Saudi Arabia 
Many industries are feeling the effects of digital disruption. The adoption of new technologies runs the gamut from artificial intelligence and virtual/augmented reality for sales and marketing to new digital payment applications that help manage cash flow, process mobile payments, and automate billing processes.
Developments in the digital payments space are big news, especially since they can directly affect a company's bottom line. Consider using digital payments to help you manage your company's cash flow, make payments more efficiently, and keep track of expenses all in one place. It's technology at its finest.
Tracking and managing cash-flow is just one of the many challenges businesses face. In fact finance executives1 across a wide range of industries stated that they struggle with having spend visibility on a daily basis.
Digital payments to suppliers can go a long way to improve that visibility while helping to track and manage cash flow. For example, products like American Express' vPayment enable companies to set a payment amount, date range, and payee in order to optimize working capital while eliminating late payments, increasing efficiency and simplifying the reconciliation process.
Payments are deposited directly into the supplier's bank account using a unique virtual account number for each transaction. This process eliminates the risk of data entry errors that could result in accidental late payments. And with no card numbers changing hands and the specific single-use virtual account number only being used once, the process is also more secure.
Digital payments don't just make it easier to pay suppliers. The technology also makes it easier for small businesses to get paid. Reduce the time between delivery of goods / services and cash-in-hand by accepting payments anywhere, at any time. Depending on the payment solution being used, customers can touch and pay using their iOS or Android mobile devices, a digital wallet such as ApplePay, or even a contactless chip card.
The immediate results of such technology—cash flow improvements and streamlined business processes.
Automating payments and collections via a secure method streamlines bookkeeping and accounting operations and can help ensure compliance. Program administrators, whether they be an office manager or accounts payable team, can run reports on the status of payments to suppliers for month-end reconciliation or to obtain instant data about cash flow.
American Express uses a number of methods to keep payment and financial data secure through every step of the transaction. And "tokenization," or the process of using a unique virtual account number for each transaction, takes security measures one step further as the same account number is never used twice.
Thanks to these new security technologies, digital payments are more secure than cheques and cash which can be subject to everything from theft to physical fraud.
The pandemic has accelerated the adoption of digital solutions. And the benefits to the company's bottom line are very, very real. It's more important than ever for businesses to adopt new technologies that improve day-to-day processes so they can focus on maintaining a competitive edge.
This article is intended for general informational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice or an opinion on any issue. It should not be regarded as comprehensive or a substitute for professional advice.
