Peakflo vs. Summit: Choosing the Right Expense Management Tool for Finance Teams in Singapore

Finance teams require robust and efficient expense management solutions to optimise workflows, reduce costs, and maintain financial transparency. Selecting the most suitable platform can significantly impact financial operations and compliance. Two leading platforms in Singapore, Peakflo and Summit, offer distinct capabilities. But which one is the better fit for your organisation?

According to a study by McKinsey & Company, AI-driven fraud detection systems are expected to significantly reduce financial losses by enabling proactive identification of fraudulent activities. Predictive AI models, leveraging machine learning and behavioral analytics, are transforming how financial institutions detect and prevent fraud in real time, reducing the need for manual intervention and increasing accuracy. This means smart, automated solutions aren’t just nice to have, they’re essential for modern finance teams. Summit’s advanced AI is designed to cut down on repetitive work, freeing finance teams to focus on what truly matters. But what does this mean in real terms?

By automating complex processes, businesses can drastically improve efficiency, reduce operational costs, and enhance compliance with real-time monitoring. The result is fewer errors, faster processing times, and a more strategic approach to expense management.

This article provides an in-depth comparison of Peakflo vs. Summit, evaluating key factors such as invoice management, AI automation, payment flexibility, and pricing models to assist finance teams in making an informed decision. With a clear breakdown of functionalities and benefits, finance leaders can determine which platform best aligns with their operational needs and growth strategies.

1. Invoice & Expense Management

While both Peakflo and Summit streamline invoice and expense management, their methodologies differ. The right choice depends on how your organisation handles financial transactions and what level of automation is required to reduce manual effort.

Peakflo:

• Supports both Accounts Receivable (AR) and Accounts Payable (AP), making it suitable for organisations seeking to manage vendor payments and customer collections in one system.
• Provides customisable approval workflows for invoice and reimbursement processing, ensuring finance teams can implement structured processes tailored to their needs.
• Offers real-time payment tracking to monitor invoice processing status and avoid bottlenecks, leading to greater financial oversight.
• Integrates with various accounting software, ensuring smooth data synchronisation across financial systems, reducing errors and improving accuracy.

Summit:

• Specialises in AP invoice processing and employee reimbursements, offering deeper automation in this area, making it particularly useful for organisations with frequent vendor invoice and employee reimbursement cycles.
• Automates the full lifecycle of expense claims, from submission to final approval, minimising manual intervention and expediting approval processes.
• Smart approval workflows automate the AP process by routing requests to the correct approver and sending notifications to the right personnel, eliminating manual approval requests.
• Automatically flags rejected claims, notifies employees, and facilitates quick resubmission, thereby reducing processing delays and ensuring compliance.
• Incorporates a comprehensive audit trail, ensuring compliance and transparency in expense management by maintaining a detailed log of every financial transaction.

🔹 Key Insight: While Peakflo offers broad AP and AR functionalities, Summit provides a more automated and detailed approach to AP invoice processing and employee reimbursements, significantly reducing manual workload and ensuring smoother financial operations.

2. AI-Powered Automation

Artificial intelligence is transforming financial management by improving accuracy, fraud detection, and workflow efficiency. The ability to automate repetitive tasks while ensuring compliance is a game-changer for finance teams.

Peakflo:

• Utilises anomaly detection to identify unusual transactions and policy violations, adding an extra layer of security.
• Supports rule-based automation for setting up approval workflows and invoice routing, allowing for structured financial governance.
• Provides AI-assisted spend categorisation, which enhances reporting accuracy and budgeting efficiency, ensuring finance teams have better insights into spending patterns.

Summit:

• Delivers a more advanced AI suite, featuring:
  • Smart scanning that auto-populates missing invoice and receipt details such as categories and currency information, minimising data entry errors.
  • Handwritten receipt recognition, supporting multilingual document processing, which is beneficial for companies operating across different regions.
  • Real-time policy compliance checks, ensuring adherence to company policies and reducing the risk of regulatory violations.
  • Fraud detection algorithms, capable of identifying duplicate receipts and irregular claims, preventing fraudulent transactions before they occur.
  • Policy checker detects potential expense anomalies before submission, allowing proactive intervention.

🔹 Key Insight: While Peakflo provides basic fraud detection, Summit’s AI-driven automation enhances accuracy, compliance, and fraud prevention, making it a more sophisticated option for businesses looking to leverage technology for financial efficiency.

3. Pricing Model

Cost-effectiveness plays a pivotal role in selecting an expense management platform, particularly for scaling organisations. Choosing the right pricing model ensures financial sustainability and maximises ROI.

Peakflo:

• Employs a payment volume-based pricing model for AP, where fees escalate with transaction volume, potentially increasing costs for high-growth businesses.
• Charges per-user fees for reimbursement processing, increasing costs as additional employees are onboarded, making it less scalable for larger teams.
• Offers custom pricing tiers that adjust based on business size and transaction volume, providing some flexibility in pricing structures.

Summit:

• Implements a fair-use, transaction-based pricing model, ensuring that businesses pay based on actual platform usage, which can be more cost-effective.
• No per-user charges, allowing unrestricted employee access without incurring extra costs, making it ideal for companies with large teams.
• Provides predictable monthly billing, avoiding surprise costs as teams expand and ensuring budgeting accuracy.

🔹 Key Insight: Summit offers a more predictable and cost-effective pricing structure, whereas Peakflo’s pricing scales with transaction volume and team size, potentially leading to higher expenses for growing businesses.

Final Verdict: Peakflo vs. Summit – Which One Is Right for You?

Both Peakflo and Summit provide robust expense management solutions, but their strengths lie in different areas.

📌 Choose Peakflo if your organisation requires:

✔️ A hybrid AR & AP platform to manage both vendor payments and customer collections.

✔️ Basic fraud detection for expense monitoring.

✔️ Customisable workflows for approval processes.

✔️ Scheduled payment automation to streamline financial operations.

✔️ Accounting software integrations for seamless data flow.

📌 Choose Summit if your organisation requires:

✔️ Advanced AI-driven automation for expense processing and policy compliance.

✔️ A specialised AP & employee reimbursement solution with end-to-end automation.

✔️ Customisable approval workflows with smart approval processes tailored to your company’s policy.

✔️ More flexible and scalable pricing without per-user fees.

✔️ Flexible payment options with existing banking partners, avoiding prepaid wallet requirements.

✔️ Multi-currency support for handling international transactions efficiently.

✔️ Predictive analytics to proactively detect potential financial risks.

Summary of Features:

Summit stands out as the more automated, scalable, and cost-efficient option for companies prioritising AP and expense management. However, if your organisation requires both AR and AP functionalities, Peakflo may be a better fit. Understanding your specific needs and workflow challenges is crucial in selecting the right tool. If automation, flexibility, and cost-efficiency are your top priorities, Summit is the clear winner.

🚀 Want to see how Summit can revolutionise your finance operations? Book a demo today!