Win Supplier Acceptance of VCNs in 3 Steps

Your organization is eager to start using virtual card numbers to handle your supplier payments. They’ll help streamline your processes, lower transaction costs, increase payments control and provide rich data to make reconciliation easier than ever, not to mention enhance visibility into spending. With so many reasons to start using this form of payment it’s important to ensure you get your suppliers onboard.

Here are the 3 steps to engage suppliers:

Step 1. Raise Their Awareness

Your travel suppliers may not be familiar with VCNs, so the first thing you may need to do is provide them with a basic explanation of the technology. If your suppliers are already accepting debit or credit card payments, they can easily process VCNs using their existing card terminals.

Convincing business partners to adopt a new process or technology requires educating target users on what’s “in it for them” in terms of cost savings and workflow improvements. You may need to overcome perceived issues, for example they may be concerned with accepting electronic forms of payments and moving away from paper-based, manual processes. Other roadblocks you might encounter include integration concerns, reluctance to change until more customers request the payments shift and a fear that they’ll lose control of the process.

Regardless, getting suppliers to accept VCNs isn’t typically an uphill battle in the travel industry today, because suppliers are generally prioritizing initiatives that help them to facilitate new business easier and quicker, and that unleash valuable data. Using VCNs will ultimately deliver the security, cost-savings and transparency they’re looking to achieve across their business.

2. Sell the Concept

Once your suppliers grasp the basic technicalities of accepting VCNs, you need to explain why other industry suppliers have already adopted the payment method:

• More Secure Processing. VCN payments are digital, paperless and automated, already giving them a leg up on manual (more traditional) forms of payment. Unlike check and wire/bank transfer payments, VCN payments don’t use sensitive bank account information that can be lost or stolen and they use the major credit card network suppliers are already familiar with. Get more details in Use Technology to Fight Fraud and V-Cards Fight Payments Fraud in Business Travel.

• Enhanced International Payments. Your company is likely adopting VCNs for their ideal fit with cross-border payments. As noted in How Much Is Your Travel Business Losing On International Payments?, VCNs facilitate easier and lower-cost international financial transactions. Suppliers benefit too; they receive payments in their local currency avoiding fees or mark-ups for receiving payment in foreign currency.

• Part of the Paperless Evolution. If your suppliers are already implementing technology and processes to automate and reduce paper, accepting VCNs makes sense. With VCN payments, suppliers can be paid without invoicing—on paper or otherwise, as they can initiate payments via “push” notifications. 

3. Drive Home the Value

Finally, it might take showing suppliers the monetary value of accepting VCN payments:

• They Get Paid Faster. Because they’re processed digitally—and sent directly to suppliers’ bank account—VCN-based payments are faster than the more traditional forms of payment and an improved cash flow at a lower cost than wire/bank transfer or ACH transactions. Read Into the Light: Travel Payment Reconciliations for insights into additional back-end benefits.
• They Save On Fees. Where you were previously paying suppliers in a currency other than their own local currency they may have been incurring costs to receive this payment. The enhanced currency capabilities of VCNs allow you to pay suppliers in their own local currency avoiding such fees.
• They Get Actionable Data. Aside from providing enhanced remittance data resulting in smoother reconciliation, the VCN payments process delivers more detail (e.g. transaction product codes, quantities, description, and tax information) that can be used to inform business decisions. It’s superior to what’s generated by paper-based or even the ACH and wire/bank transfer processes, so it can add immediate value to suppliers’ ability to build a more strategic A/R operation. Explore Travel Payment Analytics and the Power of VCNs for more.

Get more ideas into creating win-wins with your suppliers through innovative payment solutions:

Supplier Relationships Believed Central to B2B Customer Engagement

5 Reasons Your Suppliers Love To Receive Virtual Payments.

Facts & Stats for Building A Business Case for Virtual Payment Tech

3 Reasons Virtual Credit Cards Will Become A Leading Corporate Travel Payment Option in 2016