Why automation is key to streamlining your vendor management systems

As we move into 2023 and beyond, automation is playing a more prominent role in the world of finance. But as it grows in popularity across different areas, you might find yourself wondering where exactly to integrate those automated workflows. Thankfully there is no shortage of options, whether you’re looking to automate accounting, payroll, bill pay, expense management, vendor management—or perhaps all of these! 

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But if you’re an SMB juggling multiple vendors with little insight into your spending and or are concerned that you’re spending too much, automating vendor management systems might be a good place to start. Let’s dive deeper into the challenges and benefits of automating your vendor management processes.

What is vendor management automation?

Vendor management automation is designed to handle the end-to-end processes of vendor management, from the initial point of contact to sealing the deal on a newly established vendor relationship. 

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With external workers playing such a vital role for many companies, automated vendor management systems are increasingly crucial for streamlining business processes and allowing employees to focus on other essential tasks. 

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Vendor management automation typically allows you to manage and expedite many of the associated processes that have been traditionally done by hand, such as: 

• Vendor selection
• Defining terms
• Performance monitoring
• Contractual phase (renewal or termination)
• Goal establishment
• Bidding and more

Why you should use vendor automation

One of the best ways to eliminate vendor management challenges is by implementing automation into the process. Here are some of the benefits of doing just that:

Improves productivity and workflow

If you’re zapping resources to handle vendor management processes manually when they could be automated, think of the time workers will get back to focus on larger strategic tasks through automation instead of dealing with mundane tasks.

Speeds up the approval process and simplifies onboarding

Automation allows you to approve purchase orders and payment requests more rapidly while making the onboarding and off-boarding process easier.

Increases visibility of data and spend

A repository, or centralized data storage solution, makes it easier to call up necessary files and documents when you need them while working with multiple vendors simultaneously. Also, with improved visibility on spending, you can ultimately discover cost-saving insights.

What to look for in a supplier automation platform

When it comes to saving time and money, automated vendor management platforms can be a massive step in the right direction. When you’re looking for the solution that’s right for you, be sure to look for options that offer the following: 

• Contract storage
• Vendor contract negotiation
• Savings insights
• One-time vendor virtual cards
• Quick and automated vendor bill payments

How to automate vendor management with Ramp

Vendor management involves many moving parts, so you need to automate each facet of the process to enjoy the benefits of vendor management automation fully.

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Automating these workflows can help you save time while producing more accurate results and eliminating errors. Here’s a breakdown of how the automation features offered by Ramp can help each segment of the vendor management process.

Uncover spend insights

Typically, vendor pricing terms, contracts, contact and payment details and tax information are scattered across different platforms. Ramp Vendor Management automatically tracks every purchase and gives you a single source of truth for all of your vendor contracts and details.

This enables your finance teams to quickly answer critical questions about your company’s spend on a departmental level. Not only does this make it easier to track how much you’re spending with each vendor, but it gives you a unique level of visibility into the spending habits across each department. 

Get the best price on software

As a growing business, you always want to surface opportunities to save money. Ramp’s Price Intelligence tool benchmarks your contracts to thousands of other similar ones. These insights are critical when it comes time to renew and gives you the confidence you need to make good purchasing decisions and avoid overspending on essential business tools.

All-in-one vendor contract management 

Half of the challenge of being a growing business is your ability to stay organized. Ramp uses AI to automatically extract every key detail into a vendor record for you. Admins can also set up 30 or 60-day renewal reminders so you never miss a payment to make vendor contract management easier.

Make vendor management easier with automation

Streamlining your vendor management systems with automation can be a rewarding effort. Not only can you save dozens of hours a week by eliminating manual tasks, but you can also save money in the process. 

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From keeping your contracts organized to surfacing money-saving insights and automating negotiations, with these vendor automation processes in place, Ramp will have you well on your way to saving time and money so you can focus your energy on other business areas.

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Learn more about Ramp today.