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Corporate payments have been on a slow but steady journey toward digitization. While most business-to-business payments organizations haven’t adopted a complete end-to-end electronic payments process, pieces of the digital puzzle are being put together, thanks largely to innovative payments solutions from FinTech companies. They’re enabling changes in the way businesses make payments while simultaneously driving modernization of their technology infrastructures, making room for even more innovation. It’s growth that drives even more growth—and it’s no wonder there seem to be opportunities around every corner.
Read Fintech: Reinventing the Financial Services Industry for more insights.
This sentiment is articulated well by the editor of The Paypers’ B2B Fintech: Payments, Supply Chain Finance & E-invoicing Guide 2016, who states, “There is almost a tangible feeling that ‘time is now’ for revamping old infrastructure, honing processes, enhancing operations, perking up data analysis, augmenting reporting, etc.” With the payments space eager for transformation, let’s take a look at some of the biggest FinTech opportunities—and how a handful of companies are already making an impact:
Working Capital
Payments professionals know that cash (flow) is king, and making the most of it is more important than ever. There are untapped sources of cash sitting in invoices. Thankfully, managing the payments process—and maximizing cash—is both becoming easier with new technology platforms. For example, FinTech company C2FO has a marketplace for working capital enabling buyers’ accounts payable and sellers’ accounts receivable to collaborate on early invoice payment negotiations. For additional thought, read The Innovative Way To Optimize Cash Flow & Working Capital.
International Payments
Globalization is happening—everywhere. In the consumer marketplaces as well as in the business world, payment transactions are crossing borders. Technology is making it easier, faster, and more affordable. Offering a cloud-based international payments platform (direct or via a flexible API), Currencycloud is a FinTech company that fully automates the entire payment lifecycle for corporate customers.
The article How Much Is Your Travel Business Losing On International Payments? demonstrates how companies in the travel industry can save money by adopting new forms of global supplier payments.
Tokenization
With the introduction of new technologies—Blockchain, for one—payments security has taken on new meaning. It’s easy to see how cash or checks can be lost or stolen, and it’s not a stretch to understand how a carrying a plastic credit card carries risks. Today’s digital payments, while largely “safer” than the alternatives, require a unique and ever-evolving approach to data security. It’s a big area of focus for many FinTech companies, such as Identitii, who make payments safer through patent-pending tokenization technology.
Unravel the complexities by reading A Brief Look at Tokenization in the Payments Industry and Will Blockchain Technology Power the Future of Payments?
Supplier Relationships
Suppliers are among the most essential stakeholders in the traditional-to-digital payments transformation. If they don’t adopt their customers’ changing processes, they’re holding everyone back from progress. Some FinTech companies are stepping in to help AP departments make the transition easy for their partners. Taulia, for instance, offers a set of solutions, from e-invoicing to supplier management, to strengthen supplier relationships across the supply chain.
See Supplier Relationships Believed Central to B2B Customer Engagement and
Three Reasons Supplier Payments Should Be the First Thing Your Organization Changes for more on this topic.
Electronic Payments
Paper checks and paper-based, manual systems are getting filed away by many AP leaders in favor of digital alternatives that save time, money, and make the most of AP department human resources. But making the switch to techno-based process often happens piece-by-piece, requiring new system integrations and new workflows that can take time to streamline.
That’s why companies like Yantra Financial Technologies, developer of electronic payment systems focusing on card processing, international remittances, and risk management, aim to take much of the development burden off of AP organizations. Yantra also offers corporations a free OFAC Scanner and ACH Reader to help them manage data processing and verification processes.
Discover the 5 Factors to Consider While Developing a B2B E-Payments Strategy.
However a company sets its digital strategy into motion, electronic payment capabilities adds up to easier, cheaper, faster, safer, and more compliant transactions—all compelling arguments for payments organizations to further their digital strategies with innovative solutions from FinTech partners. Find out more about FinTech companies in PayTech Makes Waves Around the Globe, AmericanBanker.com’s 20 Fintech Companies to Watch, and 22 Hottest FinTech Startups From Silicon Valley.
Subscribe to our Inside WEX blog and follow us on social media for the insider view on everything WEX, from payments innovation to what it means to be a WEXer.
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