5 Ways Virtual Payments Add Some Spark to Businesses
Blog
Issuing vendor payments via check can sometimes be more expensive than the cost of goods or services themselves. Virtual payments allow businesses the opportunity to revolutionize this pricey payments scenario. They also shake up the AP status quo in 5 other key ways.
- Awaken efficiency - Increase productivity by allowing employees to move away from busy work like manually generating, obtaining signatures for, mailing, and reconciling checks. They’ll instead be able to generate a single file to pay all suppliers electronically in one fell swoop. Payments data flows back to your ERP and accounting systems, eliminating the need to re-key data to perform reconciliation.
- Brighten supplier connections - When you pay vendors faster, you build stronger relationships that can deepen over time. A more straightforward and reliable e-payments process also means suppliers will need to perform fewer collection activities. This leaves them more availability - and willingness - to focus on delivering value for your company.
- Scale without adding more employees - Once you’ve implemented electronic payments, your business will be able to keep up with any increase in invoice volume without needing to hire more employees (and incur the associated and not insignificant costs of benefits, new employee onboarding and training, overhead, etc.). Hiring for other vital positions within the company may become possible since you won’t be needing to add to your AP headcount.
- Illuminate cash flow - Automated payments provide unparalleled visibility into cash flow because transactions move in and out of accounts more quickly. This means you're less likely to overdraft accounts or be charged for returned checks. Having a real-time pulse on your cash position can provide executives in your organization with the confidence they need to make investments, pay down debt, and foster overall corporate growth.
- Fire the paper - Say goodbye to check stock, stamps, photocopies of remittance details, and envelopes and enjoy online access to payments data whenever you need it. A booklet of stamps or a case of envelopes may not take up a ton of space, but over the years, businesses tend to accrue so much backup paper inventory that it ends up overcrowding office space. Clearing up this clutter allows employees to access essentials more easily and makes for a more enjoyable work environment.