The 2020 Business Payments Barometer: Staying Up-to-Date and Responding to Change

The year 2020 offers unique challenges for businesses of all sizes and sectors as we continue to face the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. Amidst the changing payments landscape, opportunities arise to help businesses pay and get paid in new ways.

The recently released 2020 Business Payments Barometer reveals digitalization is the biggest driver of change for businesses and dives deeper into how finance departments are moving forward and looking ahead to the future of business payments, dealing with fraud and risk, and more.

How can businesses respond to change?

The leading areas of digitalization for businesses this year include advanced mobile payments technologies, easier access to technology in general, and security and payment fraud protection enhancements.

Out of 800 financial decision-makers surveyed for the 2020 Payments Barometer, 65% recognize that mobile payments technologies will be key to maintaining competitiveness. As consumers experience instant access to functionalities in their personal lives, they demand the same capabilities in their professional lives.

Leveraging new technologies is significant when looking ahead to the future of payments. With 89% of businesses admitting to paying suppliers late, the adoption of real-time payments is critical to maintain healthy relationships with vendors -- as supported by 67% of respondents citing real-time payments as helpful with cashflow management.

Managing international payments is another area of challenge during global disruption, with the largest reason for businesses not using international payments being the difficulties associated with payment tracking. This can be tricky for businesses lacking end-to-end process visibility; however, the best payments solutions in the market provide immediate visibility into payment status so businesses can monitor what stage payments are in the process.

Fraud and risk continue to be listed as top concerns for companies. In fact, 69% of decision-makers agree they should be doing more to mitigate against payment fraud.

With fraudsters finding new ways to implement scams related to the pandemic and using it to their advantage, now more than ever it is crucial to develop robust fraud detection and preventive measures.

The findings and information contained in the 2020 Business Payments Barometer reflects the changing world around us and how businesses are responding. By putting an emphasis on the importance of mobile and cloud-based technologies, at a time when working remote is today’s new normal, the findings indicate adaptive tactics are being employed. The new approaches organizations are adopting will ensure they weather the current payments climate and take the direction needed to consistently drive business forward.

Stay up-to-date on the latest survey results regarding payment and fraud trends and predictions. Download the full 2020 Business Payments Barometer to see the full results and discover how your organization compares.

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