Getting to the digital ‘yes’ – What makes a good case for procuretech

To make the case for investment in a new tool or technology as part of your digital procurement transformation, understanding the expected benefits is fundamental. 

Outlining these perceived benefits to the CFO (or whomever is granting the funding) is an important part of the business case, but not the only one. As a digital transformation consultant told us in a recent interview: 

“The topmost thing to consider in your business case is whether it aligns with corporate objectives, rather than your procurement ones. And rather than just savings, it should focus on the bigger picture, because a really good business case should connect the dots between the problem, the solution and the tech. 

“Having said that, it’s worth remembering that while the CFO will always be looking at the P&L, it doesn’t mean you can’t include soft results, like reducing risk or creating efficiency, neither of which you can put dollar numbers to until it actually happens.

“So creating the right business case is all about balance. Efficiency would probably please the CFO because of the cost savings like reduction in invoice or PO processing costs or reduction in unauthorized purchases. The CIO or CTO will be interested in how the technology will integrate into existing systems or how it’s going to be upgraded. But at the end of the day, it does tend to be driven by cost balanced out by the ROI.”

Back to the benefits

Joël Collin-Demers created a helpful list of questions to help you illustrate the benefits to the CFO:

• How will the Procurement strategy help the business achieve its overall objectives?
• How does this system enable the overall Procurement strategy?
• How will this system reduce the financial burden on the organization?
• How will this system fit into an overall system architecture (work with your IT business partner on this one)?
• Why are you deploying this system now over another in your roadmap?

He also provided a very good checklist of possible ROIs to include in your business case. 

As well as these benefits, which include efficiency gains (through automation), cost reduction, early payment discounts on vendor invoices, employee experience improvement, employee maturity and retention, risk minimization and contract execution, Spend Matters analysts added: 

• Digital knowledge management – which is often forgotten and is about cementing/sharing knowledge. Reorganizations, new leaders, etc. happen frequently, so the faster people are operational (knowledge, activity transfer, etc.) the better, which also applies to M&A, offers Bertrand Maltaverne.

• The ability provided by (the newest) digital technology to do things that were previously impossible (which means looking beyond simply doing ‘faster’; it is about unlocking the true potential of tech by doing things differently). An example — an especially poignant one right not — is tariff management, he also suggests.

• Pierre Mitchell weighed in with other value metrics, like revenue and working capital improvement, opportunity costs, operating models/governance for tech-vs-outcomes. Although, he says, this requires constant “collaboration with Finance to get cross-functional alignment and commitment for the higher hanging fruit.” 

The vendor community that responded to our ‘Procurement transformation 2025: Why invest in procuretech’ series also highlighted the benefits they believe should be included in a business case. It is interesting to note that some cite that hard dollar savings based on KPIs can be achieved within 12 months of their implementation. 

While gathering input for our our latest guide on surviving digital procurement transformation, we solicited procurement leaders, solution providers and consultants for their views on the key benefits to include to help secure procurement technology investment. Below is a curated list of the most-cited benefits:

• Operational efficiency
  • Time saved on RFIs, RFPs, RFQs and running better e-auctions
  • Reduction in invoice processing costs (first pass match/automation, recurring invoices, etc.)
  • Reduction in duplicate payments 
  • Reduction in purchase order errors and PO rework after issue (incorrect quantities and pricing)
  • Process simplification and standardization
  • Invoice discount capture
• Strategic value/spend under management
  • Reduction in unauthorized purchases
  • Reduced maverick spend
  • Increased purchasing from approved suppliers (to maximize negotiated savings capture, etc.)
  • Carbon footprint reduction
  • Better supplier diversity
  • Better alignment with corporate goals
  • Reduction in organizational risk through audit trails and better budget control, safeguards against non-compliance, secure data storage, supplier compliance
  • Share of product innovation coming from suppliers

To support the above, read also:

• Our three-part series: 5 tips for investing in procurement technology
• What makes Procurement’s digital challenge so different
• How to make a positive return on technology investment

Download this free guide on how to position procurement as a key driver of business value.

Of course, once you have the funding, then you have to make sure you choose the right technology for the purpose.