Procurement approval times by function
2026 benchmarks: Which types of software requests face the most approval friction?
Approval times for most software categories sat close to an 8-day average in Q1 2026. In Q2 2026, average edged up across the board, with Finance and Operations software seeing the steepest increases in relative terms.
Finance software saw the sharpest percentage increase, with approval times rising 36% from 8.1 days to 11 days. Operations software followed closely, up 34% from 6.1 days to 8.2 days, and IT software rose 20% from 10 to 12 days. HR remains the slowest category to approve overall at 12.3 days, but its quarterly change was modest at 7.9%.
By contrast, approvals for Sales software (8.2 days to 7 days) and Security software (8.4 to 7.8 days) have sped up, and Data software remains the fastest category to approve at 3.7 days – largely unchanged from Q1.
Why the gap between SaaS categories matters
This gap between the fastest category to approve (Data) and the slowest (HR) now stands at 8.6 days – slightly more than the 7-day gap seen last quarter. This isn't necessarily a reflection on the requesting teams themselves, but more likely points to a widening gap in how mature or consistent the approval workflow is for each software category – shaped by factors like the number of stakeholders involved, the sensitivity of the data the software touches and the governance layers a purchase has to pass through.
Although internal approvals represent only one component of the end-to-end procurement cycle – currently averaging 72 days – reducing variability at this stage, particularly for the higher-friction categories such as HR, would help streamline workflows and support overall cycle time reduction.
Addressing this requires more structured approval workflows that route requests to the right stakeholders early and surface diligence insights upfront. Procurement orchestration software enables faster, more consistent approvals while maintaining rigorous risk and governance controls.
Data source: These insights are derived from over $75bn of global processed spend managed by Vertice in 2026.
Are you overpaying for SaaS?
Are you overpaying for SaaS?
Related insights
Join the community
.webp)
The need-to-knows about Vertice
HR software currently has the longest approval time at 12.3 days, followed by IT (12 days), Finance and Marketing (11 days each) and Engineering (11.1 days), as of Q2 2026.
Approval time differences generally come down to how many stakeholders a request needs to pass through, how sensitive the data involved is and how mature the governance process is for that category. Categories like HR and Legal often require additional data privacy or compliance review, while categories like Data or Sales tools may follow a more streamlined path. Procurement orchestration software can help standardize these workflows so approval time depends less on which category a request falls into.