There has been a significant evolution in Procure-to-pay (P2P) solutions in recent years. They are no longer limited to being exclusive/restricted to the procurement teams of big budgeted corporations and now are acting as a critical lever, facilitating competitiveness for mid-market companies. With P2P solutions enabling cost savings in the areas of compliance and process efficiency, it’s time to take action and employ them for your organization.

But first, let us dispel some myths regarding its relevance, for mid-market organizations:

1. Myth No.1 – P2P solutions are only beneficial for large corporations: As a start-up business looks at expanding into a mature organization, several challenges stand in the way. Issues like improving the indirect-spend visibility, reviewing purchasing behaviors, enforcing spend limits etc. can all be tackled using P2P solutions. Key business drivers like, negotiated supplier pricing, soft savings through digitization/optimization of indirect spend, process-automation etc. are all opportunities that can be exploited, using P2P solutions.
2. Myth No.2 – The cost of P2P solutions is too high for mid-market organizations: With the emergence of cloud-based P2P solutions (SaaS), the barriers to entry into mid-market have been lowered. Issues like considerable licensing fees, infrastructural costs, expensive hardware, and maintenance staff etc. are now done away with. P2P solutions generally cover the ambit of future upgrades and improvements, with an almost negligible amount of disruption to the business.
3. Myth No.3 – P2P solutions can be too complex for mid-market organizations: Today with cloud-based P2P solutions, there no longer stands a requirement for extensive implementation programs to align themselves with an organization’s specific needs. Pre-configured with supplier catalogs, ERP integration, ‘best-practice’ procurement processes etc., there is a dramatic reduction in the time taken for P2P implementation. Also, upcoming ‘walk-up’ interfaces that require minimal to no training, are now trying to facilitate seamless cross-device support/functionality.

Now that we’ve dispelled the pre-conceived notions about P2P solutions not being beneficial for mid-market organizations, it is time to assess the P2P landscape, to suit the needs of your organization. Have any doubts, queries or suggestions about the topic, then write to us in the comments section below.