Businesses should focus on growth, not payments.
However, that’s not to say that payments aren’t one of the most integral elements in business growth.
“Consumers have definitely embraced digital payments, but many businesses still rely on mailed invoices and paper checks,” Trina Dutta, vice president and general manager of B2B solutions and global commercial services at American Express, told PYMNTS. “And this is a big challenge in the industry because manual payments are more likely to result in late B2B payments. And these delayed payments have consequences.”
Manual payments are not just inefficient — they can lead to mistakes, create friction and potentially disrupt cash flow. This can put a company’s bottom line at risk and damage business relationships.
The good news, she said, is that businesses are increasingly shifting from manual payment methods to automated systems, driven by ongoing technological advancements and the pressure to improve operational efficiency.
“Sixty-eight percent of U.S. businesses plan to start or further automate their payments to suppliers,” Dutta said. “Over 70% said this specifically about processing invoices and purchase orders.”
This shift is not just about modernizing processes — it’s fundamentally reshaping relationships between buyers and suppliers, as well as enabling businesses to streamline their financial management and focus on growth.
Read also: Building Better B2B Relationships Through Payments Innovation
When businesses automate their accounts payable (AP) and accounts receivable (AR) processes, they reduce the likelihood of human error, speed up payment cycles and become more attractive partners, Dutta said.
It’s pretty simple: businesses just “want to work with other businesses that have efficient AP and AR processes,” she said.
This mutual benefit lies at the core of automation’s value proposition.
“The pandemic broke the inertia of manual processes and encouraged businesses to shift their B2B spending to digital methods,” Dutta noted.
For buyers, automated payments can help lead to improved cash flow management and working capital optimization by making it easier for businesses to track their financial transactions. Automation also can help reduce costs by streamlining back-office processes, saving time for finance teams.
Dutta said that businesses that embraced automation reported saving an average of 10 hours per week — or more than 500 hours a year — through these solutions.
Suppliers, on the other hand, can often benefit from faster payments, reduced day sales outstanding and enhanced customer loyalty. Faster payments can lead to healthier cash flow for suppliers, while process efficiencies help enable them to settle and reconcile payments more smoothly. In this way, automation doesn’t just help eliminate friction from payment processes — it helps foster stronger, more reliable partnerships between buyers and suppliers.
Despite the clear benefits of automation, many businesses still face challenges when it comes to adopting modern payment technologies. Concerns around cost, complexity and change management are top of mind for business owners, Dutta said.
“Business owners worry about getting stuck with long, expensive tech uplift lists,” she said, adding that nearly 70% of small business owners say they wish they had more time to focus on their core products or services instead of managing their financial systems.
Still, “owners need to remember that legacy systems can be detrimental for their businesses,” Dutta said.
To overcome these barriers, it’s essential that automation solutions be simple to implement and compatible with existing tools, such as accounting systems and enterprise resource planning (ERP) platforms, she said. The ease of integration helps to ensure that businesses can adopt automation without overhauling their entire tech stack, a critical factor in minimizing disruption and driving faster adoption.
Dutta highlighted that Amex’s own approach to addressing these challenges is twofold. First, the company offers end-to-end proprietary automation solutions that integrate with existing accounting systems. Second, its virtual card APIs allow businesses to continue using their cash flow management software while facilitating digital payments.
This approach helps ease the burden of change management while unlocking the efficiencies and growth potential that come with modern payment solutions.
Amex’s integrated payments model — where the company serves as the card issuer, merchant acquirer and payment network — inherently allows for a more cohesive experience, Dutta said.
“Amex is uniquely positioned to provide critical data for both buyers and suppliers to help them reconcile incoming and outgoing payments,” she said. “This allows Amex to meet the customer where they’re already doing business.”
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