Issuer Testimonial: Enhanced Supplier Enablement
“Beyond removing friction,
Boost allows buyers to leverage card to pay suppliers that are non-traditional
acceptors.”
BACKGROUND
- Stakeholder type: Issuer
- Title: SVP, Treasury Management, Commercial Card
- Industry: Financial Services - Banking
- Number of employees: 50,000+
Overview
A Senior Vice President of Treasury Management and Commercial Cards at a large financial institution with over 50,000 employees works closely with buyers and suppliers to support commercial card adoption at scale. As an early adopter of payment automation technology, the organization has partnered with Boost for many years to help clients expand virtual card usage, particularly in complex B2B payment scenarios where traditional card acceptance is limited. Through this partnership, the institution reduces friction in supplier payments, enables card acceptance among non-traditional suppliers and supports growth of commercial card portfolios without disrupting supplier AR processes. Boost serves as a trusted intermediary between buyers, suppliers and the bank, helping ensure payments are executed efficiently and at enterprise scale.
What is our primary use case?
“Boost helps us remove friction in the payments process for buyers looking to pay suppliers with commercial cards. There’s a lot to unpack there because it depends on the scenario. Beyond removing friction, Boost allows buyers to leverage card to pay suppliers that are non-traditional acceptors. Without Boost in the middle, those suppliers would be less likely to accept card for a number of reasons, one of them being the friction involved in the payment process. It’s important for buyers to pay suppliers, but it’s also important for suppliers to know who is paying them and what they’re being paid for, without creating additional manual processes in their accounts receivable. Boost helps address that. In other scenarios, Boost can also help negotiate the cost of a virtual card transaction between the buyer and the seller to make it a mutually acceptable opportunity for both parties.”
Prior Solution
“We’ve leveraged other solutions in the past to try to accomplish some of this, but not with the same success rate as Boost. Boost has allowed us to do this at a much higher level. It’s more scalable through Boost because they have the process figured out.”
What is most valuable?
Supplier Enablement
“Boost makes it possible for buyers to leverage card as a payment type when paying certain suppliers, usually larger, more strategic suppliers who wouldn’t typically accept card. The reasons are usually reconciliation challenges, payment friction, or interchange costs. Boost removes friction by providing enhanced remittance and delivering funds directly to the supplier’s account. On the other side, they can help negotiate interchange. Whether the buyer pays it, the seller pays it, or it’s shared, it makes the transaction viable for the supplier, which increases acceptance. The more transactions we can put on card to grow the card portfolio, the more profitable it is for our clients from a revenue share perspective.“
Working Capital Optimization
“There’s also value in cash back from leveraging virtual cards, and keeping payments on card rails improves working capital. That has a monetary benefit for our customers. On the seller side, they’re often getting paid faster and more efficiently, which helps with DSO and cost avoidance.”
“Our spendthrough Boost has increased almost 600 percent year over year. Boost doesn’t necessarily cost us anything to use unless there’s value for buyers paying suppliers through Boost. If it’s being used, it’s paying for itself.”
Overall Experience
Stability
“I honestly can’t think of an issue that was a Boost issue. The issues that come up are typically caused by the client submitting the payment or by the issuer or bank in the mix. Boost has never been the cause, but they’ve consistently been proactive in helping resolve issues and mitigating potential negative impacts to our clients.”
Scalability
“There are a lot of moving parts in what Boost does. For a financial institution, that can be a heavy lift. Boost has built the scale and internal processes to handle that efficiently and smoothly.”
Customer Support
“They’re a 10 out of 10. They’re a trusted third party, and if issues come up, they engage us early and often so we’re not the last to find out. They also make sure our customers and their suppliers are taken care of. That adds significant value.”
Return on Investment
“Boost doesn’t necessarily cost us anything to use unless there’s value for buyers paying suppliers through Boost. If it’s being used, it’s paying for itself. Quantifying ROI at an individual level would be difficult, and I don’t necessarily think that’s how I’d look at it. It’s worth the investment. I’ll put it that way.”
Closing Comments
“We’ll continue to leverage Boost. We’re always looking for more ways to use them in our processes and client discussions. As we bring on more clients, more buyers, and build out more sellers, we’ll continue to leverage Boost every step of the way.”
About Boost
@BoostB2B
@Boost Payment Solutions