Best Business Spend Management Software For Your Business
Enhance financial control, monitor expenditures, and optimize expenses using top-tier business spend management software.
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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 is a modernized approach to managing company expenses and supplier relationships.
Earlier, businesses relied on manual methods or basic tools like spreadsheets, leading to fragmented and inefficient processes. Business spend management solutions, powered by cloud-based software, unify and streamline these processes.
Enterprises can centralize their sourcing, contracting, purchasing, supplier management, invoices, employee expenses and payments. This consolidation enables enterprises to gather and analyze all spending data in one place, providing them with a holistic view of their financial landscape and empowering them to make informed and strategic spending decisions.
Business spend management software acts as a command center for supplier records and financial control, bringing transparency to mistakes and inefficiencies. It empowers enterprises to take control of their expenses and enhance efficiency.
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:
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
Benefits of Business Spend Management
Business spend management provides enterprises with a comprehensive real-time overview of their spending across all areas.
Business spend management solutions enable management to optimize spending and create value for the organization when implemented effectively.
It can be seamlessly integrated with all departments, delivering various benefits that contribute to improved financial control and operational efficiency.
Let's explore the key benefits of business spend management platforms in detail:
- Reduced cycle times
Business spend management solutions streamline decision-making processes such as supplier selection and contract negotiation, reducing process cycle times.
Organizations can make faster decisions by establishing standardized metrics and guidelines for recurring activities, leading to increased efficiency and accelerated operations.
- Identification of better sourcing opportunities
Business spend management solutions allows businesses to consolidate expenditure data, including peripheral costs, enabling them to identify more cost-effective sourcing opportunities with better quality.
Organizations can make informed decisions that optimize their sourcing strategies by analyzing spend data.
- Detection of maverick spend
Business spend management solutions help identify outliers and correct maverick spending behaviors. Through data collection and organization, businesses can spot anomalies and unauthorized expenditures, ensuring better control over spending and adherence to established guidelines.
- Avoidance of late payments/fees
Business spend management solutions enable organizations to map and identify data patterns to prevent late payment penalties.
By avoiding late fees, businesses maintain stronger relationships with suppliers, benefit from improved credit terms, achieve increased savings and enhance overall profitability.
- Enhanced cost control
Business spend management solutions allow organizations to gain better visibility and control over their spending activities.
By consolidating all spending data into a single platform, businesses can track expenses more effectively, identify areas of overspending and implement measures to control costs.
This leads to improved financial efficiency and cost savings.
- Streamlined procurement processes
Business spend management solutions integrate with procurement functions, providing organizations with tools to optimize their procurement processes.
This includes supplier evaluation, negotiation, contract management and purchase order automation.
By streamlining these processes, organizations can improve sourcing decisions, negotiate better pricing and reduce procurement cycle times.
- Improved supplier management
Business spend management solutions strengthen organizations' relationships with suppliers.
Organizations can track supplier performance, manage contracts and monitor compliance by centralizing supplier data. This leads to better collaboration, enhanced supplier quality and increased negotiation power to secure favorable terms and discounts.
- Automated Invoice Management
Business spend management solutions automate the invoice management process, reducing manual errors and streamlining workflows.
This includes features such as invoice capture, validation, approval workflows and payment processing. By automating these tasks, organizations can improve efficiency, accelerate invoice processing times and take advantage of early payment discounts.
- Data-driven decision making
BSM systems provide real-time data and analytics that empower organizations to make informed and data-driven decisions.
Through dashboards, reports and data visualization, businesses can gain insights into spending patterns, identify trends and analyze financial performance. This enables proactive decision-making and strategic planning.
- Regulatory compliance
Business spend management solutions help organizations comply with financial regulations and internal policies.
Organizations can ensure compliance with regulatory requirements, audit standards and internal controls by centralizing spending data, enforcing approval workflows and generating comprehensive reports.
This reduces the risk of non-compliance and associated penalties.
- Risk management
Business spend management solutions include spend analysis that monitors transactions and assesses vendor financial performance and credibility.
This analysis helps identify potential risks in advance, allowing procurement teams to develop contingency plans and mitigate potential disruptions.
- Automation and improvement of internal systems
Business spend management empowers organizations to make effective and efficient expense decisions, leading to overall improvements in internal systems.
By automating procurement processes and introducing greater spending visibility, businesses enhance operational efficiency, optimize resource allocation and drive better decision-making.
Spend management challenges solved by BSM systems
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.
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
Rating - 4.7 ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐⭐️(70 Reviews on G2)
Checkout Customer Case Studies on how Spendflo is helping companies save thousands on their SaaS Procurement
- Learn how Drip Capital achieves 4X ROI & saves 100+ hours in Procurement
- How Airmeet achieved 3X faster procurement and SaaS spending optimization.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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