One of the more important jobs of the accounts payable professional is keeping up with what is happening in the industry at large. This is critical for a few reasons, including skills development and the hunt for new technologies, but is sometimes difficult to do. That is why, each week, the team at Payables Place collects news stories and announcements on the people, companies, and events that can have the biggest impact on the accounts payable team; this cuts down on the amount of time that the AP professional needs to spend keeping up to date and makes it easier to get back to the task at hand—driving strategic value for the organization.
This week in payables news includes a few developments: Basware recently named a head of their new customer care department, the Federal Reserve still intends to keep interest rates near zero for the time being, and clearXchange announced a new payments solution. Read on to find out more about these and all the other impactful news from around the accounts payable world.
Riku Roos Appointed as Head of Basware’s New Customer Care Unit
Purchase-to-pay solution provider Basware announced last week that Riku Roos was named the head of their new Customer Care unit, effective July 1. Under Roos, the new division will be a centralized place for first- and second-line customer support across the entire Basware product line as well as shoulder responsibility for the development and improvement of Basware’s customer support. Roos previously headed the Network Services division of the company, and has been a member of the Basware executive board since 2012. Vice President Perttu Nihti is going to take on Roos’s old role as head of Network Services for the time being, until the company can find a replacement.
Basware offers a variety of products and services across the purchase-to-pay lifecycle, including financing services and eProcurement, so having a centralized department for customer support is a good overall move for the Swedish company. A central customer support structure will also allow Basware to focus on consistent support for customers that leverage multiple products, which can only help foster additional growth across the company.
Hubwoo Announces Availability of Encryption Capabilities for its Cloud Solutions
Hubwoo earlier this week announced the roll out of Transparent Data Encryption (TDE), a new data-security capability for its cloud-based spend management and business process automation solutions. The new encryption functionality comes as part of the Paris-based Hubwoo’s focus on data security as a way to counteract concerns about cloud software from enterprises that must safeguard sensitive customer data as part of their business model, such as financial institutions. Hubwoo’s European headquarters and data-center location already makes it immune to the U.S. Patriot Act’s data provisions, but the addition of TDE, according to Hubwoo, makes it easier for companies to comply with internal and regulatory controls around data security.
Data security has become increasingly important in the modern business world, especially given recent news events around credit card breaches at major U.S. retailers as well as the implications of the Patriot Act on foreign companies who host data on U.S. soil. The addition of TDE, a two-step key securitization functionality that allows for total encryption of a user’s database table, shows that Hubwoo is deeply serious about keeping its customers’ data as secure as they need it to be. It will be interesting to see how the market reacts to this.
Coupa Announces Supplier Information Management Early Access Program
Coupa Software recently announced plans to open up its supplier information management offering to select customers ahead of the solution’s general release so it can receive feedback ahead of time. The supplier information management application, expected to be available later this year, is designed to simplify collecting and managing supplier data within the Coupa solution suite. The new application is designed to make it easier to keep supplier information updated through a combination of in-transaction supplier alerts as well as data-collection templates that can vary based on pre-defined factors. The solution also includes duplicate supplier checks and inactivity alerts to keep supplier information current.
Maintaining supplier information integrity is important for a well-oiled procure-to-pay (P2P) process. Without updated supplier information, there is a distinct possibility of a submitted invoice causing an exception and delaying invoice approval/payment scheduling. Delays caused by inaccurate or missing information are in fact one of the biggest challenges facing the accounts payable team today. A supplier information management module such as Coupa’s thus fills a valuable need in the P2P workflow.
JetBlue Eyes Corporate Growth With SME Portal, Mint Expansion
Business Travel News reported this week that JetBlue had launched a travel website targeted specifically to business travelers from small and mid-sized enterprises in a bid to boost corporate travel market share. The new website, built with the help of nuTravel, a corporate travel management solution provider, allows travelers to book JetBlue flights and integrates hotel-booking capabilities through Expedia and Rocketmiles, while also including car-rental functions via an agreement with Avis. The site will be separate from the JetBlue consumer site, and offers group booking as well as policy-setting and reporting functionality; corporations can also receive travel rewards, while individual users continue to gain rewards separately.
JetBlue’s new business-travel-focused website is one of the newer entrants into the travel and expense management marketplace. The move comes as little surprise, however, as business travel is one of the top three budgetary concerns for the average organization—it makes sense for JetBlue to want to capture more of that spending through a direct platform. As it stands right now, the JetBlue portal is too new to make a judgement call on its effectiveness, but it is a differentiator for the airline.
clearXchange Announces Real-Time Payments Solution
Last week, clearXchange announced that its real-time payments solution was available for general use. The bank-owned network is designed to allow businesses, consumers, and government entities to send money using only the recipient’s mobile number or email address. The clearXchange network is owned by five of the six largest banks in the United States as well as many more regional financial institutions. It runs as a membership-based cooperative, with the clearXchange network acting as an intermediary between the customers of member banks.
Real-time payments are a potential game-changer across the payments infrastructure. Standard electronic payment methods, such as ACH and wire transfer, rarely clear faster than 24 hours; while this is perfectly fine in many cases, there can arise emergency situations where money is needed faster. This is where a solution such as the one provided by clearXchange, which member banks are expected to roll out within the next year, enters the picture. Real-time payments are a goal of several entities, governments included, so it will be interesting to see how clearXchange performs now that it is available for wide use.
Federal Reserve Sees Slower Growth, Keeps Interest Rates Near Zero
Fortune magazine reported last week on the Federal Reserve’s intention to keep interest rates near zero for the time being. The Federal Open Market Committee’s meeting concluded on June 17 with the Fed deciding to maintain the status quo in light of its prediction that the economy will grow between 1.8% and 2.0% in 2015, which is down slightly from its December outlook of 2.6% to 3.0% growth. Despite the FOMC’s statements to the contrary, voting members still see the potential for a rate hike later this year. The consensus guess is September, with the pace of additional hikes to slow down based on sluggish economic growth and inflation that is lower than the 2.0% target.
Any increase in the Fed’s interest rates could translate into higher borrowing costs for enterprises both large and small as banks pass rate hikes onto their customers. This could mean that fewer enterprises would borrow money to make capital investments, such as purchasing new equipment or leasing new facilities, which would negatively impact that enterprise’s supplier base. All in all, however, it remains to be seen what the Fed will do in the next six months, as there is no guarantee an interest-rate hike will even occur.
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