Adopting the latest technologies can help firms keep their businesses operating smoothly while benefiting customer and supplier relationships. However, several key challenges prevent firms from seeing the full benefits digital innovation has to offer.
One of the greatest barriers is a lack of understanding of the benefits. That’s the No. 1 barrier for large-market firms and the third-most-cited barrier for midmarket firms, according to “Accelerating the Time to Realized Revenue,” a PYMNTS and Mastercard collaboration based on a survey of 400 corporate executives.
Get the report: Accelerating the Time to Realized Revenue
Forty-eight percent of the large-market firms responding to the survey said a lack of understanding of the benefits is a barrier to innovation.
A greater share of these respondents cited this challenge than cited five others: high data management costs; regulatory problems; difficulties hiring and retaining staff; resistance within the organization; and data privacy or security concerns.
Among midmarket firms, 32% said that a lack of understanding of the benefits prevents them from realizing digital innovation, ranking the challenge third behind only high data management costs and regulatory problems.
Getting the Most out of New Digital Payments Technology
Third-party providers can help firms overcome many of these challenges and get the most out of new digital payments technology. These providers have trained professionals who know about the products and services they provide and how to design and quickly roll out solutions tailored to clients’ needs.
“In B2B payments, automation is key to unlocking greater choice and efficiency,” Ron Shultz, Mastercard executive vice president of new payment lows in North America, wrote in an eBook released by PYMNTS.
Read more: Mastercard: 2021 Was the Year of Evolution
“Electronic invoicing, virtual corporate cards, automated accounts payable and bill pay solutions are all top of mind as businesses look to future-proof their operations,” Shultz added.
Partnering with third-party providers can help firms bring digital solutions to market quickly that would otherwise take much longer to architect and deploy on their own.
Third-party providers can also help firms avoid the high costs associated with building their own technologies from scratch, often providing access to technologies and domain area expertise that might otherwise be out of reach.
Tapping Outside Help to Deliver Key Digital Technologies
The survey found that many of the firms that have adopted digital innovations have tapped outside help to deliver several of the key digital technologies they need to optimize their businesses’ payment operations.
Nearly three-quarters of the businesses that use blockchain or smart contracts said they source the technology from third-party providers. The same is true of about half of those who use artificial intelligence (AI) systems or dynamic terms, and about one-third of those that use supplier portals.
These firms know that keeping digital operations up to date is a critical aspect of staying competitive in the global digital marketplace. Firms whose innovation plans are held back by a lack of in-house knowledge, high data management costs or regulatory barriers are in an uphill battle to maximize operational efficiencies and deliver high levels of client and partner satisfaction in an increasingly competitive marketplace.
Many firms may struggle to overcome these barriers on their own, but working with third-party providers can help mitigate the inherent challenges of quickly implementing and maintaining these innovative and crucial digital technologies.
We’re always on the lookout for opportunities to partner with innovators and disruptors.
Learn More