Say goodbye to onerous invoice approvals, paper checks, and complex reconciliations.
By connecting buyers and suppliers through their banks and ERPs, A2A Automation enables seamless payments through Real-Time Payment (RTP) immediately upon delivery of goods or services.
Any business can benefit from less friction in their business payments. But the biggest need for frictionless payments is in industries where working capital costs and invoice complexity are high:
Here is how A2A Automation creates frictionless payments for businesses in these industries and others:
1. Onboarding: The ERPs of trading partners are onboarded onto A2A Automation. Information about buyers and sellers and their banks is securely stored in the solution’s central business directory.
2. Delivery: Goods or services are delivered from a supplier to a buyer.
3. Authorization: Upon delivery, a message is sent between trading partner ERPs generating a digital invoice that includes summary and line-item data and enhanced payment capabilities. Using a tablet, smartphone or other device, buyers can instantly authorize payment for the goods received.
4. Payment: A payment can then be initiated via a credit push. Supplier and buyer payment controls support payments based on payment terms to allow for precision of transactions.
5. Request for Pay: A2A Automation also can take the invoice data from the ERP and create a data-rich ISO 20022 request for payment message that is sent from the supplier’s bank to the buyer’s bank.
6. Reconciliation: A2A Automation confirms the receipt of payment and generates data-rich remittance messages for the ERPs of both trading partners for payment reconciliation and debit and credit notes.
A secure portal facilitates transactions and provides graphical dashboard and analytics.
Reputation scoring and identity and authentication services mitigate risk.
Consider an alcohol distributor.
Drivers can waste a lot of time waiting to be paid on the dock. Payment friction is an especially big issue for small customers. There also is the possibility of re-routes that sap driver productivity if a payment cannot be made at delivery. And handling lots of cash puts drivers at risk. But the headaches do not stop there.
Processing checks and manually reconciling payments, deliveries and invoices is time and resource intensive. And long check settlement times can create cashflow issues.
A2A Automation ensures that an alcohol distributor gets paid at the time of delivery, even if the retail manager is not present. This eliminates the possibility of delays waiting for payment or re-routes when a manager is not present. It also stops drivers from having to handle lots of cash.
And connecting buyer and seller ERPs removes the need for manual reconciliation, freeing accounts receivable staff to focus on higher-value activities such as identifying cross-selling opportunities.
The retailer does not have to deal with the hassles of keeping cash on their dock, they maintain control over the timing of payments, and they avoid onerous invoice approval processes.
This article is part 6/7 of our B2B REVOLUTION series where we explore the current B2B landscape and the next evolutionary phase in payments.
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