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When it comes to (P2P) Procure to Pay challenges, the spotlight often falls on tactical issues like invoice processing time, accuracy, and costs. While these are undoubtedly important aspects to consider when investing in P2P technology, it is equally crucial to tackle strategic issues upfront.

Procurement leaders must take a holistic approach, recognizing overarching challenges in procure to pay process before diving into the tactical ones.

Before addressing tactical P2P challenges, let’s delve into four less-discussed P2P hurdles that significantly impact the successful adoption and implementation of a P2P solution.

Strategic Challenges in Procure-to-Pay (P2P) Process: Overcoming P2P Challenges:

1. Crafting a well-founded business case to assure approval

As a procurement leader, your conviction in the value of adopting a P2P suite is significant, but without a well-justified return on investment, your proposal may not move forward. There is a common notion that ERP-based bolt-on procurement solutions are sufficient. While this approach might work for smaller organizations, the complexities faced by mid to large-sized enterprises, particularly those with centralized procurement setups, demand more robust solutions beyond ERP-backed options.

Moreover, ERP solutions may not perfectly align with today’s competitive procure-to-pay landscape. With increasing risks, there is a growing demand for integrated solutions empowered by cognitive capabilities to address issues in real-time.

While these ideas may hold merit in theory, the key is to provide concrete evidence, particularly in terms of dollar-value savings. To kickstart your journey, you can use our P2P savings calculator, which offers a high-level estimate of potential savings based on your input.

2. Garnering IT support

IT teams might offer valid reasons against replacing or integrating a new system with an existing ERP.

These reasons include:

Security Concerns: Dealing with financial data involves third-party vendors. Hence, procure to pay software must adhere to the latest security protocols to ensure fool-proof protection. (Prioritize security while inspecting solutions!)
The Paradox of “High Effort & Low Benefit”: Implementing a new system or replacing an existing one demands significant effort from the in-house IT team. Unfortunately, sometimes, procurement counterparts fail to provide enough incentive for IT teams to expedite the process.

To address these concerns, consider two approaches:

Create an internal rewards program to recognize and motivate team members to take on complex projects.
Opt for an integrated SaaS Procure-to-Pay vendor. For instance, Zycus offers a comprehensive SaaS procurement suite. Such a model handles integration reduces the total cost of ownership, and considerably reducing implementation timelines. This way, the heavy lifting is managed efficiently, benefiting both procurement and IT teams.

Watch this short video: SaaS vs. On-Premise Solutions

3. Replacing outdated technology

Convincing your team that a new P2P solution is the way forward is crucial, but without end-user buy-in and adoption, your investment might not yield the expected returns. If your team has been using a homegrown or ERP system for a long time, they may have invested considerable effort into understanding its workings and become proficient in using it. The thought of adapting to a completely new solution can trigger apprehension.

To address this, prioritize your end-users’ experience when evaluating a best-in-class procure-to-pay solution. For instance, modern procure to pay software like Zycus has intuitive user interfaces, like its UI Dew Drops, which eliminate the need for training. Any user can effortlessly navigate the system, search for products, or create requests for off-catalog items.

The platform’s cognitive abilities and guided user features empower users to make precise decisions based on data and receive alerts for anomalies or risks, ensuring compliance.

4. Onboarding suppliers

In the pursuit of managing the expectations of internal stakeholders, it is easy to overlook the vitality of supplier engagement. To ensure successful P2P transformation, consider the suppliers’ perspective and emphasize the benefits they stand to gain.

Key points that will resonate with suppliers include:

Effort reduction: Modern systems eliminate multiple sign-ups, contracting delays, manual email follow-ups, and invoicing errors.
Faster payment: E-invoicing solutions enable on-time payments and offer shorter payment terms as an added benefit for suppliers adopting the latest technology.
Rewards Program: A rewards or acceleration program based on prompt adoption of the new system can boost supplier motivation to embrace the technology.

Tactical challenges in procure-to-pay process

Procure-to-pay processes often face challenges related to data visibility and transparency, redundant tasks, and inefficient communication.

Vulnerability to fraud and non-compliance, ineffective spend management, and time-consuming processes lead to uninformed decision-making, affecting the organization’s bottom line.
The lack of sufficient vendor data hinders risk assessment and vendor comparison, affecting resilience-building efforts.
Ineffective data visualization results in inaccurate order estimates, rogue spending, dark purchasing, fraud risks, contract expirations, delayed payments, and budget overruns.
Manual data entries introduce process delays and errors, making it difficult to track supplier performance, harming supplier relationships due to delayed payments.
Calculating KPIs manually leads to inaccuracy and communication breakdowns, further contributing to process inefficiencies.

Implementing a centralized and fully integrated procurement platform with robust capabilities can effectively address these p2p challenges, boosting the Procure-to-Pay process. For instance, Zycus offers a cognitive procure to pay software that enables sustainable performance, empowering your teams to go beyond the tactical to strategic.

IDC Highlights Zycus AI: A Game-Changer in Procure-to-Pay Solutions

Discover why IDC, a leading global market intelligence firm, recognizes the transformative potential of Zycus AI Solutions in the procure-to-pay space. This video delves into how Zycus’s innovative technologies are revolutionizing procurement processes and driving efficiency in the Philippines and beyond. Watch the Video to Learn More!

Wrapping up

As with any implementation project, procure to pay software have their unique set of p2p challenges. To ensure maximum value from your P2P transformation project, involve key stakeholders and emphasize the benefits they stand to gain. By addressing their concerns and showcasing the advantages beyond nominal automation, you can pave the way for a successful and impactful P2P process.

If you’re seeking a solution to enhance P2P performance, your search ends here.

To learn more, schedule a demo of Zycus’ integrated AI-powered procure to pay software today!

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