How FIs Address B2B Pain Points

Just like consumers, businesses require quick and secure payment methods that meet their in-the-moment needs.

That’s why financial institutions (FIs) need to be able to customize the range of payment processes they offer as their clients’ businesses grow.

Without these functionalities, businesses that live and die by rapid payments can face delays that disrupt their supply chain. FIs must provide the same digital features to which consumers have become accustomed: instant payments and refunds and embedded finance.

When FIs provide their business-to-business (B2B) clients with the same stellar customer experiences that consumers enjoy online, enterprise growth will become easier for these corporate clients. Payments consumerization translates into a wish list of five key digital payments features that address common B2B pain points:

• The ability to offer supplier portals.
• The ability to access and share cash flow data and other critical data in real time.
• Easy payment integration with enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems.
• Real-time cash flow management.
• A simple, integrated accounts payable (AP) and accounts receivable (AR) system.

Our research found that while two-thirds of FIs acknowledge the need for new digital B2B payment solutions, just 30% say their current tools sufficiently ease friction for their clients.

There’s a glaring achievement gap for FIs seeking to solve their clients’ payments frictions. Sixty-six percent of FIs say the ability to provide clients with B2B digital payments solutions is “very” or “extremely” important, but only 30% say their existing solutions are “very” or “extremely” effective in dealing with B2B payments frictions.

The portions of FIs serving large enterprises and middle-market companies that see digital payments as highly important to their customers are even larger, at a respective 90% and 83%.

However, most FIs say they remain committed to improving their clients’ B2B payments experiences. Our survey found that 64% are “very” or “extremely” willing to embrace new technologies to facilitate the consumerization of B2B payments. FIs with mid-sized and large clients show an above-average willingness to use new technologies to manage friction for their clients, at 78% and 88%, respectively.

To learn more about what FIs are doing — and still need to do — to make life easier for their B2B clients, download The New User Experience: Tracking The Consumerization Of B2B Payments, a PYMNTS and FIS collaboration.