Let’s face it.

Consolidating Vendor Payment Portals has always been an invisible challenge.

Something so subtle yet something so obvious we just can’t get past.

I understand that the need to consolidate vendor payment portals is overshadowed by other priorities.

True.

But your company’s financial system might face a breakdown if you don’t  consolidate Vendor Payment Portals.

So in this blog post, we will discuss everything about vendor payment processes,  and why it is absolutely necessary for startups and SMEs to consolidate the same.

Table of Contents

• What Is a Vendor Payment Portal?
• Benefit 1: Vendor Payment Is a Core Priority of Finance
• Benefit 2. Standardizing Vendor Payment Process
• Benefit 3 The Unfit Trio for Vendor Payment Solutions- Sap, Oracle, and Concur
• Karbon Payout: A Smart Simple Solution
• About Karbon

What Is a Vendor Payment Portal?

A vendor payment portal is simply a software interface that allows finance managers to send payments.

Each bank offers its own vendor payment portals that come with a unique vendor payment process.

To most SMEs and startups, the vendor payment portal is considered merely a tool to process payments.

But there’s more to it than what meets the eye.

Benefit 1: Vendor Payment Is a Core Priority of Finance

Unforeseen business challenges have unlocked new opportunities in cost reduction and cash flow optimization.

Nevertheless, the essence of finance remains unchanged.  The need to balance receivables and payables will always be present.  

For account payables, maintaining a seamless payment operation is still the top priority.

Furthermore, as the business grows, the frequency of vendor payment and transaction volume also grow.  New startups might need to pay a handful of vendors every month.  

An MNC might have to process payments daily to thousands of vendors.

In a blink of an eye, a simple “let-me-do-it” type of task will quickly evolve into a full-scale operation.  

But all along the process, the purpose remains the same for both MNCs and Startups-: making the vendor payment On-time and Error-free.

Benefit 2. Standardizing Vendor Payment Process

Things evolve as the business grows. Some decisions stay with the business. Yet some others have far-fetching consequences. If you have been through it, you will know what I mean.

So one of the most important aspects of the vendor payment process, but arguably the least obvious is to standardize it.

Most startups and SMEs willfully ignore this because no one, literally no one has the appetite for a 3-hour discussion on the future finance process even as the entire company is fighting for its own survival in the present.

Shortcuts and hotfixes are considered normal in such a situation.

And that is exactly where businesses falter.

If you are new to the startup game, here’s an example to simplify further.

Imagine you are the CFO of a startup.

Setting up bank accounts and payment processes are among your topmost priorities.

You will most likely park investors’ money in different banks for good reasons.  When your fund is divided across several banks, you may choose to pay vendors from different vendor payment portals.  

Each payment portal has its own unique payment process.

Let’s assume bank A, which requires the finance manager to fill in payment details online and execute the payment process.

Another bank B may require payment details to be filled in an offline spreadsheet.

Bank C may use the same spreadsheet process as bank B but may push the user to do so in a different format.

Now let’s assume you decided to use different vendor payment portals of banks A, B, and C to pay different vendor bills.

Going forward, you decide to hire 3 finance managers, each to manage a vendor payment portal.  

As the volume goes up, the burden on your finance managers grows.

Here’s when automation becomes a necessity.  

So now, already late in the game, you decide to work with the tech team to build an automation tool to process vendor payments.  

After several months, the tool is delivered but doesn’t meet your expectations.  

You revisit the decision and decide to look for a mature solution from third parties.

However, after long waiting and failures, you just want to get this issue resolved soon. You now end up facing the consequence of paying vendors via banks A, B, and C separately in the beginning.

You have reached a point where a Tradeoff becomes inevitable.  

This is when the cost is no longer a priority.

You wouldn’t want to reach this point when the business operation itself is at risk.

This is just one of the many examples,  explicitly indicating why it is a good idea to unify vendor payment portals early on in the process.  

Benefit 3 The Unfit Trio for Vendor Payment Solutions- Sap, Oracle, and Concur

I am sure you have seen big banner ads for SAP, Oracle, or Concur in business events and airports.  

These huge players dominate the payment solutions market for enterprises.

There’s a good reason why.

This is due to their ability to provide customized solutions and their experience in ensuring nothing breaks during the transition.

However, these brands are not the best bet for SMEs and startups.

Why?  

Because service continuity and customer experience always come first.

Most enterprises focus on preserving existing processes due to the high cost of service disruption.  

Decision-making at the enterprise level can last for months and sometimes years, considering the number of stakeholders and processes involved.

Here, the cost is rarely the top priority, even though it is a major part of the decision-making process.

Finance leaders of enterprises prefer to hire external professionals to solve seemingly benign problems for many reasons.  

SMEs and startups, on the other hand, face different challenges.

Time is more impactful in a world where growth equals survival. Immediate cost reductiontrumps long-term financial planning for these startups.

The chain of command is almost non-existent since most decisions are made on the fly within a small circle of leaders.  

On product preference, SMEs and startups don’t need a luxurious dashboard with a hundred buttons or a labyrinth of internal controls.  

They need simple, intuitive products that work.  When a product scores high on all criteria, they call it smart.

And this smartness can be easily achieved with Karbon Payout.

Karbon Payout: A Smart Simple Solution

Karbon Payout is built solely for solving the vendor payment portal issue for SMEs and startups.

We follow a quick process to onboard you.  You can finish the onboarding within your chai break!

The dashboard is simple and intuitive.  

Reports are real-time and simplified.

The built-in features aim to minimize errors and free up your time by automation.  

Most importantly, Karbon Payout standardizes your vendor payment process.  

You will no longer need to pay via different vendor portals,  under the unified experience Karbon Payout provides.

Karbon Payout also offers vendor payment on credit- 24/7, 365 days payment, during banking holidays, and almost anytime you want, you name it.

Amongst the corporate finance features, it has bulk payment, beneficiary management, an advanced maker checker, smart payment routing, and invoice tracking.

Do you recall the pain when the bank rejects your bulk payment but doesn’t tell you exactly which translation failed?  

You don’t have to face that for a day longer.

No. Not any more.

Connect with us today and gain the best onboarding experience!

Let us know the best number to connect.

Looking forward to hearing from you!

About Karbon

Karbon is a free B2B payment suite to help CFO and business leaders to control company finance. We achieve this by automating repetitive tasks and cleaning process redundancies for our users.

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