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Fintech Innovations Influence Robust Fleet Solutions
As technology continues to strengthen industry worldwide, every sector is feeling the impact with overwhelmingly positive results. In many cases the way tech is developing in one industry will immediately have a direct positive impact on other industries. One example of that scenario is technology and innovation in the financial sector or what has come to be known as fintech. Tech advancements in the financial sector have become particularly prominent in payment processes, giving rise to more robust solutions in the trucking industry through fleet payment.
Smart phones, mobile apps, and cryptocurrencies are enabling fintech to offer more efficient and seamless financial services, secondarily affecting the industries that those financial institutions serve.
At its core, fintech helps companies, business owners, and consumers better manage their financial operations, processes, and lives by utilizing specialized software and algorithms used on computers and, increasingly, on smartphones. The word fintech combines “financial” and “technology.”
So in an industry like trucking where every mile on the road and every load delivered rely on the quickest and most secure forms of payment, it makes sense that fleet managers and owners are adopting fintech for fleet payment solutions to help with profitability, sustainability, and growth. Fintech startups are designed to challenge and disrupt entrenched traditional financial services by being more nimble, focusing on segments like trucking and fleet payment to provide faster and more efficient services.
Fintech Fleet Solutions Include Lending Options
The services fintech provides have also been embraced by smaller or startup trucking companies as a way to get better and faster financing. Peer-to-peer lending sites help to reduce rates by opening up competition for loans to broaden market opportunities. Fintech business loan providers offer fleet startup and established trucking companies fast, easy platforms through which to secure working capital. Some of those fintech lending platforms include:
Financial technology can also be seen in current fleet payment partners like EFS/WEX. EFS/WEX have been applying fintech and fintech strategies to fleet payment for years. The trucking industry is benefitting through streamlined payment processes with control and visibility, all while capturing data that enables smarter and faster decisions. Additionally, these fintech-driven electronic fleet payment solutions actually help to cut cost, mitigate risk, and generate revenue.
Electronic Fleet Payments That Work Harder for Business
The fintech mission is to remove obstacles from the financial process, which is also the foundation of the EFS/WEX approach. The fleet solutions that WEX has developed work to optimize payment and maximize current fleet financial capacity by streamlining the process and making payment easier. To do that, WEX has implemented two of the most important aspects of any successful business—Integrated payables and virtual payments.
Integrated Payables
WEX Integrated Payables is a bank-agnostic, cloud-based web platform that manages and optimizes all AP disbursements, regardless of type. ACH, virtual cards, EFT, and check payments are streamlined and automated through our centralized application. The platform makes the fleet payment process seamless and secure, regardless of whether the fleet payment takes place at the pump or with a vendor. It allows customers to:
- Integrate a wide range of fleet payment options, including virtual card, ACH, and check
- Make 100% of payments electronically from day one
- Lower their processing costs
- Increase security and visibility
The benefits of the system span all aspects of business, from office financial management and vendor relations to the cab of the truck and the driver’s wallet:
1. Flexible Payment Options
Our flexible integrated payment options include virtual cards, ACH, EFT with discounts, global payment delivery, and checks. Payments are 100% electronic from day one.
2. Seamless Integration
WEX Integrated Payables easily connect with any ERP or financial system. Payments, remittance deliveries, and reconciliation processes are automated across all payment types.
3. Cost & Time Savings
Optimizing supplier payments can reduce operating costs and unlock cash flow from day-to-day operations. Streamline your payment process to improve time and cost efficiency and get the best available discounts.
4. Bank-Agnostic Platform
WEX Integrated Payables uses a bank-agnostic network and platform. Manage and optimize all AP disbursements, regardless of payment type.
5. Improved Supplier Relations
Strengthen your supplier relationships as you streamline your payment process. Making payments electronically and on time helps you achieve better discounts, too.
Virtual Payments
Fintech-driven virtual fleet payments offer more security, control, flexibility, and data visibility than check and other payment types.
- Pay suppliers more safely and efficiently using the Mastercard® and Visa® payment networks
- Access flexible issuing options: Choose single-use or recurring virtual payments
- Easily reconcile payments and access real-time transaction information and reporting
While it might be surprising to see the remarkable advancements that companies like EFS/WEX have provided the trucking industry, it must also be said that integrated payables and virtual payments are only two of the fleet solutions that fintech has influenced over the last several years—with no signs of slowing. As long as technology continues to expand and companies like EFS/WEX continue to follow suit, the trucking industry could one day be recognized as one of the most advanced industries in the world, thanks, in part, to the emergence of fintech.
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