Last week, Peter Smith, VP at Citi Global Transaction Services, hosted the webinar “Leading Strategies in Cash Disbursements” and presented some very interesting findings (replay here). Recent research by Citi shows that we are coming into a ‘recovery’ period, with the markets rewarding companies with high liquidity ratios. To hasten time to recovery, companies are looking at their payment strategies and payment technologies to help find better sources to unlock working capital within their own organization.

Now defining a payment strategy is a complex project with many players, so Peter identified 5 key steps for success:

• Establish collaboration
• Identify process improvements
• Choose an experienced partner
• Build a realistic business case
• Scale and plan the solution to you capacity

Peter noted that establishing collaboration is the first step to creating a successful strategy, and that includes collaborating with your suppliers and buyers and within your organization. By opening up the collaboration channels you will then be able to effective align your goals and have a better chance for successful implementation.

Aligning goals for buyers and suppliers can be a headache. Citi found that buyers and suppliers have conflicting goals, with buyers prioritize releasing cash slowing while suppliers prioritize collecting cash quickly. So, when looking at payment solutions, it can be challenging to find something that will work for the buyer’s objectives without adding more risk to the supplier’s balance sheet. This is why having an open collaboration with suppliers and looking for solutions, such as supply chain financing and dynamic discounting, to benefit both sides.

Also, collaborating with internal departments helps ensure the payment strategy you are pursuing benefits not only your organization, but also treasury, finance, and procurement. By understanding their priorities, you will then be able to define your strategy and select tools to benefit the organization as a whole.

This is just the tip of the iceberg of information Peter provided. Check out the entire webinar here.

Amy Wagman is the Marketing Program Manager for Ariba Financial and Network solutions. She specializes in eInvoicing, most recently hosting a round table on “The 3 Keys to Successful eInvoicing” at the AP Automation conference in Paris.