You want a procure-to-pay (P2P) software that automates your procurement process and addresses issues like lack of visibility, double payments, and delayed approvals. However, since such a tool has multiple users at different hierarchies and a complex workflow, you often end up with a more complex process if you don’t choose the right software.
With ad-hoc processes, many issues pop-up: employees wait weeks for approvals, procurement teams have no real-time visibility over purchase requests and don’t know how to prioritize, finance teams get minimal control over expenses, and the entire process is chaotic. Hence, choosing the right procure-to-pay solution requires a focus on ease of use and flexibility.
In this post, we will share the best procure-to-pay software for businesses in the UAE. We will discuss how P2P software helps with procurement management and which tools are worth considering.
What is Procure-to-Pay Software?
Procure-to-pay software is a tool to automate the complete procurement process, which combines accounts payable (AP) software and procurement software.
Instead of having your procurement processes and data scattered across emails, Jira, different task management tools, and custom ERPs, you bring it onto a single platform.
By moving from your legacy tools to an automated P2P software, you can:
- automate approval workflows, making the purchase request (PR) process easier and faster. Flexible approval workflows enable all stakeholders to approve requests with a trigger-based flow.
- integrate with ERPs to maintain a preferred vendor list and manage order items. While most P2P software supports record-keeping only, some allow the conversion of PRs to purchase orders (PO) automatically after approval.
- match the goods received note (GRN) to enable two-way or three-way matching and ensure proper inventory and timely vendor payments.
- process payments with multiple payment options to avoid delays and foster vendor relationships. It also helps avoid double payments, underpayment, or overpayment.
- reconcile data faster via integrations with accounting software, enabling more visibility and control. Accounting teams get the right documents, and finance teams get visibility over expenses.
Since legacy ERPs aren’t enough to manage your entire procurement process, adding P2P software makes purchasing and payments easier.
Top 9 Procure-to-Pay Software
Here is a procure-to-pay software list for companies in the UAE:
1. Pluto
Pluto is an all-in-one procure-to-pay solution to transform your procurement and AP processes. It sits on top of your ERP as a layer to manage the multiple stages of the procurement process. From automating PRs to setting multi-layer approval workflows and managing vendors, it is the ultimate solution to transform a chaotic procurement process into a faster and more efficient one.
Key Features:
- Features fully customizable workflows for raising PR and POs, requiring no technical expertise
- Offers a flexible approval engine capable of managing intricate hierarchies
- Enables multi-layer invoice approvals with policies to align with your company's structure
- Ability to upload invoices easily via WhatsApp images, eliminating the need to search for invoice details. Also facilitates invoice capture via emails directly to speed up the receipt capture process
- A centralized dashboard to gather bills in one place and track the status to avoid double payments
- Vendor-specific corporate cards to control budgets and detect irrelevant expenses
- Supports local and international wire transfers to make payments
- OCR technology minimizes manual data entry by creating and populating bills from invoices
- Supports ERP integration to synchronize your vendors, POs, and bills and integrates with accounting software, such as Oracle, NetSuite, Zoho, Quickbooks, Wafeq, Xero, etc.
- Integrates with payment gateways and accounting software for seamless payments and reconciliation (a feature not available in other solutions)
- Raises alerts for upcoming payments and enables scheduling payments in advance and automate invoices
- Provides a complete audit trail of the process to ensure visibility at each step
- Shows real-time analytics to facilitate deep insights for supporting budget control
Pricing:
Request the sales team for a custom quote
Pros:
- More financial control with vendor-specific corporate cards
- Better Forex rates than most local banks
- Multiple integration options including Netsuite, Dynamics and more
Cons:
- Slightly longer on-boarding due to unlimited corporate purchasing card offering
- Directly integrates with all other major ERPs except Tally
2. Order.co
Order.co is a procure-to-pay platform that provides you access to over 15,000+ vendors in addition to your preferred vendors. It acts as an online marketplace like Amazon or eBay to help you procure items for your business. You add items to the cart, and it enables a rule-based approval system for POs with complete control and visibility.
Key Features:
- Provides a custom, pre-approved Order.co catalog, including your current vendors and a vast network of 15,000+ vendors
- Supports purchases from multiple vendors regardless of their ordering methods (API, website, email)
- Sources the best prices for your needs to automatically generate POs and set up recurring orders to save time and reduce manual errors
- Offers real-time budgeting and reporting insights by the user, location, cost center, or vendor
- Simplifies payment processing by consolidating all orders from multiple vendors into one monthly invoice
Pricing:
Dependent upon locations and usage; contact hello@order.co for pricing information
Pros:
- Customizable product lists for ordering
- Easy-to-create customizable workflows
- Ability to categorize purchases and run reports
Cons:
- Set up is confusing and requires customer support help
- Can not order from multiple vendors at the same time
3. Yooz
Yooz optimizes the procurement process by focusing on invoice management. It is suitable for mid-size companies of all sectors wanting to automate procurement with a cloud-based procure-to-pay solution. It uses artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) technologies to enhance security and control in their account payable automation software.
Key Features:
- Enables online, real-time management of supplier relationships, improving communication and collaboration
- Provides mobile access for invoice approval and communication
- Maintains regulation-compliant traceability, ensuring adherence to relevant laws and standards
- Automates real-time general ledger (GL) coding and PO matching
- Captures all types of documents through various channels, such as email, drag and drop, mobile, scan, and secure file transfer protocol (SFTP)
- Integrates with accounting software and ERPs
- Allows users to approve and pay invoices in batches, offering multiple payment options, such as virtual credit card, ACH, e-check, and paper check
- Offers a range of services, including consulting, configuration, training, and user support
Pricing:
Free trial for up to 15 days followed by a "pay-as-you-use" model. Also offers “gold edition” subscription pricing (based on the volume of documents) for an unlimited number of users and 4 hours of complimentary service
Pros:
- Integrates with Sage Intacct
- Ability to tag people in the comments and email them directly from the invoice
- Numerous criteria available for setting up the approval workflows
Cons:
- Doesn’t offer payment services in the UAE, so you need to carry out payments on a different platform
- Doesn't have integrations with major vendors as a form of punchout
- Time-consuming to download and export files
- Hard for vendors to send the invoices through Yooz
4. Kissflow
Kissflow simplifies and enhances procurement processes while ensuring transparency and compliance. It helps users automate the entire process without requiring technical expertise or coding experience. It comes with 50+ ready-to-use applications, enabling unlimited automation applications.
Key Features:
- Offers fluid forms to enable easy capturing, approval, and tracking of PRs
- Allows users to register and maintain vendors with access to multilingual catalogs
- Integration with accounting systems, ERPs, and finance systems like Quickbooks, SAP, and Microsoft Dynamics
- Accelerates the invoice approval process with timely alerts and automated checks. Connect invoices to contracts, POs, and service entry sheets in a single dashboard
- Customizable reports to visualize data using charts, filters, and heatmaps
- Ability to define and manage budget restrictions with dynamic rules throughout the entire procure-to-pay lifecycle
- Customized approval workflows to ensure transparency with rule-based approval processes
- Smart alerts that provide real-time updates on the status of POs and invoices to keep stakeholders informed
Pricing:
Starts at $2499/month (billed annually). Pricing varies based on transaction volume and number of users
Pros:
- Intuitive interface with a relatively short learning curve
Cons:
- Does not support payment flows in the UAE
- Cost of its license is high (particularly for SMBs)
- Can not handle intricate processes that require a high degree of customization or involve multiple conditional branches
- Customization options are limited, including specific integrations, advanced business rules, or more sophisticated automation capabilities
5. Coupa
Coupa is a cloud-based automation platform to manage procurement processes. It facilitates supply chain optimization by providing visibility and control. It brings consumer shopping ease to the procurement process. With a focus on user adoption, it provides an intuitive shopping experience for employees, making it easier to adhere to pre-approved spending guidelines.
Key Features:
- Simplifies procurement by allowing organizations to track pre-approved spending and get real-time visibility into POs and order lifecycle
- Maximizes pre-approved spend to offer complete visibility over the purchase-to-pay processes
- Promotes user adoption at all levels with an easy-to-use interface, creating value for both employees and vendors
- Provides a centralized platform within Coupa Procure, allowing easy comparison of items across multiple vendors
- Offers real-time budget management with budget meters, allowing organizations to assess budget sufficiency before committing to spending
- Employs AI and machine learning to detect errors and fraud across business spend
- Enables quick notifications of disruptions and allows vendors to confirm availability, minimizing unplanned downtime
- Provides real-time visibility into inventory availability, helping organizations reduce redundant and wasteful spending
Pricing:
Request the sales team for a custom quote
Pros:
- Several categories and filters in the analytics section to streamline data
- Chat option enables approver and claimant to discuss issues with receipts
- Enables setting up of customized approval chains and including additional new approvers
Cons:
- Lots of unnecessary notifications, making it difficult to select the ones that need action or comment
- Low receipt searchability, making retrieval time-consuming
- Inconsistent syncing of remit-to address from NetSuite
- Complex to implement and not intuitive, forcing admins to spend more time resolving employees' queries
- Slow customer service
6. Esker
Esker is a cloud-based automation procurement software. It helps you optimize procurement processes and collaborate strategically with your vendors. With the ability to integrate across various company departments, it simplifies user adoption while facilitating visibility and control.
Key Features:
- Facilitates approval mechanism and GRN matching for each PR and invoice
- Offers real-time analytics, enabling you to maintain tighter budget controls
- Gives access to products from preferred vendors, aligning purchases with company procurement policies
- Provides a self-service portal, facilitating supplier onboarding, catalog management, and invoice status access
- Customizable dashboards to manage daily tasks, monitor productivity, and identify issues and opportunities as they arise
- Enables you to customize the interface with your company's corporate identity, enhancing the supplier's ability to identify and engage with your organization seamlessly
Pricing:
Contact sales for pricing
Pros:
- Contains filtered views to allow for focused priorities
- Auto-sends payment reminders
Cons:
- Gets expensive with each customization implemented
- Doesn’t allow unused/old customer accounts to be deleted
- Integration with accounting software isn't seamless
- Approval workflow requires a manual trigger to start
7. PayEm
PayEm offers a procure-to-pay solution, covering everything in one place to replace your traditional procurement process. With a core focus on processing PR, it simplifies the creation of POs with custom forms and approval workflows. It facilitates collaboration between procurement and finance teams to enhance visibility and control.
Key Features:
- Offers custom request forms equipped with conditional logic to ensure a user-friendly experience
- Provides fully customizable automated approval workflows based on factors like amounts, subsidiaries, and stakeholders
- Integrates with communication platforms like Slack and email, allowing request tracking and approvals
- Consolidates all the requests and approvals, simplifying discussions, document sharing, and creating an audit log
- Enables real-time updates and clear overviews of request statuses, minimizing the need for follow-up inquiries
- Offers OCR technology for invoice processing
- Syncs with your ERP and enables exporting reconciled transactions and uploading them to your ERP
- Automates vendor management with payment scheduling, funds transferring, and limits setting for each vendor
Pricing:
Pros:
- Multiple virtual credit cards for different vendors
- Supports global transactions
Cons:
- Some vendors don't accept PayEm cards
- High transaction clearing time
- Limits the user to either a virtual or physical card at one time
8. Pipefy
Pipefy is an automation procure-to-pay tool to manage end-to-end procurement processes, from PR to paying vendors, to create a frictionless experience. It aims to break silos between teams to simplify purchase and AP.
Key Features:
- Allows you to create and customize workflows, from purchase requisition to supplier management
- Provides secure portals where records and documents can be organized, ensuring that all information is easily accessible, especially during audits
- Ensures compliance with custom forms that include required fields to accelerate POs
- Enables access to real-time insights to help you forecast ideal quantities and vendors for requisitions
- Evaluates your processes, delivering reliable data to enable strategic and data-driven decisions
- Integrates with your existing ERPs and accounting systems, such as NetSuite, Oracle E-business Suite, QuickBooks, Sage Intacct, etc.
- Enables deadline alerts, approval flows, and information exchange to prevent late fees and cashing in on early payment discounts
- Offers a customizable dashboard to streamline vendor registration, updates, onboarding, and contract management
Pricing:
Offers three packages starting with a free option for smaller teams, and a subsequent model that costs $20 per month per user and $34 per month per user. Also, offers an enterprise plan with custom pricing
Pros:
- Offers templates for organizing processes
Cons:
- Complex sign-up process
- Workflows aren’t flexible with difficulty with respect to adding new users and making changes
- Difficult to import data and search in the database for information
9. Procurify
Procurify speeds up the procurement process, enhances internal communication, and reduces financial risks. It is an easy-to-implement tool that saves time for finance and operations teams. From catalog management to custom user controls, it helps to track the procurement process in real time.
Key Features:
- Tailors POs to match your internal processes and vendor expectations
- Creates, tracks, and maintains an audit trail of all procurement transactions for transparency and compliance
- Enhances financial controls by enabling PO-based purchasing
- Ensures that requested items are approved against budgets before procurement
- Syncs PO with your accounting system or ERP, whether via API, CSV, flat file, or direct integration
- Integrates with trusted vendors through punchout catalogs to streamline the ordering process
- Enables blanket PO, which involve making multiple purchases against a single PO, even when details of future purchases may be unknown
- Provides PO workflows to save on shipping costs, unlock vendor discounts, and reduce paperwork
Pricing:
Starts at $2000/month with a custom pricing tier
Pros:
- Easy-to-make amendments in the original PO
- Enables ordering from multiple websites for resources, including Amazon
- Makes it easy to upload documents to support expense and order reports
Cons:
- Doesn’t offer payment services in UAE, so you will need to carry out payments on a different platform
- Doesn’t cater to the UAE market, and does not support UAE-specific workflows such as VAT management
- Cannot edit orders once they are approved
- Cannot see the order history for a catalog item without running a report
- Physical inventory has to be tracked outside Procurify
Which Procure-to-Pay Software Should You Pick?
Don’t choose a platform that offers the maximum functionality. Instead, choose the one that is user-friendly and flexible.
Procurement is already a complex process that requires visibility by different stakeholders. Choosing a tool that offers visibility and accommodates complex business needs will help you transform your chaotic procure-to-pay process.
If you want to get started, book a demo, and our team will help you identify the bottlenecks and make the entire process simpler and manageable.