The pandemic has forced companies to modernize back-office procedures, and more and more are adopting software for accounts payable (AP) and accounts receivable (AR) processes — and in some cases, adopting fully outsourced models.
There was some innovation in payments, too, but now change on that front is accelerating as well, characterized by embedded payments. Payments pros are increasingly partnering with chief financial officers (CFOs), treasurers and others to help them more quickly onboard buyers, provide more reliable underwriting, provide settlement within a few days, provide terms to customers, and remove risk and friction in the process.
“I think that is new,” TreviPay Chief Financial Officer Joel Campbell told PYMNTS. “You’re hearing this term more frequently now, but I think the new era of embedded payments is the direction we’re heading.”
Changes Driven by Consumer Experiences
Adoption of tech-forward payments is being driven in part by the one-click shopping available at Amazon and elsewhere, he said. People now expect B2B transactions to be just as simple.
“We want that one click, we want flexible invoicing, we want flexible terms, and particularly we want hands-on customer service,” Campbell said. “We want people to be there to support the transaction.”
Automation frees finance departments, so they are better able to focus on customer service and other higher-level tasks instead of administrative chores, such as onboarding, reconciliation and dispute management.
This all adds up to better customer experience.
“It’s going to build loyalty over time, and you’re going to see some of the payment risks perhaps that have been prevalent to this point … start to abate through automation and modernization of the back office,” Campbell said.
Giving Customers More Control in the Process
Top-performing companies of all sizes are automating their back offices, he said, either outsourcing them completely or procuring software that will help them onboard better, get invoices submitted to them faster and manage the whole remittance process.
They also provide multiple payment options, which is something customers are really looking for. These include credit cards, traditional automated clearinghouse, and bank and mobile payments. This desire, too, is being driven by what people see in their lives as consumers, such as when they’re able to buy coffee with a mobile app.
“I think even in the B2B space, more sophisticated customers want to feel like they’re more in control,” Campbell said. “If they have something on their phone or their iPad, or that they can watch on their desktop as that process is happening, it feels like they have more control when they know what’s happening with each one of their transactions.”
A Need to Remain Resilient
The need for digitization is also being driven by hybrid and remote work models. These have created challenges in relation to fraud and know your customer (KYC) issues. Digitization in the back office can provide fraud controls and guardrails around the process.
Looking ahead, Campbell said he expects the modern, digitized back office to continue to become more prevalent.
“The technology is going to continue to morph and change,” he said. “The biggest challenge for all of us is to be resilient, to be flexible, to grow with it and to allow this change to happen more broadly across the market.”
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