In order to understand the full spectrum of a concept that you are unfamiliar with, sometimes it is best to ask an expert to get answers. When it comes to your procure-to-pay or source-to-pay system, sometimes the best thing you can do is explore p2p consulting options. Although it may seem like a simple operation to source, buy and pay for the goods and services that your company needs, if you do it in the correct manner, you can save a lot of money and time. If you do it wrong…it could cost you greatly.
P2P and S2P
Procure-to-pay and source-to-pay go hand in hand, except that source-to-pay has an extra phase. Source-to-pay is the series of steps and events that take place, from locating the sources for goods and services to obtaining the orders and finally paying for them in the end. Procure-to-pay is when the sources are already available, but you still have to obtain the goods and services then pay for them. Whether you already have the sources or you need to find them, the entire source-to-pay strategy that you implement for your business can either be beneficial or cause problems and cost money.
The Source-to-Pay Fundamentals
The entire process from sourcing the goods to establishing contracts, then buying and paying for the goods can be tedious and daunting. What a great consultant can bring to the table is an experienced understanding of how the whole process works. Discovering and obtaining the right sources for your business is crucial and can save a substantial amount of money throughout every procurement cycle. Planing out the entire process before you even start is the best way to lay the whole operation out on the table and pick it apart to see where problems exist and what works. Planning out your operation with the help of an experienced consultant could be the greatest favor you could do for your entire company.
Procurement and Technology
We live in an age of technology, and many businesses are learning that if they don’t get on board they will suffer for it at some point or another. The COVID pandemic taught millions of business owners around the world that they could still do business if they had the right technology in place. People were able to work from their own homes by way of a software platform that allowed them all to work together from anywhere they wished.
Although there were software platforms available to business owners that had the capabilities to simplify their entire source-to-pay processes before the pandemic, they were not as popular as they are now.
Advanced technology and artificial intelligence take much of the hard word away from the source-to-pay process because the software was designed to seek out sources that are a great match for the company, and follow through with any contractual commitments that were agreed upon during the sourcing process.
The Procure-to-Pay Consultant
A seasoned procure-to-pay consultant will be able to guide a company through the entire source-to-pay process. From the planning stage to the very end where everything is paid for, and all of the invoices have been satisfied. The consultant will also be knowledgeable about the software platforms that are available for procurement purposes. Since many of these platforms are fairly new, it may take some time and training to be able to implement and understand a digital procurement solution. Hiring a qualified consultant to bring experience and valuable insight into the backbone of your company can not only save money and time but maximize every minute that is spent within the entire source-to-pay process.