Selecting the Right Payment Solution to Move Your Business Forward

Traditional payment processes, despite their familiarity for many, are out of place in the modern business landscape. Why? Frankly, they pose too many risks for organizations already juggling compliance regulations and cybersecurity threats while maintaining efficient, accurate payment procedures.  

The most common pitfalls of traditional payment processes include: 

• Processing costs 

• Increased fraud risks 

• Low speeds 

• Consumer frustration 

• Regulatory compliance failure 

• Integration challenges 

To thrive in today’s environment, businesses must choose a payment solution that enhances financial growth and customer satisfaction.  

Enter AP payment automation. This integrated tool streamlines the entire procure-to-pay cycle, reduces processing costs, improves cash flow management, and strengthens supplier relationships. In this blog, we'll take a deeper look at how AP payment automation can transform your business.  

How a Payment Solution Benefits Your AP Team 

A payments automation solution can completely transform how your AP team operates. This includes things like: 

Boosting Payment Security 

Given the prevalence of fraud and other cybersecurity risks for modern businesses, relying on a payment solution to keep important transactions secure is key. Traditional manual payments leave noticeable gaps in payment security, from human error to inconsistencies in individual processing procedures.  

On the other hand, payment automation protects against fraud with customizable access controls, easily traceable trends for enhanced audit trails, and can detect unusual payment patterns quickly. This combination results in elevated security throughout the invoice-to-pay lifecycle, making it that much harder for fraudsters or other bad actors to access your business’s vital finances.  

Enhancing Supplier Relationships and the Potential for Dynamic Discounts 

Healthy supplier relationships have a direct impact on your business’s continued success. Payment automation not only works to keep your transactions with your suppliers secure but also can ensure that they’re on time, every time. Prompt payments also increase the opportunities for dynamic discounts, yielding significant savings over time.  

Secure, steady payments in the supplier’s preferred payment method make your organization an ideal partner—and reduce stress on your AP team. 

Reducing Reliance on Manual Processes 

As mentioned above, AP professionals who still rely on manual processes run the risk of experiencing fraud. But manual processes can cause more headaches than just financial ones—they can bog down productivity, reducing AP responsibilities to manual data entry and management. Tracking down invoices one by one, emailing payment information across the department, manually entering supplier payment information into your solution—these tedious tasks not only take up time but also emotional bandwidth from your AP team. 

A payment automation solution works to manage these important processes seamlessly, freeing up the AP department for more strategic initiatives, like understanding and leveraging AI, or supporting other departments with their financial expertise.  

How an Improved Payments Process and Solution Drives Future Success 

The right AP payments solution will improve your payment processes and position your business for future success. But how? 

Seamless Integration with Existing ERPs 

 Rather than bringing in a system that is either incompatible or pairs ineffectively with your existing ERP, the right payments automation solution will slot into your tech stack like a missing puzzle piece. Additionally, it’s important to choose a potential payment solution that can integrate with a variety of ERPs—Microsoft Dynamics, NetSuite, etc.--not just one. 

These capabilities for easy integration will enable your AP team to maintain data consistency and efficiency, reducing downtime and any potential for information slipping through the gaps between your ERP and the new solution. Similarly, an integrated payments solution doesn’t require hours of learning a new way of filing or managing payments—it flows smoothly with established processes and procedures.  

Safeguards Against Payment Fraud Risks 

As touched on previously, automated payment solutions have many security features that their traditional counterparts lack. Streamlined payments make it more difficult for hackers and other scammers to access the data they crave. Virtual credit cards, automated approval processes, and less unnecessary human involvement in payment processing layers in a robust level of protection against fraud in your AP department. Given the uptick in BEC fraud threats in particular, having a protected payment lifecycle is a necessary component of all businesses looking to keep their sensitive payment information secure.  

Real-Time Insights into the Invoice-to-Pay Lifecycle 

Thanks to the power of automation, your AP department will have clearer, real-time insights into your entire invoice-to-pay lifecycle. This will allow them to track important metrics like straight-through-processing (STP) rates, identify areas of inefficiency, and gather accurate data for future audits.  

This visibility will provide your team with more financial control and better decision-making potential, allowing them to ensure cash flow reporting is accurate.  

Key Considerations for Choosing a Payment Solution 

When it comes to choosing the ideal payment automation solution for your business, there are a few qualities to consider.  

• Payment Automation Strength: Can this solution streamline payment processes, reduce errors, and improve overall efficiency? Will it help your business reach its financial goals and scale with you as you grow? 

•  Payment Lifecycle Insights: Will you gain end-to-end visibility and control over your entire payment process? Is there one centralized platform where your team can access this information? If not, why? 

• Impacting Your Supplier Relationships: Is this solution going to enable you to pay suppliers in a timely manner? With accurate payments, regardless of volume? Does it provide options for a variety of payment types, like ACH, virtual cards, checks, etc.? 

• Transforming Business Efficiency: Will this system optimize your payment operations to enhance overall business efficiency? What KPIs will you be looking for to measure this change?  

• The Payment Service Provider’s Reputation: Is the solution provider established in the industry? Do any of your suppliers, partners, or customers already work with them? Are they experienced with businesses of all sizes, or just one niche? 

Once you’ve identified the payment solution that meets your business’s unique needs and goals, it’s time to present it to the decision-makers at your organization. It’s important to highlight that payment automation can enhance your business’s existing processes and procedures—all while improving the customer experience.  

The right solution will pair seamlessly with your organization, positioning your team and processes for optimized, continuous success.   

If you’re looking for a modern, scalable payments solution that can transform your business and breathe new life into your invoice-to-pay processes, schedule a demo with one of DocuPhase’s automation experts today!