It’s time for B2B businesses to accelerate adoption

Whether online or in-store, today’s consumers want to be able to pay for goods and services the way they choose, whether that’s credit card, debit card, ACH, PayPal, Venmo, etc. For some time now, consumer-facing companies have been investing in and integrating a wide range of payments capabilities to meet this expectation and provide customers with a seamless shopping and payment experience.

Also read: B2B payments: The next $38.2 billion market

While progress has been made in modernizing payments in the consumer space, the speed at which B2B companies are getting there pales in comparison for a number of reasons.

In some cases, limitations of existing accounting systems prevent B2B companies from switching to electronic payments or abandoning paper checks delivered via snail mail. The cost and difficulty of implementing a digital payments platform is also a contributing factor. In other cases, B2B companies are simply unwilling to disrupt processes that customers have become accustomed to.

However, the dynamics of the B2B environment are changing, driven in large part by customers who now shop online 74% of the time. As the comfort and familiarity of digital payments continues to grow, B2B customers increasingly want the same contactless payment experience as consumers, with a variety of payment options and without having to handle money or physical checks.

Many B2B businesses are responding to the changing environment and introducing new digital payment options. But this is not true in all cases. Businesses that are slow to adapt not only risk failing to meet customer demand for enhanced payment experiences, but they may also miss out on some of the following wider business benefits:

Enhance business operations and performance

Digital payment platforms offer a wide range of functionality that goes far beyond the basics of executing transactions. Modern digital payment platforms can also serve as an extension to existing accounting and AR systems, which are often rigid and inflexible depending on age. Digital payment systems enable B2B companies to automate processes guided by specific rules and clearly defined workflows. The ability to forecast and manage cash flow is enhanced, especially for companies with multiple lines of business and issuing different types of invoices to a wide range of customers. In summary, enhanced payment systems can improve operational performance across the entire enterprise.

Improve customer experience and engagement

Payment and billing data are the oil in any company’s customer support engine, whether B2B or B2C. Frustration is certainly to be expected when customers interact with service representatives and the data is not easily accessible or is located in siled Excel spreadsheets that are difficult to share among teams. B2B companies that adopt digital and modern payments capabilities will also increase internal visibility and access to actionable information, thereby improving customer service and creating opportunities to upsell new products and services.

Reduce inefficiencies

According to a recent survey, processing a single invoice can require up to 15 people and 11 hours of work. Often, legacy accounting systems create roadblocks that force accounts payable and accounting teams to spend significant time reviewing invoices, determining which invoices need to be paid, executing customer requests, checking CRM systems and emails, and more. Modern payment systems reduce all of these inefficiencies, allowing B2B companies to accept and process payments, follow up on customer non-payments, issue refunds and pay invoices more quickly, while allowing employees to spend their time doing more Substantive issues.

In many companies, there is a tendency to continue doing things the way they have always been done. This inertia often extends to payments. However, for B2B companies, hands-off options are quickly dwindling, especially for those intending to sell directly to consumers. Moving to digital payments will reduce friction in all invoicing and payment processes, increase collection speed, and provide businesses with measurable operational improvements.

About the author

Henry Helgeson is an entrepreneur, investor and CEO blue carda global payments orchestration platform for leading B2B and B2C enterprises.