Here’s the situation for tens of thousands of medium and large enterprises: To maximize cash flow in a post-COVID, remote work economy, they need to achieve mass B2B payments digitization and acceptance.
That’s because over $120 trillion worldwide is exchanged between businesses annually, according to Visa, far outpacing consumer payments. Around half of U.S. B2B payments are still on paper check and these have become even more expensive during the pandemic with increased postal delays. There is no better time than now to focus on digitizing B2B payments.
One of the biggest hurdles for B2B companies effectively accepting digital payments is the explosive growth in accounts payables portals. B2B companies have heavily invested in AP portals, and they’re not going away.
In a 2021 study commissioned by Billtrust, over 350 accounting/finance senior leaders told us that the top two AP portal challenges their accounts receivables teams face are “taking time away from completing other tasks” (39%) and “dealing with increasing numbers of customer payment portals” (38%). Also, the majority of respondents interact with an average of 11-20 AP portals creating bottlenecks and stifling cash flow.
So, what would mass B2B digital payments acceptance look like if it were easy?
Certainly, more businesses adopting AR automation would help drive the transformation. In fact, 56% of our study respondents said they plan to use SaaS vendors with pre-built integrations to support the increasing number of AP portals. But we are seeing interoperability as the “easy” solution, where a network of networks connecting multiple parties — from settlement networks and participating banks to ERPs and integrated payments platforms —
allow multiple payments languages to flow through a single exchange, eliminating even the need for automation in dealing with AP portals.
Ultimately, the wildly complex world of B2B payments will work with the elegance of Venmo. When a friend pays you through that platform, they’re not asking you for your bank name and account number. They just pay you, and Venmo does the heavy lifting. And while a B2B payment is a much heavier lift than the $20 your buddy pays you, the good news is that B2B payments networks like this do exist now. But more adoption is needed to create a future where paper checks and manual processing virtually disappear, unburdening AR teams and positioning companies for post-pandemic economic growth and the remote workforce.
"pay" - Google News
May 03, 2021 at 11:01AM
https://ift.tt/2RprWBC
B2B pay still lacks Venmo's elegance, but it will get there - PaymentsSource
"pay" - Google News
https://ift.tt/301s6zB
Bagikan Berita Ini
0 Response to "B2B pay still lacks Venmo's elegance, but it will get there - PaymentsSource"
Post a Comment