Friday 29th November, 2013

At the beginning of the year, we sat down, sat back and listened to what people had to say about their P2P experiences - wanting to identify some of the trends and challenges embedded in some of the existing AP and P2P processes. We hoped to gain some real insight into the day to day issues facing finance teams in the UK. And we weren't disappointed. Some of the reuslts weren't too far removed from what we had anticipated, but others were more unexpected - including the 18% of respondents who reported recent cases of fraud within their organisations.

With the prevalence of many US based reports and surveys, sometimes it's difficult for UK teams to accurately understand where they sit in relation to their peers, or whether the challenges they're facing are similar across the board. So we took the show on the road! Over the year, Basware and APN have popped up in several locations in London and Manchester, talking about some of the unique information which came to light. But not only that, the roadshows also brought together seasoned practitioners from companies such as NEC Group, Sita and Oxford University Press to discuss topics such as change management and the benefits of improved financial performance and how to gain a deeper understanding of the issues surrounding supplier relationships.

On top of that, although some organisations said that they understood the business benefits of a joined-up working process across purchase to pay, we wanted to find out how the issue was playing out in practice. On the whole the evidence was patchy, and depended to a certain extent on a number of factors - not least the attitude of C-Level executives. Most did report an improvement in collaboration over the last 18 months or so - often as a result of someone directly in charge of heading up the area as a whole - ie a Head of P2P or Global P2P Owner, but a majority still said there was some way to go.

With technology as an enabler, and helped by more clued up processing, the different areas of the P2P process no longer have to sit in their own silos, but can take advantage of a closer working relationship, measuring against KPIs and producing reports which make sense across the business. And while improvements in purchase to pay won't have a direct impact on an organisation's primary focus, it's not too much to say that those who recognise the benefits of collaboration, are likely to be the ones with the edge over their competitors in the months and years ahead.

A thought which wasn't too far away as we sat in our latest venue, Tower 42 in the shadow of a rather famous gherkin shaped building, trying to refrain from humming the theme tune to an equally famous competitive TV show...