Driven by technological advancements, companies are increasingly focused on becoming efficient in their cash management, payment process and supply chain management. Historically, business-to-business (B2B) payments were dominated by checks, which started to move towards simplistic check to ACH conversion through initial digitization initiatives. These were largely driven by internal treasury and accounts payables functions as simple cost reduction and efficiency projects. Other internal stakeholders, such as procurement, were often not an active part of the process.

Over the years, the definition of digitization has grown more sophisticated, especially on the payment side of the equation, presenting treasury with a bigger cash management opportunity. In the push to electronify payments, the menu of options available to both the payer and supplier has multiplied. New innovative payment methods such as Supply Chain Finance, Dynamic Discounting and Virtual Cards are transforming the Payments function from a cost center to a profit center that is aligned with corporate working capital and cost reduction objectives.