faster global payments

By Douglas Hall, Publisher, PaymentsNEXT

New research conducted by Invoiced and PaymentsNEXT found virtual cards, faster repayments, and easier use were among the top priorities for corporate payment professionals looking for future payment-flow improvements.

Invoiced.com

As a keen observer of payment industry trends and new developments, I still found some surprising insights in the new study.

In this pandemic age of growing global e-commerce, cross-border payments are high on the business agenda. Nearly two-thirds (62%) of US finance and accounting professionals at B2B companies have already adopted or are open to adopting cross-border payments. The fact that 38% of businesses don’t see it as a priority was a big surprise.

In 2020, the global B2B payment market was estimated at $870.4 billion by Allied Market Research and slated to grow at 10.6% annually to reach $1.92 trillion by 2028. If you’re not planning for cross-border payments, you could be hindering your revenue growth substantially.

Payment priorities shifted during pandemic

global payments news roundup

New advanced technology, the drive for efficiencies and cost savings, and the need for better security are just part of the payment industry developments on the horizon.

“Our new research suggests that B2B companies are largely aware of and in tune with the latest and greatest payment technologies and innovations,” said Adam Weinroth, chief marketing officer for Invoiced.

“But while the companies we polled want to advance their payment acceptance capabilities, they’re clearly hesitant to be lured in by hype alone—new forms of payment still have to make practical business sense for both sides of the transaction,” he added.

What do finance and accounting professionals want from payments?

global B2B payments questions

Adopting cross-border payments is where the future gets exciting and challenging for B2B payments. Two-thirds of those surveyed are open to cross-border payments, but the other top concerns are equally important. They include security (52%), convenience (42%), and lower transaction fees (39%).

Finding experienced and capable payment technology partners to meet these needs will be challenging. Even some of the most prominent industry leaders don’t cover the wish list entirely, but as demand grows, innovators will step up to develop new features and disrupt the status quo.

Is there a business that doesn’t want better security, easy-to-implement solutions, and most important, lower transaction fees?

Laggards will be lagging

slow B2B tech adoption

The Invoiced research showed some B2B leaders are still stuck with a few bad habits and blinders. For example, while 64% are open to using virtual cards, 36% are simply not open to this convenient, popular and easy-to-implement payment solution.

59% of B2B companies are not yet open to cryptocurrency as a form of payment despite the many advances. I suspect that will change as new fintechs adopt cryptography, biometrics and other ways to strengthen identity verification and enhance security.

And then there are check payments. I get that 77% of businesses still accept check payments because some clients and customers will not move away from paper payments anytime soon.

Eventually, the ROI and benefits of innovative technology will simply be too much to resist for these slow adopters because of the apparent efficiencies and cost savings. You simply can’t allow your competitors these advantages.

B2B payments future is clear

As I said in my foreword to the report, “Transactions need to be secure, identifiable, and trackable. Stronger business and personal identification processes are the key to the confidence of all parties in the fast-changing B2B payments roadmap for US businesses.”

Invoiced State of B2B payments acceptance report

Invoiced has set the table with these insights, and it’s up to B2B finance and accounting professionals to respond faster.

“The State of B2B Payment Acceptance” study was fielded in August 2021 and published in November 2021. The study is based on online survey responses from 269 US finance and accounting professionals employed with B2B companies full-time.

A free copy of the Invoiced.com study is available here.

Related PaymentsNEXT views:

Visa & Goldman Sachs take big step in B2B cross-border payments
B2B cross-border payments may recover 30% by 2022