Tag Archives: b2b processing

Visa Looks to Streamline B2B Payments

The best way to win your customers’ hearts is to provide them with a more flexible payment system and allowing them to choose how they conduct transactions. We live in a world where faster payment modes are given more preference. In this regard, Visa’s recent efforts to transform the B2B payments space need special attention.

Visa B2B Connect

Visa B2B Connect is an innovative non-card based payment network designed to streamline all cross-border, business-to-business payments. The technology enables the participating banks or other financial institutions together with their business customers to make secure, predictable, and streamlined global business payments.

Visa B2B Connect comes with a multilateral payment system that allows one to make bank-to-bank cross-border transactions between different businesses. In this network, one can make payments between any banks that are connected to one’s specific platform, thus having a more improved, streamlined, and consistent payment experience.

Difference Between Bilateral Network and Visa B2B Connect Multilateral Network

Legacy Bilateral Network

Payments via bilateral networks occur only between two parties or financial institutions at a time. Hence, they require multiple handshakes between disparate systems and banks present across different locations before finally reaching the beneficiary. This process, therefore, can create greater delays in payments while increasing the costs unpredictably and producing inconsistencies in the payment data.

For example, the transaction flow of a bilateral network looks something like this:

  1. The Originator Business starts the transaction process via its Originating Bank.
  2. The bank then sends the transaction information to a Domestic Correspondent Bank.
  3. Next, the Domestic Correspondent Bank sends passes over those payment institutions and information to an Intermediary Bank and then to a Foreign Correspondent Bank.
  4. After this, the amount gets deposited to the Beneficiary Bank, which belongs to the Beneficiary Business.

Therefore, it is quite a long-winding process.

Visa B2B Connect Multilateral Network

The Visa B2B Connect multilateral network, on the other hand, enables a system of one-to-many global payments that are transacted between any participating bank. It helps to streamline the payments with higher predictability, efficiency, and transparency.

In other words, with Visa B2B Connect multilateral network, there would be no multiple intermediary banks involved in the transaction made between the Originator Bank and the Participating Bank that is connected to the network. The funds will straightaway be transferred from Bank A of Company A to Bank B of Company B by passing via the Visa B2B Connect platform.

Benefits of Visa B2B Connect

Visa B2B Connect is designed to address all the limitations present in the existing bilateral wire transfer processes, thus enhancing transacting experiences. Some of the key benefits of Visa B2B Connect include:

●     Real-time Visibility and Predictability

You can gain improved real-time visibility into your transaction status as Visa B2B Connect reduces multiple handoffs or handshakes in the payment chain. It further helps to enhance the predictability of each of your transactions and have better insights into when and how your funds would land on the beneficiary’s bank account.

●     Payment Transparency and Finality

With Visa B2B Connect’s payment network, one can make seamless bank-to-bank transactions using the streamlined and robust data for easier reconciliation and enhanced transaction accuracy. The system offers clear and transparent transaction payment schedules and costs that reduce all payment uncertainties.

●     Digital Identity

All your sensitive business and payment data will be secure and protected as Visa B2B Connect uses unique digital identities to tokenize your data. This further reduced any cybersecurity attacks or fraudulent activities.

●     Consistency of Transaction Data

Visa B2B Connect’s consistent data makes way for a stable and seamless transaction experience for all businesses and financial institutions. Besides, the network allows a much more simplified and smooth reconciliation process.

●     Multilateral Network

Using Visa B2B Connect’s multilateral network, you can transform and streamline the payment path as it offers one-to-many global access. Besides, it boosts the peer-to-peer exchange of essential values and interconnects large-value payments in a multilateral ecosystem.

●     Interoperability

Visa B2B Connect has the ability to work alongside and together with legacy systems, which facilitates the bank’s transition to advanced future payments. Interoperability used in payment systems helps to reduce costs associated while establishing an acceptance network. Additionally, it also improved your value proposition by expanding the type and number of acceptance points for your customers/clients.

●     Reduced Complexity

Using Visa B2B Connect’s centralized network, you can reduce the number of connections and relationships a particular bank needs to manage, which in turn, reduces complexities in the entire payment environment.

●     Advanced Security and Fraud Protection

Visa B2B Connect’s network is strengthened by Visa’s security and advanced distributed ledger technology. In fact, Visa B2B Connect is built with a closed and permissioned network wherein all the members are trustworthy and known. Further, all your account data will be tokenized using a unique digital identity, which helps to prevent fraudulent attempts and opportunities.

●     Flexible and Compatible

Visa B2B Connect provides a wide array of implementation and application options, which caters to the unique requirements of the business. You can also shift to a modern and more improved payments experience, compatible with all your existing business solutions.

●     Global Connectivity and Easy Growth

This cross-border B2B payments network by Visa is developed using the brand’s unparalleled capabilities and core assets. Using Visa B2B Connect, you can enjoy a seamless same-day or next-day access to multiple currencies across the world via a single integration. The best part is the system is highly scalable, so that you can grow your brand and revenue.

Final Words

Visa, therefore, has tremendous abilities to offer a global and more flexible payment solution to all cross-border business transactions. The card brand has proven capabilities to achieve a unique and unsurpassed global network scale. Moreover, VisaNet has happily connected more than 15,500 banks and other financial institutions across the globe.

Visa, being a financial technology innovator, has successfully built thousands of strong relationships with several banks spread across multiple countries, creating a powerful network for the new Visa B2B Connect technology. Coming to the question of trust, Visa is a brand proudly carrying a decade-long track record of top-notch security, safety, and speed.

B2B Payments: Pandemic Pushes Many Businesses to Automate Accounts Receivables

Chasing money from clients is probably one of the least desirable parts of owning a business. It takes away from many other tasks you could be doing – tasks that may grow your business rather than give you tedious or repetitive tasks to manage, but getting B2B payments is a part of doing business.

The pandemic has caused many companies to cut down on staff, and one of the first areas is always accounts receivable. This makes the average days of sales outstanding continually grow, and further hurts your business. Automating accounts receivable is one of the most important moves you can make.

Why is Automation Necessary

All businesses, no matter the size need automation today. It frees up the skeleton staff, enabling them to work on other tasks that keep the business running.

It’s like a double-edged sword. If you don’t automate AR, you could sit on unpaid bills for many months. Without the funds, you may not be able to continue growing or even operating because you’re low on capital. Without a full staff, though, it may seem impossible. It may have even seemed impossible when you had a full staff.

Automation takes the work out of it. When you automatically send notices, it’s not you or a staff member doing physical labor – no one has to take time out of his/her day to work on the A/R, make phone calls, leave voicemails, and send emails. Everything is done for you.

What Does Automation Look Like?

Accounts receivable automation for B2B payments will look different for every company. In general, though, expect:

  • Send notices before an invoice is due. Pick a duration, such as 2 weeks before it’s due, and send an automated reminder. The hope is that the reminder before the bill is due is enough for the company to pay the bill on time.
  • Send automated reminders at specific frequencies once a bill is past due. Whether it’s a few days, once a week, or every other week. Set up automatic reminders until they pay the bill.
  • Combine an automated process with manual processes, but not inside your company. Have the salespeople jump on board. Let your salespeople know when the bill is late and have them follow up on the notices you send. Sometimes that personal touch is all a company needs to get the bill paid.

Don’t Let Accounts Receivable Fall Behind

Accounts receivable is what makes your company stay in business. Without it, you don’t have money coming in. Because of the pandemic, many companies are purposefully behind or forced to be behind because their own sales are down.

Stay on top of your A/R by automating the processes to avoid losing business. Automating the process takes the labor off your staff and still allows you to be profitable collecting B2B payments. In today’s pandemic, every business owner needs to think outside the box, and accounts receivable is a great place to start. Get your A/R under control and the rest will fall into place.