While the global economy is beginning to bounce back, organisations are
still faced with a heightened pressure to improve their cash flow and
will turn to innovative payment strategies in the next year. This is one
of the predictions of Basware,
the leading provider of e-invoicing and purchase-to-pay solutions, for
the key finance and procurement trends in 2014. Further, the fast growth
of social, mobile and cloud computing will fuel the rapid rise of e-invoicing
and e-payment
services over the next year, as well as internal and external
collaboration driven by Accounts Payable and real-time analytics.
“In the coming year, finance and procurement departments will seek to
further use a series of networks to improve financial management and
increase responsiveness to internal users, customers and suppliers.
These trends will lead to better insight, improved processes and
increased collaboration,” said Esa Tihilä, CEO of Basware. “In 2013,
companies have been focused on improving their cash flow and we expect
this trend to continue into 2014. Effective payment strategies will stay
front of mind as organisations look to maximise working capital and
ensure the financial stability of their suppliers."
Basware predicts four key elements that will transform B2B Commerce over
the next twelve months:
1) 2014 Will Be The Year Of ‘E-Everything’
In today’s real-time social, mobile and cloud-based environment,
business users are demanding access to information and the ability to
process tasks in a matter of seconds or minutes. Finance and procurement
professionals will see rapid growth of e-invoicing, e-ordering and
e-payment services to meet these increasing demands. They will come to
expect open, engaging digital experience and ease-of-use also in their
finance and procurement solutions.
Following in the footsteps of buyers, suppliers are beginning to realise
how expedited invoicing can improve cash flow and allow them to benefit
from real-time financial data. 2014 will see suppliers turning to
supplier portals as well as onboarding services to make invoicing faster
and more accurate. Moreover, local governments will continue to play a
pivotal role in pushing national economies to apply e-invoicing.
The key to transitioning to ‘E-Everything’ and achieving financial
success in 2014 will be to become better connected. Networks are
infiltrating people’s day-to-day lives more than ever before, so it is
only natural for this to also happen in the workplace. Business networks
will continue to have significant impact on the development of
procurement and payables in 2014.
In the era of the connected economy, companies that use collaborative
technology to connect internal employee efforts to customers, suppliers
and partners are much more likely to be market leaders, gain market
share, achieve higher margins and increase sales.
2) Clever Buyers And Suppliers Free Up Cash Flow
In many markets, e-payments have typically focused on consumer retail
payments, but that will change in 2014 as increased market pressure and
new solutions come to bear. Cash flow concerns are being fueled by large
companies that are extending their payment terms with suppliers to free
up cash for their organisations. With terms now typically 60-100 days,
the impact on suppliers – particularly smaller ones – can be severe,
jeopardising financial stability as well as creating risk in the supply
chain.
For next year we expect to see the rise of innovative e-payment
solutions that will address both sides of the payment issue: they will
speed up slower invoice processing and invoice payment to ensure that
suppliers will get paid upon invoice approval, while extending terms for
buyers. More importantly they will be integrated with e-invoice
solutions to offer huge opportunities to both buyers and sellers.
3) 2014 Will Be The Year Of The Accounts Payable Change Maker
Forward thinking finance and procurement leaders will be using
technology to drive out complexity and inefficiency from core processes.
They will dismantle the silos separating finance, procurement and
treasury and adopt automation solutions, e-invoicing and open commerce
networks to work smarter.
In 2014 the accounts payable team, which holds the knowledge of actual
spend, will increase collaboration across the company. It will continue
to implement social, mobile and cloud-based e-invoicing and e-payment
solutions to make information more accessible and drive change across
the organisation. The ability to measure key metrics will be the
catalyst for the accounts payable change makers to take performance to
new levels.
4) Leaders Increase Their Competitive Advantage Through Use Of
Analytics
Now more than ever, companies require immediate access to spend and cash
flow information to better manage finances in real-time. In 2014,
companies will rely even more heavily on analytics, working not only
across their purchase-to-pay process but also across their whole network
of buyers and suppliers to aid decision-making.
The use of real-time analytics will help identify financial bottlenecks
and opportunities for cost savings. It will collate information from
across the network to uncover trends that help improve cash-to-cash
conversion cycles and critical performance indicators such as days’
sales outstanding and days’ payment outstanding.
About Basware
Basware provides open, secure, cloud-based purchase-to-pay and
e-invoicing solutions to organizations of all sizes, resulting in
greater efficiencies in procurement, accounts payable and accounts
receivable.
Companies across all industries, from small businesses to corporate
giants use Basware solutions to drive sustainable cost savings,
proactive insight to cash flows and improved buyer–supplier
relationships. The Basware Commerce Network is founded on the principles
of openness, where all types of organizations can collaborate and trade,
making it the largest in the world. Today we connect millions of
business users in 900,000 companies across over 100 countries.
Basware is the global leader in providing solutions for better buying,
better selling and connected commerce. Find out how Basware boosts
financial performance and profitability at www.basware.com.
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