AvidXchange and American MicroImaging, Inc. Form Strategic Partnership
AvidXchange announced last week that it had inked a partnership agreement with Los Angeles-based American MicroImaging (AMI), a document capture and management solution provider. The partnership deal will include joint marketing efforts, which are designed to showcase the benefits of using the solutions together. Customers of both companies will have access to Avid’s accounts payable and payments automation suite, while also being able to use AMI’s document capture/management and business process outsourcing solutions.
The partnership is a solid move for both companies; AMI focuses on document management/capture and workflow solutions in the Southern California market, but lacks a full AP automation solution on its own. The addition of Avid’s AP automation solution provides much needed capabilities on the financial operations side for AMI customers, while the white-labeling of AMI gives Avid customers access to a scan-and-capture provider that is focused on the midmarket. Read the full announcement at http://www.avidxchange.com/news/view/183/avidxchange-and-american-microimaging-inc-form-strategic-partnership for more.
Nvoicepay Launches New Value Added Service Package for Frictionless Business Payments
Oregon-based payments automation solution provider Nvoicepay launched a new package of services called Payments Command Center last week. The new offering is meant to augment Nvoicepay’s cloud-based payments suite with four key services that can help customers pay their supplier invoices with minimal effort, what the company calls “frictionless” payments. The services bundle that makes up Payment Command Center includes dynamic supplier enablement, managing supplier payment information, a supplier portal, and support for both customers and suppliers.
Nvoicepay is unusual among payment services providers; the company guarantees all the payments it makes and actually accepts legal responsibility for the payments. The addition of the Payments Command Center services package adds a new dimension to that payments guarantee—Nvoicepay now guarantees payments will be delivered exactly according to the client’s instructions and all supplier information will be securely managed. This is a potentially huge differentiator in the marketplace, and makes Nvoicepay a solution provider to watch over the next few years. Read the full announcement at http://www.marketwired.com/press-release/nvoicepay-launches-new-value-added-service-package-frictionless-business-payments-2027886.htm
Nipendo Awarded a Patent for Automated B2B Integration and Supplier Collaboration
Nipendo announced recently that it had received a U.S. Patent (Number 8,954,476), for automated reconciliation of cross-enterprise transactions and digital documents. The patent covers a method by which Nipendo customers can fully automate procure-to-pay interactions with each and every one of their suppliers. The invention described in the patent does this through converting digital documents into a standard “language” that moves through the Nipendo Supplier Cloud and is used in all transactions.
This new invention from Nipendo has the potential to be a game-changer for P2P transactions; trading partners that may use different names for the same or similar fields no longer have to worry about translating documents into a preferred format. Eliminating the need for accounts payable to “translate” supplier documents cuts down on the amount of work AP must do to process invoices, and also means that suppliers will not have to alter their invoices for each buyer. This could result in huge process savings across the board for Nipendo customers. Read the full announcement at http://www.nipendo.com/pressreleases/nipendo-awarded-a-patent-for-automated-b2b-integration-and-supplier-collaboration/ for more.
Iron Mountain Agrees to Revised $2.6 Billion Deal to Buy Recall
Bloomberg last week reported that Iron Mountain (NYSE: IRM) agreed to revise the deal it had made to purchase Atlanta-based competitor Recall Holdings. Recall sought a new deal after a fall in Iron Mountain’s share price cut the value of the original offer. The terms of the new deal value Recall at $2.6 billion and offers $0.50 per share in addition to 0.1722 shares of Iron Mountain stock per share of Recall Holdings.
The deal remains an effective move for Iron Mountain, adding data storage capacity and scale in the Australian market and elsewhere throughout the world. The combined company is also expected to generate $155 million in cost savings, which is no small amount. Read the full story at http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-06-08/iron-mountain-agrees-to-revised-2-6-billion-deal-to-buy-recall for more.
Esker’s New Supplier Self-Service Portal Enables Smarter Accounts Payable Interactions
Esker recently launched a new supplier self-service portal to augment its accounts payable solution. The new portal allows suppliers to check invoice status in real-time, as well as more effectively communicate with buyers without having to pick up the phone or send an email. The supplier portal provides buyers and suppliers with a single view of invoice data, which also helps with collaboration and visibility—on both sides—into the process for each invoice.
Supplier portals have become more critical in the modern business world, especially given the sheer amount of time AP teams have been known to spend fielding information requests. A self-service portal such as the one Esker is now offering can virtually eliminate suppliers calling the AP team and using time better spent on more strategic activities, and it can also improve communication between trading partners as a result of increased process transparency. Read the full announcement at http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20150602005363/en/Esker%E2%80%99s-Supplier-Self-Service-Portal-Enables-Smarter-Accounts#.VYMpPvlVikp.
U.S. Bank Upgrades Its Corporate Payments Mobile App
U.S. Bank announced recently that it had updated its Access® Online Mobile app with new functionality, which makes sense given the preponderance of mobile in the business world. The app, which gives users mobile access to information about their commercial cards, now comes loaded with the ability to request virtual card numbers directly from the mobile phone—adding features of the Access® Online Payment Plus management system to the mobile solution.
This move has the potential to simplify commercial card usage in situations where issuing a physical commercial card is not practical, like with the infrequently traveling employee or a field technician. The user can request a virtual account number through the app, and immediately receive an approved card number that is policy-compliant and ready to use. This is an interesting step forward for on-the-go corporate payments, even though it is not quite the mobile payment solution business consumers may be expecting in light of the release of ApplePay and other similar solutions. Read the full announcement at http://www.marketwatch.com/story/us-bank-upgrades-its-corporate-payments-mobile-app-2015-06-03 for more.
Top Image Systems Names Content-driven Business Process Automation Executive Bob Fresneda as TIS Americas President
Top Image Systems (Nasdaq: TISA) named a new president of TIS Americas recently, tapping former Readsoft executive Bob Fresneda to lead the North American operations of the Israel-based company. While at Readsoft, Fresneda grew U.S. revenues to $30 million annually, and his region consistently led the company in terms of revenue and personnel growth. His experience with Readsoft’s business lends itself handily to expanding Top Image Systems’ book of business in accounts payable and end-to-end process automation. Fresneda started with TIS on June 2. Read the full announcement at http://www.marketwatch.com/story/top-image-systems-names-content-driven-business-process-automation-executive-bob-fresneda-as-tis-americas-president-2015-06-09 for more.
Russian Chip and Pin Developed for New National Payment System
Sputnik News reported this week that Russian technology firm Mikron has developed a domestic chip-and-pin system for use with its national payments system. The homegrown chip is due to be released in autumn 2015, and is targeted for use in both debit and credit cards across the country. The chip was developed with Russian technology as an alternative to foreign competitors like Samsung or Infineon. The chip is EMV (Europay, Mastercard, and Visa) compliant, and Mikron told the Russian newspaper Izvestiya that it will be available for Russian banks to use in cards at home and abroad.
This is the latest development in the saga of Russian payments; the National Card Payment System (NCPS) was rolled out earlier this year in response to Visa and Mastercard halting transactions in Russia in response to the political situation in Eastern Europe. Now the development of an EMV-compliant chip further insulates the Russian payment system from outsiders and should give piece of mind to enterprises that have Russian subsidiaries or those that do significant business in the country. Read the full story at http://sputniknews.com/russia/20150615/1023369179.html for more.
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