Supplier payment software turns approved invoices into money leaving, which is the most mechanical part of payables and the point at which the largest single losses occur. That combination means the controls deserve to be compared before the conveniences, because a faster payment process with weaker controls is simply faster at doing the wrong thing.
How release is controlled
Whether a second person must release a run, whether that requirement survives absence through a real cover arrangement, and whether it can be configured away below a threshold. This guards the moment money leaves, and a product that treats it as optional is making a decision that should be yours and explicit.
Which bank formats it fits
Payment file formats for your specific banks, how confirmations come back, and what a rejected file looks like operationally. This is where an otherwise capable product turns out to need a manual step, and a list of supported institutions is not the same as a tested integration with yours.
What the record holds
Each payment allocated against the invoices it settled, with the remittance advice generated and retained. A payment recorded only as a bank line has to be allocated later by somebody working backwards from amounts, which is the reconstruction that produces errors and consumes time at month end.
And how bank detail changes are handled
Whether a change is flagged, whether it requires a recorded verification, and who is allowed to make one. Software cannot make the verifying phone call and it can force the step and keep the evidence, which is what turns a procedural control into something an auditor can actually test.
Questions people ask about supplier payment software
Should payment sit inside the payables product?
It can, and it can equally be a separate step through banking. The controls matter more than where the capability lives.
What is the largest risk?
A convincing request to change a supplier's bank details, because it redirects money you genuinely owe. Verification through a channel you already hold is the control that matters.
How often should runs happen?
Weekly suits most organisations. Choose deliberately and tell suppliers, since most chasing is a supplier trying to establish a date.
Do we need a separate product for this?
Not necessarily. Many payables systems include payment scheduling and execution. What matters is that the controls exist and are enforced wherever the capability lives.