When it comes to managing purchase requests, many organizations rely on their ERP system — and pay the price for it. While ERPs are great at handling core accounting and procurement data, they’re rarely efficient (or affordable) for the simple task of capturing and approving purchase requests.

Every additional employee who needs to submit a purchase request usually needs an ERP license. Those licenses aren’t cheap — they can range from hundreds to thousands of dollars per user per year. Multiply that across dozens or hundreds of employees, and your “simple” purchase request process quickly turns into a major ongoing expense.

That’s where NITRO Purchasing comes in. It’s a smart, cost-effective purchase request system that eliminates unnecessary ERP licensing costs — without sacrificing data accuracy, workflow control, or integration.

Why ERPs Aren’t Built for Everyday Purchase Requests

ERPs are designed for back-office accounting, not casual purchasing. When frontline employees or department managers need to request office supplies, vendor services, or project materials, requiring them to log into your ERP creates three problems:

  1. High Licensing Costs: Every requester needs an account, and each account means another license.

  2. Low Adoption: Many employees find ERPs difficult to navigate, leading to errors, delays, and frustration.

  3. Administrative Overload: IT and finance teams spend time maintaining permissions, training users, and cleaning up data entry mistakes.

In short, using your ERP for purchase requests is like using a forklift to move a briefcase — it works, but it’s overkill.

How NITRO Purchasing Reduces ERP Licensing Costs

NITRO Purchasing offers a smarter way to handle purchase requests by working alongside your ERP — not inside it. Here’s how it saves you money while improving efficiency:

1. Route Requests Outside the ERP

Employees submit and track purchase requests directly in Microsoft 365, SharePoint, or Teams, where they already work. That means no additional ERP licenses are required for requesters.

Only finance and procurement staff — the ones who actually process and approve purchases — need ERP access. This dramatically reduces your licensing footprint.

2. Automate Approvals and Data Syncing

NITRO Purchasing uses automated workflows to route requests for approval, enforce budget rules, and capture the necessary data. Once approved, only the final purchase order or transaction details are pushed to your ERP.

This keeps the ERP as your system of record without forcing every user into it.

3. Integrate Seamlessly with Your ERP

NITRO Purchasing integrates with major ERP platforms such as Microsoft Dynamics, SAP, Oracle, and others. It connects through APIs or flat-file exports, ensuring that approved requests flow directly into your ERP for purchasing or payment.

This approach maintains data integrity while keeping your licensing costs low.

4. Cut Training and Maintenance Costs

Because NITRO Purchasing lives inside Microsoft 365, most employees already know how to use it. There’s no steep learning curve, no new system to train everyone on, and no need for your IT team to maintain duplicate user accounts.

Faster adoption means fewer support calls, cleaner data, and higher ROI.

The Financial Impact

Let’s do the math:
If your ERP license costs $800 per user annually and 100 employees need to submit purchase requests, that’s $80,000 per year — just to capture requests.

By using NITRO Purchasing as the front-end request system, you could cut that number by 80–90%, since only a handful of finance and procurement users need ERP access.

That’s tens of thousands of dollars saved every year — money you can reinvest into operations, innovation, or growth.

Why Organizations Choose NITRO Purchasing

  • Built for Microsoft 365 and SharePoint – use the tools you already own

  • Configurable workflows – adapt approval paths to your policies

  • Seamless ERP integration – keep your financial system as the source of truth

  • Lower total cost of ownership – fewer licenses, fewer systems, faster ROI

The Smarter Way to Handle Purchase Requests

You don’t need to overhaul your ERP to streamline your purchasing process. With NITRO Purchasing, you can manage purchase requests efficiently, reduce licensing costs, and give employees an easier way to get what they need — all while maintaining visibility and control.

Why pay for more ERP licenses than you need?
Start saving today with a purpose-built purchase request solution that complements your ERP, not complicates it.

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