Accounts Payable automation has long been the go-to move for organisations wanting quick wins in finance. Invoice handling is high-volume, manual, and fraught with errors, so deploying AI/automation to scan, extract, and route invoice data seems like an obvious step. But faster invoice processing alone does not deliver control. Without tying invoices back to purchase orders, confirming delivery, or enforcing budget checks, organisations may simply be speeding up without governing better. 

Procure-to-Pay (P2P) offers a more holistic approach, embedding control early and throughout the spend cycle rather than leaving governance to retrospective checks. 

Why AP Alone Falls Short 

When organisations focus solely on AP, they digitalise the tail end of spending but leave the front end loosely governed. Invoices that arrive without a corresponding purchase order or goods received confirmation generate exceptions, delays, and manual efforts. Instead of fewer headaches, finance teams often find themselves chasing missing approvals or reconciling disputed invoices, even though the data arrives faster. 

In this model, automation speeds up the mechanics, but decision-making remains vulnerable. The question “Should we pay this invoice?” is too often answered only after the fact. 

What P2P Adds: Control from Day One 

A true P2P system links requisition, procurement, delivery confirmation, and payment into a single, auditable loop. When a user submits a requisition, the system checks the budget (cost centre, GL, project codes). If funds are available, a purchase order is issued; when goods arrive, a GRN confirms delivery. The invoice then enters the process, but now it is matched against order and delivery before moving downstream into posting. Only clean, verified transactions are allowed to flow into the ERP. 

This is not just process efficiency. It is control: enforcing budgets, limiting overcommitment, and embedding compliance at the outset of every transaction. 

Benefits Over AP: Visibility, Discipline, Insight 

Turning to P2P unlocks a range of gains that AP alone cannot deliver: 

• Fewer exceptions. Because invoices are matched with POs and GRNs, a much higher proportion pass automatically. The number of manual interventions drops dramatically. 

• Budget enforcement. One of the most powerful advantages is the ability to assign budgets at the cost‐centre, department, GL, or project level. With P2P, requisitions are checked against these budgets in real time, ensuring spend never outruns its authorised envelope. This turns finance from reactive record-keeper into proactive steward. 

• Built-in compliance. Every transaction is tied to procurement policy, vendor contracts, and internal controls. Audit trails are inherent, not retrospective. 

• Supplier confidence & relationship. Payments become predictable and transparent. Suppliers gain visibility into PO and invoice status (often via supplier portals), meaning fewer queries and more trust. Over time, this can lead to better negotiations or access to early-payment discounts. 

• Strategic intelligence. With the data flowing from requisition through payment, finance leaders gain high-resolution visibility of spend by supplier, category, department, or project. Forecasting, negotiation, cost reduction, and risk management all improve. 
• Tangible performance improvements. Studies of mature P2P adopters report processing-cost reductions of up to 50 % and cycle-time cuts of 60 % or more. Many also report 40-60 % improvements in spend visibility and control metrics. 

Real Results: Inpute Case Study of Sysco 

Consider the example of Sysco, which entrusted Inpute to deliver a full P2P solution. Before working with Inpute, Sysco’s finance team processed tens of thousands of invoices manually, paper-based, labour-intensive, and fragmented. Through Inpute’s deployment, Sysco introduced purchase-order workflows, goods receipt capture, intelligent invoice capture (for both PO and non-PO invoices), and integration into Microsoft Dynamics AX. The result: full visibility over the entire P2P cycle, streamlined dispute handling, and a more secure approval process. 

Sysco’s teams experienced both efficiency and control gains: invoices moved faster, exceptions dropped, and analysis of spend trends became possible. 

Inpute’s broader project history also includes clients such as BWG Foods, Montgomery and AXA, where process efficiencies, expanded capacity, and deeper control have been recurring outcomes. inpute.com 

International Evidence & Research

While many P2P benefits are based on industry practice, there is growing academic and market evidence validating these claims. In the procurement and finance automation domain, firms that centralise and automate P2P consistently outperform peers on cost, control, compliance, and spend visibility metrics. 

In adjacent domains, peer-to-peer models more broadly have drawn scholarly attention. Reviews of P2P lending platforms show how trust, automation, and data transparency are crucial for scaling such systems. Though lending is not the same as procurement, the underlying lessons of digitisation, control, and network-enabled visibility carry over: systems that enforce rules, provide transparency, and reduce manual friction succeed in scaling. 

In developing-economy lending platforms, studies highlight that P2P-like systems expand inclusion by lowering barriers and enforcing controls via digital workflows. The parallels are instructive for procurement: the more spend flows through structured digital paths, the stronger the control and insight becomes. 

Managing Uncertainty with Governance 

The value of P2P becomes especially vivid in unpredictable markets. Whether facing supply disruptions, inflation, or cost margin pressure, organisations need more than speed. They need disciplined control. With P2P, spend is not just processed, it is managed with foresight. 

In volatile times, the difference between paying quickly and spending wisely can be decisive. 

From Efficiency to Intelligence 

AP automation remains a valuable first step. But the full benefits of finance automation lie in expanding into P2P, where control, compliance, budget discipline, and supplier collaboration converge. 

Inpute’s 25-year track record, including the Sysco case and other clients across sectors, shows that organisations can move beyond tactical automation to strategic oversight. As organisations become more data-driven, those that stop at AP risk leaving value on the table; those that embrace P2P gain not just speed, but control, and the insights to act on it. 

A Note on Inpute P2P Practice 

Over the past 25 years, Inpute has supported organisations such as Sysco, BWG, and AXA, in broadening their scope from AP to P2P. The consistent outcome has been fewer exceptions, stronger compliance, and more intelligent use of financial data. The broader lesson is clear: AP automation is only the beginning. Embedding it within a P2P framework unlocks the full potential of finance automation. 

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