Payments come up quite frequently for businesses. In a given month, companies have to make payments for inventory, property, staffing, insurance, and any other expense on their balance sheet. This means that B2B payments, and how they are made, have a massive impact on a business’s ability to keep things running smoothly.

As a result, the B2B payments landscape is a breeding ground for innovation, and there are many fintech startups working to improve the lives of business owners. 

Modernizing the B2B Payments Landscape With Fintech

Fintech firms have been working to find ways to make B2B payments quicker and more efficient. As it stands, many forms of payment are too time-consuming, expensive, and aren’t secure enough. So, new fintech platforms aim to solve these issues in a few important ways:

• Creating refined software interfaces
• Automating lending processes
• Speeding up approvals
• Improving Security

Let’s dive into each of these fintech benefits, and how they improve payment processes.

Creating Refined Software Interfaces

Many businesses out there are either using paper checks and cash, or they are using outdated software interfaces or wire transfers to make their payments. Fintech companies have worked hard to refine their software platforms to make payments easy, provide reminders for when they are due, and include many different ways to pay or get financing.

This flexibility not only makes it easier for businesses to make their payments, but it also can serve as a way for lenders to reach out to businesses that may be in the market for financing if they see a good enough offer.

Automating Lending Processes

For businesses looking to access extra funding, fintech companies have made it so lenders have an easier time getting them offers. Automated underwriting platforms give businesses the answers they need far faster than the traditional process of going through an actual underwriter.

To obtain a financing offer in the modern age, a business owner can simply:

• Apply using a simple one-click application available on any POS or billing platform.
• Wait for a quick response from the automated loan origination system that puts their application through pre-determined underwriting criteria.
• Review the terms and payment breakdown for the financing offer or offers in cases that allow for multiple financing formats.
• Accept the offer they prefer, which will trigger the beginning of the billing cycle and dispersal of funds.

All of this can be done in under an hour through the power of automated origination processes, saving money and time for both the business and the lender.

Speeding Up Approvals

While automated loan approval processes are extremely fast, they weren’t always that way. For a while, almost all of the available fintech platforms used a “waterfall” approach to matching businesses with the best possible offer.

This means that, upon receiving an application, the software would check it against the highest-quality lender available to see if it would be accepted. If not, they’d check the next-best option, then the one after that, so on and so forth until an acceptance was obtained.

The waterfall approach wastes a lot of time by checking lenders one by one, but Skeps has innovated the process by allowing lenders to offer multiple products, which enhances customer experience. For example, one application may offer both leasing and an installment loan and allow the customer to choose which best suits their needs.

Improving Security

One pain point for businesses when moving their payment processes to a digital platform is security. Many business owners are used to making payments with cash or checks, as they don’t feel they can trust a third party with their payment information long-term. This is a fear that has been compounded by news stories about security breaches in both B2C and B2B spaces, and fintech innovation has not let the problem of security go unsolved.

Skeps operates with blockchain technology, which drives our cutting-edge data protection. Blockchain offers top-of-the-line security in a way that doesn’t increase costs for lenders or merchants that use our platform. This settles concerns for businesses that want to ensure their data is safe and be cautious about cost-per-transaction or extra fees.

How Skeps is Changing the Game

Skeps POS financing software is the only true end-to-end digital platform that allows lenders and merchants to automate any part of their payment or lending process. Skeps has gone above and beyond to reshape B2B payments and financing by taking industry standards and refining them even further through our one-click application process.