We often encounter similar concerns when we’re working with companies to implement a payments project. Outsourcing or revising A/P processes can seem daunting, but we can address some of the larger concerns here. I’ll cover moving from check to virtual card first, and in the next blog, I’ll discuss concerns with ACH and check printing projects.
Check to Virtual Card:
The benefits of moving to virtual card are obvious, with clear savings in moving from check to electronic payments along with rebates that can be derived from moving even a small portion of payments to card. But the most frequent underlying concern is the sometimes unspoken question – why would a company take v-card when there may be a fee involved? It seems counter-intuitive, but there are several reasons that it makes sense for many companies:
- Reduced risk of fraud – the use of v-card removes the need to supply bank account information to all of their payers for ACH payments, and also removes the rising risk of check fraud, which now affects 85% of organizations (see my previous blog, Payments Fraud Remains High, for more information).
- Clear remittance details and notification – Often with ACH payments, the money arrives in a company’s bank account without remittance details, leading to huge hassles in trying to apply the payment. Companies have been known to miss budget due to this problem. In addition, companies like to receive notification ahead of the payment. Our system provides both an email notification and clear remittance details with every payment.
- Simplified bank management – If a company has given out bank payment details to receive ACH payments and they change banks, it can be a project of enormous dimensions for A/R to get new bank information to all of their payers. Accepting v-cards can remove that maintenance step and remove dependence on the bank.
Some other concerns we hear are that A/P managers often believe that only their small suppliers will want to accept v-cards. In our experience, that’s simply not the case. We have seen six- and seven-figure v-card payments processed. A/P managers might also be concerned about affecting their relationships with their suppliers. Because we allow you to dictate who we call, what we discuss, and whether we make more than one attempt, we can help maintain those great relationships that they have built over time. If a company has a discount have in place with their main suppliers that they are concerned about impacting, we can just remove that company from the contact list. In many cases, though, suppliers have actually already built the cost of card processing into their prices.
Have you implemented a check-to-v-card project? We’d like to hear about concerns you may have had prior to implementing.
