Procure to pay software manages all procurement activities, from purchasing to vendor payments. Its complexity comes from its reliance on and integration with the entire procurement process.
But who, or what, is overlooking these processes to ensure they’re efficient, reliable, and communicating properly?
To address these complexities and help bring order to an unavoidable chaotic process, a newer software space known as Procurement Orchestration has emerged. G2 is pleased to announce the creation of this new software category to define and capture the products in this space, further expanding and honing our taxonomy.
What is procurement orchestration software?
Procurement orchestration software is designed to unite and streamline the procurement process by overseeing functions across regions, departments, and employees.
It acts as a “source of truth” by being a centralized hub that connects procurement processes such as sourcing, purchasing, and payments with systems like ERP, inventory management, and warehouse management. By organizing stakeholder responsibilities, managing spend, and maintaining overall control over all workflows, coordination is more streamlined and effortless.
How is procurement orchestration different from procure to pay?
Though closely related, procurement orchestration and procure to pay software serve distinct purposes in managing procurement processes.
Procurement orchestration focuses more on integrating and coordinating activities within the procurement lifecycle. This can include supplier relationship management, compliance, and strategic sourcing, among others. It also focuses on alignment with company goals and is easily customizable, reportable, and flexible. To simplify it further, procurement orchestration manages the “big picture” of an organization's procurement strategy.
Procure to pay software, on the other hand, is more about the transactions that take place inside the end-to-end procurement process. It manages the actual execution of procurement functions, such as invoice processing, payments, and reporting. It is designed to help automate and organize every operational step, from sourcing to buying, receiving, and payment.
Why companies need procurement orchestration software
It’s not uncommon for a company’s procurement process to span across multiple entities and regions. This can lead to many challenges, such as intricate supplier networks, compliance or regulation issues, and making on-time payments. While procure to pay software can address specific pain points, procurement orchestration is designed to coordinate all of these activities across an entire organization.
Procurement orchestration helps solve these problems by creating and managing alignment within the procure to pay cycle and between procurement and other departments within a company.
It enhances transparency by providing real-time insights from reporting, which can lead to increased efficiency and quicker decision making. It’s also flexible enough to adapt to project requirements that differ from department to department.
Key features of procurement orchestration software
An effective procurement orchestration software must offer a wide range of features that are flexible enough to be used by any organization. These include:
- Approval workflows: Automated workflows for purchase requests, invoices, and procurement approvals can improve coordination and speed up processing.
- Customizable reporting: Reporting tools provide real-time insights into procurement trends, supplier performance, and spending patterns.
- Supplier management: Tools for maintaining supplier data, monitoring their performance, and tracking contract milestones help create strong supplier relationships.
- Regulatory compliance: This software minimizes non-compliance risk by enforcing internal procurement policies and external regulations.
- Systems integrations: Seamless integration with ERP, inventory management, and other enterprise tools improves operational efficiency.
G2 users deem process workflows as the most vital procurement feature
G2 reviewers have the option of scoring category-specific features on a 1-7 scale, with 7 being the highest satisfaction score.
One of our Procure to Pay category’s 10 feature questions focuses on processes, specifically the ability to manage workflows and business processes for procurement. This feature question is the most popular among reviewers, receiving 386 responses in 2024 alone, an increase of over 18% from the previous year.
This tells us that users of procure to pay software consider workflows the most important feature or at least the most top of mind. In fact, several reviews in the past year mention “flexibility of workflows,” “streamlining workflows,” and “automated workflows.”
The importance of procurement orchestration for modern businesses
There’s no doubt that businesses will continue to deal with complex supply chains, and the demand for procurement orchestration software will steadily increase.
If a company wants to stay competitive and meet its organizational goals, taking advantage of this software is a step in the right direction. Any of its users, from procurement professionals to finance leaders and supply chain managers, can streamline processes and align company objectives.
Find the tool that is right for your organization in this new category and learn more about this popular and growing industry.
Learn how process mining software can help organizations automate the procurement process.
Edited by Jigmee Bhutia
Manage the procurement lifecycle
