Dynamics 365 Finance, Operations, & Supply Chain Archives - Page 7 of 16

Paper checks can feel outdated, but many businesses still issue and accept checks on a daily basis. How can you reduce your exposure to unauthorized checks? Positive Pay, also commonly known as Safe Pay, is an automated cash-management service that your financial institution may offer to help your organization mitigate the risks of check fraud.

Positive Pay gives your financial institution a daily list of outstanding authorized checks. This list is used to match every check that comes up against your account, so that any that have been forged, altered or counterfeited can be promptly identified and rejected for payment.

How Positive Pay works

As each check is issued, a corresponding entry must be made in your company’s accounting software, whether for payroll or Accounts Payable. At the end of each business day, an updated Positive Pay file consisting of data on each check written and distributed is transmitted securely to your business’ financial institution.

The Positive Pay File lists the following information:

Check number (this prevents duplication of checks or fraudulent check numbers outside of the set being used by your business)
Dollar amount (this prevents alteration of a paper check by various means)
Account number corresponding to the check (prevents checks written on other accounts being presented against your own)
Payee (not all banks use this data due to the higher chance of an innocent mismatch and time wasted trying to reconcile false alarms)

The bank utilizes your Positive Pay file of verified issued checks to match against checks presented for payment. If there is a mismatch in any of the data fields, or a check is presented for which there is no match in the Positive Pay file, the bank will contact your organization. You may confirm or decline the check, and the bank may send a declined check back to you for examination.

Reasons why every business should have a Positive Pay solution

The Positive Pay system provides your organization with some insurance against the presentation of bad checks to your bank, prevents unauthorized payouts, and helps you mitigate financial risk. It can also help protect your company against subsequent fraud, losses, and other liabilities to the bank, since your business is typically responsible for checks presented against your account, not the financial institution.

Your bank may or may not charge a fee for using Positive Pay. Depending on the bank and your agreement or type of account, you may be required to send a file every day or risk any checks presented that day being rejected out of hand. In most cases, it’s advisable to submit a complete, updated file each day as opposed to simply an update to a previous file.

This means that at the end of every day, you should be set up to reconcile any checks that are reported to have cleared by your bank, remove them from the Positive Pay file, and add all new checks written and distributed during the current day to the outstanding ones before the file is sent securely to your financial institution.

It’s also recommended that you set parameters for check payment or rejection based on your current capacity for risk, and to carefully consider further mitigating steps if a check is paid that should not be, as well as what might happen if an important check were mistakenly rejected due to a small error.

Ideally, if information between a physical or scanned check and your Positive Pay file don’t match, your bank will notify you using an exception report in real time. This gives you the opportunity to conduct a quick review, and advise the bank to either accept or reject the check. In the event that you aren’t immediately available, the bank will withhold payment until permission to clear it is granted.

What does Positive Pay Include?

Positive Pay is written completely in Microsoft Dynamics SL VB Tools, and is fully customizable and able to process checks produced by both the Microsoft Dynamics SL Payroll system, and Accounts Payable.

Depending on your bank, you may be able to maintain and transmit Positive Pay reports for multiple company checking accounts together, simplifying the process and reducing the number of file transmissions that must be made on a daily basis. Multi-company support, if available, can be managed both in one database and in separate databases.

Numerous bank formats are available “out-of-the-box” for your convenience, and we currently support well over 180 different banks and file formats. If we don’t currently list your bank or format, please inquire as we are continually adding new banks and formats on demand.

Positive Pay is also fully user defined, from files and scripts that are secured by user-defined folder locations to support multiple file header and trailer records. We use eBanking Security to control access, and file archiving to ensure an unbroken record.

For more information on how Positive Pay and SKsoft can help you prevent check fraud, contact us today.

Payment automation is an integrated solution that allows customers to make a variety of payments while minimizing human intervention. This is beneficial for organizations looking to eliminate error-prone tasks and limit the need for the manual reconciliation of these issues. According to a 2020 report from PYMNTS, about 70% of businesses have reported plans to utilize digital solutions to improve their accounts receivable processing.

The costs of manual AR are immensely underestimated by organizations, and payment automation can considerably simplify the process. Streamlining accounts receivable and largely removing manual activity has contributed to this rise in the use of electronic payments in recent years. Efficient automated payment solutions are a key aspect of optimizing cash flows for your business.

Increasing cash flow

Organizations are turning to automation tools, as they are not only more efficient but often more secure and capable of increasing cash flows. This added control and flexibility has been essential to increasing cash flows in the following ways.

Cheaper transactions

A manual approach to accounts receivable is time-consuming, but the automation of digital payments can reduce the costs of processing an invoice by 50%. It also accelerates the average time it takes to collect payments by 62%, ensuring timely payments and the elimination of late fees. Additionally, these electronic payments allow organizations to save money in terms of labor costs, which are generally what drive up these expenses.

Reduced errors

Manual errors are costly for businesses and time-consuming to correct. Customer payment automation captures and cross-checks information with a high degree of accuracy to reduce mistakes or duplicate payments.

Added security

AR automation is also an effective way to ensure fraud prevention. A 2021 AFP survey report on payments fraud states that 74% of organizations were targets of payment scams in 2020. While this percentage has slightly decreased in recent years, checks are still highly susceptible to scam attempts. This emphasizes the necessity of guarding your sensitive data with secure automated systems.

Increased cash flow visibility

Digitization of the customer payment process leads to increased visibility of your organization’s cash flows. A streamlined system provides thorough records that can be easily accessed and monitored, which is invaluable for gaining key insights into the state of your business. A thorough understanding of your organization’s finances can guide strategic plans for the future to optimize cash flows.

What is a cash flow analysis?

A cash flow analysis determines a company’s working capital, and, as a result, offers insight into the liquidity and solvency of the business. This process involves three different types of cash flows.

Cash from operating activities represents cash received from the company’s core business ventures.
Investing activities reflect the long-term or capital investments of an organization. These are non-current assets that are intended to produce a profit in the future.
Cash flow from financing represents the debt, equity and dividend transactions between a firm and its owners, investors and creditors.

How to conduct a cash flow analysis

Step 1: Prepare your statement

To conduct a proper analysis, the first step involves creating your cash flow statement. This is possible after identifying all sources of income as well as all business expenses in the form of your operating, investing and financing activities.

Step 2: Aim for positive cash flow from operations

For organizations apart from non-profits, profit is the objective. When operating income exceeds net income, this is a strong signal that the company is on the right track to sustainable growth.

Step 3: Examine negative cash flows

This is not always a strong indicator that something is wrong, as long-term capital investments can offset these numbers. However, it’s essential to understand where this money is being allocated and its influence on your organization’s cash flows.

Step 4: Consider your free cash flow

After calculating operating and capital expenditures, you are left with your free cash flow. When free cash flow is positive, it indicates that a company is generating more than its spending, and this can be used as reinvestment to advance your business further.

Cash flow analysis gives your organization a better understanding of its current operations, which can be utilized to foster profitable growth.

Learn more about customer payment automation

While many organizations are turning to automation processes for efficiency, countless businesses are continuing to manage customer payments and other cash flow manually. This results in delayed payments, vulnerability to fraud and human error, whereas customer payment automation can provide a solution.

If your organization has started the digital transformation process, it’s essential to ensure you are using the most efficient automating system to optimize your organization’s cash flows. Increased cash flows and improved technology lead to more opportunities for your business to strategically invest in itself.

For more information on how SKsoft can help you intelligently automate your accounts receivable, contact us today.

A bank reconciliation statement is a summary of an entity’s banking and business activity that is used to balance accounting records. The statement outlines all activities affecting the account for a specific period, and the objective of reconciling these transactions is to ascertain any differences between the two cash balances. This is essential for businesses to discover any unusual activity while ensuring that operations are functioning properly.

Automatic bank reconciliation, on the other hand, is a relatively new feature that simplifies the process of manual reconciliation for organizations. Automatic systems streamline these actions by collecting the entirety of your financial data and matching the proper transactions for reconciliation. This is essential for the sustainable growth of most businesses — so it’s valuable to understand the importance of these processes and how automation can be utilized for your organization’s benefit.

Why is it important to reconcile your bank statements?

Reconciling your bank statements is a fundamental internal control tool that is significant in determining any abnormalities surrounding activity or transactions. This gives organizations a decent overview of operations and ensures the accuracy and legitimacy of financial information.

Why every business should automate their bank reconciliation

According to a 2017 PWC report on finance effectiveness, 30% of your finance team’s time is spent managing transaction-intensive work. Moreover, around 95% of this effort is wasted on transactions that are already properly aligned, as opposed to focusing on anomalies that require attention. Auto-reconciliation is an efficient way to combat these wasted efforts and offers several key benefits to consider.

Avoids human error

Manual reconciliation is bound to result in errors, especially if there is a large volume of transactions to examine. Automation is helpful to minimize or eliminate these mistakes, while simultaneously removing skilled labor from repetitive administrative tasks. Not only do reduced errors save time but removing manual labor means the organization can employ their workers’ potential elsewhere.

Prevents fraud

An important part of the reconciliation process is determining inaccuracies that could potentially be considered fraud. Fraud often results in a direct financial loss, as well as damage to an organization’s reputation. However, automation is capable of determining any inconsistencies more accurately and much faster so businesses can ensure their money is moving where it is intended to.

Time-efficient

Manually reconciling transactions can be meticulous and time-consuming. Auto-reconciliation is beneficial for efficiently balancing accounts and offering up-to-date information for organizations to utilize.

Cost-effective

According to Forbes, intelligent automation results in cost savings of 40% to 75%. These savings are largely attributed to the reduction in errors and increase in efficiency associated with automation.

Easy access

One of the key benefits of automatic bank reconciliation is the centralization of this data. Everyone in the organization can have access to relevant and up-to-date information at any time during the accounting period.

Increased visibility and improved management

Managing your finances manually may involve an incredibly large paper trail that is difficult to follow. Streamlining these finances allows organizations to keep account records more efficiently and accurately while authorizing access to important information whenever it is needed. This also gives businesses a clear overview of their financial activities. Increased visibility over organizational cash flows and a clear understanding of this data can be utilized by businesses to make strategic decisions for viable growth.

Steps to automate your reconciliation process

Assess your organization’s needs and capabilities

This involves considering all financial activities within your business and how this labor is being handled. If there is room for improvement in terms of efficiency or labor costs, it is beneficial to create a financial overview for the finance team. This allows the organization to identify where there is room for growth and how automation can enhance these processes.

Evaluate your options

There are several automation software options available for business accounting. Therefore, it is essential to examine these choices to make the most valuable decision for your organization.

Properly manage the integration process

A large concern for businesses in the digitization process is the necessary staff training that results. To get the full benefit of your automation software, it is essential to ensure employees are accurately prepared and feel confident using the new system. While this preparation may require some time, the increased productivity and efficiency associated with automation will be well worth it.

Start your automation journey today

A 2020 study by Forrester Consulting on recurring payment friction in the U.S. reported 65% of businesses claimed that matching payments to open invoices was among the most labor-intensive areas of their payments process. These manual reconciliations cost organizations time and money, where automation can maximize efficiency in all financial aspects.

If your organization is considering this digital transformation, it is significant to examine your automatic bank reconciliation options and employ the most effective software. Financial automation allows your business to focus on what’s important — the results instead of the process.

Is your business ready to automate? Contact SKsoft today to learn more about our Treasury Automation Suite for Microsoft Dynamics 365 Finance and Operations.

While utilizing a manual approach to accounts payable process is the traditional method, it can lead to expensive human errors and extend the timeframe for payment posting success. Making a shift to AP automation can increase accuracy as well as speed, and free up staff hours for other, more pressing tasks.

Ways AP Automation can accelerate your company’s growth

Accounts payable is one of the most resource-intensive corporate activities, and also one of the most critical. By automating and streamlining AP processes, you can improve accuracy and accelerate your company’s growth.

Enhance efficiency

When your accounts payable division is supported by automation, efficiency and overall management productivity increases. Manual processes are largely eliminated, leading to faster time to invoice approval and faster time to payment for vendors and suppliers. This also enhances relationships with established partners.

Increase accuracy

By eliminating manual processes, the chances of human error can be significantly reduced, from misplaced invoices to duplicate payments. Minimizing such errors removes the need to expend time and effort to rectify them.

Maximize cost savings

Using automation improves the precision of the accounts payable process, while significantly reducing the amounts of hands on attention required. Both lead to considerable cost savings. Automation can potentially reduce the cost of individual invoice processes by as much as half.

Enhance compliance

By implementing end-to-end automation, your company can keep their accounts payable processes in compliance with current industry standards and regulations and avoid hefty non-compliance penalties.

Improve security

If your organization’s accounts payable automation technology is supported by robust, modern security defenses, your accounting department as a whole is more secure and payments can reach each intended recipient with confidence.

With SignUp Software’s ExFlow product and SKsoft’s Banking & Treasury Automation Suite integrated directly with Microsoft Dynamics 365 Finance and Operations, both your AP staff and your IT team reap the benefits:

All invoices are checked automatically, both against industry compliance regulations and internal company approver rules.
Every invoice is additionally matched against initial purchase data and order forms through accounts payable automation, for heightened accuracy.
The accounts payable process delivers end-to-end visibility, delivering granular control for stakeholders.
Mobile accessibility and overall security are supported while the need for user training is minimized thanks to a familiar interface.
Complex and time-consuming system integrations and configurations become a thing of the past with fully streamlined deployment.

Why an automated accounts payable solution is going to be vital in 2022

Financial regulatory bodies and data privacy laws are intersecting even more deeply than ever before. Being able to deliver the level of security and accuracy expected by consumers and required by legislation is a top-of-mind issue.

Additionally, a distributed workforce and complete upheaval of the financial services landscape due to the pandemic has changed how people interact with accounts payable departments overall. Being able to streamline your AP department can increase trust and loyalty and support a reputation for financial and operational stability.

Automation is a critical part of the way forward for all businesses that need to manage payments, whether for contractors, vendors, or suppliers. The ExFlow Process can transform your back-office and provide you with a reliable, fast, and effective method for handling all accounts payable tasks.

ExFlow works to automate AP functions before a payment takes place. The following five steps are specific to the ExFlow process:

Each paper invoice must be scanned and added to the digital workflow. All files are then imported into the Microsoft Dynamics 365 Finance and Operations platform.
For each company, ExFlow analyzes the predetermined approver rules, taking into account the supplier and accounts as well as standards like dimensions and amount limits. ExFlow then proposes a specific approval flow and sends an automated email to the first approver.
Accounts payable staff can view all invoices from historical documents to ones pending approval, and glean insights as needed via ExFlow.
Approvers receive automated emails from ExFlow to notify them of outstanding invoices. Approval paths can be changed or amended at any time directly by approvers.
Finally, if an approver needs to view an invoice code or any older invoice documents, they can access the ExFlow historic approval data without accounting apartment intervention.

At the end of the ExFlow automated approval process, the Banking & Treasury Automation Suite seamlessly manages handling of the actual payment through SKsoft’s industry-leading, secure payment portal, ensuring that correct amounts are matched with the right recipients and the most efficient payment path available is used for speedy completion.

Together, SKsoft and SignUp Software have created true, end-to-end accounts payable automation, through ExFlow embedded in SKsoft solution and integrated with Microsoft Dynamics 365. ReadSoft OCR makes it easy to add unfamiliar invoices to digital workflows, and the result is a fully automated AP solution designed to scale as you grow.

For more information, schedule a free demo today!

Supply chains span the entire globe, connecting suppliers and buyers across multinational networks. The sheer size of the supply chain and number of companies involved can make cash flow complex. Working capital can easily become trapped in the supply chain, limiting organizational operations and scaling.

Businesses can optimize their own cash flow, maintain simplified bookkeeping, and provide options for suppliers to do the same by partnering with a supply chain finance (SCF) partner. An SCF solution allows suppliers to get paid earlier without putting strain on buyers, and helps build stronger, more stable supply chain relationships.

What is Supply Chain Finance?

Supply chain finance, also referred to as supplier finance or reverse factoring, generally requires the buyer to have a higher credit rating than the supplier. The process is initiated by the buyer, not the supplier. The buyer places an order as usual and receives goods from the supplier, then is invoiced according to their agreement.

The invoice may be due on a 30- or 60-day net, meaning the supplier’s capital is tied up in the delivered goods. This can cause friction between the buyer and seller, especially if the buyer routinely runs out the clock on payments. Instability can cause delays on the supplier end if they cannot replenish their inventory in a timely manner.

Supply chain finance options allow a buyer to approve a supplier’s invoice, and confirm that the full amount will be paid when the invoice reaches maturity. The invoice is then presented to a third-party intermediary such as a bank or other financial institution for financing.

The supply chain finance partner pays the supplier early for their invoice and charges them a premium. When the original invoice matures, the buyer pays the intermediary the total amount originally due. This allows suppliers to maintain good cash flow, and buyers to maintain strong relationships with their suppliers.

The challenge to SCF adoption

The sticking point with supplier finance is the paperwork that must be conducted between the buyer and the SCF to manage all suppliers approved to receive a reverse factoring option. It can be one more series of steps to go through to get suppliers set up with a SCF partner, and manage both sets of invoices.

To reduce paperwork and multiple steps for successful SCF processing, SKsoft’s Supply Chain Finance (SCF) module delivers complete and automated support throughout the supply chain finance process.

Streamlining SCF partnerships

The Supply Chain Financing module for Microsoft Dynamics 365 for Finance and Operations helps your company effortlessly:

Automate and streamline all communications with your chosen supply chain finance providers for hands-off operations
Manage all invoice settlements directly with your SCF providers rather than managing various payments to your original vendors
Support multiple types of settlement methods from one centralized dashboard to reduce errors or delays
Seamlessly integrate your new SCF module into your existing Microsoft Dynamics 365 Finance and Operations setup

Use case for the SKsoft SCF module

If your company makes a routine purchase from a supplier and receives a 60-day payment settlement window on the invoice, you have 60 days to complete payment, However, to maintain good relations with your supplier and support them to ensure they can restock before your next order, you may opt to connect them with your SCF provider.

Using the SKsoft supply chain finance module, your original invoice would immediately upload to your SCF partner, and you can opt to receive a notification stating whether the invoice was accepted for financing. From there, the SCF provider negotiates terms with your supplier independently, without further action required from you, and pays a discounted amount on the invoice through their own platform.

When the original due date arrives, the module automatically resolves the vendor’s original invoice and generates an invoice payable to your SCF provider, which is then paid by your accounts payable department.

Advantages of switching to SKsoft to handle SCF processes

SKsoft provides automatic notifications to the SCF provider when new invoices arrive from an approved vendor, and also manages receipt of notifications from the provider when the invoice uploads. Settlement notifications sent from providers are also monitored to prevent unhandled issues or missed rejected invoices.

For streamlined bookkeeping, the payable remains on the books with the original vendor during the original invoice term. On the due date, the original vendor’s is resolved and the invoice generated for the SCF provider. For multiple invoices due on the same date, aggregation by currency alone or vendor and currency is possible.

The Supply Chain Finance module can also work with SCF providers to handle various methods of settlement, including due date based settlements, file based settlements derived from electronic invoices sent by the provider, and settlements without moving the payable on the due date (if the SCF partner’s bank account has been associated with the original vendor.)

Are you ready for reverse factoring? Contact SKsoft today to learn more about our Supply Chain Finance Module.

As disruption across all industries continues to change how the world does business, two key areas of concern remain the focus of treasury and finance departments for enterprises and small and mid-sized businesses (SMBs) alike. The highest risks for almost all companies come from internal and external sources, and they threaten the financial security and consumer trust organizations are built on.

Internal fraud

The highest risk any business runs relates to those participating in or running the business. The median loss from internal fraud is $150,000, according to the Report to the Nations prepared by the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners (ACFE), but 23% of cases result in a loss of more than $1 million. The same report notes that three types of fraud are the most likely to contribute to financial loss to an organization caused by someone within the organization:

Asset misappropriation (present in 83% of incidents with a median loss of $125,000).
Corruption cases (present in just over a third of cases with a median loss of $200,000).
Financial statement fraud (present in less than 10% of cases with median losses of close to $1 million).

The person perpetrating the internal fraud also has a direct impact on how severe the losses are, as well as how long fraudulent activity goes undetected.

The average employee only manages to cause a median loss of around $65,000. At the managerial level, this figure nearly triples to $173,000 while owners and executives can get away with more than $700,000 in fraudulent takings. Most instances of fraud last around 18 months, with lower losses correlating to shorter time periods. Fraud lasting more than five years can rack up losses of more than $800,000.

Contributors to internal fraud

Lack of internal controls, or internal controls that could be easily overridden, are common factors in most internal fraud cases. In larger organizations, corruption cases are more prevalent, while skimming, cash larceny, payroll, and check tampering are more likely in smaller organizations. However, median losses are roughly the same regardless of the size of the company, although smaller businesses obviously have a harder time recovering.

Data breaches

The second looming risk for companies is the increased likelihood of data breaches as businesses scramble to improve cybersecurity in an age of distributed workforces. As employees, devices and networks become decentralized, more access points appear, allowing bad actors to work their way into an organization’s databases.

According to a study from Walden University, direct financial theft from an institution at the hands of hackers is much less likely than the theft of consumer data, which can then be leveraged for financial gain. Financial losses can be even larger when distributed across a wide swath of consumers, and the damage to the breached company can be even more significant than that caused by an internal breach.

Loss of consumer data can result in fines, but the bigger blow comes in the form of loss of consumer trust. PwC notes that only 1 out of 4 consumers think that businesses handle their data responsibly, and only 12% trust the companies that have their data more now than they did a year ago. More than 85% say they will take their business elsewhere if they think a company isn’t handling their data responsibly. This is particularly true for financial data, such as the information that passes through a point of sale (POS) system during a purchase in a store or online using a credit or debit card.

Protecting your company from internal and external threats

Treasury Risk Management Software from SKsoft can help improve compliance and security within your organization, reducing your risk of internal fraud and protecting consumer data. Learn more about our banking and treasury solutions. Get in touch with us today.

Electronic invoicing can take your business to the next level when it comes to accounting, streamlining processes for you and your payees, and improving efficiency across the board. Making the shift from paper invoicing to digital invoicing is the first step, but completely electronic invoicing will save time on an even more significant scale, freeing up your accounting department to focus on more pressing tasks.

Electronic invoice basics

Electronic invoicing encompasses all steps involved in a process’s life cycle, and it covers invoices, debit and credit notes, purchase orders, remittance slips, and payment terms and instructions. From start to finish, an electronic program creates and sends documents as well as recording payments and balancing financial accounts.

That means no more tedious data entry or error-prone matching of paper documentation. Instead, all manual processes are computerized to improve efficiency and reduce error margins, allowing for higher accuracy in your bookkeeping and greater productivity across multiple departments.

Benefits of e-invoicing

An electronic invoice, or e-invoice, can provide the following advantages:

Reduced costs

Optimizing this aspect of your business can result in enormous cost savings, both in materials and time. Get rid of paper, printer and ink costs, and reduce overhead by shifting invoice-related tasks to a high-end software program designed specifically for smooth, swift operation and high levels of accuracy. When employees can focus on higher-level tasks, job satisfaction goes up and employee churn goes down, saving your organization even more money.

Improved efficiency

E-invoicing speeds up the entire financial documentation cycle, reducing time to invoice, time to payment and reconciliation of payments internally. When all documentation is handled by a centralized system, matching and reconciling each step of a transaction with all components of its virtual paper trail is simplified. By cutting out the data-entry process, time associated with financial accounting is significantly reduced. Information from electronic invoices can be immediately uploaded into your accounting systems and safely stored for future use.

Enhanced accuracy

Automating processes involved in invoicing reduces the chance of human error to infinitesimal levels. The less systems depend on data entry, the better — both from an operational standpoint and the perspective of security. When your invoicing is handled in a mostly closed system, you protect the accuracy of data and prevent accidental or intentional tampering. The multiple touch points present for manual data entry — invoice creation, customer payment, reconciliation — increase margin of error, but reducing these steps to a single initialization helps minimize risk of error.

Greater compliance

E-invoices also make it easier to comply with government regulations and to manage global tax issues when operating in more than one country, according to Gartner. When processes are automated, steps don’t get skipped and data can be better secured.

Easier payments

An e-invoice makes paying faster and easier on the payee. A secure link can be sent via email, for one-click-access and fast, efficient payment processing. Once a payment is complete, the system automatically marks it as paid, reconciles the books and closes the transaction file. Leveraging tools like email makes the payment process more user-friendly and effective, and can reduce time to payment.

Lower environmental impact

Shifting away from paper invoicing can decrease your business’s footprint and create opportunities for positive public relations. By slashing the amount of paper, ink, toner and other printing-related materials you use, you can “green” your company and improve your organization’s relationship with the environment.

Shifting to electronic invoicing can positively impact multiple areas of your business and provide a way to support and improve how your business records the movements of money. Electronic Invoice Presentment from ePay Advantage takes your accounting department to a higher level of optimization. Contact us to learn more today.

In today’s global economy, businesses can stand out among a sea of competitors by effectively leveraging their cross-border expertise. Important attributes like intercultural communication, streamlined logistics and skillful coordination are essential.

Alongside these factors, multicurrency payment processing represents a distinct advantage for international and domestic businesses. Even with the challenges that come with multicurrency support, the ability to offer this service can prove crucial in the current business landscape. Keep reading to learn more about the benefits and challenges of multicurrency support.

Benefits of providing multicurrency support for payment processing

The fact is that multicurrency support brings your business one step closer to enjoying frictionless access to customers and vendors in international markets, broadening your base of potential buyers and suppliers.

Leverage the support of international vendors in your supply chain

Multinational companies often employ international supply chains, but raw materials and manufactured goods aren’t the only things crossing borders. Today, the services provided by knowledge workers, creative professionals and others are often used to support global enterprises. Sometimes these individuals are employed directly by transnational enterprises, and other times they are independent contractors or employed by an international subcontractor.

Multicurrency vendor payments make it possible for large companies and those engaged in international business arrangements to streamline their operations while facilitating convenient payment for their global business partners.

Expand your customer base online

In addition to benefiting from the assistance of international vendors and suppliers, multicurrency payment support can help businesses appeal to an increasingly international e-commerce market.

A 2020 report from eShopWorld using PayPal data concluded that 17% of e-commerce sales would be attributed to cross-border transactions by 2023. Even today, many online shoppers at least sometimes purchase goods internationally. In fact, the report noted that 70% of people in the Middle East who purchased items online at least sometimes bought from businesses abroad.

Multicurrency payment support helps eliminate friction to encourage cross-border transactions, increasing the global market potential for e-commerce companies.

Provide added convenience as a tourism-related business

E-commerce businesses aren’t the only enterprises that stand to benefit from better multicurrency payment support. Brick-and-mortar shops, as well as service industry companies, like those in the hospitality, dining and entertainment sectors, could also stand to gain.

Companies that rely on tourism income or the support of international business travelers can easily appreciate the benefit of accepting digital multicurrency payments. By doing so, they provide a more convenient experience for their customers, who would otherwise have to handle fees from their home financial institutions or manage foreign cash. In fact, cashless travel seems to be fairly appealing for many individuals. According to a 2019 survey of Americans who traveled abroad, Visa found that respondents said they preferred using credit cards for foreign payments 48% of the time. Part of the reason for this number could be that 63% felt having cash on their person could make them a target for theft.

For international customers who don’t have multicurrency accounts or cash, accepting digital payments in their home currency could be a significant convenience.

Challenges of multicurrency payment processing

While the benefits of multicurrency payment support are substantial for businesses, there are some potential hurdles, too. Fortunately, the right software solutions for payment processing can help mitigate these issues.

Managing exchange rates

The values of different currencies regularly rise and fall relative to one another. Managing multiple currencies means that businesses have to be careful to monitor for the best exchange rates in order to avoid losses and maximize the benefit of offering multicurrency support for vendors and customers.

System integration

Multicurrency support entails several different integrations, which can be a complicated undertaking. Also, as with all financial software solutions, security is of paramount importance for system configurations that process multicurrency payments.

Businesses need to be able to count on streamlined integrations with:

Currency trading and settlement platforms.
Accounts payable payment journals and trading platforms.

Using manual processes and disparate, isolated systems could lead to human error, security vulnerabilities or limited access to the best exchange rates. All of these problems could make it more difficult to take advantage of the significant benefits made possible by offering multicurrency payment support in the first place.

Fortunately, FX Settlement Automation from SKsoft allows companies to achieve these advantages while providing seamless integration for business customers who use Microsoft Dynamics 365 Finance and Operations or Microsoft Dynamics AX. This solution affords users greater visibility into current exchange rates as well as an easy setup and seamless integrations. Customers can also breathe easier due to the secure creation, storage and transmission of payment files made possible by this solution.

If you’re ready to reap the benefits of multicurrency support, find out how FX Settlement Automation from SKsoft can help.

Every month it seems like there is a new report of personal information like credit card numbers being released onto the web. Companies that improperly store credit card information from their customers put millions of people at risk, forcing users to close cards and request new ones. Most consumers are becoming more aware of the risks of giving their credit card number online or over the phone.

It’s vital that your business is compliant with Payment Card Industry Data Security Standards (PCI/DSS). If you improperly collect or store customer data, you could be putting the future of your company at risk.

Understanding PCI/DSS

The security of cardholder data is key to building and preserving customer trust. It’s also a legal obligation.

Who must comply?

All entities that store, process or transmit cardholder data must maintain payment security. This applies whether you are a small sole proprietorship or an enterprise company: If you take credit cards or other electronic payments, you must comply with PCI/DSS.

What are the standards?

Guidance for maintaining payment security includes the following steps:

Building and maintaining a secure network with a firewall configuration capable of protecting cardholder data.
Never using default passwords, and maintaining a protocol for frequent password changes company-wide.
Protecting stored cardholder data (tip: use solutions that eliminate data storage altogether).
Encrypt transmission of cardholder data (tip: use tokenization to eliminate transmission of actual credit card numbers).
Install and regularly update anti-virus software or programs to protect your back office (and require work at home staff to comply as well).
Restrict access to cardholder data by applying strict permissions across your organization and using tokenization to eliminate physical access.
Test your security systems and process regularly, and maintain an employee and contractor policy for information security.

COVID-19 and a distributed workforce

With millions of people now working remotely, and back office workers not likely to return to corporate offices anytime soon, companies are finding new weak links in the chain of payment processing. While corporate networks aren’t foolproof, they still provide more protection than the average remote worker’s connection to the internet.

When sales and customer service staff work from their own homes, the risks of compromised customer data skyrocket. If your sales staff or post-sales support teams are asking for credit card information or verifying information your company could be at risk.

Intercepting data

Keyboard loggers can recognize and copy credit card numbers when they are typed in by a representative. Most home workers don’t have the level of security provided by a corporate office, and even corporate-level of security can still have vulnerabilities.

Numbers given over the phone can be recorded and stolen. The phone, the network or even devices in a worker’s home (like Alexa) could be hacked — there are even reports of Roombas being turned into listening devices and used to steal credit card numbers.

Even information that is “encrypted” can be intercepted as it travels across a network, and decrypted by packet sniffers. Sniffers can steal credit card numbers and customer information that has been typed and transmitted, or decode conversations sent over the internet on VoIP phone systems.

How do you make customers feel confident that their credit card information is safe, and more importantly, how do you help ensure that the information actually IS safe?

Protecting customer data, simplified

The best approach is to not store customer credit card information at all, and to institute ways of collecting information that keeps the risk on the consumer’s side and away from your corporate office. Credit Card Advantage with PayLink and WalletLink allows you to accept electronic payments from customers without ever actually receiving their actual credit card number.

When you use PayLink or WalletLink, your customer is presented with the ability to enter their credit card number on their own computer. A single-use “token” is generated which is sent to your back office when the payment is submitted. This eliminates the weakest link in most online payment system chains, by ensuring that you never have the customer’s actual credit card number at all. You can even customize your system to choose when preauthorization or payment takes place.

Our payment processor is Mastercard and VISA certified, and the PayLink/WalletLink options can be used by your distributed workforce. There’s no more worrying about the safety of a customer’s credit card number, because you never access or store it. Tokenization lets you eliminate the weakest link in the payment chain by never exposing your back-office to the responsibility of protecting the number in the first place.

To learn more about how SKsoft Credit Card Advantage can help reduce vulnerability in your payment system, contact us for a demo today.

Often, the banking and treasury functions configured in an enterprise resource planning (ERP) solution like Microsoft Dynamics 365 involve sophisticated and thorough approvals and other processes. However, without file storage available in the ERP solution itself, some businesses implement unsecured bank communication and file transfer strategies. The consequences for these businesses and their financial partners could be drastic, particularly in today’s environment. Additionally, these companies miss out on valuable opportunities to further automate their financial processes.

Online banking security risks: The importance of end-to-end protection

With billions of dollars at stake, it’s no surprise that banks and other financial institutions are prime targets for cybercrime. A 2019 article from Trend Micro identified that banking customers and infrastructure are prominent targets for cyberattacks. Customers face phishing attacks, browser injects and other threats.

The last link, the weakest link: Why secure communication matters

If you have a strong chain overall, but there’s one weak link, what do you have? A vulnerable gateway.

Today, that final link in the chain could be even more crucial than in the past. Previously, a centralized workforce that relied on a tightly controlled corporate network could at least offer greater security, even if the processes undertaken on that network could be improved.

Today, when remote work is the norm, distributed workforces rely on home networks that employ varying levels of protection.

In this environment, it’s even more crucial that financial processes employ strong security throughout the entire workflow.

Too often, the weakest link in the chain is at the point where files are transferred to and from the bank. Without secure file storage available within Dynamics 365, businesses may rely on individual workers to upload an editable file containing sensitive information from their desktop web browser to the bank’s interface. Receiving files from the bank is similarly risky. Conducting this kind of business from a home network multiplies the risk factor.

Additional considerations: Lost efficiency for manual banking processes

Using manual, unsecured communication channels with your bank also undercuts your ability to automate time-consuming, labor-intensive processes. This is especially true for receiving bank statements. When an individual is responsible for directly receiving and maintaining these records — then reconciling them as well — the process can take up an excessive time, distracting from the completion of other tasks and introducing the potential for human error.

Secure communication for online banking

The growing importance of secure communication has become clear in many circles, from messaging to videoconferencing. For online banking security, end-to-end protections must entail secure communication between the business customer and its financial institution. Specifically, the exchange of files between the company and the bank must be conducted through a secure channel.

How it works: The Bank Communications Hub

The Bank Communications Hub (BCH) serves as a secure channel through which businesses can communicate between the Dynamics 365 ERP and a bank. Without the need for additional on-premises infrastructure, the BCH can be implemented through a secure cloud configuration. This solution stores files for Dynamics 365 and communicates securely and directly with any bank or other legal entity of your choosing. For example, in Dynamics 365, business users can create, approve and submit vendor payments for execution, after which the BCH will carry out that workflow.

Importantly, the BCH allows businesses to remain bank independent. Because the configuration can be integrated with any bank worldwide, companies are not committed to remaining with one bank simply because of their secure communication software solutions.

Instead of forcing individual contributors to manually exchange files with their banks, the BCH provides a more secure communication channel, limiting the potential for bad actors to intercept and exfiltrate sensitive data. This process also ensures that files are stored securely prior to their transfer and after they are received from the financial institution.

Better online banking security, plus enhanced automation

An additional feature of the BCH is the ability for businesses to further automate their financial processes, even when those workflows involve secure communication with outside financial institutions. For example, receiving and reconciling bank statements will require less manual processing and interaction when these processes are automated through the BCH. The hub can import statements according to the business’s desired cadence, not requiring an individual to download, manage or store the statements. From this secure storage point, automation can be used to create statements within the company’s ERP, setting the stage for an efficient reconciliation process that’s mapped to the company’s unique needs and capabilities. This automated solution provides greater security, less human input, improved accuracy and better efficiency overall.

The Bank Communications Hub is a unique solution from SKsoft that helps facilitate many other value-adding processes and automation capabilities for accounting and finance departments. Learn more about our banking and treasury solutions. Get in touch with us today.