A2A Automation turns business-to-business commerce on its head.
The platform provides a fully digitized and extremely efficient way for businesses to pay and get paid using faster, more secure payments so that buyers and sellers capture new, demonstrable value.
Here are some of the ways that buyers and suppliers benefit from faster, smarter payments.
By connecting buyer and seller ERP systems with a single platform, A2A Automation eliminates the manual and time-consuming back-and-forth processes that buyers and suppliers have traditionally relied upon to transact business. The solution’s single-connection design significantly reduces the costs of supplier onboarding.
Buyers can effortlessly pay suppliers as goods and services are received, per payment term preferences. More transactions can be completed electronically, without paper. With account to account payments buyer and seller accounts are reconciled automatically. For buyers this means no time and labor wasted matching invoices with POs and delivery receipts.
No need to conform to multiple invoice processes for different suppliers. Faster resolution of order and pricing discrepancies. No paper check runs. And less time wasted reconciling payments in the ERP system.
For suppliers this means reduced dock time with more efficient receivables processes during delivery. Lower costs associated with check processing and manual reconciliation. Less time managing exceptions and non-compliant payments. No need to manually match received payments with open invoices. No need for inquiries to buyers to clarify how funds should be applied.
Fewer customer disputes and write-offs. No arduous cash application tasks or unapplied funds. And less headaches at the financial close.
If a supplier uses Request for Payment, a secure messaging framework, to request and trigger electronic payment from a buyer’s account, there is no need for suppliers to issue an invoice to a buyer.
With A2A Automation, buyers have better cash flow transparency because they always know when a payment will settle. Buyers also receive notifications when payments are made to suppliers. Suppliers receive funds sooner and payments are irrevocable. Real-Time Payments (RTP) arrive within moments of initiation. And an approved Request for Payment always arrives on the date approved by the buyer.
Tough times require buyers and suppliers of all sizes to control their working capital tightly. The faster payments and frictionless ERP posting enabled by A2A Automation accelerates cashflow for suppliers while eliminating unapplied funds.
Faster payments remove the possibility that buyers will face costly late payment penalties. Faster payments also provide buyers with more opportunities to capture early payment discounts. RTP payments provide suppliers with visibility into when payments will arrive.
Buyers can control when approved Request for Payment transactions are made to suppliers. And reconciling accounts in real-time using a single platform that connects trading partners’ ERPs enables both parties to know exactly where they stand with their working capital, at any time. As a result, buyers and sellers can accurately forecast their cash and spending.
With A2A Automation, suppliers can set payment preferences for parameters such as transaction size, price, the supplier’s relationship with the buyer, and the date of the payment. And A2A Automation makes it easy for suppliers to systematically enforce payment terms.
Request for Payment also enables buyers and suppliers to control the timing of payments. Request for Payment can accelerate payments to a supplier by eliminating the latency with paper checks. Buyers can reject a Request for Payment.
A2A Automation makes it easy for customers to do business with a supplier. And suppliers can leverage the data received for each payment for cross-selling.
A2A Automation enables richer, real-time data exchanges, putting business-critical information in the supplier’s hands with every transaction. Rich payments data can enable automated reconciliation, cash forecasting, customer analytics, and more. And with rich payments data, suppliers do not need to request updates or clarifications.
A2A Automation connects buyers and suppliers through their ERPs and banks at scale. The solution’s RTP technology is built on modern, global ISO 20022 standards. And the solution provides connectivity to many trading partners across numerous countries.
With A2A Automation, businesses can transact seamlessly and confidently with trading partners. A secure central business directory eliminates the need for buyers and suppliers to share and store bank account details for trading partners or to manage ‘penny tests’ to begin transacting with a new trading partner. The business directory also ensures that buyers pay the right supplier.
Built in transaction monitoring and verification further reduce operating risk. A2A Automation also eliminates the need keep large amounts of cash on hand to pay drivers at the dock. And drivers have less cash and checks to carry with them.
Faster, smarter business payments mean better business outcomes for every business.
Achieving better business outcomes is critical for now and for the future, however it unfolds.
This article is part 5/7 of our B2B REVOLUTION series where we explore the current B2B landscape and the next evolutionary phase in payments.