Every year, Ardent Partners publishes several benchmark studies into the accounts payable (“AP”) marketplace. One of those is the annual research effort into the state of business-to-business (“B2B”) payments, this year called “The State of B2B Payments 2015: Emerging Business Value,” which Ardent is proud to announce is now available for download. The report captures the perspectives, experience, and accomplishments of more than 200 AP and finance leaders, as well as examining the trends affecting the marketplace and offering recommendations for improvement. In addition to this, the report offers up detailed information on the technologies and services that AP teams use in 2015 to make the function more strategically valuable. Ardent recommends the report (available here) to anyone currently working in AP or aspiring to a role in that team.
The Emerging Value of Supplier Payments
This latest iteration of Ardent’s payments report focuses primarily on the emerging business value of electronic payments (“ePayments”), which means adding automation to the final phase of Ardent’s ePayables Framework (Receive, Process, and Pay). More enterprises have expressed interest in payment automation for a few reasons, but primary among these is that many AP teams have mostly or completely removed paper from the front-end of the invoicing process. This removal of paper from entering the invoice receipt and approval workflow means that AP teams can now turn their attention to supplier payments, which have long been something of an afterthought.
This is understandable, as the focus for a number of years has been removing paper from the front end of the invoicing process. Given also that many suppliers would only consent to receiving paper checks, AP teams interested in business transformation rightly looked to the point of the easiest gains. This resulted, at least in North America, in paper checks retaining significant market share several years after some foreign markets shifted mostly or entirely to ePayments. Business realities are shifting, however, and the combination of emerging technologies and a lessening of supplier reticence (more suppliers than ever are willing to accept ePayments) has resulted in a newfound focus on the payment process.
Ardent’s State of B2B Payments 2015 report takes a deep dive into this new business reality, including an analysis of the different challenges that AP faces when developing ePayment capabilities and the benefits that accrue to both buyers and suppliers from unwinding their use of paper checks for the majority of supplier payments. The report also breaks down the systems and solutions that top-performing organizations leverage in order to achieve superior business results.
The Value of Payment Technology
With the newfound focus many enterprises have on ePayments, it is easy to forget that electronic payment methods are not new. What has happened to spur interest, however, is that new technologies have emerged that are more in line with how enterprises use software. This development in the payment technology space has “opened the door” to more nuanced payment strategies. This technology change and the current business environment have also pushed enterprises to re-examine B2B payments as a way to drive financial value for the enterprise, which can be a net-positive for ePayment adoption.
Ardent’s new state of the market report for payments offers up a laser focus on this emerging business value of ePayments, including taking a hard look at where the payments market currently is, what extant technologies and solutions make an impact, and the type of performance that is possible when payment automation is leveraged to its highest utility. As with other Ardent reports, The State of B2B Payments 2015 also provides industry-average metrics for AP and finance leaders to benchmark their operations against and explaining how the Best-in-Class achieve top performance.
Final Thoughts
Supplier payments have historically not been a significant focus for most AP teams, or most enterprises. This is all changing—as it must—because the business world is in an almost-constant state of flux. The newest big competitor always lurks around the next financial statement, which means that enterprises must find new ways to remain competitive and drive value to the enterprise. AP can help do that through its dominion over supplier payments, and Ardent’s State of B2B Payments 2015 report can provide the intelligence for AP teams looking to make that happen. Download the report today here to get the insights and analysis needed to get the best return on investment from supplier payments.
Check out these related articles for more:
AP Predictions for 2015: ePayments Will Become the Default
Why Haven’t ePayments Completely Replaced Paper Checks?
Business Networks and ePayments: Transforming the B2B Commerce Landscape
