SaaS management

Best Business Spend Management Software For Your Business

Published on:
September 21, 2024
Vaishnavi Babu
Content
Karthikeyan Manivannan
Design
State of SaaS Procurement 2025
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According to Fortune Business Insights, the worldwide business spend management (BSM) software market size is projected to grow from $21.08 billion in 2023 to $46.42 billion by 2030. Companies realize that scrutinizing their spending habits is like having a financial detective on their side, uncovering hidden costs and inefficiencies. So, implementing business spend management solutions is a must for businesses to gain better control over their expenses. 

What is business spend management?

Business Spend Management (BSM) software can be described as an integrated system that enables companies to manage, monitor, and optimize their spending in the procurement, vendor management, invoicing, and costs. A BSM platform consolidates purchases, approvals, and vendor data, giving finance and procurement leaders full visibility and control over company-wide spend, rather than managing these functions in silos.

In practice, a BSM solution:

  • Identifies rogue or unwarranted expenditures.
  • Enhances procurement and supplier contracts.
  • Automates purchase procedures and authorizations.
  • Eases the conformity of regulatory requirements.
  • Make smarter spending choices to decrease costs.

Business spend management architecture

A business spend management system works on top of all the business processes and facilitates the finance team to track, manage and optimize the business expenses.At the foundation, a business spend management solution builds upon the existing enterprise processes, leveraging data from procurement, invoicing, vendor management and other financial activities. 

A typical business spend management software architecture consists of the following key components:

1.Sourcing

The sourcing component of a business spend management software focuses on managing the procurement process. 

It includes features such as: 

  • Supplier identification and evaluation
  • Request for proposal (RFP) management
  • Supplier negotiation
  • Contract management. 

This component helps streamline the procurement process and ensures that the organization selects the suitable suppliers and negotiates favorable terms.

2.Visibility

The visibility component provides real-time insights into spending patterns and trends across the organization. 

It includes:

  • Dashboards
  • Reports 
  • Analytics tools

This helps enable finance teams to monitor and analyze spending data. Also, the visibility helps identify areas of overspending, potential cost-saving opportunities and compliance with spending policies.

3.Supply chain planning

Business spend management platforms integrate with supply chain planning tools to optimize inventory levels, demand forecasting and supply chain operations. This component helps organizations align their spending with the overall supply chain strategy, ensuring efficient inventory management and reducing excess or obsolete inventory.

4.Strategic sourcing

Strategic sourcing identifies the best suppliers and negotiates optimal contracts. 

It involves:

  • Analyzing supplier performance
  • Managing supplier relationships
  • Driving cost savings through strategic purchasing decisions

The strategic sourcing component of a business spend management system helps organizations achieve better value from their supplier engagements.

5.Contract management

The contract management component within a business spend management software helps organizations centralize and manage their contracts with suppliers. 

It includes features such as:

  • Contract creation
  • Version control
  • Automated renewals
  • Contract terms
  • Obligations tracking

This component ensures that contracts comply with organizational policies and helps mitigate risks associated with supplier relationships.

6.Contingent workforce

Business spend management platforms also include functionality to manage the spending related to contingent workers or external contractors. This component helps track and manage contract labor expenses, automate onboarding and offboarding processes and ensure compliance with labor regulations.

7.Treasury management

Treasury management capabilities within a business spend management software enable organizations to optimize cash flow, manage financial risks and ensure efficient payment processes. This component may include features such as cash flow forecasting, payment optimization, bank connectivity and reconciliation.

8.Suppliers and risk

Managing supplier relationships and mitigating supplier-related risks is an essential aspect of business spend management. 

This component includes features such as: 

  • Supplier performance management
  • Supplier risk assessment
  • Compliance monitoring
  • Supplier collaboration tools.

It helps organizations build strong supplier partnerships while minimizing potential risks.

9.Inventory management

Business spend management solutions may integrate with inventory management tools to optimize inventory levels, track inventory costs and improve overall inventory management. 

This component helps organizations ensure that spending on inventory is aligned with demand and helps avoid excess stock or stockouts.

Looking to optimize your SaaS spends?

How I6 Group Optimized Cost on Their SaaS Stack With a 3X ROI

See how they did it

Benefits of Business Spend Management

Business spend management (BSM) systems allow business to have a real-time view of the spending in departments. When done well, they will streamline operations and optimize costs as well as improve relationships with suppliers. To make it easier to understand, we have categorized the benefits in three groups below:

Financial Benefits

1. Enhanced Cost Control

With BSM platforms, all spending information is centralized and can be easily tracked, overspending can be detected and redundant costs can be eliminated. This enhances financial efficiency and long term savings.

2. Late Payments and Fees avoidance.

Automating the payment schedule and identifying anomalies allow companies to avoid late penalties, mitigate credit terms, and enhance supplier trust, of which profitability is directly affected.

3. Recognition of Even Better Sourcing Opportunities.

When the spend data is consolidated, the business will be able to identify cost-effective sourcing options without having to sacrifice quality. This contributes to more intelligent supplier negotiations and high ROI.

4. Automated invoice management.

Automation would remove the errors of manual invoice approvals, speed up the process, and collect early payment discounts- injecting quantifiable savings.

Operational & Strategic Benefits

5. Reduced Cycle Times

Agility and faster decision making Standardized processes and automation speed up the process of supplier selection, contract negotiations and approvals allowing operation to proceed quicker.

6. Smoothed out Procurement.

BSM platforms streamline the whole procurement process, starting the supplier evaluation process, to purchase order automation to eliminate bottlenecks and deliver more valuable work to teams.

7. Data-Driven Decision-Making

Real-time analytics and dashboards emphasize the trends, performance, and spending patterns. Budgets, reallocation of resources and refining strategy can be done proactively by leaders.

8. Improved Systems and automation.

Digitizing procurement and expense processes allow companies to modernize internal operations, increase efficiency, and allow teams to scale operations without extra overhead.

Supplier & Risk Management Benefits

9. Bolstered Supplier Management.

The centralized supplier data assists organizations to track compliance, monitor performance and create superior collaboration. This increases the supplier quality and bargaining capability.

10. Detection of Maverick Spend

BSM solutions are able to detect unauthorized or out of policy costs very soon and guarantee compliance and mitigate financial leakage.

11. Regulatory Compliance

Having approval workflows and audit-ready reports, organizations may comply with industry regulations and internal controls to reduce fines or penalties.

12. Risk Management

Spend analysis provides opportunities to evaluate the credibility and stability of suppliers and prevent risks in advance and enhance resilience of the supply chain.

Spend management challenges solved by BSM systems
Challenges Problem BSM solution
Real-time spend visibility Managing and analyzing spending across a complex tech stack with numerous software tools is challenging without centralized visibility. Unified invoice management - BSM provides a centralized portal to manage all business invoices, allowing real-time visibility into spending across various systems.

This enables finance teams to track and analyze expenses in one unified platform, facilitating accurate spend visibility and informed decision-making.
Controlling expenditure Enforcing spending policies and identifying out-of-policy expenses in a complex tech stack can be time-consuming and prone to oversight. Assisted procurement - BSM offers assistance in procuring the right product at the best price, ensuring adherence to spending policies.

It guides users through the procurement process, suggesting optimal vendors and negotiating favorable terms, resulting in controlled expenditure and cost savings.
Increasing reporting accuracy Generating accurate reports across a complex tech stack with multiple software tools is hindered by data inconsistencies and manual processes. Automate expense reports to eliminate manual entry and ensure 100% accuracy.

BSM automates the creation of expense reports by integrating with various systems and extracting spending data automatically.

This eliminates manual errors and ensures accurate reporting for improved financial analysis and forecasting.
Disorganization The lack of a centralized system for managing spending across a complex tech stack leads to difficulties in accessing and analyzing spending data. Vendor management portal - BSM provides a centralized portal for vendor management, enabling businesses to build better relationships and negotiate early discounts.

By maintaining vendor information and communication in one platform, businesses can streamline their procurement processes and improve spending organization.
Risk management Identifying and mitigating potential risks in spending activities is crucial for businesses. The AI-powered spend management system provides necessary alerts for any anomalies in spending patterns, helping identify potential risks or fraudulent activities.

Additionally, businesses can create custom dashboards within the BSM system to monitor expenses, enabling proactive risk management and timely corrective actions.
Automatic spend optimization Identifying expense inconsistencies and cost-saving opportunities within a vast tech stack is time-consuming and resource-intensive. Automate 2- & 3-way PO matching to eliminate manual errors and prevent fraud.

BSM automatically matches purchase orders with invoices and receipts, verifying the accuracy of transactions and reducing the risk of errors or fraudulent activities.

This helps optimize spending by ensuring accurate payment processing and avoiding unnecessary expenses.
Lack of data & visibility Limited visibility into spending patterns across a complex tech stack hampers effective cost management and decision-making. B2B commerce portal - BSM acts as a unified platform to manage all expenses and integrates with various systems such as ERP, HR management, payroll and procurement.

This ensures all spending data is consolidated in one place, providing comprehensive visibility and enabling better and faster decision-making.
Manual data entry Manual entry of spending data across a complex tech stack increases the risk of errors, delays and inconsistencies. Achieve greater spend control and AP efficiency with pre-approved spending.

BSM automates the approval process for spending, allowing businesses to establish pre-approved spending limits and rules.

This reduces manual data entry, improves accuracy and enhances spend control.

Top 8 business spend management platforms


We have curated a list of the top eight business spend management platforms based on their flexibility and features. 

Key Considerations in Choosing a BSM Platform

1. Spendflo

Spendflo simplifies request submission, contract renewal and vendor communication. Enterprises can gain complete visibility into tools, contracts and security documents. This allows businesses to make informed decision-making based on benchmark data and organizational insights. By integrating with key enterprise systems and offering role-based access control, Spendflo ensures a smooth experience for users. Trustworthy vendor relationships and easy payment options further enhance the platform's value.

Top features

  • Intuitive interface and trust scores
  • Efficient contract and vendor management with consolidated administration solutions
  • Effortless approval workflow design
  • Analysis of customer feedback with the sentiment hub
  • Save up to 30% with assisted SaaS buying software

Other benefits

  • Streamline compliance processes and save valuable time by centralizing all compliance-     related tasks and documentation
  • Easy to manage all the spend management processes in a single, integrated platform,      eliminating the need for multiple tools or systems

Price

Annual SaaS spend Pricing (billed annually)
$250K - $1M $2,500 per month
$1M - $2.5M $4,200 per month
$2.5M - $5M $7,000 per month
$5M and above Contact the sales team

Rating - 4.6 ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐⭐️(123 Reviews on G2)

Checkout Customer Case Studies on how Spendflo is helping companies  save thousands on their SaaS Procurement

1. Learn how Drip Capital achieves 4X ROI & saves 100+ hours in Procurement

2. How Airmeet achieved 3X faster procurement and SaaS spending optimization.


2. Coupa

Coupa Business Spend Management is a cloud-based platform that offers a suite of features to help organizations manage and optimize their corporate spending. Power users and suppliers can manage business spending activities centrally. End users, consumers, admins and IT teams have the simplicity and adaptability they need to be successful, thanks to the platform's comprehensiveness in managing business expenditures.Coupa is an enterprise- and SMB-friendly spending management tool. It is designed to be an end-all-be-all tool for controlling company spending.

Top features

  • Supplier information management 
  • Contract lifecycle management
  • Strategic sourcing and procurement
  • Inventory management 
  • Expense management and payment support 
  • Predictive spend analytics and data insights

Other benefits 

  • Offers a mobile-friendly online solution that supports both Android and iOS platforms
  • Integrates with around 35 enterprise resource planning (ERP) software systems, including      DocuSign, KPMG, MuleSoft, NetSuite and Salesforce
  • Adaptable and cater to multilingual, multicurrency and multi-organizational needs
  • Provides 360-degree insight across various business processes, enabling comprehensive      visibility and control

Price

Their pricing is flexible. They provide thorough assistance with setting up and using their software.

3. SAP SRM

SAP Supplier Relation Management (SRM) is a web-based procurement software designed to streamline the procure-to-pay process. Businesses can efficiently purchase goods and services, reducing supply costs and maintaining quality. Features like supplier management, purchasing, sourcing, spend analysis and operational procurement help automate processes and improve efficiency. By systematizing acquisitions, SAP SRM accelerates procurement cycles and provides greater visibility into supplier performance. It also offers user-friendly shopping interfaces to enhance user adoption.

Top features

  • Plan-driven procurement
  • Catalog management module to simplify supplier management
  • Procure-to-pay optimization 
  • Centralized sourcing to increase visibility into enterprise-wide demands
  • SAP Fiori integration
     

Other benefits

  • Optimizes procurement strategy
  • Enables close collaboration with suppliers
  • Improves supplier performance
  • Boosts business productivity
  • Provides analytics and forecasting capabilities to strengthen the business

Price

Their pricing is calculated based on the value of the conditions (price, surcharge, discount) defined in Customizing.

4. Precoro

Precoro helps enterprises in effectively controlling their expenses and streamlining procurement processes. Businesses gain access to a unified system. 

This allows for efficient management of procurement operations, including:

  • Order and invoice tracking
  • Cost analysis
  • Expense management. 

By automating procurement workflows, Precoro eliminates the potential for manual errors, ensuring accuracy and efficiency. Customizable approval workflows enable businesses to expedite the delivery of necessary products and services, while maintaining compliance with internal policies. Advanced analytics and reporting features enable users to generate detailed reports and gain valuable insights for optimizing financial and operational decisions. Precoro also simplifies the procurement experience, providing businesses with the necessary tools and visibility to make informed decisions and effectively manage their spend.

Top features 

  • Inventory management
  • Vendor management
  • Expense tracking
  • Catalog management
  • Reimbursement management

Other benefits

  • Track all the processes in the approval flowchart
  • Detailed reports provide insights into procurement data

Price

Their pricing depends on the number of users, where 1 user costs at $420/year. 

  • For smaller teams with ≤20 users, $35 per user per month billed annually. 
  • For larger teams with ≤20 users there is an individually tailored pricing billed annually.
     
5. Spendesk

Spendesk offers solutions for efficiently managing individual employee spend. 

It addresses various challenges related to employee spend by providing services such as:

  • Corporate card management
  • Invoice payments
  • Spend approval workflows
  • Reimbursements
  • Budgeting
  • Pre-accounting
  • Compliance features. 

Submitting expense reports is effortless as it enables users to track spending through corporate cards and conveniently pay invoices. The system also offers a user-friendly mobile app for inputting new expense data.It also integrates with Slack, allowing seamless routing of information through channels instead of relying on emails.

Top features

  • Streamlined month-end close
  • Virtual and physical cards
  • Zero cost setup 

Other benefits 

  • Allows you to set spending limits, monitor budgets and track, reconcile and report      payments in real time
  • Helps you achieve the right balance between control and efficiency in company spending
  • Streamlined payment tracking and elimination of expense reports, reducing the risk of      fraud
  • Easy access to company funds for employees, enabling online or on-the-go spending in      any required currency using virtual cards, physical cards, invoices or cash.

Price

Their pricing is fixed but depends on the transaction usage and they provide thorough assistance with setting up and using their software. SAP Ariba is a powerful cloud-based platform designed for enterprises to meet sourcing, procurement and payment needs. With a history spanning nearly 25 years, SAP Ariba has established itself as a leader in the industry. 

This highly configurable solution caters to the requirements of large corporations like JP Morgan Chase, Deloitte and Coca-Cola, while also serving medium-sized and small enterprises globally. With its comprehensive range of features and a track record of serving diverse businesses, Ariba Business Spend Management offers a robust procurement platform that can streamline and optimize your organization's spend management processes.

Top features

  • Cataloging/categorization
  • Contract drafting
  • Discount management
  • Document management
  • Expense tracking
  • Inventory management
  • Invoice creation
  • Invoice history

Other benefits 

  • Meeting workforce and customer needs effectively
  • Lowering supplier risk and mitigating market uncertainty
  • Cloud-based procurement platform compatible with various devices and operating      systems
  • Seamless integration with SAP-specific ERP management software
  • Access to the Ariba Network, a global commercial marketplace, for enhanced business      partnerships and opportunities.

Price

SAP Ariba offers flexible pricing based on the requirements of each individual client and provides extensive assistance through an online knowledge base.

7.Kissflow Procurement Cloud

With end-to-end spend management capabilities, Kissflow procurement cloud enables you to handle purchase requests, orders and invoices while providing visibility into your expense data. It simplifies the collection of financial records scattered across emails, forms and spreadsheets, allowing you to access relevant information effortlessly. The business spend management solution offers granular control over expense processes, empowering you to configure rules and approval workflows, promoting responsible spending and cost savings. 

By automating manual processes and ensuring compliance, Kissflow procurement cloud enhances the speed and efficiency of your procurement operations.

Top features:

  • Guided buying for streamlined procurement processes
  • Supplier management

Other benefits 

  • Improved visibility and control over financial data
  • Enables organizations to generate invoices based on purchase orders automatically 
  • Integration with NetSuite allows organizations to take advantage of NetSuite’s supplier      diversity program to identify qualified minority-owned businesses

Price

Starts at $1,990*/ month, their pricing is based on the features, transaction volume and number of users. 

8.Procurify

Procurify is a cloud-based platform designed to empower mid-market businesses with intelligent spending and procurement capabilities. Enterprises gain real-time insights into their spending, streamline approval processes and ensure compliance with company policies. The platform's user-friendly dashboards provide easy access to key spending data, whereas its robust reporting tools simplify tracking, workflows and budget allocation. 

Procurify enables enterprises to optimize their procurement processes, improve transparency and make informed decisions to drive efficiency and cost savings. With its intuitive interface and comprehensive features, Procurify empowers businesses to take control of their spending and achieve greater financial management.

Top features 

  • End-to-end visibility
  • Real-time data and reporting
  • Accounts payable customization

Other benefits 

  • Tracks expenses and purchases to improve spend culture
  • Streamlines workflows and approval processes
  • Facilitates faster communication within the organization
  • Offers features such as budget tracking, expense management and vendor management
  • Provides audit logs for enhanced transparency and accountability
  • Enables in-depth analysis and reporting of spending patterns

Price

Their pricing starts at $2K USD a month. You get everything you need from procure to pay at one simple price, without any hidden fees. 

Is procurement outsourcing right for you? Find out with tools and checklists in our ‘Guide to Outsourcing Procurement’
Download Here

How To Choose Your BSM Software

The selection of the Business Spend Management (BSM) software is a highly important decision that influences the financial control of your company, procurement efficiency, and relationship with your vendors. An organized assessment system can be used to make sure that you are choosing a platform that is suited to the size, complexity, and growth objectives of your organization.

Key Selection Criteria & Evaluation Framework

When assessing BSM solutions, focus on these dimensions:

  1. Functionality - Does it have end-to-end sourcing, contract management, invoicing and expense tracking?
  2. Integrations - Is it integrated with your ERP, accounting and HR and collaboration tools?
  3. Usability -Is the interface user friendly in finance, procurement and non-technical?
  4. Scalability: Does it support future expansion and work across multiple entities, currencies or geographies?
  5. Support Services & Support- Does the vendor offer onboarding services, training, and support?
  6. Cost Structure- Does it have a transparent pricing (per-user, per-transactions, or spend based), and what is included in the TCO (Total Cost of Ownership)?

Questions to Ask Vendors During Demos

  • How fast can our team be live and what type of onboarding do you offer?
  • Are there any actual instances of savings or ROI of such customers?
  • What does your platform do to identify maverick spend or duplicate vendor contracts?
  • Which compliance and security certifications do you have (SOC 2, ISO 27001, GDPR/CCPA)?
  • Which integrations do you support out-of-the-box to ERP and accounting systems?
  • What do you do with contract renewal and reminder?

Implementation Timeline Considerations

  • The average time frame: 8-12 weeks in the case of mid-market businesses, depending on the complexity.
  • Speed influencing factors: stakeholder alignment, user training, data cleansing and ERP integration.
  • Favorable feature of Spendflo: With white-glove onboarding, 70 percent of the spend under management is met within 60 days with minimal effort on the side of the internal staff.

ROI Calculation Methods

To evaluate ROI, track improvements across:

  • Direct Savings -Less SaaS/vendor spend (up to 30% with Spendflo).
  • Process Efficiency - Weekly hours saved on automating invoices, POs and renewals.
  • Risk Reduction - Eluded fines, non-compliance or supplier interruptions.
  • Productivity of the employees - Reduced time taken in manual procurement activities and increased approvals.

Checklist for Evaluating BSM Software

  • Includes procurement, expense, invoicing and vendor management.
  • No concealed expenses in pricing.
  • ERP and accounting systems are integration-ready.
  • Security and compliance certifications available.
  • Dashboards and analytics in real-time.
  • Powerful customer testimonials and case studies (e.g. Spendflo helping Drip Capital increase ROI 4x)
  • Onboarding and customer success support.

Step-by-Step Implementation of BSM Software

A thoughtful rollout keeps risks low and value high. Use this roadmap, timeline, and KPI pack to guide your implementation from kickoff to adoption.

1) Step-by-Step Implementation Roadmap

Phase 1: Prepare & Align

  • Goals: Length of scope, measure of success, governance.
  • Actions: Identify executive sponsor; map stakeholders; collect baseline KPIs; finalize policies.
  • Outputs: Business case, RACI, comms plan, success criteria.

Phase 2: Process Design

  • Goals: sourcing, contracting, PO, invoicing, Standardize intake.
  • Actions: Document “as-is”; design “to-be”; set SLAs; define exception paths.
  • Outputs: Process maps, approval matrices, policy updates.

Phase 3: Data & Integrations

  • Goals: Have clean data and smooth flow of the system.
  • Actions: Clean vendor, contract, GL, and item data; connect ERP, HRIS/IdP, SSO, collaboration tools.
  • Outputs: Data dictionary, integration specs, test plan.

Phase 4: Configuration

  • Modules and controls: Have modules and controls.
  • Actions: RBAC, roles, forms, workflows, catalogs, budgets, risk questionnaires etc.
  • Outputs: Sandbox instance, the config workbook and enabled audit logs.

Phase 5: Migration & UAT

  • Goals: Move critical data and validate.
  • Actions: Introduce contracts and suppliers; perform UAT, end-to-end, on the happy and exceptional paths; fix bugs.
  • Outputs: UAT sign-off, migration checklist, go-live plan.

Phase 6: Training & Change Readiness

  • Goals: Get users confident before launch.
  • Interventions: Role based training; inside champions; working hours; start up manuals.
  • Outputs: Training schedule, records of note taking, support center.

Phase 7: Go-Live

  • Goals: Smooth cutover.
  • Actions: Freeze changes; run hypercare; track SLAs daily; post issues to a single channel.
  • Outputs: Go-live report, issue backlog, comms update.

Phase 8: Optimize & Scale

  • Goals: Lock in ROI and expand usage.
  • Actions: Monitor SLAs daily, track adoption metrics, and refine processes for continuous improvement; communicate issues at one channel.
  • Outputs: Savings dashboard, adoption scorecard, roadmap.

2) Timeline Expectations and Milestones

Week Milestone Success Criteria
1–2 Kickoff, scope, RACI, comms plan Sponsor named, KPIs baselined, risks logged
3–4 Process design complete Sign-off on “to-be” flows and SLAs
4–6 Integrations & data quality ERP/IdP connected; >95% clean vendor & contract data
5–7 Configuration in sandbox RBAC, forms, workflows, budgets configured
7–8 UAT & migration Critical scenarios pass; defects resolved; cutover approved
9 Training & readiness 90% target users trained; champions active
10 Go-live & hypercare First POs, invoices, and renewals flow with SLA compliance
11–12 Stabilize & optimize Trend down cycle times; publish first savings report

Typical mid-market timeline: 8–12 weeks. Complexity, data hygiene, and integration depth drive variance.

3) Common Implementation Challenges and Practical Solutions

Challenge Why it Happens What to Do
Messy vendor/contract data Decentralized ownership Run a data cleanse sprint; define golden sources; enforce required fields
Integration delays Competing IT priorities Time-box specs; reuse standard connectors; stage deployments
Stakeholder resistance Process change fatigue Early demos, quick wins, executive updates, local champions
Approval gridlock Over-complex matrices Limit tiers; use risk-based routing; clear SLAs and escalation
Low adoption Training gap Role-based micro-learning, in-app guides, office hours
Policy non-compliance Legacy habits Guided intake, budget checks, mandatory fields, automated nudges

4) Change Management Strategies

  • Executive sponsorship: Steerco monthly, apparent, unblock, fast.
  • Champions network: One each, purpose; get feedback, tips.
  • Good comms: Kickoff notes, weekly progress updates, go-live countdowns, and clear emails explaining upcoming changes.
  • First enablement: Videos; task-based education; searchable FAQs; job aids.
  • Policy + incentives: Ensure compliance is based on OKRs; ensure it is simple to make compliant requests; celebrate wins.
  • Listen and change: Check emotions; get instant polling; fix friction in less than a minute.

5) User Onboarding Best Practices

  • Segment users by role: Requesters, Approvers, Procurement, Finance, IT/Security, and Admins.
  • Teach by task: “Raise a request, Approve a PO, Renew a contract, Match an invoice.
  • Shorts: Videos: videos lasting 3-7 minutes, checklists, GIFs, and annotated screenshots.
  • Hands-on sandbox: Under guided practice with sample data.
  • Office time + champions: Every week in week 1, and once a week in a month.
  • On-the-fly support: Support center, tours, in-app support.

6) Training Resources and Programs

Core tracks

  • Which: Consumption, approvals, catalogs, PO basics, invoice submission.
  • Power Users 201: Vendor risk, renewals, sourcing, and events contract repository.
  • RBAC, workflow builder, templates, audit, reporting.

Format & cadence

  • Live webinars / recordings; LMS modules; quarterly refresher.
  • Badges or champion and badge certification.
  • What 15 minutes a new release and update.

7) User Adoption Metrics and KPIs

Track weekly in month 1, then monthly.

Adoption & usage

  • Activation rate: Percentage of target users that completed first task.
  • WAU/MAU: Role Requesters, approvers, buyers, AP.
  • Feature usage: Percent of requests which were fully handled by guided intake; percent which were auto-routed by approval.

Operational efficiency

  • Requisition-to-PO cycle time
  • RFx-to-award cycle time
  • First-pass match rate of invoices.
  • No human intervention PO rate (touchless).

Financial control

  • Spend under management (BMS) percent of total spend trailed by BSM)
  • Maverick spending rate (target down and right)
  • Realized savings and forecast (rightsizing, discounts, duplicate tool removal)
  • Compliance & experience

Approval SLA attainment

  • On-time renewals coverage
  • Policy adherence
  • CSAT/NPS by role
  • Support tickets per 100 users

Optimize your business spends with Spendflo

By utilizing business spend management solutions companies can achieve better cost control, minimize waste, enhance financial efficiency and maintain compliance. Business spend management companies like Spendflo helps businesses negotiate better pricing during vendor discussions, maximizing cost savings. With its centralized platform, organizations gain comprehensive control over SaaS purchases, spending and compliance, streamlining operations and optimizing resource allocation.

The platform simplifies workflows with rule-based processes across multiple channels, including seamless Slack integration. Customized approval rules based on spending thresholds, project requirements or stakeholders ensure transparency and accountability.

Get a free savings analysis with us today to learn more.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the average implementation timeline for a BSM solution, and what factors can cause delays?

An average Business Spend Management (BSM) solution implementation time is generally 8-12 weeks, based on size of the company and complexity of the processes. delays usually occur due to unclean data, misaligned stakeholders, or legacy system integration issues, the stakeholders are not aligned, and also, the legacy systems have difficulties integrating. At Spendflo, white-glove onboarding ensures that the majority of customers become live quicker, as our team standardises the data and takes all steps to minimise friction.

How can a company effectively measure the ROI of a BSM implementation?

Companies are able to quantify ROI by monitoring savings on expenses, efficiency of processes and visibility gains after implementation. Popular metrics involve software and vendor cost-reductions (frequently by 30% using Spendflo), time saved during manual procurement processes, and increased compliance certification. Improved vendor negotiating and reduced renewals missed is also a measure of ROI, which the Spendflo dashboards monitor in real time.

How easily does Spendflo's BSM software integrate with a company's existing ERP and accounting systems?

Spendflo is compatible with over 100 tools, such as the ERP systems such as NetSuite, Coupa, and accounting software. The platform can automatically reconcile vendor records, purchase orders and spend data, so that teams are not required to use several systems. This plug and play integration is designed to allow finance and procurement teams to attain 70 percent of spending under management in 60 days.

Need a rough estimate before you go further?

Here's what the average Spendflo user saves annually:
$2 Million
Your potential savings
$600,000
Managed Procurement.
Guaranteed Savings.
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