Business Have the Will, but Don’t Always Find the Way to Modernize Payments

The Future of Business Payables Innovation: How New B2B Payment Options Can Transform the SMB Back Office, a PYMNTS and Plastiq collaboration, reveals there is widespread will to adopt all-in-one, seamless business-to-business (B2B) payments management solutions to address pressing pain points:

• 72% of accounts payable (AP) and accounts receivable (AR) executives believe small- and midsize- business (SMB) customers would be highly interested in using an all-in-one payment solution for B2B transactions.
• 73% of of them would use an all-in-one payment solution if the cost were mostly offset by rewards, tax deductions and time saved.
• 47% of suppliers have difficulty anticipating when payments will arrive.

Read more: The Future of Business Payables Innovation

However, where there’s a will there must be a way, and several common challenges are impeding progress:

• Price sensitivity. The most important reason for the lack of interest in such solutions is the cost of use, even though modern, enterprise-grade, single-card solutions may offer low fees. 
• Understanding the benefits. Price must be viewed within the context of value, thus a lack of understanding of this new technology’s benefits can impede adoption and value capture. For example, potential adopters may not understand that the systems can help buyers arbitrage credit card payments to earn points and defer payments while reaping early payment discounts.

Even businesses that have used such solutions suffer from deficit here. Four out of 10 SMBs state they used an all-in-one payment platform, but they are most likely unaware of how they can leverage it to manage all their AP and AR processes. The all-in-one payment platform gives buyers and suppliers choice in how they make and receive payments. Many SMBs surveyed stated they had used such tools, but when asked to state the vendor’s name, responses indicated they did not fully understand the solution or its benefits:

• Perceived complexity. Most SMBs that are not interested in using an all-in-one solution believe doing so would add extra steps to payment processes and create layers of complexity when making or receiving payments.
• Security concerns. Forty-six percent of SMBs that aren’t interested in all-in-one payment solutions worry about data protection when using such a solution, yet robust technical offerings tend to provide the very benefits SMBs are worried about losing: convenience and simplicity.

B2B firms’ interest in all-in-one payment platform solutions

Knowledge Is Power

As in all things, especially business, knowledge is power. Companies that have tried or are using these solutions need to understand the potential value the systems can deliver if fully utilized, and firms that haven’t yet used the technology need to make an educated decision about the full spectrum of benefits, compared with the actual costs.

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