- 3 - Payment Opportunities From B2B E-commerce McGuffog, April 2001 ©2001 Sixhills Consulting Ltd & Author  Medium sized organizations are the next step up the value chain. Typically medium sized organizations utilize more than one account – for example, a current account and a lock-box account – and utilize at least some foreign exchange services. Often these organizations utilize entry-level cash management systems. Often it’s also at this level that “value-added” parts of the payment service become important, especially access to information in electronic form. For example, the ability to reconcile an electronic record of transactions on the organization’s account against the organization’s books is often the first request. Typically, the larger of these organizations also require direct interface from their accounting or ERP systems to the cash management system, allowing payments to be processed automatically. For B2B payment solution providers, these interfaces are somewhat problematic, as any B2B payment solution will have to work in harmony with the existing payment systems (Exhibit 2).  Large local organizations are generally distinguished by having multiple divisions, each of which typically has its own set of accounts. Here, in addition to the features required by medium sized enterprises, the ability to effectively manage multiple accounts becomes crucial. For example, polling and sweeping facilities, which move money into a single high interest account overnight, are widely available. At this level, the cash management systems are almost inevitably interfaced directly to ERP or account systems – in many cases, multiple systems per company.  Multinationals are the last generally accepted category. They are distinguished by the need to perform cash management across multiple accounts and currencies and are often highly active in the capital markets. In addition, they often operate multiple ERP systems Perhaps the easiest way to address the problem is to view payment services in the B2B arena as being composed of two distinct sets of service offerings:  Firstly, there is the provision of the basic payment and settlement services. That is, the basic function of actually moving money from the buyer’s account to the seller’s account. An example of this is, at the simplest level, the provision of the current account and chequebook required to make a cheque payment.  Secondly, there are what may be termed value added services. These are anything that enhances the basic payment and settlement service to add value to the buyer, the seller or (potentially) third parties such as the B2B e-commerce infrastructure provider.
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