Contents tagged with Payment Industry News

  • 2016 could be the year of electronic payments for Major League Baseball

    April 13, 2016
    Notoriously slow to change, professional baseball is coming around to electronic payments.

    With the Major League Baseball season kicking off this month, it's safe to say teams are experiencing a number of "firsts" for the year. While players and fans might be concerned with their teams' first wins, strikeouts or home runs, back office managers are worried about first road trips, paychecks and sponsor agreements.

    As they begin paying for these and countless other items and services this season, more franchises than ever are using electronic payment methods to do so.

    The Texas Rangers are among the latest teams to make the switch, embracing electronic payments across their accounts payable operations, reports PYMNTS. According to Kellie Fischer, the franchise's Chief Financial Officer, going electronic has enabled the organization to pay its vendors in as little as two weeks. … more

  • How a real-time network could change B2B payments

    February 19, 2016
    TCH's new payment network could take the waiting out of cashless payments.

    Earlier this month, Forbes reported that real-time payments could be coming to the U.S. as soon as this year. The new payments system, currently under development by The Clearing House, will initially be rolled out specifically for the network's member banks, but will eventually expand to bring immediate payments to every bank account in the country, transforming the way consumers and businesses alike trade funds. 

    To build the technology that will power the system, TCH is working alongside UK-based payment systems provider VocaLink, the company that brought faster payments to both its home country and Singapore during the last six years. With this experience, plus the U.S.' relatively late entrance to the real-time payments market, VocaLink and TCH's American venture is … more

  • Bill.com announces Direct Sync integration with Xero, pairing digital payment solutions with cloud accounting

    September 14, 2015
    Bill.com has helped 600,000 members process their business payments more efficiently.

    Bill.com's digital payment solutions have helped more than 600,000 users increase their business's productivity, slashing the time they spend on bill approvals and payments by up to 50 percent. Xero streamlines financials for SMBs as well, connecting its more than a half-million subscribers with the right numbers anytime, anywhere, on any device with its beautiful cloud-based accounting software. Now, with all-new Direct Sync integration, these two game-changing companies are helping each other make SMB financials even more efficient.

    With Direct Sync integration, business owners can now seamlessly sync their Xero and Bill.com accounts, integrating bill pay with online accounting to get a real-time snapshot of their financials.

    "Small businesses using Xero can … more

  • Ecommerce companies to double tech spending by 2019

    March 10, 2015
    B2B ecommerce technology spending will grow by leaps and bounds over the next four years.

    As the B2B industry continues to grow in value and sales volume, ecommerce companies are looking to ramp up their technology spending and invest in more up-to-date software.

    A new report by Forrester Research finds that companies throughout the United States will double their ecommerce software expenditures over the next four years, with B2B companies in particular making up "a disproportionately large part of that increase." According to the firm's analysis, overall ecommerce tech spending will grow at a rate of 12 percent per year, from $1.204 billion in 2014 to $2.09 billion in 2019. Technology spending by B2B ecommerce companies will jump at an even faster rate, increasing from 20 percent in 2013 to 30 percent by 2019.

    What's driving this growth is the need to scale back& … more

  • GSA aims to streamline contracting expenses with category management initiative

    February 28, 2015
    The GSA is hoping to cut down on duplicate contracts and better track expenditures with a new category management system.

    In an effort to increase its market share of federal spending and simplify B2G contracting, the General Services Administration (GSA) is looking to implement a new category management program for cutting down on duplicate contracts and reducing costs.

    According to the Federal Times, the initiative will enable procurement analysts to better advise the GSA on best practices for product/service expenditures and contracting. By breaking down GSA purchasing by category — seven for defense purposes, 10 for non-defense — the administration is hoping to better track what it's spending money on and where that money is going exactly. 

    "These governmentwide categories will provide the structure for agencies to collect prices-paid data, conduct data analysis, gather … more

  • What can the B2B ecommerce market learn from RadioShack's example?

    February 24, 2015
    The end of RadioShack signals an important lesson for online merchants to take note of. Photo by: Coolcaesar at English Wikipedia

    Once one of the biggest name-brand retail chains, RadioShack made waves this month when it announced its filing for bankruptcy and subsequent store closures. That motion signals yet another development in the declining value of brick-and-mortar stores and, simultaneously, the increasing marketshare of B2B ecommerce merchants like Amazon. But as shocking as the fall of RadioShack may be for the retail sector, its example raises plenty of lessons and cautionary tales for other merchants to draw from, not the least of which is the importance of buyer convenience.

    As a recent piece by Apttus notes, the death of brick-and-mortal retail locations is often blamed on consumers and buyers shifting their transactions into the digital commerce realm. But why do they do that in the first place? … more

  • GSA issues new chip-and-PIN charge cards

    January 30, 2015
    New cards will feature an embedded microprocessor chip.

    This blog has previously discussed the crucial role that General Services Administration (GSA) purchasing cards play in the B2G realm. Recent advances have helped to create a more streamlined and efficient means of purchasing for government agencies, but concerns about security remained prevalent. In response to these concerns, the GSA has begun issuing new chip-and-PIN charge cards with an embedded microprocessor chip that allows for added peace of mind. 

    According to Federal News Radio, the new microprocessor chips will allow stored data to be encrypted differently for each transaction, helping to mitigate the risk of fraud. This added security comes as a result of President Obama's October 2014 Executive Order for Improving the Security of Consumer Financial … more

  • 2 more B2B ecommerce solutions to adopt in 2015

    January 29, 2015
    Offering special offers and exclusive deals can help B2B merchants foster stronger customer relationships.

    With an expected growth rate of 400 percent over the next five years, the B2B eCommerce industry is a powder keg ready to explode. As we shared with you last week, the value of the B2B marketplace is set to skyrocket from its current $1 trillion to $6.7 trillion in 2020, with B2B sales growing alongside that pace from $5.5 trillion to $12 trillion. It goes without saying that as the industry continues to expand, the marketplace will become increasingly competitive for merchants looking to stay ahead of their competition. 

    That's why in our last post, we shared two key strategies that merchants can adopt in the months ahead to help them stay relevant and effective for their customers, keeping a much-needed edge in what will soon be a more competitive marketplace. … more

  • Federal government looks to innovate GSA purchasing methods

    January 29, 2015
    The government is looking to modernize GSA purchasing with more mobile-friendly payment platforms and cardless charge accounts.

    GSA purchasing cards have long been the backbone of B2G dealings. In 2014 alone, these charge cards accounted for over 90 million government transactions, worth $26 billion in B2G contracts. But the federal government is now looking to bring some new innovations to its payment methods, with mobile platforms, "contactless" credit cards, cardless charge accounts and even digital currencies like bitcoin all presenting themselves as possible future options for GSA purchases.

    According to The Washington Post, the General Services Administration (GSA) has put in a request for information on these and other "cutting-edge payment systems" that could potentially help the agency better "track government payments in aggregate," as well as protect against risks of financial fraud. Although … more

  • 2 strategies that can make B2B merchants more competitive in 2015

    January 22, 2015
    A mobile-friendly B2B ecommerce platform is crucial for long-term buyer success.

    As buyers and merchants are well aware of, the B2B eCommerce marketplace is rapidly growing. We've covered before how the industry, already worth over $1 trillion, is expected to appreciate in value to a total of $6.7 trillion in 2020. What's more, according to an additional study by Frost and Sullivan, is that B2B eCommerce sales are projected to explode from $5.5 trillion in 2012 to $12 trillion by 2020 — tantamount to a growth rate of 400 percent!

    While these next few years will undoubtedly bring an exciting period of opportunities for B2B buyers, they will also highlight just how much more competitive the market is slated to become, making it all the more essential that merchants take the necessary steps now to ensure that they're ahead of the curve — and … more