New WEX Survey Shows Most Have Electronic Payment Solutions In The Works

WEX, the provider of corporate payment solutions, announced Thursday (June 22) its unveiling of the results of a third-party survey, which found 72 percent of survey respondents already have an electronics payable initiative in the works.

In a press release, WEX said it polled 500 chief financial officers (CFO) around the country and found that in addition to close to three-quarters already embracing electronic payments, 26 percent are considering using one. What’s more, 93 percent of survey respondents said they are working to launch an electronic payables system in the next six to 12 months. Further, more than half of respondents, or 57 percent, are currently outsourcing platforms or technology to perform accounts payable functions.

“It’s interesting to see how top decision makers are thinking about payments in the near future,” said Jim Pratt, SVP and GM virtual payments global at WEX. “The fact that the typical CFO believes the payments processing companies will be the true disruptors is a strong vote of confidence and motivation to continue our research and product development. At WEX, we strive to constantly innovate while providing top-notch customer service, new analytics capabilities and unparalleled payments security.”

The survey also found that 39 percent of respondents think payment processing companies, not startups, will disrupt the payment markets in the next year to two years. Thirty-two percent of respondents think the big banks will be the disruptors, while 16 percent think it will be FinTech startups. The survey also revealed that while an overwhelming number of survey respondents think all new technologies will be important to their business during the next two years, the majority are focused most on mobile payments and mobile capabilities to manage and approve payments. Blockchain was a close second, with cloud payments coming in third and data mining rounding out the top four technologies. The survey also showed that the customer experience is also important when it comes to choosing a payment platform, with 71 percent citing the overall user experience as the most influential criteria for choosing a payments platform. Sixty percent cited speed of reconciliation capabilities, and 60 percent also selected reporting analytics.