“Touchless” Long Tail Spend: The New Benchmark for World-Class P2P Process Efficiency – Part 1

Picture of Zycus

Zycus

Published On: 10/18/2013

Group-1000005301.png

Listen to this blog

touchless-long-tail-spend-the-new-benchmark-for-world-class-p2p-process-efficiency-p1
Group-1000005301-1.png

Listen to this blog

In the previous blog we discussed how the current P2P performance remains a far cry from the theoretical goal of a completely “touchless” P2P process.

Let us start with the evaluation of P2P process efficiency by unlocking;

What are the Key Measures of P2P Process Efficiency?

Consistent with the original value proposition of e-Procurement to divert more resources from tactical to more strategic activities, perhaps the best way to measure progress toward that objective would be to simply examine how a procurement organization’s resources are allocated.

According to benchmark data from The Hackett Group’s 2011 “Book of Numbers” Research Series, “Optimizing Procurement’s Service Delivery,” world-class procurement organizations devote just above a third (34%) of total procurement costs to transactional purchase-to-pay processes, while the peer group consumes 43% of total procurement costs on tactical buying.

Moreover, world-class performers allocate only 21.6 transactional FTEs per billion dollars of indirect spend, while the peer group applies 41% more resource with 30.5 transactional FTEs.

Early adopters of first generation e-Procurement tools, which focused primarily on the requisition-to-order processes, have reaped efficiency benefits in the front-end of the P2P process – with reduced cycle times and lower per transaction costs. Consider for example the 3x productivity advantage for top performers in the Hackett benchmarks, where PO processing employees are able to process 11,667 POs per FTE as compared to 4,267 for their counterparts.

IDC Highlights Zycus AI: A Game-Changer in Procure-to-Pay Solutions

Discover why IDC, a leading global market intelligence firm, recognizes the transformative potential of Zycus AI Solutions in the procure-to-pay space. This video delves into how Zycus’s innovative technologies are revolutionizing procurement processes and driving efficiency in the Philippines and beyond. Watch the Video to Learn More!

 
Likewise order costs are lower by a factor of 3, with requisition to PO processing costs of only $6.81 per order as compared to $18.17 for the peer group. Allowing for the fact that world-class performers could also have implemented better underlying processes, only the introduction of process automation could produce such divergent productivity measures.

Stay tuned as we discuss what steps lagging performers can take to close the P2P efficiency gap.

Agentic AI in Procurement for Payment Processors

Share:

Zycus
Zycus is a leader in Cognititive Procurement. A leading SaaS platform used by many large enterprises across the globe for enabling efficiency and effectiveness of the procurement function.

Analyst Reports on Agentic AI

Subscribe to Blogs!

Get the latest blogs, insights, tips and exclusive content delivered to you inbox, Join Now

IDC Report popup S2P 2025

This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.
Consent

IDC Report P2P popup 2025

This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.
Consent

Recommended blogs 

Contact us today to know more about Zycus Deep Value Procurement AI

Name
Full name*
Company E-mail*
How can we help*
CHICAGO - Procurement AI World Tour

NAMED A LEADER

in the 2026 Gartner® Magic Quadrant™ for Source-To-Pay Suites

GMQ Quadrant

Before You Go: Can You Afford NOT to Know Your AI Score?

The speed of Agentic AI adoption is creating two groups: those ready to outperform and those about to be left behind. Download the Index now to secure your 2026 strategy.

Procurement AI Adoption Index 2025 - 26: From Pilots to Procurement Autonomy
This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.
Consent