The benefits to be gained by paying suppliers electronically have been detailed extensively by APQC’s research staff and other observers. But accounts payable (AP) managers, for a variety of reasons, have clung tightly to the practice of using paper checks for about 75 percent of their vendor payments. Until now, that is.
A new report from the consultancy, PayStream Advisors, says: “The marketplace for electronic supplier payments is exploding.” The report, 2011 Electronic Supplier Payments, claims that 69 percent of finance professionals who were polled say they are now actively seeking to increase their company’s use of Automated Clearing House (ACH) and Purchasing Card payments for AP over the next 18 months. Fifty percent of respondents say they are already writing fewer checks.
The reasons? The most obvious is the arrival of affordable, Web-based solutions that rely on the paradigm known as software-as-a-service. Then again, payment solutions vendors have been dishing up appealing innovations such as dynamic discounting. The complimentary report is available from PayStream Advisors here.