Procurement may begin with a simple purchase request—but without the right systems in place, the process can quickly spiral into manual chaos. From lost purchase orders to invoice mismatches, managing procurement at scale can become a serious challenge for finance and operations teams.
Enter procure-to-pay (P2P) software—a category of tools designed to bring structure, automation, and visibility to the entire purchasing process.
In this guide, we’ll break down what P2P software does, the key benefits, features to look for, and how today’s top solutions compare. If you're a finance professional evaluating your options, this guide is for you.
Procure-to-pay (P2P) refers to the end-to-end process of acquiring goods and services and making payments to suppliers. It encompasses a broad range of activities, typically in the following order:
Purchase requisition
Approval workflow
Purchase order (PO) creation and issuance
Goods receipt or service confirmation
Invoice processing and matching (2-way or 3-way)
Payment execution
P2P software platforms automate and streamline these processes by connecting procurement and accounts payable functions. This helps reduce manual work, prevent duplicate or fraudulent invoices, and ensure all purchases align with budgets and company policies.
As companies grow, so does the complexity of spend management. Procurement involves more vendors, more internal stakeholders, and more invoices—and if you’re still managing it with spreadsheets and email threads, it’s only a matter of time before something goes wrong.
Here’s why P2P software becomes essential:
Error reduction: Prevents data entry mistakes and invoice mismatches through automation.
Faster approvals: Streamlines multi-level approvals and reduces bottlenecks.
Spend visibility: Offers real-time insight into where money is going.
Compliance and control: Enforces procurement policies and ensures documentation is audit-ready.
Vendor relationships: Enables timely payments and smoother communication.
Without a centralised platform, procurement workflows become fragmented—hurting efficiency and increasing the risk of overspending or compliance issues.
The best P2P solutions strike a balance between powerful functionality and ease of use. Depending on your company size and industry, your needs will vary—but here are some key features that modern finance teams look for:
A flexible request-to-approval process that can be tailored to different departments or types of spend is crucial for ensuring that procurement workflows align with the unique needs and priorities of each part of the organisation. This adaptability allows finance teams to customise approval hierarchies, set specific spending limits, and define criteria based on departmental budgets or project requirements.
By accommodating various spending categories, such as capital expenditures, operational costs, or special projects, the process ensures that all purchase requests are reviewed and approved by the appropriate stakeholders. This not only enhances efficiency but also maintains control over expenditures, ensuring compliance with company policies and optimising resource allocation across the organisation.
A centralised vendor database is an essential component of modern procurement systems, offering a comprehensive repository that consolidates all vendor-related information in one accessible location. This database not only includes basic vendor details such as names, addresses, and contact information but also integrates advanced features like compliance tracking, which ensures that all vendors meet the necessary legal and regulatory requirements.
Additionally, the database provides contract visibility, allowing procurement teams to easily access and review contract terms, renewal dates, and performance metrics. This holistic approach to vendor management enhances operational efficiency, reduces the risk of non-compliance, and supports strategic decision-making by providing a clear and organised view of all vendor relationships.
The ability to generate, route, and track purchase orders (POs) without the need for paperwork or manual steps is a transformative feature in modern procurement systems. This capability allows organisations to automate the entire purchase order process, from creation to final approval, ensuring that each step is executed efficiently and accurately. By eliminating the reliance on physical documents and manual data entry, companies can significantly reduce the time and effort required to manage POs. This automation not only speeds up the procurement cycle but also minimises the risk of errors and discrepancies that often arise from manual handling.
Furthermore, the system provides real-time tracking of POs, offering visibility into the status of each order at any given moment. This transparency enables procurement teams to monitor progress, identify potential bottlenecks, and ensure timely delivery of goods and services. Overall, the ability to seamlessly generate, route, and track POs enhances operational efficiency, supports strategic decision-making, and contributes to a more streamlined and effective procurement process.
Automatically match invoices against purchase orders (POs) and receipts to identify and flag any discrepancies, ensuring that all financial transactions are accurate and consistent. This process not only helps in maintaining the integrity of financial records but also plays a crucial role in reducing the risk of fraud. By cross-referencing invoices with corresponding POs and receipts, the system can quickly detect any anomalies, such as duplicate charges or unauthorised purchases, allowing finance teams to address issues promptly. This automated matching process enhances the overall efficiency of procurement operations, providing a reliable safeguard against potential financial mismanagement and ensuring compliance with company policies.
Seamless syncing with platforms like NetSuite, Xero, or QuickBooks is crucial for modern businesses aiming to streamline their financial operations. This integration ensures that data flows effortlessly between systems, eliminating the need for redundant data entry and significantly reducing the risk of errors. By automating the transfer of financial information, companies can maintain up-to-date and accurate records, which is essential for precise financial reporting and analysis. This connectivity not only enhances operational efficiency but also provides finance teams with real-time insights into their financial health, enabling them to make informed decisions quickly. Furthermore, by avoiding the pitfalls of double entry, businesses can save valuable time and resources, allowing their teams to focus on more strategic tasks that drive growth and innovation.
Real-time budget tracking before purchase approval is a critical feature that empowers teams to maintain financial discipline and avoid overspending. By providing immediate insights into current budget allocations and expenditures, this functionality allows finance teams to assess whether a proposed purchase aligns with the available budget. It ensures that every purchase request is evaluated against real-time financial data, preventing any unintentional budget breaches.
This proactive approach not only safeguards the organisation's financial health but also promotes accountability and informed decision-making across departments. By integrating real-time budget tracking into the procurement process, companies can enhance their financial oversight, ensuring that all spending aligns with strategic goals and financial constraints.
Complete visibility into every step of the process is crucial for ensuring audit readiness and effective policy enforcement. This means that every action, decision, and transaction within the procurement workflow is meticulously documented and easily accessible for review. Such transparency allows finance teams to trace the entire lifecycle of a purchase, from the initial requisition to the final payment, ensuring that all procedures comply with internal policies and external regulations.
By maintaining a comprehensive audit trail, organisations can quickly identify and rectify any discrepancies or non-compliance issues, thereby safeguarding against potential financial mismanagement and legal challenges. This level of visibility not only supports thorough audits but also fosters a culture of accountability and integrity within the organisation, as every stakeholder is aware that their actions are being monitored and recorded.
The P2P landscape includes legacy enterprise tools and newer, more agile platforms. Here's a side-by-side comparison to help you evaluate which solution fits your needs best:
| Software | Key Features | Best For | Pricing Insight | Summit Comparison |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Coupa | Full P2P suite, supplier portal, spend analysis, advanced analytics | Large enterprises with global operations | Enterprise-tier pricing | Summit offers faster deployment and simpler budgeting tools |
| SAP Ariba | Supplier management, contract lifecycle, integration with SAP ERP | Enterprises using SAP ecosystem | Custom pricing | Summit provides a more modern interface and localised support |
| Oracle Procurement Cloud | Deep analytics, procurement and sourcing integration | Oracle-based companies | Enterprise pricing | Summit is more adaptable for mid-market companies |
| Precoro | Budget tracking, approvals, purchase order management | SMEs and growing businesses | ~£30/user/month | Summit provides stronger invoice handling and custom fields |
| Kissflow Procurement Cloud | Flexible workflows, PR to payment, user-friendly design | Teams needing easy customisation | Starts ~£160/month | Summit offers a more finance-first experience |
| Summit (Finance Ops Platform) | Budget-centric spend control, invoice scanning, approvals tracking | Fast-growing companies in Asia | Transparent and scalable | Not a full P2P suite but supports key procurement workflows |
Note: Summit is not a full-featured P2P software. However, it enables finance teams to manage vendor payments, enforce budget limits, automate approval flows, and sync with accounting tools, while providing the option to use current payment methods. This makes it a strong complement for companies that don’t require complex procurement suites.
A full-scale P2P system is often the right choice if:
You’re managing procurement across multiple countries or entities
You need deep contract lifecycle and supplier performance analytics
Procurement is a strategic, centralised function in your organisation
However, many growing companies don’t need the complexity or cost of an enterprise procurement platform. Instead, they want a solution that gives finance teams:
Control over budgets and spend
Smooth invoice and approval flows
Visibility into department-level purchases
In these cases, a platform like Summit can be a better fit—helping finance teams stay agile while laying the foundation for more structured procurement in the future.
The best procure-to-pay software isn’t necessarily the one with the longest feature list—it’s the one that fits your organisation’s current needs, is easy to adopt across teams, and can scale as you grow.
If your business is expanding and you need better visibility and control over vendor spend, approvals, and budget tracking, then investing in a P2P platform could make a significant difference. But it’s equally important to avoid over-engineering your workflows.
For finance teams seeking automation, real-time visibility, and better decision-making—without the bloat of traditional procurement systems—Summit offers a finance-first platform that brings structure to spend and clarity to budgets. Contact us today to start a conversation about how we can support your business goals and streamline your financial operations.