Amazon Alexa, Google Pay Add Value To Corporate Cards

As FinTechs continue to drive commercial card adoption, value-added services have become an important tactic to rising transaction volumes. In this week’s Commercial Card Innovation Tracker, corporate card solution providers embrace third parties like Amazon Alexa, Google Pay and Uber to incentivize corporate card use.

REPAY Lowers Biz Card Costs

Payments technology firm Repay Holdings announced an integration within Sage’s ERP solution Sage 500 with a focus on making it more affordable for organizations to accept commercial cards.

An announcement this week revealed REPAY can now support Level 3 card data processing for B2B transactions within the sage 500 enterprise resource planning (ERP). The integration, dubbed APS Payments Sage 500, tokenizes payment card data to ensure PCI compliance, while Level 3 data lowers interchange rates for the merchant.

In a statement, REPAY Chief Revenue Officer Susan Perlmutter said the company has “experienced a shift in user behavior, increasing the demand for B2B payment processing technology and accessibility.”

Nium Links Corporate Cards To Google Pay

As more commercial card solutions embrace mobile and contactless payments, FinTech company Nium has become the latest firm to add support of Google Pay for its business card solution. The integration sees Nium enabling businesses that use the company’s corporate card technology allowing their employees to make card payments via their mobile device using Google Pay, both in-store and online.

Using Visa’s global acceptance network, the card offering is available across Australia, Europe, Hong Kong, Singapore and the United Kingdom.

“We understand that more consumers are moving away from cash and into other forms of payment methods, and this [behavior] translates to corporate expenses as well,” said Gitesh Athavale, head of product (cards) and Nium.

WEX Wields Alexa For Card Data

Commercial payments company WEX has introduced a new feature for corporate customers that use Amazon Alexa. The company’s ClearView Snap voice skill allows fleet managers to use Alexa to obtain key metrics and analytics into their fleet spend, including information about fuel card spend and transaction trends.

“This hands-free approach brings a whole new experience to our customers, allowing them to quickly access their fueling information by simply using their voice,” explained WEX Vice President of Fleet Product Innovation Erin Knight in a statement.

Ramp Augments Card Offering

While many expense management solution providers will first launch software and, later on, add a corporate card solution to integrate into their offering, Ramp went the opposite route by first launching its business card product. Recently, Ramp rolled out its integrated expense management tool, a strategy Co-Founder and CEO Eric Glyman said was a deliberate one.

Corporate cards, he told PYMNTS, offer the value of transaction data as well as the ability to automatically integrate corporate spend controls. The addition of expense management software aims to further help corporates reduce expenses in a work-from-home environment.

“It comes down to cutting costs and designing a process that works remotely,” said Glyman. “Whether you have expense report software or not, dealing with expense reimbursements are expensive.”

Plastiq Joins Visa’s Small Business Hub

Business payments technology company Plastiq recently announced its addition to the U.S. Visa small Business Hub, a collaborative resource for small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs). The announcement sees Plastiq being able to connect its SMB clients to Visa commercial cards that can be used even when a supplier doesn’t accept card payments, as vendors can receive funds via ACH or another payment rail.

Just days later, Plastiq announced a partnership with Silicon Valley Bank. That tie-up involves Plastiq connecting the bank’s business customers to foreign exchange commercial card payment capabilities, again with a focus on enabling card payments even when cards aren’t accepted.

“This unique value-add will empower businesses to further optimize their cash flow and maximize their working capital to ensure their companies can continue operating during this time of economic uncertainty,” said said Eliot Buchanan, CEO and co-founder of Plastiq.

Sampath Incentivizes Uber Card Payments

In a new rewards program, Sri Lanka’s Sampath Cards has announced a partnership with Uber and Uber Eats. The companies are collaborating to connect business commercial cardholders to cash-back rewards when they use their Sampath Mastercard corporate cards on the Uber or Uber Eats platform, according to Verdict.co.uk reports.