Vendor Onboarding and Payment Automation: A Smarter AP Strategy for Higher Ed
“With 5% of operating budgets flowing through procurement—possibly more for institutions with extensive outsourcing—efficiency directly impacts your ability to respond quickly to changing circumstances.” — Higher Ed Dive American higher education institutions spent more than $700 billion annually on operations, payroll, procurement, and services. Managing that level of spending requires systems that ensure payments are […]
Procurement Best Practices for Modern Education and Government Buyers
Things aren’t any easier for procurement teams this year. A 2026 study by The Hackett Group shows an average workload increase of 8–10%, with “declining or flat headcount and operating budgets.” So, it continues to do more with less. Getting the job done requires a more structured, automated, and strategic approach, leveraging procurement best practices […]
From Data to Decisions: How Spend Analytics Software Transforms Procurement
In a recent survey, 74% of senior procurement leaders agreed that generating stronger data, insight, and analysis over the next two years will be essential to support operations. In fact, more than a third of procurement and finance leaders chose improving reporting and analysis as their top area for improvement in the coming year. With […]
Designing a Future-Ready Procurement Process: Steps, Policies, and Controls
Things haven’t gotten any easier when it comes to higher education finances. A Deloitte analysis is sobering, highlighting that more than half of large public universities now generate operating deficits, and midsized universities show a “weak financial outlook” with many at risk of insolvency if enrollments continue to decline. For procurement teams, this means tighter […]
Strategic Spend Assessments for Higher Education and Public Sector Procurement
Addressable spend in a mid-sized university might add up to between $75 and $150 million annually. Imagine if you could shave 5% or 10% off the total in annual spend. The challenges in higher education finance are real. Many academic institutions have already entered the doom loop, becoming at-risk for not maintaining financial commitments due […]
What Is AP Automation Software and Why Do Universities Need It?
Higher education institutions operate complex financial systems. A single school may process thousands of invoices each month from hundreds of different suppliers, and they come in different forms. Some are electronic, but many are still mailed, emailed, or sent as PDFs, often requiring manual data entry, routing, and approvals. If you’re still handling this manually, […]
What Is a P-card Program and How Does It Work in Higher Education?
The sheer volume of purchases made by colleges and universities each year is amazing. It’s not unusual for academic institutions to process tens of thousands of transactions across thousands of vendors. Collectively, it adds up to more than $700 billion in spending. Many of these purchases are small and often decentralized. Regardless, they still require […]
How Virtual Card Payments Reduce Fraud and Generate Rebates for Universities
Because of the volume and complexity of transactions made by higher education institutions, colleges and universities have become attractive targets for fraud. As cybercriminals grow more sophisticated, universities face a new wave of cyber-attacks that are harder to detect and more damaging than ever before. Virtual card programs can strengthen your payment fraud prevention and […]
AP Automation and Commercial Card Solutions for Higher Education
For decades, procurement and finance offices were viewed as a necessary cost center, a place where paper invoices and manual entries created a perpetual administrative bottleneck. No more. As institutions face tighter margins and increasing demands for transparency, higher education procurement is undergoing a digital upgrade. By integrating accounts payable automation, procure-to-pay software, and purchasing […]
Building an Enterprise Procurement Tech Stack That Delivers Savings
Procurement teams in higher education are investing heavily in digital tools designed to improve purchasing efficiency and transparency. Yet, many organizations still struggle to make these investments pay off. The challenge often isn’t with the technology, but how it’s integrated in your procurement tech stack and how it’s used. A modern procurement tech stack should […]