Amex and Bluechain Team to Streamline Small Business Payments

American Express has teamed with FinTech Bluechain to help smaller businesses streamline their supplier payments.

“Invoice management can be resource intensive for small business owners, especially when using multiple different systems,” American Express said in a news release Wednesday (June 7). “The partnership solves that problem by allowing small business owners to centrally manage, pay and reconcile supplier invoices, from a single dashboard, whether on desktop or mobile device.”

The integration lets small- to medium-sized business (SMB) owners save time and resources they would spend on manual administration by streamlining billing and payments and automating data entry and bookkeeping, according to the release.

It also provides better cash flow visibility and control, as SMBs can pick how, where and when they wish to pay, per the release.

“Our recent research reveals over half (56%) of [SMB] leaders feel they would benefit from more time away from the workplace,” said Carolina Castillo, vice president of commercial partnerships and innovation for international card services at American Express, in the release. “However, their many responsibilities, from managing invoices to dealing with suppliers, often prevent them from doing so.”

Meanwhile, PYMNTS research found that SMBs and their suppliers could both benefit from platforms that improve payment transparency, with 47% of SMB suppliers citing a lack of transparency when payments are received as a key pain point. Forty-five percent of payors cited manual reviews holding up the process.

“Particularly for SMBs, stepping up to the next level of B2B payments is essential for staying competitive in a global economy,” the report said.

PYMTS also spoke this week with Chris Trainor, head of product at Paymentus, who said SMB owners are feeling the pain of inefficient expense management amid a battle against macroeconomic headwinds.

He said many small businesses are overseen by individuals who are consumers themselves, but managing a company brings about levels of complexity that go beyond simply managing the household budget.

“The average small business owner does not have complete control over their finances and expenses, which leads to negative situations related to cash flow and profitability,” Trainor said.

That’s particularly true with seasonal businesses, like construction and landscaping firms, whose expenses and revenues can be uneven or project-based.

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