In this referenced article, appearing in the FEI website, the author (who happens to be a CEO of a B2B payments automation startup with a particular specialty in x border) discusses benefits for a business to get the house in order if looking to expand into foreign markets. This may sound extremely logical or even axiomatic, however, when one considers the implementation gap for payables automation in the U.S. alone, let alone providing better recipient experiences for that growing list of international suppliers, then one should not assume that execution always follows logic.
‘International expansion presents many advantages for quickly growing organizations, with multi-sided business models relying more and more on global suppliers. The payee relationship, as a result, becomes a key way to ensure that the flow of goods and services runs smoothly. Ensuring that partners and suppliers are paid on time and efficiently is a strong objective for businesses to maintain relationships.’
The piece goes on to discuss current x border payments case deficiencies such as:
- Which payment type makes sense from an expense standpoint?
- What are supplier payment type preferences?
- What currency is expected?
All seem like fairly logical things to have buttoned up and automated, one would expect. But not often the case.
The author then goes on to discuss the emerging BCT model, which we also recently covered in a released Viewpoint for members, which utilizes digital assets (various cryptos, including ‘stable coins’) but is really not yet ready for prime time for one reason he covers (the lack of crypto ubiquity) and one he does not (lack of network scale).
‘Authentic B2B solutions truly embrace the difficulties and diversity of the world, rather than asking an entire society to convert to a foreign way of handling their money. People must have faith in their money and the system which runs our currencies. B2B payments has been considered a long and difficult bridge to cross, but with a variety of different solutions, organizations can bridge that gap without hassle.’
As the saying goes, reality bites, however, there is an increasing awareness that solutions are already here to make reality a better experience for those across the supply chain.
Overview by Steve Murphy, Director, Commercial and Enterprise Payments Advisory Service at Mercator Advisory Group
