B-to-B payments

While the intermediaries that record and verify transactions such as payments are removed, the remaining parties may not be ready for shifting responsibilities to guarantee transactions, writes Sebastian Venderzeil, a director at Cornerstone.

When taken in the context of the complete invoice and payment cycle, manual payments not only have higher processing costs to the provider and supplier, but also result in delays between processing and making payments, writes Darci Guerrein, vice president of payment operations for GHX.

For all of the noise in the payments industry around transitioning to real-time and same-day digital payments — and in the mainstream media around the bitcoin craze — paper checks still persist as the preferred means of disbursement for the majority of business-to-business transactions.

If we are going to make these global transactions easier for payers and receivers, these incumbents have to accelerate their progress and level of innovation, writes Mike Massaro, CEO of Flywire.

SMBs are choosing virtual cards as their preferred form of electronic payments because they solve many of their payment challenges, while also helping them avoid the costs associated with custom software solutions designed for larger businesses, writes Blair Jeffery, COO of Noventis.

Some firms are investing in technology to help insurance clients shift to paperless payment processing.

Financial technology companies are reinventing every aspect of business finance, starting with payments. Banks have long promised to automate supplier payments for their customers, but have fallen far short, writes Brent Meyers, vice president of national sales for Nvoicepay.

The case for real-time payments isn’t just about instant gratification. Truncating settlement times has enormous benefits to FIs, businesses and even governments.

Payment Rails is putting a tight focus on the emerging area of “influencer marketing,” where global brands are spreading money among individuals who use social media to promote products.

Venmo achieved its status by designing its interface like that of a social network. PayPal's version of that comes from Facebook.