More and more UK procurement teams are utilising virtual payment cards to make it simpler to deal with suppliers and save business costs.
A lot more people are starting to use virtual payment cards. New information demonstrates that businesses all across the globe want to have more say and freedom in how they pay their suppliers.
SAP Taulia, a global leader in working capital solutions for fintech, argues that procurement teams want to utilise virtual cards to keep costs down, increase efficiency, and minimise risk.
SAP Taulia is a leader in financial technology. It uses smart, AI-powered solutions to help organisations manage their working capital better, which makes supply chain operations stronger and improves liquidity.
SAP Taulia’s advanced and powerful technology helps huge organisations like Airbus, Red Bull, T-Mobile, and Bridgestone improve their cash flow and identify new ways to expand. This changes working capital from a problem for organisations to a competitive edge that helps them develop with confidence.
According to the most current poll, more than 90% of procurement executives are using, planning to use, or are interested in virtual cards. This demonstrates that more and more people are using digital payments.
SAP Taulia spoke to 170 people who work in procurement in 19 different countries. The firms these executives worked for made between $1 billion and $10 billion.
Almost nine out of ten (87%) of those who use or plan to use virtual payment cards estimate they will spend more than 10% of their company’s entire budget on them in the next two years.
In the EMEA region, 85% of consumers said they would spend more than 25% of their money on virtual payment cards. 54% of people in the Americas think they will spend the same amount.
The research demonstrates that different areas utilise virtual payment cards in quite different ways. It seems that European companies are more willing to transition to digital payments than American companies. For instance, businesses in EMEA are more likely to agree to spend a big amount of their budget on virtual payment card solutions.
Virtual payment cards might help procurement teams with many of their recurring issues, such as finding new suppliers.
SAP Taulia questioned individuals how long it takes to approve a new supplier, and 78% of them said it took more than a month. Two out of five people stated it took longer than three months. Long onboarding processes like this impede down work and make it tougher for firms to remain flexible.
Danielle Weinblatt, Chief Product Officer at SAP Taulia, says: “Procurement leaders are under increasing pressure to move faster, reduce friction and make better use of working capital. Virtual payment cards are emerging as a practical, scalable solution to help achieve that.”
Managing risk and compliance (61%) is the biggest challenge with onboarding, followed closely by receiving information from suppliers (58%). Because of this, 41% of procurement executives say they are highly likely to utilise virtual cards to pay vendors once.
This technology is being used more and more in business finance and procurement, where manual processes are being replaced by automation and digital solutions.
“What we’re seeing in this research reflects the conversations we’re having with customers every day – there’s a real desire to simplify processes, particularly when it comes to one-time supplier payments and onboarding,” adds Weinblatt.
The report demonstrates that virtual cards are becoming more and more widespread as a means to pay for products. Virtual cards seem ready to become normal practice in firms throughout the world, as more than 90% of procurement officials are either interested in them or have plans to use them.
This drive for virtual card usage implies that procurement departments who notice these advantages early on may have a huge advantage over their competition when it comes to keeping track of their money and managing suppliers.
The technology helps businesses get the most out of their working capital and makes it simpler to collaborate with suppliers.