Making people’s lives simpler: Compleat Software

“Whether using new methods and technologies such as AI and ML or developing brand new product elements, our focus on innovation is key to us.”

Compleat Software provides Purchase to Pay (P2P) and spend management software solutions for businesses. It provides solutions for e-invoice matching, purchases order approval, purchase order and receipting, dashboard reporting, etc. The company serves clients in the United Kingdom, the United States, and Australia.

Compleat Software was founded in 1999.

As a journalist, I find Compleat Software quite striking. From the emotional branding standpoint to the high energy and motivation I felt just talking with the CEO, Phil Douglas, Compleat stands out. It’s the sense of pride I get just doing this interview and learning about the company.

Interview Highlights

Q. What was the motivation behind starting Compleat Software?

Compleat Software was founded with the belief that there was a better way to manage accounting and finance processes in businesses. That these shouldn’t be cost centres for a company, but rather an opportunity for these departments and teams to support the company as they grow.

Q. Can you explain about your services in brief?

We provide best-in-class P2P software for companies at an unbeatable cost. This often starts with automating the Accounts Payable process, digitally capturing and processing invoices, and digitising the automation of these documents for visibility, authorisation, and control.

For most of our customers and partners, extending this to also include Integrated Online Buying simply make sense. We provide their teams with the tools they need to buy what they need and when they need it, and ensure that they can get the very best prices. Online buying alone can reduce the cost of goods by 33 percent.

Q. Automated software solutions provide numerous capabilities, but that also means the software can be complex and difficult to use. How do you train the employees and educate them about your solutions?

It’s true, traditionally, these solutions could be very cumbersome and difficult to use and maintain. With iCompleat, we focused on removing these stumbling blocks and ensuring that this technology was no longer just for big businesses.

The system is built to be intuitive to the user—the online buying tools replicate the same process that staff will be used to from their day-to-day lives buying online.

Alongside this, we wanted to ensure that the implementation and management of the software was as simple as possible. Our incredibly powerful workflow tools (for example) are designed to be built and managed by someone with no coding or technical skills.

Q. Customization can end up diminishing the best practices built into the system and make it more difficult to upgrade in the future. How can businesses avoid this and plan their customization?

Again, this is something that has changed significantly over time. Since SaaS and cloud solutions became the norm, managing upgrades to these solutions has become incredibly simple.

We release regular updates to our solutions, all of which are managed by us, with virtually no impact on our users.

In terms of customisation, for most of our users, this is normally only something that they see in the workflows for approvals of purchases or invoices. And, as already said, this part of the solution is designed as no-code.

Q. Developing solutions for different sectors needs the support of high-level talent and dedication. How did you manage to form your dream team?

It hasn’t been a straight road and there have been challenges. I am sure there will be some again in the future. Finding the right people at the right time often needs patience and perseverance. Wherever possible, as a company, we prefer to recruit and promote internally, providing opportunities for our staff, wherever possible, to grow with the business.

Q. How important is ‘innovation’ to what you do at Compleat Software?

Absolutely critical! Our space is incredibly crowded and is not “new”. Accounts Payable automation and document management solutions have been around for more than 20 years. We provide tools that are intuitive to use and make people’s lives simpler is what we are always aiming to achieve. Whether using new methods and technologies such as AI and ML or developing brand new product elements, our focus on innovation is key to us.

Q. How do you market your services?

Our primary go-to-market strategy is now via ERP and Finance/Accounting software authors. For these companies, there is a fundamental need to provide elements of P2P automation to their client base to keep them happy. These companies are also finding that these tools are key to winning new business. For most, developing something that isn’t central to their platforms just isn’t viable, so they look to partner with us to provide these differentiators.

Of course, for these partnerships to work, we must ensure that our partners are armed with the right information and documentation to succeed, and even with marketing campaigns to allow them to promote the products.

Q. Do you have any new services ready to be launched?

We are in the process of a closed BETA of a new extension to our Online Buying toolkit. The feedback has been incredibly exciting and we are looking forward to being able to take this out to our wider customer base and our partners in the near future. 

Q. What does the future hold for your company and its customers? Are exciting things on the way?

Over the last couple of years, we have been making steady progress in expanding our regional support— from the UK to Australia and the US, with the potential to expand into Europe always there.

Alongside this expansion, the continued growth of our core products forms is a central part of our thinking. We must ensure that we keep ahead of the tech curve and continue to focus on delivering best-in-class solutions, globally.

“Our incredibly powerful workflow tools are designed to be built and managed by someone with no coding or technical skills.”