Remove the missing 'Middle' in Source to Pay operations with ServiceNow procurement solutions

For many large enterprises and public sector organisations in Australia and New Zealand, the Source-to-Pay (S2P) process often suffers from a glaring weakness: the missing middle. While sourcing and payment platforms are commonly digitised, the bridge between requesting goods/services and generating purchase orders (POs) is frequently handled through spreadsheets, emails, and manual workflows.

This gap leads to non-compliance, overspending, delayed purchases, and a lack of visibility, costing organisations millions annually.

But what if this fragmented ‘middle’ could be transformed into a streamlined, intelligent workflow?

Enter the Now Platform by ServiceNow - an AI-first platform as well as one of the best procurement solutions, and Servicenow Source to Pay operations, that integrate every stage of the S2P journey. ​​

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What is the missing Middle in manual Procurement and S2P operations?

Good governance always demands end-to-end oversight. However, one of the most overlooked gaps in supply chain governance is the missing middle - from when internal users submit requests to when procurement departments create Purchase Orders (POs).

This stage becomes problematic when it's still processed through emails, spreadsheets, and disconnected approval processes between departments. This causes:

• Uncontrolled spending & lack of policy compliance
• Lost time in processing and approving requests, affecting the supply chain
• Legal risks from bypassing contract & supplier checks

Manual systems are no longer suitable for a world operating in real-time, where speed and accuracy are increasingly demanded.

Measurable consequences when smart procurement solutions are absent

Continuing to ignore these middle-ground issues long-term doesn't just cause inconvenience, but creates measurable consequences in terms of cost, efficiency, and financial risk. Below are some statistics recorded in practice at large organisations in Australia:

Lost 25–40% procurement request processing efficiency

Procurement teams get bogged down processing emails, clarifying information from non-standard forms, or tracking approval signatures – causing request processing cycles to lengthen and become difficult to trace.

According to a Gartner study, government agencies take an average of 22 months to complete IT procurement processes, with at least six significant delays during the procurement process.

"Nearly half (48 per cent) of respondents reported six or more moderate or significant delays in the buying process," the report says. "The cumulative impact of these various delaying factors … added seven months, on average, to the public-sector buying cycle."

Maverick Spending up to 30%

When needs aren't officially recorded, internal users tend to find their own solutions, leading to unplanned expenses that are difficult to audit and don't benefit from negotiated discounts.

Maverick spend can account for up to 30% of an organisation's total spending, depending on the maturity level of the procurement process. More specifically, 29% of indirect spend is off-contract. This can be a sign of bad practices - poor visibility and policy violations.

According to APQC (in 2019), organisations with greater than or equal to US$500mn in annual revenue see maverick spend account for 2.5% or more of total purchases, and 1% for top performers.

"Let us see how it looks in terms of dollars: For companies with US$1bn in yearly purchases, this means having US$10mn in unmanaged maverick spend," commented Ignite Procurement.

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Legal risks and contract compliance failures

Failing to connect contracts with PO creation and payment processes makes businesses prone to missing penalty clauses, non-compliance with ESG policies, or selecting wrong suppliers.

The Queensland Audit Office report indicated that the lack of effective monitoring and reporting processes in government procurement led to failure to utilise whole-of-government contracts, causing waste and legal risks. This report specifically identified the lack of traceable processes as the cause of budget overruns exceeding $2.8 million AUD.

ServiceNow Procurement Solutions: Untying the knot, connecting the entire Procurement Lifecycle

If this is your first time hearing about ServiceNow, you might be wondering about the Now Platform - a platform that combines AI, data, and automated workflows. That's perfectly fine - learn about ServiceNow through our latest article following the Knowledge 2025 event!

If you're already familiar with ServiceNow, then let's review the ServiceNow Source to Pay Operations on Now Platform solution. It delivers a complete, unified, and auditable process – all on a single cloud platform.

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1. Smart Procurement Intake

Instead of sending manual emails and then wasting time on back-and-forth confirmations, internal users can now submit requests through an automated intake portal:

• Step-by-step guidance to standardise requests
• Categorisation by category, budget, priority
• Automated routing to procurement or sourcing units

Result: Eliminates unclear requests, ensures all requests align with the organisation's spending strategy.

Get to know ServiceNow Supplier Collaboration Portal - an integrated platform for modern supply chains!

2. Policy-based and SLA-driven approval workflows

ServiceNow Workflow Data Fabric allows building intelligent, personalised approval flows:

• Automatic analysis based on budget, department, risk level
• Integration of internal Service Level Agreements (SLAs) to ensure no overruns
• AI-powered strategic supplier suggestions

Result: Reduces processing time from weeks to days, enhancing operational efficiency.

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3. Integrated Supplier and Contract Management

Through modules like Supplier Lifecycle Operations and Contract Management Pro, you can:

• Automatically assess & onboard suppliers
• Track KPIs, ESG commitments & compliance
• Directly connect contracts with POs and invoices

Result: Sustainable partnerships, minimised legal risks, increased transparency.

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4. Financial data integration and spending behaviour analysis

Spending data often gets stuck in ERP systems – difficult to extract, delayed, and doesn't serve strategic decision-making. With direct integration capabilities with ERP systems like SAP, Oracle, Workday, ServiceNow ERP mordernisation tools such as Creator Workflows and App Engine inside the Now Platform help organisations rapidly build drag-and-drop business applications; automate real-time approvals; seamlessly integrate with ERP data; and even apply AI to decision-making processes.

More intuitively, ServiceNow provides:

• Real-time spending reports
• Tracking savings rates against projections
• Alerts when off-budget spending occurs

Result: Helps CFOs and CPOs make decisions based on accurate data, rather than intuition.

5. Risk reduction through Procurement Cases

In multi-layered approval environments like government sectors or large corporations, situations arising in the procurement chain such as price adjustment requests, contract disputes, delayed delivery schedules, or internal policy non-compliance are often handled through emails or "human links," not recorded in systems.

ServiceNow Procurement Case Management allows organisations to:

• Automatically create cases from touchpoints (users, suppliers, system alerts)
• Apply processing flows for each case type (contract breach, delivery risk, pricing change...)
• Assign permissions, record, and close cases according to standard SLAs

Result: Transforms operational risks into data for learning and process improvement. Increases response capability while ensuring compliance, transparency, and traceability.

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Additionally, the latest modules like ServiceNow AI Control Tower and ServiceNow Agents Fabric have elevated the Now Platform to an AI-first platform, containing endless automated procurement solutions in general and upgrading ServiceNow Source to Pay operations specifically. All serving the ultimate goal: optimising operational efficiency and organisational benefits!

Dropbox Case Study: Real-world benefits from ServiceNow procurement solutions

The benefits from Dropbox case study provide extremely clear evidence of the capabilities and advantages that ServiceNow procurement solutions deliver.

1. Reduced procurement cycle times by over 50% within 8 weeks

Dropbox cut more than half of their procurement cycle time within 8 weeks of implementing ServiceNow, while achieving complete control over corporate spending.

2. Automated over 1,000 ERP processes and risk assessments with 99% compliance rate

After implementing ServiceNow, Dropbox automated over 1,000 ERP processes and risk assessments, achieving a 99% compliance rate across the organisation.

"By automating the purchase order creation process, our people don't have to go into our ERP system anymore, they don't have to do accounting tasks. The level of excitement about this was through the roof! There's no need to go anywhere else." - Reunan Varene, Director, Source to Pay, Dropbox

3. Reduced manual workload by 47% through Procurement Case Management

According to ServiceNow documentation, requests such as order changes, cancellations, returns, and other general requests can account for up to 47% of the procurement team's total workload. Using Procurement Case Management helps reduce this manual work.

4. Enhanced user experience with user-friendly interface

ServiceNow provides a B2C-like shopping experience, making it easy for employees to purchase necessary goods and services while ensuring compliance with required policies and guidelines.

"With ServiceNow, we've cut procurement cycle times by more than 50% in just eight weeks and we have complete control of our corporate spend," says Reunan. "Now our teams can use this new corporate asset to drive value and maximise return on procurement investment, with the support of the company's collective expertise, for the benefit of their own areas of operation."

Novabridge – Your trusted ServiceNow procurement solutions partner

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In Australia and New Zealand, Novabridge is a trusted ServiceNow Elite partner in consulting and implementation for government agencies and large enterprises. We're also a ServiceNow Platform Partner in Build for developing the best integrations with the Now platform and other systems to create seamless user experiences.

With experience implementing ServiceNow procurement solutions for administrative agencies and corporations in both public and private sectors, Novabridge:

• Understands the local ANZ procurement operating context
• Implements according to ServiceNow Certified Implementation standards with 100% Certified Technical Architects driving excellence in ServiceNow
• Particularly, we own the Strategic Sourcing App - an application developed from ServiceNow Source to Pay, specialising in Complex Procurement that has been recognised and is available on the ServiceNow App Store.
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Present in 5 major Australian cities including Canberra, Perth, Brisbane, Sydney, Melbourne; and officially present in Wellington and Auckland, New Zealand from 2025, Novabridge is ready to partner with organisations to build an intelligent, compliant, and long-term cost-effective procurement ecosystem.

You should see what we can make it do for you. Explore the Department of Health and Aged Care (DoHAC) case study by Novabridge now!

Conclusion

Partial digitalisation is no longer sufficient. In a world full of volatility and increasingly high demands for public budget optimisation, leaders need a platform capable of orchestrating the entire procurement process from need to payment. ServiceNow procurement solutions can completely meet this requirement!

Start your procurement and source-to-pay operations modernisation journey with Novabridge – the #1 ServiceNow partner in Australia & New Zealand. We love exceeding client expectations and we're people you want to work with!

FAQ

1. Which ERP systems can ServiceNow's Now Platform integrate with?

The AI-first Now Platform is designed to flexibly integrate with popular ERP platforms like SAP, Oracle, Workday, and Microsoft Dynamics. Thanks to its open API-based architecture and configurable capabilities, the Now Platform doesn't replace current ERP platforms, but acts as an "orchestrator" helping optimise data flows, processes, and procurement behaviour analysis. Moreover, it eliminates custom code - seen as untangleable bottlenecks in core ERP systems, thereby helping the digital transformation process optimise speed and cost.

2. Is ServiceNow source to pay suitable for government organisations or only for private enterprises?

Completely suitable for both. In the Australian market, ServiceNow procurement solutions with ServiceNow Source to Pay (S2P) and Strategic Sourcing App by Novabridge have been effectively implemented for many state and federal government agencies, with advantages being the ability to meet audit standards, security, as well as customisation capabilities according to public budget spending frameworks.

3. How long before an organisation can see value from implementing ServiceNow procurement solutions?

According to ServiceNow and partner implementation reports in the APAC region, organisations begin to see concrete results (shortened procurement cycles, increased policy compliance, reduced off-system spending) just 3 to 6 months after implementation, depending on scale. Average implementation time ranges from 8 to 16 weeks for a complete source-to-pay solution.

4. What's the biggest difference between the Now Platform and traditional procurement systems?

Traditional systems typically focus only on PO processing and payments, while ServiceNow procurement solutions focus on the entire procurement behaviour chain – from need intake to contract tracking and supplier performance. This helps businesses not only process faster, but also make strategic decisions based on real-time data.

5. What support does Novabridge provide during ServiceNow source to pay implementation in Australia?

Novabridge is the leading ServiceNow partner in Australia and New Zealand, specialising in consulting and implementing procurement solutions for both enterprises and government. Novabridge supports from business consulting, designing solutions suitable for existing ERP systems, implementation according to ServiceNow Certified Implementation standards, to internal training and post-implementation results monitoring.

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