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: Zycus released its own supplier network, Basware and Arrowgrass Capital launched a new company to provide access to short-term working capital, and Russia announced plans to ban Bitcoin to ruble conversions. Read on to find out more about these and all the other impactful news from around the accounts payable world.
Zycus Expands Its Procurement Ecosystem with Zycus Supplier Network
At its Horizon 2015 user conference last week, Zycus announced the launch of the Zycus Supplier Network (“ZSN”), a cloud-based platform that is the latest addition to the company’s source-to-pay solution suite. The Zycus Supplier Network is designed to bridge the “collaboration gap” between buyers and suppliers, including offering greater data visibility to suppliers. ZSN offers single sign-on for suppliers to provide visibility across the entire Zycus source-to-pay solution catalog, as well as providing a centralized dashboard and mobile app for users on the go.
Releasing a branded supplier network is a good move for Zycus. Ardent research has shown significant growth in the business/supplier network space over the past few years, particularly as collaboration across the supply chain has become more critical as a competitive differentiator. That Zycus already offers a bevy of additional solutions, such as strategic sourcing and invoice management, makes it even more reasonable for them to introduce a centralized platform.
Basware Introduces a New Company with Arrowgrass Capital Partners LLP for Immediate Access to Short-Term Working Capital; Launches Financing Tool for SMEs
Basware and Arrowgrass Capital Partners this week announced the launch of Virtaus, a new joint venture designed to offer immediate access to short-term working capital for enterprises of all sizes. Virtaus is a joint venture between Basware and Arrowgrass operating out of the UK; the company is intended to focus on providing cloud-based financing services, specifically targeting the invoice process. Virtaus was created to offer financing solutions across the Basware Commerce Network, which, according to Basware, connects one million organizations worldwide today.
Virtaus has started its mission with the launch of Basware Advance, a financing tool targeting small and mid-sized enterprises (“SMEs”) by offering access to financial options designed to provide timely access to liquidity for a stable cash flow. Basware Advance is designed to connect to Virtaus’s cloud financing tool through the Basware Commerce Network and, according to Basware, smooth access to short-term working capital through connecting invoice financing directly into the invoicing process. Basware Advance is intended to be a global solution, but will launch first in the UK in early 2016.
Basware has focused significant amounts of energy on its Basware Financing Services product line ever since the late 2014 launch of Basware Pay, the joint solution with Mastercard. This is a good thing overall, as Ardent research has shown that more and more enterprises now focus on their supplier payments process than ever before. Given Basware’s pre-eminent position in the business network space, it is only logical to see them extend that capability with financing options like they have. Ardent’s analysts will be following news about Basware Advance with interest, and will report further details as they arise, but at the end of the day this is simply a smart move for Basware in the long run and it would be no surprise to see further financing innovations—particularly with the launch of Virtaus.
Bottomline Technologies Reports First Quarter Results
Bottomline Technologies last week announced financial results for the first quarter of its 2016 fiscal year, ended September 30, 2015. Subscription and transaction revenue related to the company’s cloud platforms rose 15% quarter-over-quarter to $46.2 million, with overall revenues increasing 5% to $82.9 million—a quarter-over-quarter bump of $1.5 million. The Portsmouth, N.H.-based company experienced a net loss of $4.3 million for the quarter, but a core net income of $14.2 million. The company also netted a few big customer wins in the quarter, including adding BNY Mellon as a new bank channel partner and 24 new customer for its flagship Paymode-X product.
American Express Will Bring Apple Pay to Card Members in Key Global Markets
American Express announced last week intentions to bring Apple Pay live on its credit cards in several countries worldwide throughout the course of the next year. American Express cardholders in Canada and Australia can expect to be enabled on Apple Pay before the end of the year, with cardholders in Spain, Singapore, and Hong Kong getting Apple Pay in 2016. AmEx plans to extend the use of Apple Pay across its customer base, including consumers, small businesses, and corporate-level card users.
American Express is so far still the only credit card issuer that allows for the use of corporate cards on the Apple Pay platform; the company made headlines over the summer by activating its full corporate card portfolio on the mobile payment platform. While mobile payments have historically focused on consumer spending, there is a huge potential opportunity for doing the same with commercial credit cards—a fact that Amex appears to be the only one taking advantage of. It remains to be seen how long Amex will remain the front runner on approving corporate cards for use in Apple’s mobile payment platform, however.
Russian Minister Confirms Plans to Ban Bitcoin-to-Fiat Conversions
CoinDesk last week reported that Alexey Moiseev, Russia’s deputy finance minister, had confirmed that country’s plans to ban the conversion of cryptocurrencies such as bitcoin into rubles. Moiseev told CoinDesk that proposed draft law had been created and, if passed, would mean that people caught converting cryptocurrencies into rubles could face a four-year prison sentence. The draft law would not penalize anyone for mining cryptocurrencies or for converting one such currency into another, nor would it penalize someone converting cryptocurrencies into U.S. dollars or some other world currency.
Bitcoin has had a tumultuous history in Russia, including the country’s financial ombudsman calling one company’s plans to create a “bitruble” completely illegal. Other Russian government officials have claimed that Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies are conspiracies created by U.S. intelligence agencies. If this law passes, the situation for alternative currencies in Russia could become troubling or, at the very least, much more problematic than in other world powers. How this impacts worldwide financial operations remains to be seen.
Check out these related articles for more:
Payables News Weekly: Lexmark Integrates with Microsoft Dynamics; Bitcoin Ruled a Currency in Europe
Payables News Weekly: Basware Launches New Product; New U.S. Bank Corporate Payments President Named
