Supplier Onboarding Efficiency: NC State Fireside Chat- PaymentWorks

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.

Watch Our NC State Fireside Chat & Learn How the University Optimized Supplier Onboarding Efficiency

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

Why Supplier Onboarding Efficiency Matters Across All Industries

Why Supplier Onboarding Efficiency Matters in Higher Education

How NC State Modernized Supplier Onboarding Efficiency with PaymentWorks

Key Outcomes from Enhancing Supplier Onboarding Efficiency at NC State

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Why Supplier Onboarding Efficiency Matters Across All Industries

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.

Reducing Payment Risk and Preventing Supplier Fraud

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.

Eliminating Manual Data Entry to Improve Accuracy and Speed

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.

Creating Standardized Supplier Profiles Across the Organization

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.

Enhancing Supplier Experience and Scaling Operations

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.

Why Supplier Onboarding Efficiency Matters in Higher Education

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.

How NC State Modernized Supplier Onboarding Efficiency with PaymentWorks

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.

1. Automated Identity & Bank Account Verification

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.

2. Centralized, Standardized Supplier Profiles

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.

3. Faster, More Efficient Supplier Enablement

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

4. Stronger Compliance, Visibility, and Audit Readiness

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.

Key Outcomes from Enhancing Supplier Onboarding Efficiency at NC State

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.