For a long time, spreadsheets have been a go-to tool for supplier management. They’re flexible, familiar and relatively low-cost. But as your organisation grows, so does the complexity of your supplier relationships, the volume of data you manage and the risks involved.

At some point, spreadsheets go from being a helpful tool to a bottleneck with the potential to put strain on your procurement team and hamper their ability to make strategic decisions.

So how do you know when it’s time to move on and benefit from the advantages of supplier relationship management software?

Here are 7 clear signs that your business has outgrown spreadsheet-based supplier management and why it’s time to consider a more scalable, strategic procurement software solution.

7 Signs You Need Scalable SRM Software to Unlock the Advantages of Supplier Relationship Management

1. You’re drowning in duplicate, inconsistent or outdated data

Let’s face it: spreadsheets are notoriously prone to human error. One wrong copy-and-paste, one overlooked update or one supplier listed under three slightly different names and suddenly, your data integrity goes out the window.

Inconsistent data leads to all sorts of headaches:

  • Conflicting supplier records that create confusion across teams
  • Duplicate vendors causing inaccurate spend reporting
  • Outdated contact details leading to missed communication

With no centralised source of the truth, procurement professionals are left wasting hours cross-referencing documents and chasing colleagues for the most recent version of a file.

A modern supplier management system centralises your supplier information in one secure, cloud-based location. That means everyone – from procurement to finance to legal – is working from the same accurate, up-to-date data.

Quick stat: According to Salesforce, bad data costs companies around £900 billion per year in lost revenue, productivity, and compliance failures.

2. Approvals and onboarding are painfully slow and manual

Supplier onboarding is one of the most critical stages in the procurement lifecycle. But when you’re managing it through spreadsheets and emails, it’s easy for things to fall through the cracks:

  • Is this supplier already approved?
  • Has legal reviewed their terms yet?
  • Have they submitted all required documentation?

Without automated workflows and notifications, onboarding can take weeks or even months. This may be due to miscommunication, missed steps and manual chasing with every delay impacting your team’s ability to deliver value quickly.

Supplier relationship management software streamlines this process with:

  • Automated approval workflows
  • Built-in document repositories
  • In-platform communications with stakeholders

By making onboarding fast, transparent and repeatable, you reduce supplier-related delays and free your team up to focus on strategic procurement.

3. Risk and compliance tracking is scattered and reactive

When supplier assurance (regulatory compliance, ESG requirements or supply chain risk assessments) are managed in disconnected spreadsheets, you’re constantly on the back foot. Whether that’s gathering Cyber Security Information, Data Protection Information, Modern Slavery Requirements.

Trying to track:

  • Who has valid insurance certificates?
  • Which suppliers meet your modern slavery requirements?
  • Who has completed cybersecurity questionnaires?

In a spreadsheet-driven environment, these reviews often happen only after issues arise, such as a failed audit, a disrupted delivery or reputational damage, making effective risk mitigation and proactive supplier collaboration much more difficult.

Supplier management software helps you shift from reactive to proactive risk management by:

  • Setting automated reminders for document renewals
  • Assigning supplier risk scores based on real-time data
  • Tracking certifications and compliance status at a glance
  • Flagging potential risks before they escalate

Did you know? A PwC report found that over 40% of procurement leaders say they lack the tools to properly assess supplier risk. Investing in purpose-built technology can change that.

4. You can’t easily track supplier performance over time

If performance data lives across multiple spreadsheets (or worse, in someone’s head), it’s impossible to build a reliable picture of how your suppliers are truly delivering.

Key questions go unanswered:

  • Are your suppliers hitting their SLAs?
  • How do different suppliers compare across quality, cost and delivery?
  • Who are your high performers and who needs improvement?

Without structured data and centralised reporting, supplier performance management becomes a subjective conversation rather than a data-driven process.

The right supplier relationship management platform allows you to:

  • Capture and track KPIs over time
  • Send and analyse supplier scorecards
  • Benchmark performance across categories or suppliers
  • Spot trends and opportunities for improvement

The result? The ability to manage supplier relationships more effectively, improve supplier performance and gain stronger accountability in negotiations.

5. You’re wasting time on low-value admin

The more suppliers you work with, the more time your team spends doing repetitive tasks – checking approvals, chasing documents, sending reminders, updating spreadsheets manually.

This isn’t just frustrating – it’s expensive.

Your skilled procurement professionals should be spending their time:

  • Building supplier relationships
  • Identifying cost savings
  • Identifying and mitigating risks
  • Supporting business growth

Not buried in email chains and Excel cells.

Modern supplier relationship management tools automate low-value admin work, freeing your team to focus on strategic priorities. That means less firefighting and more forward planning.