B2B Tech Seeks To Connect Buyers And Suppliers Amid Market Volatility

B2B Tech Seeks To Connect Buyers And Suppliers

This week’s roundup of the convergence of accounts payable (AP) and accounts receivable (AR) takes a look at how B2B payments solution providers are considering both buyers and suppliers as a result of the pandemic. Cash flow volatility means the pressure is on for buyers to optimize their supplier payments, and for those vendors to receive payments as quickly as possible. Technology that sits in between these business partners can help to accomplish both.

PayMyTuition Meshes Education Vendor Management With AP

With a new solution designed to deepen buyer-supplier ties, PayMyTuition has rolled out its vendor management tool for the education sector. Its vendor management module integrates directly into educational institutions’ enterprise resource planning (ERP) and AP systems to streamline supplier payment workflows, but also has a strong focus on supplier needs, including payment type and currency.

As the company’s announcement noted, the module supports alternative and supplier-preferred payment methods, allowing educational institutions to boost the efficiency of their cross-border B2B payments without adding friction for the supplier.

According to Lucas Laracy, director of sales, “Making international payments is a challenging and time-consuming process, and in this day and age, the risk of market volatility can increase costs and absorb resources that educational institution partners cannot afford to allocate.”

NexusPayments Tackles Real Estate Supplier Adoption

While AP platforms can be useful to corporate buyers, ensuring that suppliers can be integrated with those tools remains a major headache and one that can hamper adoption.

With its solution designed for the real estate industry, NexusPayments has introduced updates to its payments platform to accelerate the deployment of electronic vendor payments for its business customers. The technology “automates connections between buyers and their network of suppliers,” allowing both sides of the B2B transaction to support electronic payments.

In a statement, Jennifer Coolidge, president of Nexus, said the solution aims to be easy for both buyers and suppliers to sign up for, allowing for transaction tracking and reconciliation.

Paymerang Eyes The Supplier’s Role In AP

In a recent interview with PYMNTS, Paymerang CEO Nasser Chanda highlighted the role of the B2B supplier in guiding corporates’ AP strategies. The “future of business payments,” he said, is in solutions that consider both sides of a B2B transaction, particularly when it comes to transaction security as well as a mix of payment options, so both sides can use the tools they wish.

“A lot of AP service providers don’t think of the other side,” said Chanda. “If the supplier isn’t taken care of, the buyer suffers, so you have to service both sides if you want to work in this industry for the long term.”

Versapay Eases Payment Pain With AR Tool

While AP solutions should take the supplier into consideration, a new solution from Versapay reflects the importance of AR tools similarly taking the corporate buyer into account.

The company announced last week the launch of Electronic Cash-on-Delivery (eCOD), a feature that helps vendors accept online payments when COD requirements cannot be fulfilled with cash and checks. The company also introduced its Incentives feature, which allows suppliers to offer early payment discounts, another order-to-cash solution that aims to meet the needs of both buyer and supplier.

“Customer research uncovered how early payment discounts were often overlooked or improperly applied, creating additional friction between suppliers and buyers,” said Bob Stark, chief marketing officer at Versapay, in a statement. “Our clients want to accelerate collections so that removing barriers to process early payments is critical to driving working capital improvement.”