• Latest
  • Trending
  • All
What supply chain pros can learn from their salaries

What supply chain pros can learn from their salaries

November 14, 2019

Global Strategic Sourcing Software Market 2017-2026| SAP Ariba, Coupa, Scout RFP, Zycus, Procurify – Galus Australis

April 16, 2020
Weakest link in supply chain threatens car industry revival

Weakest link in supply chain threatens car industry revival

April 16, 2020
New case reported at Lexington LEX2 warehouse

New case reported at Lexington LEX2 warehouse

April 15, 2020
These inventory trackers will notify you when hard-to-find items are back in stock

These inventory trackers will notify you when hard-to-find items are back in stock

April 15, 2020

Last Mile Delivery Market Analysis, Revenue, Share, Growth Rate & Forecast To 2025

April 15, 2020
Antonov An-225 Mriya: world’s largest cargo plane, history, details

Antonov An-225 Mriya: world’s largest cargo plane, history, details

April 15, 2020
Coronavirus | Punjab all set for wheat procurement within lockdown norms

Coronavirus | Punjab all set for wheat procurement within lockdown norms

April 14, 2020
Copperstate Farms Launches International Cannabis Brand DNA Genetics in Arizona Market

Copperstate Farms Launches International Cannabis Brand DNA Genetics in Arizona Market

April 14, 2020
Mzee Moi’s Ksh10B Gift to Gideon

Mzee Moi’s Ksh10B Gift to Gideon

April 14, 2020
Covid Knights: Corporate social purpose in the time of COVID-19

Covid Knights: Corporate social purpose in the time of COVID-19

April 14, 2020
How Tesla And BMW Are Leading A Supply Chain Renaissance With Blockchain

How Tesla And BMW Are Leading A Supply Chain Renaissance With Blockchain

April 14, 2020
Last Mile Delivery Market Worth Observing Growth | UPS, FedEx, SF Express

Last Mile Delivery Market Worth Observing Growth | UPS, FedEx, SF Express

April 14, 2020
  • Supply Chain
  • Logistics
  • Warehousing
  • Procurement
  • Shipping
  • More
    • Strategic Sourcing
    • Spend Analysis
    • Inventory
    • Contact Us
No Result
View All Result
United States International Supply Chain Commission
United States International Supply Chain Commission
Home Supply Chain

What supply chain pros can learn from their salaries

by usiscc
November 14, 2019
in Supply Chain
0
What supply chain pros can learn from their salaries
493
SHARES
1.4k
VIEWS
Share on FacebookShare on Twitter

I’ve been in the P2P (procure-to-pay) and payment space for over 15 years. Before that, I spent a bunch of years selling payroll automation. Payroll automation achieved mass adoption relatively quickly—few companies today pay employees manually.

I figured—wrongly—that P2P was the next green field for back-office technology. Just as every company has to pay its employees, every company also has to pay its suppliers. Manual processing for both payroll and supplier payments is expensive, inefficient, and non-scalable. Technology for procurement and invoice handling seemed on the verge of breaking through, similarly to payroll technology back in the day.

I wasn’t alone in thinking that. In 2005, the company I worked for brought an analyst in the space in to address our sales team about industry trends. He told us that invoice processing would be paperless by 2010. We’ve come a long way, but here in late 2019, far too many companies still deal with paper invoices and manual processes. Supplier payment automation can help change that.

When I first started selling P2P solutions, the primary challenge I faced was a lack of awareness—most organizations didn’t know there was a better way to process invoices. Standard operating procedure was to hire a bunch of people to review invoices, manually enter them into the financial system, and get them paid. More invoices? Hire more people—just as it had been with payroll.

Some companies hired “black belts” to make changes to their processes by creating shared service centers or, in some cases, outsourcing the entire department to a business process outsourcing company. That had its own issues—namely lack of control and timing gaps, since many of these BPOs sat halfway across the globe.

As time went on, P2P solution providers became more widely known, and a growing number of companies adopted these solutions in order to reduce costs and increase efficiency by getting visibility into spend and putting more controls on how employees purchased goods or approved invoices.

Clearly the real challenge wasn’t lack of awareness. It was getting the project to the top of the list in a given company. Without a doubt, P2P solutions can drive positive ROI, but so can many other initiatives. Implementation of these types of projects can be lengthy, and eat up time and resources in procurement, finance and IT.

Based on my experience, for organizations with annual revenues greater than $500 million, a typical P2P project can come with one-time implementation fees north of $250,000 (or more with the addition of professional services) and implementation time frames of nine months to a year or more. That’s a pretty big chunk of change for ROI that may take another year or so to manifest. As a result, these projects get pushed aside in favor of initiatives that generate revenue relatively quickly.

That was the case with countless companies I called on—they saw the value but still couldn’t get it done. Selling the ROI for P2P solutions was far more challenging than doing the same for payroll solutions. It was frustrating as hell.

Companies want P2P but can’t figure out how to get there, and they’re not sure what to do first. Do we automate P2P and then finish it off by automating payments, or do we flip the scenario around? As companies trying to discern which should come first, I firmly believe that many companies may not fully understand what an enterprise payment platform can bring to the table and how the ROI it drives can fund their P2P project.

So, what should come first, the chicken or the egg? If egg = payments, then I say egg. It is why most if not all P2P providers are trying to figure out how to automate payments.


Jim Wright

Jim Wright

Jim Wright is the Vice President of Enterprise Sales in the East Region at Nvoicepay.


For reprint and licensing requests for this article, click here.


Share197Tweet123Share49
usiscc

usiscc

  • Trending
  • Comments
  • Latest

Global Strategic Sourcing Software Market 2017-2026| SAP Ariba, Coupa, Scout RFP, Zycus, Procurify – Galus Australis

April 16, 2020
Antonov An-225 Mriya: world’s largest cargo plane, history, details

Antonov An-225 Mriya: world’s largest cargo plane, history, details

April 15, 2020
3 keys to mitigating severe supply shortages from coronavirus disruption

3 keys to mitigating severe supply shortages from coronavirus disruption

March 18, 2020

Global Strategic Sourcing Software Market 2017-2026| SAP Ariba, Coupa, Scout RFP, Zycus, Procurify – Galus Australis

0
Global Industry Analysis, Size, Share, Growth, Trends, and Forecasts 2016–2024 – ZMR News Reports

Global Industry Analysis, Size, Share, Growth, Trends, and Forecasts 2016–2024 – ZMR News Reports

0
PHOTOS: Ottawa firefighters respond to warehouse fire

PHOTOS: Ottawa firefighters respond to warehouse fire

0

Global Strategic Sourcing Software Market 2017-2026| SAP Ariba, Coupa, Scout RFP, Zycus, Procurify – Galus Australis

April 16, 2020
Weakest link in supply chain threatens car industry revival

Weakest link in supply chain threatens car industry revival

April 16, 2020
New case reported at Lexington LEX2 warehouse

New case reported at Lexington LEX2 warehouse

April 15, 2020
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of Use
  • Disclaimer
  • DMCA
  • Contact Us

Copyright © 2020 usiscc.org.

No Result
View All Result
  • Supply Chain
  • Logistics
  • Warehousing
  • Procurement
  • Shipping
  • More
    • Strategic Sourcing
    • Spend Analysis
    • Inventory
    • Contact Us

Copyright © 2020 usiscc.org.

This website uses cookies to improve your experience. We'll assume you're ok with this, but you can opt-out if you wish. Cookie settingsACCEPT
Privacy & Cookies Policy

Privacy Overview

This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. Out of these cookies, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. But opting out of some of these cookies may have an effect on your browsing experience.
Necessary Always Enabled

Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. This category only includes cookies that ensures basic functionalities and security features of the website. These cookies do not store any personal information.

Non-necessary

Any cookies that may not be particularly necessary for the website to function and is used specifically to collect user personal data via analytics, ads, other embedded contents are termed as non-necessary cookies. It is mandatory to procure user consent prior to running these cookies on your website.