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Unified Commerce – the Combination of Payments and Banking
MIKE LICHTENBERGER, GROUP EXECUTIVE AND CHIEF OPERATING OFFICER ENTRUST PAYMENT SYSTEMS, A COMPANY OF THE SHERWOOD MANAGEMENT GROUP LLC
A revolution of sorts is taking place that aims to integrate payments with banking operations, known as Unified Commerce. Merchants with multiple sales channels must provide a consistent customer experience with an immediately applicable unified commerce strategy. What does this mean? Immediately applicable matters because the longer it takes for you to unify customer payments with banking, the further behind you are against customer expectations – and that includes their payments experience.
Unified Commerce
…is the Combination of Payments and Banking A central pillar of Unified Commerce is a blending of transactions and transitions with its focus on Financial Management. Merchants are concerned about General Ledger Management and accurate accounting reports. CFOs and their staff are equally concerned with Treasury Management Services for control over capital, cash flow, liquidity and debt service, shareholder obligations, and risk management. Through an integrated platform, a single resource “works” both sides of the ledger as well as the Treasury's cash management. A Unified Commerce engine powers payments, banking services, document services, reporting, business intelligence, and regulatory compliance. • General Ledger: Collecting money owed to you. Minimize the aging of accounts receivable balances and reduce the Days Sales
Outstanding [DSO.] • Treasury: Optimize your business’ liquidity, capital management, cash flow in and out, and shareholder investments - all the while
mitigating financial and operational risks. • General Ledger: Paying out money owed by you. Improve your business relationships within your supply chain by structuring terms that work to your advantage. Merchants and Business-to-Business [B2B] companies depend on payments to stay in business. Yes, you want to make revenue collection seamless and efficient with a variety of options. Your customers’ payment experience is an integral part of your Customer Experience strategies. Making it easy for your customers to pay you on time is vital to your cash flow. But so is the cost of money of your AR and the cost of processing payments. B2B transactions are charged some of the highest processing fees, and B2B sales are typically higher in volume. That means the costs can add up fast. Did you know? Purchasing and corporate cards are eligible for significant savings. When those transactions are processed with enhanced Level 2 and Level 3 data, a merchant's savings can reduce fees by 0.75% to 1.50% or more. With an automated feature, electronic payments are instantly eligible for reduced interchange fees. Quite often, the processing cost is offset by your terms for discounts and the costs of funds while you wait.
Vital to your cash flow is minimizing your AR balances and aging delinquencies
With Unified Commerce and full payment integration, you can easily automate your payables while generating a revenue stream. By sharing Interchange Income, Cash Rebates, and other incentives, a company turns the Accounts Payable process from a cost center to a source of income.
