US Companies Cite Transparency as Biggest Benefit of Virtual Cards

Fifty-seven percent of businesses that use virtual cards say that one of the benefits of that payment method is greater transactional detail, according to “Accelerating the Time to Realized Revenue,” a PYMNTS and Mastercard collaboration based on a survey of 400 corporate executives in the U.S. and Canada.

Get the report: Accelerating the Time to Realized Revenue

The U.S. firms responding to the survey were especially interested in this benefit, ranking it first among 10 benefits. Sixty-six percent of them said improving transaction details is a benefit virtual cards bring to their business.

Canadian firms ranked this benefit third behind faster payments and secure transactions and tied with improved cash management. Only 40% of Canadian firms cited greater transactional detail as a benefit of using virtual cards.

Among the three industries included in the survey, healthcare firms that use virtual cards stand out as being the most likely to have benefited from improved transaction details. That benefit was cited by 69% of healthcare firms, 55% of manufacturing firms and 43% of transportation, logistics and shipping firms.

Streamlining Back-End Operations

“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,” Ron Shultz, Mastercard executive vice president, New Payment Flows, North America, wrote in a PYMNTS eBook released in January.

Read more: Mastercard: 2021 Was the Year of Evolution

Shultz wrote that with an open-loop business-to-business (B2B) network, Mastercard is simplifying and automating commercial payments globally, with rich data exchanges helping to streamline back-end operations for businesses.

“These features help strengthen customer and company relationships, which can lead to more business,” Shultz wrote. “Companies can enjoy efficiencies like working capital improvement, visibility into the payment details, and more choices for customers to pay how and when they like.”

Becoming a Common Feature

Virtual cards have become a common feature of the B2B space in both the U.S. and Canada. PYMNTS’ research shows that 32% of all firms across these two countries currently use virtual cards to make B2B payments, while 31% use them to receive B2B payments.

The degree to which firms of different sizes and in different verticals use virtual cards nevertheless varies drastically in both the U.S. and Canada. Virtual cards are more common at large-market firms than mid-market ones, for example, while healthcare companies are more likely to use them than either manufacturing or transport firms.

Reaching Their Full Competitive Potential

While virtual cards can help businesses streamline their B2B operations, improve efficiencies and ultimately boost their bottom lines, many are hesitant to adopt the technology.

Concerns over infrastructural incompatibility and a lack of in-house know-how are preventing them from investing in the virtual cards that can help their businesses reach their full competitive potential.

Enlisting help from third-party providers can help businesses overcome these hurdles to adoption, but that is only the first step in what should ideally be a multifaceted approach to education and discussion about the benefits of virtual cards.