The value of a purchasing card has always served as a topic of contention among various payment industry leaders and analysts. Some have questioned their merit while others insist that they are vital for organizations, especially those in government and public sector offices. Now, in the age of big data where businesses can capitalize on every piece of digital information, arguments in favor of p cards may be winning out.

In today's business environment, the ability to build data is crucial. Successful businesses are the ones that can extract pertinent information and plug it into various business processes as a way to better engage customers and improve practices. This is no different in the payments industry.

Jeff Rankin, a senior executive for U.S. Bank's Corporate Payment Systems division, sat down with pymnts.com to discuss the role that p cards play in the information age. Most notably, they create valuable data for merchants and customers alike to incorporate into their business strategies.

"P cards continue to evolve and electronic payments themselves are evolving and growing as companies are relying more and more on the ability to make payments automatically and electronically as opposed to paper checks and in some cases wire transfers," Rankin said in the interview. "And the reason that they're evolving and continue to grow is the ability to track data, to load data directly into the accounts payable systems and to marry the payment data along the purchasing data from the online procurement systems [which] makes it a seamless transaction."

Essentially, the data generated from p card usage gives businesses the ability to utilize that information as a tool to formulate stronger business strategies, build efficiency into payment processing and ultimately, become a more profitable organization.