Accounts Payable Testimonial: Enhanced Supplier Enablement
“With Boost, we have less than 1 percent attrition. Once you're on Boost, suppliers don't leave. Because they're getting paid just the way they want.”
BACKGROUND
- Stakeholder type: Accounts Payable
- Title: Manager, Accounts Payable
- Industry: Energy/Utility/Petroleum
- Number of employees: 20,000+
Overview
A Manager of Accounts Payable at a power generation utility with 20,000 - 30,000 employees transformed its commercial card program by shifting from a finance-led approach to a sourcing-driven strategy focused on supplier engagement and payment term improvement. By adopting a strategy of extending payment terms to suppliers that wanted payment by ACH, wire or check and using Boost to offer quicker payment terms at competitive rates via Straight-Through Processing (STP), the program scaled rapidly, unlocking significant working capital benefits while maintaining strong supplier relationships. Spend via Boost now accounts for the majority of the card program, enabling large, non-card accepting suppliers to be onboarded seamlessly, delivering frictionless enrollment, minimal attrition, and measurable treasury benefits at enterprise scale.
What is our primary use case?
“Boost helped us enable more business-to-business vendors that do not traditionally
accept credit cards. The primary objective was to extend payment terms without
negatively impacting suppliers. By leveraging our commercial card program through Boost, we were able to shift the payment term extension to the bank rather than the vendor. This approach allowed suppliers to receive payment faster, often at net 30, while we effectively extended our own payment terms well beyond that. Because suppliers were able to improve their days sales outstanding, they were more open to participation, even if they had not previously accepted card payments. The result was broader supplier adoption and a scalable way to extend payment terms without supplier pushback.”
Prior STP Solution
“We did not have one. Not that I'm aware of. Obviously we had ePayables. I think we've had ePayables for about 10 years. I want to say the total program around that time, all credit cards, was about $300 million. When we took it over three years ago, we were $400-430 million. I think we're ending this year at $1.4 billion.”
What is most valuable?
Payment Term Extension
“The payment term extension is the primary driver. The rebate doesn’t hurt, but cash is king. We manage a deliberate balance between the two, and our Treasury team has been very pleased with the growth of the program. In higher interest rate environments, we’re able to defer short-term borrowing by offsetting it with the scale of our credit card program. As a result, we’re seeing real benefits at the balance sheet level.
Boost is a major component of that success and now represents approximately 75 percent of our total credit card program. It has been a true team effort, including strong collaboration with our bank partner on large, complex suppliers. We’ve been able to bring vendors onto the program that would not traditionally accept credit cards, including securing participation from very large suppliers.“
Working Capital Optimization
“It’s frictionless and largely set-it-and-forget-it. One of the most compelling outcomes we’ve seen with Boost is attrition below 1 percent. Once suppliers are on the program, they don’t leave because they’re paid exactly the way they want to be paid.
Boost delivers remittance information in the format suppliers require, which is especially important for large suppliers processing high invoice volumes that rely on automated AR application. Traditional credit card programs typically require manual processing, which limits the size and type of suppliers that can participate.
With Boost, remittance is delivered how suppliers want it, when they want it, and in the format they need, without requiring IT resources or additional cost. Once implemented, suppliers are simply paid the way they’ve always been paid, and we don’t hear complaints.”
Overall Experience
Stability
“It’s been seamless... attrition has been under 1 percent, and the few suppliers that did leave were already experiencing financial difficulties. From an operational standpoint, the program has remained highly stable.”
Scalability
“From a scalability standpoint, the biggest benefit is the ability to process transactions of any size without merchant rate limitations. We routinely send multimillion-dollar payments without having to break transactions up. From the supplier’s perspective, it’s seamless. Payments simply flow through and they’re paid on time. That stability shows up on the AR side as well. AR teams are satisfied, and we don’t receive escalations related to payment issues. In an AP environment where problems are usually very visible, not being yelled at about payments is a clear sign the process is working.“
Customer Support
“I honestly don’t have to get involved very often, which tells me the [Boost] operations team is doing a great job. Over the past several years, I’ve only needed to step in once or twice. Vendors occasionally reach out with questions around remittance information, but those issues are handled quickly without escalation. On the rare occasion something has been routed incorrectly, the Boost team took care of it in seconds.
The relationship is fantastic. We wouldn't be doing credit cards any other way than with the relationship with Boost.”
Closing Comments
“I rate this solution a 10 out of 10. The relationship is fantastic. We wouldn't be doing credit cards any other way than with the relationship with Boost. No matter where we go, Boost is coming with us.”
About Boost
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