isn't just speed or efficiency — it's about giving finance teams the ability to say "yes" more often because the right guardrails are already in place.

How it works: behind the scenes of Payhawk’s AI procurement agent

The AI Payhawk Procurement Agent doesn't just automate one step — it orchestrates the entire purchase journey so finance stays in control while teams move fast. Here's how it actually works:

• Submit a request in plain language. Employees simply tell the agent what they need — no forms to fill out, no manuals to read, no guesswork about which fields matter. Just type or speak naturally: "We need a Salesforce subscription for the sales team."
• Agent identifies the request type and gathers context. The AI figures out whether it's a new subscription, hardware purchase, service contract, or vendor onboarding. It then automatically collects all the necessary details — pricing, terms, vendor information — from links, files, or contracts the employee provides. No one has to manually enter data or chase down quotes.
• Stakeholders are looped in and reminded. The agent knows who needs to approve the request based on your company's policies. It notifies them, keeps them updated, and sends gentle reminders if decisions are pending — all without anyone having to follow up manually or send "just checking in" emails.
• Funds are assigned, and a single-use card is issued. Once the request is approved, the agent allocates the correct budget and issues a secure, single-use Payhawk card tied to that specific purchase. The payment method is ready immediately, and it can only be used for what was approved — no overspending, no surprises.
• Purchase is completed. The team gets what they need, finance maintains control over spend, and every step of the process is fully auditable. There's a complete record of what was requested, who approved it, how much it cost, and when it happened.

The magic of the Procurement Agent lies in orchestration, not manual effort. Instead of employees and finance chasing each other through emails and spreadsheets, the agent ensures the right information reaches the right people at the right time — automatically. It's not about eliminating human judgment; it's about eliminating the busywork that keeps people from using it.

Watch how PrimeFlight Aviation brings Payhawk’s procurement processes to life in this short customer story.

Real-world impact: how PrimeFlight boosted procurement with Payhawk

PrimeFlight, a group of international aviation businesses, found themselves dealing with exactly this kind of challenge as they grew through acquisition: multiple systems, inconsistent processes, and almost no visibility across entities. Finance spent more time cleaning up errors than actually managing spend strategically and they knew there was a better way.

Since 2025, PrimeFlight UK has partnered with Shapes and Payhawk to unify procurement and approvals on a single platform. The results were immediate: approvals move faster, budgets are respected automatically, and every step is fully auditable. As Nick Best, Financial Controller at PrimeFlight UK, puts it:

The Payhawk procurement solution is very automated. It populates the data, so we only need to press submit. Everything is quicker, and we can spend time adding real value to the company.

By orchestrating workflows instead of managing spreadsheets, Payhawk has given PrimeFlight’s finance team real-time visibility, structured procurement, and the ability to focus on forward-looking decisions rather than fixing the past.

Discover the complete PrimeFlight story.

Smarter, faster, safer finance – with Payhawk’s procurement agent

With Payhawk's AI Procurement Agent, finance teams no longer get stuck in manual approvals or chasing paperwork. Every request moves faster, compliance is built in, budgets stay under control, and everything's fully auditable. The result? Teams can focus on strategic decisions, drive growth with confidence, and scale safely — without giving up speed or control.

Ready to see it in action? Watch the video above and book a demo with one of our experts to explore how the AI Procurement Agent can transform your finance operations today.