If you understand cash flow techniques, you can get ahead of the market. You’ll even be able to predict cash flow, because you understand the revenue cycles of customers, vendors, suppliers and contractors.

According to a 2022 CBInsights survey, 68% of small businesses have an outstanding debt and 29% fail because they have run out of cash. Managing cash flow is therefore crucial to a company’s success.

Every business has high and low seasons; understanding upcoming expenses for employee overtime, replacement equipment costs and customer payment delays, all go a long way to ensure your business is well positioned to handle any bump in the road.

The first step is to determine the cash flow that your business needs. This is because cash flow enables growth, funds development and ensures that liabilities are met, avoiding insolvency.

What is Esker Pay and how can it help?

Esker Pay is an extensive set of integrated payment capabilities and strategic Fintech partnerships to help businesses unlock cashflow.

Fully integrated with Esker’s Procure-to-Pay and Order-to-Cash solution suites, Esker Pay helps businesses better manage cashflow by eliminating manual, complex, and inefficient processes for both accounts receivable (AR) and accounts payable (AP).

Esker Pay’s end-to-end payment automation goes even further by reinforcing sturdy supply chains by providing early payment discounts and supply chain financing options, while also addressing fraud prevention, late fees and negatively impacted cashflow concerns.

Facilitating and Expediting Payments

“The axiom that ‘cash is king‘ has been reinforced over the last 2 years. When times are tough for many businesses, getting paid and paying suppliers on time can be a tall order”, said Catherine Dupuy-Holdich, Product Manager at Esker.

“With Esker Pay we offer the technologies and partnerships to facilitate and expedite payments.”

Esker enables companies to achieve true positive-sum growth at a time when business success depends on it by facilitating an ecosystem where companies, customers and suppliers create value together — instead of at each other’s expense.

What is Positive-Sum Growth?

For suppliers, prompt payment from customers results in secured cashflow. And for customers, paying suppliers and maintaining good relationships is key, as onboarding new ones can be costly and risky.

Esker has partnerships with leading Fintech companies like Stripe, Corpay, Wind River Financial, Jack Henry, SisID, Pytheas Capital Advisors, Payroc and SlimPay, and more; offering a range of payment capabilities, including:

• Domestic and international payments
• Supplier payment automation
• Supply chain financing (reverse factoring)
• Dynamic discounting
• Integrated payment methods (e.g., cards, direct debits, transfers, etc.)
• Factoring
• Early payment discounts
• Payment information verification

“And this is just the beginning,” says Jean-Michel Bérard, CEO at Esker. “We will continue to enrich Esker Pay through technology developments and future partnerships to further optimise customer and supplier B2B payments, reduce risk exposure, and improve back-office efficiency.”

Esker Pay is available across the globe to all customers and prospects.

Supplier Payment Automation

To delve into each part of the Procure-to-Pay cycle, payment automation operates as the final stop along the supplier invoice automation journey.

This means that there is a faster invoice cycle time; suppliers are paid on time without errors, cementing businesses’ relationships with their suppliers; ensured compliance and more time for Accounts Payable teams to focus on other objectives and value added tasks.

Automating your vendor payments process is an essential step towards completing an effective end-to-end AP automation process and can offer your organisation a range of benefits both tangible and intangible.

“We’ll no longer be missing out on early payment discounts. That’s a huge value,” Novatech.

“30% in additional savings each month thanks to more early payment discounts captured,” Partstown

Customer Payment Automation

All along the Invoice-to-Cash cycle, payment automation facilitates the process of getting paid, making things easier for both the supplier and its customers and thereby enhancing the Customer Experience.

Customers can schedule or auto-pay their invoices online; ensure correct and on time payment; suppliers benefit from reduced DSO, and faster invoice settlement.

“Offering an e-payment tool went hand in hand with our use of Esker and e-invoicing delivery.” Toshiba Business Solutions

“Lowered past-due percentage by 4%, reduced average DSO and improved cash flow.” Trek

Key Takeaways

• Esker Pay is part of Esker’s global positive sum growth vision to facilitate supplier and customer payments
• Esker Pay offers a unified user experience that integrates seamlessly into the customer journey and strengthens relationships
• Esker gives our customers a new set of payment capabilities thanks to new strategic Fintech partnerships

Learn more on the Esker website, or contact us today for more information.

Sosennah Every

As Advocacy Marketing Specialist for Esker UK, Sosennah is responsible for our customer programme, including the Esker All Access Community Hub, customer testimonials and partner collaborations, and customer webinars and events. She has been part of the Esker family since early 2022.

Read more insights from Sosennah Every

Esker, a global cloud platform and leader in AI-driven process automation solutions for finance and customer service functions, today announced it has made a strategic investment in its partner LSQ, a leading provider of technology-driven working capital finance and payments solutions. As a first step, the investment is made through a USD 5 million convertible promissory note to strengthen LSQ and Esker’s partnership and accelerate the development and commercial expansion of their common supply chain finance solutions. The partners have agreed to potentially increase Esker’s financial involvement in LSQ based on the development of their common business.

Supply chain disruptions and increased economic uncertainty linked to the COVID-19 pandemic have revealed the need for companies to strengthen their ecosystems and better collaborate with customers and suppliers to optimise their common competitive situations. As global economies and individual companies become increasingly codependent, Esker believes the ability to generate positive-sum growth will be a key differentiating factor for long-term competitiveness and performance. As a result, the ability to optimise cashflow and working capital management across entire business ecosystems will emerge as a truly strategic objective. For Esker and LSQ, supply chain finance is an essential element in this effort and demand for it is expected to increase drastically in the near future.

Esker announced its formal commercial partnership with LSQ in December 2021. With this partnership, Esker customers will be able to leverage LSQ FastTrack®, the accounts payable (AP) financing (supply chain finance) and dynamic discounting platform, to maximise financing options and gain subsequent savings within Esker’s leading end-to-end business process solution.

“We are excited to be taking our existing partnership with LSQ to the next level with this equity investment, which will be used to expand the operations of the team, and our commitment to Esker Pay in the supply chain finance space,” said Steve Smith, U.S. Chief Operating Officer at Esker. “Esker Pay is central to our growth initiatives for 2022 and beyond.”

LSQ solutions are part of Esker Pay, a suite of fintech solutions, announced by Esker in October 2021. Esker Pay is an extensive set of integrated FinTech solutions designed to offer robust functionalities to global companies with one cohesive user experience. Esker Pay covers B2B payment solutions, including virtual credit cards, ACH and real-time payments, supply chain finance, dynamic discounting, or factoring solutions. With more than 400 billion USD processed on its platform every year, Esker is ideally positioned to leverage its position on the market and become a key player in the global digitisation of finance.

“We believe in the opportunity in the area of SCF and want to take advantage of it from an operational and capital standpoint,” said Jean-Michel Bérard, CEO at Esker. “Our strategic partnership with LSQ is instrumental as we continue to strengthen our payment offerings to our customers and their suppliers.”

Read full press release here.

Esker UK

Unlocking Positive-Sum Growth with AI-Driven Business Solutions for P2P & O2C Cycles

Read more insights from Esker UK

Esker, a global cloud platform and leader in AI-driven process automation solutions for finance and customer service functions, today announced a strategic partnership with Corpay¹ , a leading AP payment solutions provider, to integrate additional business payment options within Esker’s automation solutions.

Esker customers can now seamlessly leverage Corpay solutions to pay suppliers with Esker Pay, a comprehensive set of payment capabilities and strategic fintech partnerships all within a single platform. Esker Pay is fully integrated with Esker’s Procure-to-Pay and Order-to-Cash solution suites so businesses can eliminate manual, complex and inefficient processes to seamlessly manage cash flow.

“Corpay’s solutions are a natural fit for Esker and its customers,” says Emmanuel Olivier, Esker Worldwide COO. “We align with Corpay’s values of securely and efficiently operating across multiple industries, to best support our customers and the overarching business ecosystem.”

Corpay solutions available through Esker Pay include payment automation, commercial card, virtual card, cross-border payments and travel and expense cards. Corpay is the leading large-market commercial issuer of Mastercard in the US² with more than 850 thousand vendors within the Corpay network.

“At Corpay, we are committed to delivering value to companies by streamlining their AP processes,” says Byron Biggins, SVP of Strategic Partnerships for Corpay. “Our partnership with Esker furthers our goal to equip businesses with scalable payment technology customised for unique needs.”

Corpay’s bank-agnostic technology provides greater flexibility with treasury relationships without disruption to organisational programmes. Esker’s 35+ years of experience in ERP integrations enable cohesive automation across entire organisations regardless of legacy systems inherited from mergers and acquisitions.

“As Esker continues to make these strategic partnerships, we always make sure to keep our customers front of mind,” says Steve Smith, Esker U.S. COO. “This partnership provides greater access to payment options so our customers can build positive-sum growth amongst their company, employees, customers and suppliers.”

Esker welcomes Corpay to join their roster of strategic Fintech partnerships included in its new Esker Pay offering.

Read full press release here.

^{1 Corpay is the brand name now representing former brands Nvoicepay, Comdata Corporate Payments, Cambridge and AFEX.}

^{2 The Comdata Mastercard® is issued by Regions Bank, a pursuant to a licence by Mastercard International Incorporated. Mastercard is a registered trademark of Mastercard International Incorporated. Comdata is a registered trademark of Comdata Inc. © 2022 Comdata Inc. All rights reserved.}

Esker UK

Unlocking Positive-Sum Growth with AI-Driven Business Solutions for P2P & O2C Cycles

Read more insights from Esker UK

Esker, a global cloud platform and leader in AI-driven process automation solutions for finance and customer service functions, today announced a strategic partnership with LSQ, a leading provider of technology-driven working capital solutions. The partnership will seamlessly integrate supply chain financing and dynamic discounting via LSQ FastTrack® into the Esker Pay solution suite and Esker’s Procure-to-Pay (P2P) automation offerings.

Esker Pay, launched in early October, is an extensive set of integrated payment capabilities and strategic Fintech partnerships to help businesses optimise cashflow all within a single platform. Esker customers can now leverage LSQ FastTrack®, the accounts payable (AP) financing (supply chain finance) and dynamic discounting platform, to maximise financing options and gain subsequent savings within Esker’s leading end-to-end business process solution.

“We’ve always been proud of our rare, unified P2P and order-to-cash automation platform that now has leading payment abilities. This partnership with LSQ provides our customers with the creative, flexible financing options they need to untap future business growth,” said Steve Smith, U.S. Chief Operating Officer at Esker.

Many businesses have relied on strategic financing and dynamic discounting to help with financial recovery from the pandemic. Those strategic finance decisions require real-time business data with high accuracy. That’s why Esker integrates nearly every business aspect, with any ERP, to provide efficiency and cost control over company finances.

“LSQ aligns with Esker’s vision of improving customers’ visibility across accounts receivable and accounts payable processes by offering a single interface – instead of stitching together vendors and scattering business data. To thrive in the future, companies must view these business processes as a unified data hub to effectively monitor and manage their financial health,” said Dan Ambrico, Chief Executive Officer of LSQ.

AI-driven automation of tedious business tasks allows finance professionals to focus on the creative aspects of their work. This human focus leads to decisions that not only benefit their organisation but also enhance business relationships.

“When we first launched Esker Pay and announced numerous partnerships, I said that it was just the beginning. These strategic partnerships continue to strengthen our customers’ business ecosystems and spur positive-sum growth among their suppliers, customers and employees,” said Jean-Michel Bérard, CEO at Esker.

Read full press release here.

Esker UK

Unlocking Positive-Sum Growth with AI-Driven Business Solutions for P2P & O2C Cycles

Read more insights from Esker UK

Fully integrated with Esker’s Procure-to-Pay and Order-to-Cash solution suites, Esker Pay helps businesses better manage cashflow by eliminating manual, complex, and inefficient processes for both accounts receivable (AR) and accounts payable (AP). Esker Pay’s end-to-end payment automation reinforces sturdy supply chains by providing early payment discounts and supply chain financing options, while also addressing fraud prevention, late fees and negatively impacted cashflow concerns.

“The axiom that ‘cash is king’ has only been reinforced over the last 18 months. When times are tough for many businesses, getting paid and paying suppliers on time can be a tall order”, said Catherine Dupuy-Holdich, Product Manager at Esker. “With Esker Pay we offer the technologies and partnerships to facilitate and expedite payments.”

Esker enables companies to achieve true positive-sum growth at a time when business success depends on it by facilitating an ecosystem where companies, customers and suppliers create value together — instead of at each other’s expense. For suppliers, prompt payment from customers results in secured cashflow. And for customers, paying suppliers and maintaining good relationships is key, as onboarding new ones can be costly and risky.

Through partnerships with leading Fintech companies like Stripe, Corpay, Wind River Financial, Jack Henry, SisID, Pytheas Capital Advisors, Payroc and SlimPay, Esker Pay offers a range of payment capabilities, including:

•           Domestic and international payments
•           Supplier payment automation
•           Supply chain financing (reverse factoring)
•           Dynamic discounting
•           Integrated payment methods (e.g., cards, direct debits, transfers, etc.)
•           Factoring
•           Early payment discounts
•           Payment information verification

“And this is just the beginning,” concluded Jean-Michel Bérard, CEO at Esker. “We will continue to enrich Esker Pay through technology developments and future partnerships to further optimise customer and supplier B2B payments, reduce risk exposure, and improve back-office efficiency.”

Esker Pay is immediately available across the globe to all customers and prospects. 

About Esker
Esker is a global cloud platform built to unlock strategic value for finance and customer service professionals and strengthen collaboration between companies by automating the cash conversion cycle.  Esker’s solutions incorporate technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI) to drive increased productivity, enhanced visibility, reduced fraud risk, and improved collaboration with customers, suppliers and internally. Esker operates in North America, Latin America, Europe and Asia Pacific with global headquarters in Lyon, France, and U.S. headquarters in Madison, Wisconsin. For more information on Esker and its solutions, visit https://www.esker.co.uk. Follow Esker on LinkedIn at Esker – Northern Europe, or on Twitter at @EskerNEurope and join the conversation on the Esker blog.

Read full press release here.

Esker UK

Unlocking Positive-Sum Growth with AI-Driven Business Solutions for P2P & O2C Cycles

Read more insights from Esker UK