9 in 10 CFOs Focused on Payments Automation and Transformation

The benefits of streamlining and modernizing the payment experience through digital tools and forward-looking investments appear to have sunken in. New research shows nine out of 10 chief financial officers surveyed by PYMNTS said their companies were either investing in payments digitization already or have plans to do so in the future.

At the same time, this prioritization of digital payments is also gaining support by helping companies maximize operational efficiencies, although the most attractive areas of future investment cited by CFOs were those focused on fraud prevention, risk management innovations, working capital and credit solutions.

“Digitization Strategies: How CFOs Are Prioritizing Digital Payments to Maximize Efficiency,” a PYMNTS and Corcentric collaboration, found that 83% of CFOs said their digitization investments resulted in improved fraud prevention and risk management functions, while 77% said the investments led to improvements in their management of working capital and credit — a particularly important area given that a majority of CFOs said they expect the present economy to slide into a recession.

Clearly, the present environment, consisting of high inflation, rising interest rates and volatile capital markets, is the main driver behind the urgent shift by CFOs to invest in new tools.

While falling short of an “innovate or perish” scenario, companies are doubling down on their efforts to bring business payables more fully into the 21st century through strategic investments in digital transformation across risk and working capital management.

The best CFOs are rapidly adapting their thinking. Of those surveyed, 94% are investing in digital technologies in at least one area of payments and finance, with 87% planning to invest in the future.

The companies that invested in innovative and emergent technologies to support their fraud prevention and risk management solutions during the early stages of the pandemic remain focused on their investments in these areas. They appear to be leading the pack, as more of their peers line up to join them.

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