Another company in the spend management space is Coupa Software. The user-friendliness of Coupa's SaaS application allows companies to roll it out to nearly all employees, says Mark Verbeck, Coupa's chief financial officer. "With high adoption, you get more leverage from the system," he says.

Sutro Biopharma Inc., a developer of cancer therapies, has been able to save time and money with Coupa, says CFO Jay Shukert. Most of Sutro's 50 employees are scientists and need to purchase materials for their experiments on an almost daily basis, Shukert says. Even if Sutro had a procurement department, the scientists usually have to specifically define the materials they're purchasing. With Coupa, they can scan the supplier catalog to find the materials they need. and click to start the purchase; the transaction then is electronically routed for approval.

Shukert estimates that each scientist saves two to four hours each week when compared to the manual process that had been in place. Multiplied by 40 scientists across the firm, and the time saved each year totals the equivalent of two to three scientists. "That's more time they can spend thinking about experiments," Shukert says.

Clearly, installing a procurement application that meets a company's needs can have significant benefits. In fact, the by consulting firm A.T. Kearney found several attributes common to companies that lead in procurement practices. Among them: they align their procurement strategy with the overall goals of the company, and engage the business units to address almost all -- 94% -- of external spending. These companies also are more advanced in their adoption of technology. The payoff from these and similar practices? The leading companies enjoy returns on their procurement assets that are nearly 60% higher than those achieved by other firms.