Boost: Virtual Cards & Payments Automation in B2B

Pushpendra Mehta: Hello and a warm welcome to the open treasury podcast. Your go to source for the latest news and analysis in corporate cash and treasury management. This show is brought to you by ctmfile.com and the Treasury News Network where Treasury professionals learn and share the information that matters most. I am your host, Pushpendra Mehta. Today's conversation will spotlight payments automation and the rising importance of, uh, virtual cards in B2B transactions, topics that are increasingly front and center, uh, for treasury and payments professionals. Joining me is someone who brings deep insight into this space, Rebecca Schultz, Chief Marketing Officer at Boost Payment Solutions. On a company widely recognized as a global leader in B2B payments. Rebecca has extensive leadership experience across both B2B and B2C marketing and product management. She's known for crafting impactful go to market strategies, elevating the customer experience, and successfully launching innovative products and services. Rebecca, it's a real pleasure to have you on the podcast.

Rebecca Schultz: Thanks, Push. I'm thrilled to be here. We'll talk about one of my favorite topics, payment automation.

Pushpendra Mehta: Thank you so much for being here to share your thoughts on automation and the growing role of virtual cards in B2B payments. Let's start with a data point that stood out. According to the American Express or Amex Trendex B2B payments edition survey, launched in March 2025, only 17% of businesses have fully automated their payments processes despite strong awareness of the benefits of pay automation. Rebecca, what do you think, uh, are the biggest barriers holding back adoption? And how can payment solution providers like Boost help bridge that gap?

Rebecca Schultz: You know, I think that is truly the million dollar question. I find that AMEX survey to be particularly interesting because while 17%, only 17% said they had fully automated their processes, of those same survey respondents, the those same business decision makers, 91% say that easy, streamlined and secure payments drive growth, and 95% say easy, streamlined payments create happy customers. So there's this disconnect, right? These respondents, these business leaders know the value of fully automated payments, yet they haven't actually implemented them yet. And I think there's two big barriers to adoption that we tend to see when we're talking with buyers and suppliers on either side of that transaction. Uh, the first is perceived complexity. There is absolutely an assumption that any kind of payment automation is a major technical undertaking. And I can understand why they feel that way. Um, there's an assumption that this is going to take months, maybe even years in order to implement, and then you get into competition for prioritization, especially internally. You're looking for what? Technical resources, investment dollars, change management. And it can feel overwhelming. But it doesn' have to be all or nothing. Um, when we talk with our partners and our customers, our clients, we say to look for small steps towards automation. Right. Something is better than nothing in this area. And so things like shifting from legacy payments, whether that's check ach wire, to newer, more digital payment methodologies like virtual cards can make a difference with a lower level of lift. The other barrier we hear very often is cost. Um, and often that comes from a misconception that legacy payment methodologies are free. Right. Getting a check is free, but it's not. When we really dig into that with customers and we look at all of the factors that go into getting paid or paying, the true cost is often significantly more than they realize. It's not just the transaction fees, it's the manual work hours that are being put into processing payments. It's the effort around collections as well as the cash flow implications of how much of your money is being tied up in collections. And what does that mean in terms of you having to go out and borrow to cover, um, your expenses during that time? There's the cost of errors in your system and fraud. So when we really get down to the nuts and bolts around the cost of payment automation, the roi, why is absolutely there, you just have to be able to bring all those pieces together. And often the best way to do that is by partnering with a solution provider that's an expert in that space. So, you know, specifically for boost, we are purpose built for B2B. We like to say B2B is in our DNA. Um, we've been doing this for 16 years, so that means we already have connectivity into all the major commercial card issuers and platforms. We can help buyers and suppliers get up and running in days, not months. Uh, and so we're able to really look at those incremental opportunities that don't take a lot of time, don't take a lot of money, but can have major impact. I truly believe that between education and the right technology partner, treasury professionals will see the operational and financial upside of, uh, payment automation. And we're going to see that adoption accelerate.

Pushpendra Mehta: Thank you for the thoughtful perspective, Rebecca. Building on that, while many organizations hesitate to automate, as you mentioned, due to perceived complexity or cost, we're seeing growing adoption of virtual cards and straight through processing in B2B payments. What makes virtual cards such a powerful tool in accelerating B2B payments automation?

Rebecca Schultz: Yeah, I think when we are thinking about adopting a new technology, we have to think what are the challenges that the end user is trying to overcome. And the biggest challenge, challenge and pain point and B2B payments is manual processing. It results in inefficiencies and data errors in delays. And that has a real negative impact on the bottom line that I think is often reaching much further than finance professionals realize. Another recent survey you guys reported on found that the most common liquidity constraint is actually internal operational risk. So manual payment processing and um, cash application ties directly into that virtual cards, especially when they are paired with automation solutions like straight through processing, they can eliminate those frictions. So just for context for your listeners, when I'm talking about straight through processing, I'm coming at it from the Boost perspective, which is Boost Intercept. That is our patented fully automated end to end straight through processing platform. And so what that looks like is on the buyer side. When they approve an invoice, they're pushing approve to pay in their E payables platform, there's dozens of them out there. Instead of that virtual card then going to the supplier to process those virtual cards are coming to us in hundreds of different payment formats. Our platform ingests them in a fully automated and secure way, unpacks that payment information, processes that payment, and what the supplier experiences is funds in their bank account and enhanced remittance data that's sent directly to their cash application system in the format that they need. So when I think about STP in the Boost intercept model, we are truly eliminating those manual processes along with data processing errors, reliance on individual employees, exposure to sensitive data while also minimizing the transaction costs because that data that comes with it has value in the card world. That's how you qualify for level 3 large ticket B2B interchange rates, the lowest published interchange rates available. So the result when you have virtual cards being used on the AP side, straight through processing being used on the acceptance side is faster, safer, more transparent payment experience that really benefits both the buyer and the supplier.

Pushpendra Mehta: Thanks for the cogent explanation, Rebecca. It's great to understand how virtual cards are not just a trend, but a real game changer in speeding up B2B payments automation to bring this concept to life. Can you share a recent example of how Boost payment solutions, particularly through virtual cards or state through processing, has helped a client optimize cash flow or enhance operational efficiency?

Rebecca Schultz: Yeah, absolutely. I love talking about, uh, how some of our clients are able to use this technology. So I'll give you an AR example and an AP example because one of the unique things with Boost is we really serve as a bridge between both sides. We help make both sides more efficient, especially when it comes to virtual cards. So starting on the AR side, um, one of our clients, Dane street, they are an independent, they provide independent medical exams and reviews for like insurance companies, government entities, managed care organizations, et cetera. So they have a lot of different payment information coming in from a bunch of different sources. And their team was just honestly overwhelmed with virtual card payments. They weren't just getting emails, they were getting virtual card payments sent via us, uh, postal service scans, faxes, and they had a whole team of people that were manually receiving these and trying to figure out how to parse them, enter them and get them processed. Uh, the increased workload associated that was honestly limiting their ability to scale and grow their business. And on top of that, they were paying significantly higher interchange fees because every payment was being treated like a consumer manual card entry. Right. They were using consumer solutions to key in all of these payment information. So their interchange was, you know, 50% higher than it really needed to be. On top of that, a lot of these payment instructions came along with claim data and that is HIPAA data. And obviously there's a ton of sensitivity around protecting private and personal and sensitive medical information. So they needed a solution that could help with that as well. So we partnered with them to implement Boost Intercept to automate all of that virtual card processing. Um, instead of those payments going directly to team, we worked with their buyers and their payers to get all of that information sent directly to us. So Dane street never even sees those payment instructions come anymore. We do all of the automation for it. Um, and then we also optimize that cost of acceptance. We're getting them faster payments because they get next day funds availability. So they've reduced manual workload, lower transaction costs, faster payments, and then on top of that, of course everything is PCI and HIPAA compliant for data security. So you, we are seeing Dane street now really turn from virtual cards being a method of payment that they needed to accept to now a method of payment they want to accept. It's one of their preferred ones because of the automation and the value of STP on the AP side. I love how creative and savvy some of our buyers and our commercial card issuer partners are getting. The savviest buyers are realizing that commercial cards are the weapon in their working capital toolkit. One of the biggest hurdles buyers face in growing their card program is often supplier acceptance. Once they realize they can use their card as a working capital tool, then they're like okay, how do I, how do I pay everyone with a commercial card? Um, straight through processing with Boost Intercept helps with that because by automating and reducing costs, we're overcoming objections suppliers might have to card acceptance. Um, but there's always going to be some suppliers out there that are just not willing to accept card at all. And that's where our Boost100 solution comes in. Boost100 is all about allowing buyers to pay any supplier on card even if that supplier doesn't accept our they said our savviest buyers are realizing that they can actually choose to cover the cost of the card payment and get the full benefit of that working capital that you get with the float on card. Sometimes they're even able to take advantage of early pay discounts. So we work with that buyer and that issuer to get the cost of the transaction low enough that in some cases they're able to net positive. They pay us a small transaction fee to process the payment. They use their card and get 30 to 60 days of DPO extension and they're getting a 2 uh, percent discount, uh, because they're paying within 10 days to their supplier. And on top of all of it, they're having happy customers. Their suppliers get all of the payments on time. They get the remittance advice. There's no manual work. So it really comes back to that. Win, win. And thinking about commercial cards as an actual, uh, asset and tool in your overall plan for extending DPO and optimizing working capital.

Pushpendra Mehta: Uh, thank you for sharing that example, Rebecca. Real world use cases like that really help ground the conversation. Let's now shift to a key concern in the B2B payment space, which is security. The Amex Trendex B2B Payments Edition survey found that four in five business decision makers are concerned that a single fraud incident could significantly damage trust in buyer supplier relationships. And with payment fraud on the rise, do you think embracing virtual cards can help companies build a more secure and resilient future for B2B transactions?

Rebecca Schultz: Absolutely. There is no doubt that this is one of the best steps that AP and AR teams can take towards securing their B2B payment flows. And that's not just an opinion that's backed up by data. Um, virtual cards have repeatedly proven to be the most secure option for B2B payments. An AFP survey from just a couple of years ago found that only 3% of organizations that use virtual cards experienced attempted or actual payment fraud. And that compares to 66% for checks and 34% for ACH. Uh, ACH is the one that always blows my mind because I think about it as a consumer, I don't go out just telling everyone in the world my bank account number. Like that feels like sensitive data that I want to keep control over. But when we think about B2B payments and ACH, that's essentially what you do. You tell all of your buyers, here's my account information, go ahead. And that's being seen by who knows how many people being stored in who knows how many systems. So when we think about virtual cards, we just get significantly higher levels of fraud protection. Because virtual card numbers are tokenized, they are one time use credentials. They often are set to certain dollar amounts so that they can't be charged for things that have not been previously approved. Every payment that comes through the boost system is buyer initiated. So a supplier doesn't have that information or access to that information to go out and try to charge against that card. So it truly does ensure that that singular payment is secure on the way through. And then STP also helps on the supplier side because with full automation, the supplier never even sees card data. No supplier ever sees card data for a boost transaction. The digital footprint around virtual cards and STP also makes it a lot easier to identify suspicious activity and track any trends or behaviors that may be happening across a wider variety of payments. In your. We have been very proud to say we've been in business for 16 years. We have processed billions of dollars of payment volume and we have never had a single dollar of fraud losses or B2B chargebacks. That's the peace of mind that we like to bring to our clients. We think that's what our clients deserve. And when four out of five CFOs and treasurers and business leaders are saying that, that keeping them up at night, a single fraud incident could damage their trust and their relationships, we want to help them do everything they can to put that worry to rest.

Pushpendra Mehta: That's an incredible attainment and a, uh, really insightful take. Thank you, Rebecca. Uh, it's clear that beyond improving efficiency, virtual cards are becoming essential tools for strengthening trust and protecting business relationships. In today's risk heavy payments landscape. Let's now turn to the practical side of adoption. Can you share examples of sectors that have benefited from adopting virtual commercial cards, particularly those that would be relevant or of interest to treasury teams?

Rebecca Schultz: Yeah, absolutely. I mean, I think as digital first finance kind of becomes the norm, we see virtual cards as no longer really being optional. They're strategic. In the most sophisticated offices of the cfo, they're prioritizing automation, security and working capital. And as we've talked about, virtual cards, check all of those boxes on the AP side. I think all sectors have the potential to benefit from commercial card adoption. But specifically the best implementations come where you have complex payable processes. So you have a large number of employees that may be making purchasing decisions and approving and issuing payments. Having all of that consolidated into single e payables platform with virtual cards going out that can be tracked back to specific invoices and payment approvals really helps reduce that risk for fraud and errors. Also, any industry that's looking for working capital and DPO extension as a priority can benefit again from using cards as a working capital tool. And industries where you have a large number of suppliers or suppliers with really tight payment terms, right? When suppliers have leverage, that's when you really have to think about your payment modality as uh, something that you're approaching strategically. We have a construction company, this is one of my favorites there. They've been with us for several years. They are out on the west coast, large home builder. They had a big issue over the last few years getting priority from their contractors. Anyone who knows the construction space will tell you that the demand has been so high and the best contractors have, you know, six different jobs they could be choosing from on any given day. And so this construction company was thinking, how do I get my contractors to prioritize my work? So what they decided to do is switch all their payments to card. They also decide to go with the buyer funded option. We help them get their costs low. So what they're doing now is when they are ready to contract with someone, they're able to pay them via card, they cover the transaction costs. That contractor, that supplier is receiving those funds next business day and they're prioritizing that work. And that buyer, that construction company is still getting 30 to 60 days of float by using their card. So they figured out how to use payments as a differentiator in an industry where the supplier had a lot of leverage. On the AR side, the strongest benefits for virtual card adoption and straight through processing are going to be felt by companies who have a really high volume of payments coming in from a large number of buyers. So for example, utilities, right, utilities in B2B. Often you may have one account for a buyer, but it's got thousands of phone numbers or locations that um, that may be on that one invoice or account. So matching all that back and doing the cash app, cash management, cash application can be incredibly complex. The data that comes through straight through processing helps with a lot of that. Professional services like staffing, document management, equipment rental, legal firms. These are often industries where we see a lot of individual payments coming through, where there's a lot of open invoices and trying to clean up that complexity. Hybrid retail is another one that has really shown in the last year or two. So these are large retailers, um, often with ah, a national presence that have both consumer and business customers. And what we find is that the business payments are often a second thought and they're treated like consumer so they're not optimized. Right. Sometimes people are still walking into physical retail locations and they're hand keying in these, these virtual cards or this payment information. None of them are qualifying for level 3 large ticket interchange rates. So we've helped retailers really separate out in all of their payment volume what's truly B2B, what can be optimized and how do we get that into the Boost Intercept funnel. And then finally, I'd say just those industries that have very complex operations with a lot of intermediaries, freight and logistics, healthcare, industrial manufacturing. When you look at the flow of those transactions and those purchases, there's a lot of players involved. Anywhere you can simplify and automate along that flow is going to have benefit for everyone involved. And then finally just any business that has high collection rates and slow payers, if you're sitting there and you are constantly trying to track down your payers and get paid on time, the use and acceptance of virtual cards can help with that. We see in our data that on average card payments that come through boost have a 41% reduction in DSO for suppliers. Buyers pay faster and earlier with card and we can help our suppliers reach out to their buyers and negotiate that as well. So when your priority is about keeping your customers happy, trying to make sure you're taking the payment methodology that they want and also getting faster, more secure payments comes back to that Win win. Um, and you know that measurable ROI for both sides.

Pushpendra Mehta: That's really informative Rebecca. It's revealing to learn which sectors are leading the way with virtual card adoption and why and what matters for treasury teams navigating complex payment environments. As we round out our conversation, Rebecca, is there any other aspect of virtual cards or payments automation you'd like to highlight? Something that aligns, uh, with the needs of both AP and AR teams or that you believe could drive a major leap forward in B2B payment systems?

Rebecca Schultz: Ah, uh, you're asking some of my favorite questions. I Could talk about virtual cards and payment automation all day. But if I narrowed it it down, I think the two things that I get most excited about that maybe aren't as obvious. The first is cross border. You know, cross border B2B payment volumes are already large and expected to grow I think over 40% by 2030. And when we look at the macroeconomic environment that we're in right now, especially with cross border, um, there's a lot of uncertainty. And so I think that shines a spotlight on the importance of managing what you can in that flow. And that includes payment costs. US based buyers are paying overseas suppliers but that's cumbersome. It's manual, it's costly. They're looking for the balance between that flexibility to shop globally for the best suppliers, um, and access potential cost savings through lower pricing. But they also want to maintain control over how and when payments are made. And often suppliers are hesitant to accept cards overseas um, because the cross border payment schemes and fees can absolutely be cost inhibitive. In last fall we launched a new feature of our M boost 100 platform called boost 100xb that essentially makes the cost of cross border card payments comparable to domestic payments and often lower than what most other international payment options are, while adding all of the value that we see with virtual cards around security data, et cetera. So I'm really excited about the potential for cross border card to be kind of the next big horizon in B2B payments. Every company nowadays is a global company. Doesn't matter how big or small you are. The borders have come down in terms of commerce. And so I'm excited that cards and boosts were able to there to really help facilitate that exciting future. The other piece that gets me excited that I don't think necessarily gets as much attention is the value of data. Traditional payment methods often result in lost or incomplete data. When you're receiving a check in the mail, you don't have any electronic information coming with it. It may be included in the envelope, maybe in some remittance instructions, instructions, but pairing those up, often it falls on the ground. Even ACH has limited data that can come with the payment record and that has negative ripple effects up and down supply chains. We hear that almost half of businesses report receiving unusable remittance data. The adoption of AI and you guys have published a lot of articles on this recently, it is definitely the hot topic of 2025, uh, really shines out that spotlight on the need for accurate and complete data. It's a little bit cliche, but garbage in, garbage out, right? So we're adopting all these AI tools that are going to comb through our data and identify ways we can be more efficient and utilizing agentic and all of these pieces of the puzzle to really try to improve our overall operations. But if the data is not there to inform the models and the engines, it loses value. So I think the key to future proofing your business, especially if you're adopting AI or other tools, is by making informed decisions with actionable data and insights. And that has the potential to start with automated payments well, as we wrap

Pushpendra Mehta: up today's episode, I want to express my sincere appreciation to you, Rebecca, uh, for sharing your valuable insights Perspicacity. Your contributions and eloquence have truly deepened our understanding of payments automation and the rising importance of virtual cards in B2B payments. And to, uh, our listeners, thank you for tuning in to this edition of the Open Treasury Podcast. Please don't forget to subscribe and check the Show Notes for links to today's articles. Wishing you all a productive and successful week ahead. Thank you. This podcast is provided for information purposes only, and statements made by CTM file or guests on this podcast are not intended as legal, business, or consulting advice. For more information, visit ctmfile.com.