May 2021 GREATEST HITS OF TABLE OF CONTENTS Introduction . 04 Deluxe CEO: Building The Digital Bridge For The ‘Last 40 Percent’ Integrated Workflows Of B2B Payments . 46 Fuel Cross-Border B2B Payments . 08 PayFacs Tap Embedded Payments Virtualized B2B Payments: To Improve The B2B Poised To Kill The Paper Check — And The Plastic Card . 14 Customer Experience . 52 Pandemic Wake-Up Call Drives Integrated B2B Platforms . 20 CFOs Seek A Delicate Balance In Collaborative Technology . 58 Citi: Accelerated Digital Migration Provides Insights Into B2B Behavior . 26 Making Checks Part Of The B2B Payments How Digitizing B2B Payments Leads To New Revenues . 32 Modernization Plan . 64 B2B Companies Navigate Tricky B2B Report Highlights . 70 Cross-Border Marketplaces And Payments . 38 Introduction Greatest Hits of B2B GREATEST o one said the Officer David Petersonexplained , HITS OF modernization of B2B some FinTech providers “pushed payments would be all-in on electronic, and ignored the easy . But at the onset check,” leaving many corporates to Nof the pandemic, chatter among continue struggling with the paper industry innovators began to grow that remains . that companies would — finally! — put down the checkbook . Solution providers are discovering that a multi-pronged approach to There is evidence the last year or so digitization can ease the pain of has undoubtedly created progress in change for businesses that can the digitization of B2B payments — struggle to evolve . Increasingly, that both in terms of accounts payable means offering multiple payment departments’ desire to use ePayment rails including ACH, cards, real-time technologies, and in accounts networks, and even newer rails like receivable departments’ acceptance blockchain or Visa B2B Connect, of them . Yet what it has also revealed in addition to check services like is the importance of developing a lockbox technology . modernization strategy that can meet businesses where they are . This approach can tackle major pain points that have historically stood in Organizations that continue to the way of B2B payments digitization . use checks won’t necessarily be For instance, a multi-rail approach persuaded to completely overhaul can find common ground between their operations just because a new buyers and sellers when vendors B2B payments technology is available . wish not to accept commercial Indeed, as CheckAlt Chief Strategy cards, while other technologies © 2021 PYMNTS.com All Rights Reserved 4 © 2021 PYMNTS.com All Rights Reserved 5 Introduction Greatest Hits of B2B like Mastercard Track Business That deep integration isn’t merely suppliers,” reflected WEX Vice the lead in guiding their firms through Payments Service can automatically a value for the payer . B2B sellers President of Operations, Corporate disruption and modernization . pinpoint which rail will optimize are also uncovering greater value Payment Solutions Dylan Jones . Regardless of which payment rails the movement of funds between through embedded, flexible solutions and technologies a company chooses businesses . that can provide deeper insight As businesses do migrate away from to embrace, the CFO can guide their into buyer behavior and streamline the paper check, they’ll be navigating organization to adopting the solutions The value proposition of payments reconciliation workflows . According toward payment methods that that will extract the most value from digitization must go beyond to PYMNTS and Flywire research, support their unique needs, and likely their B2B payments modernization electronic payments, too . as explored in the Payments 2021: causing disruption in the current roadmaps . Assessing The Digital Gaps In competitive landscape between rails With the accelerating surge of B2B Business Payment Flows report, a as a result . “As a CFO, there is a lot of opportunity eCommerce adoption, vendors lack of access to data continues to because of the acceleration of need ePayment tools that can be create friction on both the accounts Commercial card volumes that rose collaboration technology,” LoginID seamlessly embedded within their payable and accounts receivable amid pandemic-fueled digitization CFO Vince Man told PYMNTS . “As portals as the business customer sides of B2B transactions . efforts have shone a new spotlight on a CFO, we need to leverage the experience grows increasingly virtual card technology in particular, acceleration of that technology to get important, including when those Meanwhile, for the FinTechs while emerging opportunities for everybody collaborating on creative transactions occur across borders . themselves, as more business real-time rails to optimize receivables ideas, to improve processes and the buyers are willing to accept a fee for through faster access to capital way we do business ”. “Suppliers are also able to improve a better payment experience, that and vital transaction data are also buyer relations by accommodating same visibility into data can unlock boosting the value proposition of With CFOs at the helm, PYMNTS takes their preferred payment choice,” new revenue streams for service migrating away from check . a look at 2021’s top B2B payments Darren Blair, head of B2B payments providers . stories of the year — so far . at Conferma Pay, said in a recent As organizations, their business PYMNTS interview . “It’s going to introduce opportunities partners and financial service for more players to lend, in more technology providers navigate this creative ways, to buyers and evolution, finance leaders are taking © 2021 PYMNTS.com All Rights Reserved 6 © 2021 PYMNTS.com All Rights Reserved 7 Greatest Hits of B2B January 7, 2021 Ravi Thakur Integrated Executive Vice President, Coupa Work flows Fuel Cross-Border Sinead Fitzmaurice B2B Payments CEO, Transfermate here are a lot of moving parts in B2B payments that are keeping corporate finance executives busy as they work to modernize and optimize their operations . In 2020, many of the biggest pain points in B2B payments were revealed, particularly when transactions Judd Holroyde Tmove across border . But organizations are rising to the challenge with a renewed Head of Global Product Management, modernization effort that has carried into the new year . Wells Fargo An estimated $10 trillion in B2B payment flows move across border every year, yet only a small fraction of that volume is digital . To make meaningful progress, the enterprise will need to begin looking at B2B payments not as a siloed process, but GREATEST as an integrated, strategic workflow . HITS OF © 2021 PYMNTS.com All Rights Reserved 9 Integrated Workflows Fuel Cross-Border B2B Payments Greatest Hits of B2B PYMNTS CEO Karen Webster held a have conversations about what it outside of your core system, it’s panel discussion with Transfermate means for the enterprise to act as very difficult to pinpoint where your CEO Sinead Fitzmaurice, Coupa an ecosystem of interconnected cash flow cycle is, both from an Executive Vice President Ravi Thakur platforms and processes . Rather than AR [accounts receivable] and AP and Wells Fargo Head of Global the transaction originating within an [accounts payable] point of view ”. Product Management Judd Holroyde enterprise resource planning (ERP) to discuss what it means for or treasury management system, When organizations are managing organizations to step back and look application programming interfaces multiple ERPs, bank accounts, and at the bigger picture of cross-border (APIs) have shifted the perception of platforms all across various global payments . where a payment starts and ends . markets, data integration is vital to obtain a holistic view of the payments “We tend to talk about payments as They have also intensified the need workflow . As Thakur noted, the some independent component,” said for finance professionals to close opportunity to consolidate complex Holroyde . “But it’s an end-to-end the gap between a payment and systems through treasury and workflow ”. transaction data, with integrations banking integrations is vast . allowing for a more seamless flow cross-border transactions, said of information . That’s a critical shift Holroyde, but as organizations look as organizations found themselves out into the year ahead, there will needing to access data and make be more ways that data fuels the decisions in real-time amid COVID- formation of vital ecosystems . Marrying Payments With Data fueled volatility . Emerging Ecosystems There were a few standout moments Rather than viewing payments Data connectivity isn’t only important in 2020 for corporates that led to “Having information at your fingertips and data as two “parallel tracks,” within the enterprise’s own a deeper level of understanding to adapt to that environment very, initiatives like the ISO 20022 infrastructure, for instance . As Thakur of B2B payments as part of an very fast is key,” said Fitzmaurice . messaging standard have helped to noted, it’s also key to deepening integrated workflow . According to “From a cash flow point of view, if fuel their coupling . It’s an important connections between corporates and Holroyde, organizations began to you’ve got a decentralized system step toward streamlining their suppliers . Remitting information © 2021 PYMNTS.com All Rights Reserved 10 © 2021 PYMNTS.com All Rights Reserved 11 Integrated Workflows Fuel Cross-Border B2B Payments Greatest Hits of B2B from a legacy, siloed ERP system to between themselves that create that the same time, viewing real-time rethink the way money — and data