Belt-Tightening Businesses Taking Closer Look at Spend Management

Digital payments have been accelerating in the Indian market, driven first by demonetization in India and closely followed by the pandemic.

“Initially, adopted by the retail consumers, the user experience left even businesses demanding for prompt solutions that could be as easy to use in a business setting,” Hemant Vishnoi, co-founder at EnKash, told PYMNTS. “Innovations in this space followed immediately thereafter.”

EnKash, an India-based, all-in-one spend management platform and corporate card company, was ready to meet this demand as it had already moved in this direction, believing that digitization in this space would be needed for any growing economy.

These macro trends sped the adoption of the company’s smart product solutions at scale, and investors have taken note. On April 4, EnKash announced that it had raised $20 million in Series B funding.

See also: Indian Spend Management Platform EnKash Raises $20M in Series B

Meeting Not Only a ‘Need,’ But a ‘Want’

Small- to medium-sized businesses (SMBs) across industry segments use the platform to build operational efficiencies, avoid costs and enhance savings.

Vishnoi said spend management not only takes care of expense management, but also gives a holistic view of all types of company payable, receivable and expenses, along with insights and analytics.

Too many companies have depended for too long on multiple disjointed platforms, ranging from rudimentary spreadsheets to function-specific applications that don’t talk to each other. The lack of a single source of truth about transactions results in delayed decisions and unmet business outcomes.

“This made the ‘need’ for a smart spend management platform transform into a real ‘want’ and gave the necessary impetus to the demand, and hence adoption, of such platforms,” Vishnoi said. “Today, whether digitally native or digitally primitive, businesses want to move in the direction of digital transformation.”

Unearthing the Potential of Data

When companies adopt a platform that unifies corporate cards and spend management, they unearth the potential of data. The EnKash platform not only presents this data, but also allows for actionable insights.

It couples this with user workflows, real-time reporting, spend analysis, smart limit allocation, end use monitoring, reconciliation and purpose-based cards.  With real-time access to whatever is happening with their budgets, companies can take more informed decisions.

“With the entire program and spend management in their control, organizations felt much more secure and empowered to boost adoption within their teams,” Vishnoi said. “The benefits like complete control, transparency, convenience, audit trails and DIY program management is what almost all customers really like today.”

Read more: Mastercard, EnKash Team To Expand Commercial Card Use In India

Innovating Across the Globe

Vishnoi said that businesses across the globe have been dealing with a lack of product awareness and accessibility — for both financial and nonfinancial products.

After a decade in which most of the innovations have centered on consumer payments and the related merchant acquiring side, and in which the B2B financial space lacked interest, many solution providers have emerged.

“The global markets and Indian market run in parallel for the first time in history as far as new product introduction is concerned,” Vishnoi said. “Innovations in this space started for almost the same reasons across the globe and will continue over the next decade.”

EnKash will use its most recent funding round to build scalable products and services on the financial and nonfinancial side.

“We will keep on leading the space with innovative offerings around Banking-as-a-Service, scaling up our plug-and-play cards issuance stack and intend to expand our geographical presence on the international front,” Vishnoi said.