In our various member research, the largest growth trajectory for commercial card product usage is in the virtual card space. The bulk of the volume growth is in the accounts payable space. And now increasingly, we see further use cases also growing, including non-frequent employee travel, contract staff, and work from home (WFH).
Virtual cards offer many advantages for companies. When integrated with a spend management software, it can curb corporate overspending.
Virtual cards are naturally safer than distributed plastics, as they cannot be lost or stolen. You can also apply spend limits to your virtual cards, thereby controlling how much can be spent on each transaction or card. Exceeding an established limit stops transactions from occurring with an automatic notification to the company program administrator.
When used in conjunction with spend management solutions, there are additional features such as more advanced analytics for optimizing spend. The speed of information improves to the point of potentially instantaneous (real-time) decisioning on charge attempts. The advantages are applicable across all business sizes.
A spend management software also provides valuable insights, highlighting where your business can be more cost-efficient.
Implementing virtual cards may be a valuable strategy as it can reduce your spending, boost your payment processing speed, and offer meaningful analytics to make better cost decisions.
Overview by Steve Murphy, Director, Commercial and Enterprise Payments Advisory Service at Mercator Advisory Group.
