Approve Purchase Requests instead of invoices!

Knowing what you’re going to pay before you pay is better than paying for things you didn’t know you had to pay for. Long and complicated sentence, but it sounds obvious, right?

For years, invoice approval workflows have been integrated, optimized and marketed. However, invoices are documents created when it may already be too late. The sales contract was signed, the item delivered or the service performed. The risk of losing control over spending can be easily eliminated by starting one step earlier in the process.

Purchase requests are used to describe – and, more importantly, formally approve – the future need for goods and services before the order is created. Invoice management is old hat and we argue that companies should start with purchase requests for the following reasons:

Requirements: A purchase request contains a clear description of the goods or services needed. This ensures that suppliers deliver according to the company’s expectations.

Expertise: The request process ensures that a company’s needs are approved on a department-specific, cost center-specific, as well as expertise- and hierarchy-based ground.

Policies: Many invoices do not include contact information about who requested the good or service within the company. The accounting department wastes valuable time trying to assign appropriate stakeholders (principals, auditors). A purchase request not only contains contact information, but also automatically takes into account predefined cost centers, inventory accounts, and approval structures.

Efficiency: B2B eCommerce platforms integrated into the platform enable individual employees to enjoy the familiar online shopping experience while avoiding unstructured, time-consuming orders.

Competitive pricing: Purchase requests can be made and assigned to one or more suppliers. Engaging buyers can help find the supplier with the best price/performance ratio or bundle many needs across the enterprise with one supplier.

To start even earlier than with invoice management and approvals it is important to use the right tool:

Hivebuy orchestrates ordering processes from budgeting, to purchase decision, to invoice verification in one enterprise-wide solution. This guarantees efficiency and ongoing transparency across all processes and costs. Founded by procurement and finance experts, Hivebuy integrates directly with leading B2B eCommerce solutions, brings real-time budgets into the operational process, and can be rolled out across the enterprise in a matter of hours without any technical implementation.

Any more questions?

Book a personal appointment and we can clarify questions and advise you on the basis of a product presentation while guiding you through all the benefits.

Jaime Aguirre Garrido-Lestache

VP Sales

[email protected]