The Top 4 Considerations When Choosing Among B2B Payment Solutions

**Originally published on Topco Indirect**

Interested in streamlining your business’s vendor payment activities? This is one task any food and beverage retailer would love to expedite as long as it doesn’t jeopardize payment accuracy. If you haven’t explored electronic B2B payment solutions, this blog can provide the information you need to identify the right provider for these services.

Electronic B2B payment solutions are a great way for retailers to speed up and simplify the payment process across their supply chain. This can have an immediate benefit for your organization, but like any technology, there are quite a few options on the market. To find the right solution for your business, here are a few key features to look out for:

SEE ALSO: How To Modernize Your B2B Payment Processing System

1. Effortless Payment Requests 

Your chosen B2B payment solution should — at a bare minimum — allow you to send payment requests quickly and easily. Traditional payment processes which are typically slow and inefficient can present issues for distributors and retailers alike: they increase the time and resources needed to deliver and receive goods, creating costly delays throughout the supply chain.

An electronic B2B payment solution should enable you to send highly detailed payment requests — including invoices, request confirmations, and processing requests — to the right person instantly from your desktop and mobile device.

2. Compliance With State And Federal Regulations

Many organizations face regulatory compliance hurdles when transitioning to an electronic B2B payment solution. For example, the alcohol industry has extensive regulations on both the federal and state level. Therefore it’s crucial that any electronic B2B payment solution used by your organization is fully compliant with all applicable rules and regulations.

Look for a widely trusted and recognized payment processing solution so you can rest assured that everything is above board at all times. As an example, many Topco members utilize iControl to ensure prompt and accurate payment of their alcohol distributors. This eliminates worry about fines, penalties or having their liquor license revoked given that iControl is authorized to process payments in all 50 states.

3. Transparency Between Distributors And Retailers

For any B2B payment solution to succeed, both parties need to trust each other to deliver on their respective ends of the agreement. Trust is far easier to maintain when both retailers and distributors have access to clear and detailed information regarding the status of any payment. This includes tracking, archiving and reconciliation of all credits and deliveries.

Increased transparency promotes and ensures honest, mutually beneficial communication between you and your distributors. When everyone’s on the same page, it’s easier to manage expectations, plan for the future and strengthen your business partnerships.

4. Future-Proof And Scalable

Last but not least, your chosen B2B payment solution needs to be versatile and scalable enough to remain valuable over time. There’s no point investing time and money into a new payment system if it’s going to be obsolete in a few years. That’s why cloud-based B2B payment solutions like iControl are the way to go: they’re easy to adopt, cost-effective and they update seamlessly with inevitable technological advancements.

SEE ALSO: 6 Reasons to Go Mobile With Your B2B Payments

Find the Right Electronic B2B Payment Solution for Your Business

Taking the leap from manual to electronic B2B payments can boost efficiency, transparency and security throughout your distribution network. 

iControl offers a streamlined approach to B2B payments and every function a business needs, whether at a store or enterprise level, to ensure payments are completed swiftly, securely and easily. Contact us today to learn more about iControl’s B2B payment solution and how we can improve the vendor payment process for your organization.