Looking for an AP Ally in Technology

Years of significant advancements in the payments and technology spaces tell us that they are no stranger to innovation.

While the pandemic drove innovation requiring organizations to adapt to new ways of working, it also created the need to meet the demands of businesses currently expanding or considering expansion into new markets. This is great news for the organizations that support these businesses, but it has meant that they may have to adjust their offerings to align with what clients are looking for.

While new capabilities can be an exciting endeavor, it can also be a cumbersome task without the right technology ally. For this reason, and many more, it’s important to understand some of the many considerations that should be factored into this decision.

Understanding What Your Partner Has to Offer

When exploring potential alliances, the first step is to become familiar with the technology they have to offer to ensure it aligns with your organization’s goals.

The increased demand for a seamless, efficient, and secure payments process is top of mind. This means that many providers are working to keep their offerings (platforms) nimble and competitive by offering a more streamlined customer experience, including a larger menu of integrated services delivered securely via an application programming interface (API).

Services can include simple and secure automation of repetitive manual processes, efficient and secure global payments services, vendor management and onboarding, payment tracking and reporting, and/or beneficiary validation.

To understand which partner may be best for your business, you should first assess which of these services your organization needs. Then, compare what each vendor has to offer to help ensure they can provide effective support.

Considering the Downstream Client Experience

An additional key consideration when choosing a partner to handle payments and other adjacent needs is how it will impact the downstream client experience. Most notably, how can the partner potentially reduce friction or solve challenges?

Organizations should consider the following:

• Onboarding processes—It can be important to find a partner that can onboard via APIs to avoid having to complete different account forms to enable different payment methods.
  The technology provider you choose to work with should become the infrastructure for your business, meaning the onboarding and day-to-day processes should be seamless.
• Integrating payments—The provider you choose should be able to integrate as many of your payment needs as possible, including both domestic and global payments. Working with a partner that can accommodate both may eliminate the need for two separate integrations.
• Post-transactional perspective—While executing payments is of the utmost importance, being able to track them can be just as important. An ideal technology partner within the payments space can help you track information that might be useful for your clients.

  For example, many partners will provide real-time data on each payment, which offers transparency on where the payment is, payment status, reasons for rejection or delay, bank deductions, and the final amount delivered to the beneficiary.

A Partnership Goes Beyond Technology

Ultimately, most businesses are looking for a partner—not just a provider. It is beneficial to have a human element to the partnership in addition to the services offered.

A true partnership generally goes beyond technology and works to understand the journey that an organization has envisioned and how the alliance can help fulfill their goals. It could include assistance with a go-to-market strategy to ensure a successful launch of a new product offering or support from a post transactional perspective.

A successful partnership likely includes the following:

• Philosophical compatibility—A sincere partnership means that both parties have taken the time to understand each other and how they can work together
• Regulatory and compliance alignment—The partner you choose should be able to help fill any knowledge gaps within your organization. For example, if you’re operating or will be operating in unfamiliar jurisdictions, your partner may be able to share relevant resources that can help you navigate relevant laws or processes.
• Robust security practices—Security has always been a high priority in the payments and technology industry but given how dependent we are on digital processes now, it’s more important that those processes are secure. The right partner should be able to offer robust security practices to help your organization and its assets.
• Technology flexibility—Flexibility and transparency may be two of the most important elements of a partnership. In this case, services within the platform should be embedded in a manner that is seamless and transparent to the client.

Partnering for Success

When organizations look for a cross-border solution, they may need to look for a partner who has the largest currency offering to minimize the number of platforms or organization they need to integrate.

But partnerships go far beyond that. Organizations should also consider the type of support they require from a strategic perspective, including support from an implementation perspective, post transactional perspective, and go-to-market strategy, which is the cross-border expertise and security practices the partner can bring to the table.

Strategic partnerships are more complex in today’s digitalized environment, which is why it’s so important to explore your options to find the right partner for your business.

Cheryl Girling is Director of Enterprise Sales within Corpay’s Global Enterprise Group. She started her career in foreign exchange helping clients protect their bottom line through currency risk management strategies and has since become a payment expert. Based in Montreal, Girling’s focus is helping clients streamline and automate their global payments process.