Transforming Supplier Onboarding Efficiency in Higher Education: NC State Fireside Chat

Higher education procurement and AP teams are under increasing pressure to work faster with fewer resources. Rising fraud attempts, decentralized processes, and manual supplier onboarding workflows create bottlenecks that slow down operations and increase risk.

For an institution the size of NC State University—with thousands of suppliers, complex purchasing needs, and high compliance standards—improving supplier onboarding efficiency became essential. To scale, the university needed a standardized, automated process that could streamline communication, validate supplier identity upfront, and eliminate manual data entry.

In this fireside chat, the NC State procurement and vendor management teams share how they redesigned their onboarding workflows, reduced exposure to payment risk, and created a more collaborative, audit-ready process with PaymentWorks.

Directly from the NC State procurement team, hear how the institution:

• Simplified and standardized supplier onboarding across multiple departments
• Reduced risk related to supplier identity verification and banking fraud
• Improved supplier onboarding efficiency through automation and self-service workflows
• Eliminated manual data collection, rekeying, and repetitive back-and-forth communication
• Increased transparency, collaboration, and control across the supplier lifecycle

Modern organizations—whether in higher education, government, healthcare, financial services, or enterprise—rely on a constant flow of suppliers, contractors, consultants, and service providers. Managing this ecosystem becomes exponentially more challenging when onboarding is slow, manual, or inconsistent.

Improving supplier onboarding efficiency is no longer optional. It is a foundational element of operational resilience, fraud prevention, and scalable growth.

Supplier impersonation, business email compromise, and ACH fraud continue to rise. Attackers often target onboarding processes because they rely heavily on:

• Emails and PDFs
• Manual form collection
• Unverified bank details
• Staff-dependent verification steps

Automating supplier onboarding replaces these vulnerable workflows with: 

• Verified identity checks
• Bank account ownership validation
• Secure supplier self-registration portals
• Permissions-based routing
• Automated audit records

By validating information before a supplier is approved, AP teams eliminate guesswork, reduce fraud exposure, and build a stronger security posture.

Manual onboarding slows teams down and increases the likelihood of errors. Many organizations juggle W-9s, tax forms, bank documentation, questionnaires, and compliance materials—often submitted in different formats and via email. 

Automation ensures supplier data is:

• Entered directly by the supplier
• Automatically validated for accuracy
• Standardized into a clean supplier profile
• Synced with ERP or financial systems without rework

The result: fewer errors, faster cycle times, and more time for strategic work.

Organizations with decentralized purchasing often end up with duplicate vendors, inconsistent naming conventions, and an overwhelming number of manual approval paths. 

Supplier onboarding efficiency improves dramatically when workflows are centralized and standardized. Automation creates a single, authoritative supplier record that follows the supplier across departments, campuses, or business units. 

This strengthens compliance, streamlines reporting, and reduces confusion for both staff and suppliers.

With automation, suppliers gain:

• A clear, guided onboarding experience
• A secure place to upload sensitive information
• Transparent status updates
• Faster enablement and payment timelines

For the organization, automated workflows scale effortlessly—whether onboarding dozens or thousands of suppliers a month—without adding administrative burden.

Higher education institutions manage complex supplier ecosystems that include: 

• Vendors
• Contractors
• Researchers and grant partners
• International payees
• One-time suppliers
• Instructors and service providers

Without automation, AP and procurement teams face:

• Frequent impersonation and fraud attempts
• Manual approval delays
• Inconsistent processes across departments
• Limited visibility into supplier status
• Compliance challenges and fragmented audit trails

NC State confronted many of these challenges and recognized the need to centralize, standardize, and verify supplier onboarding with identity-driven automation.

Implementing PaymentWorks allowed NC State to move away from decentralized, manual workflows and adopt an automated supplier onboarding model that improved accuracy, speed, and security.

Previously, NC State relied on staff-led verification checks—phone calls, emailed bank forms, and inconsistent routing. 

PaymentWorks automated these high-risk steps, including: 

• Bank account ownership validation
• Identity verification
• Duplicate supplier detection
• Watchlist and sanctions screening 

This significantly reduced exposure to onboarding-related fraud attempts.

Before automation, supplier records varied by department and workflow. PaymentWorks created one standardized profile format used across the university. 

This eliminated: 

• Duplicate suppliers
• Inconsistent naming conventions
• Cross-department variations in onboarding practices

As a result, NC State gained cleaner data, fewer errors, and more dependable reporting.

Eliminating email-based onboarding and manual data entry enabled NC State to dramatically improve supplier onboarding efficiency. Suppliers now complete everything through a secure, guided portal, while staff focus on review and approval instead of form collection. 

This led to:

• Shorter onboarding cycles
• Reduced staff workload
• Fewer data inconsistencies
• Clearer communication with suppliers

Automation gave NC State full visibility into every step of the supplier onboarding workflow. With complete, automated audit trails, the university can quickly respond to internal or external compliance inquiries.

While every institution has unique needs, NC State’s experience highlights the transformative impact of automation: 

• Significant reduction in fraud exposure through automated identity verification
• Streamlined onboarding processes across decentralized departments
• Cleaner, standardized supplier data integrated into ERP systems
• Time savings for procurement and AP teams previously burdened by manual tasks
• Improved supplier experience with clear workflows and faster time-to-payment
• Enhanced compliance posture supported by consistent, traceable documentation

These outcomes demonstrate how institutions can dramatically improve efficiency and modernize vendor management by transitioning from manual, email-based processes to identity-driven automation.

Our resources below are full of ready-to-implement insights and tips.

With both the NC State Fireside Chat and these resources, you’ll have everything you need to begin improving your vendor management strategy.

NC State Procurement and Business Services’ Learning Resources

The Business Benefits of Implementing a Supplier Diversity Program in Your School or University

Vendor Onboarding in 2023: Three Predictions

Business Payments Fraud in Times of Chaos

10 Questions to Determine if Your Vendor Management Process Needs an Update

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