Financial Supply Chain Management

11 Mar

Posted at 04:20h in AP Automation, e-invoicing, Electronic Invoicing, Financial Supply Chain Management, Purchase to Pay, Purchase to Pay Process, Supply Chain Finance by
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New York - the lights, the excitement, the glamor, the Post Office. A compelling argument for electronic invoicing. [caption id="attachment_7294" align="aligncenter" width="540"]This Post Office in the heart of Manhattan is open for business This Post Office in the heart of Manhattan - one of the busiest and commercially vibrant cities in the world - is open for business. I stood in line for 45 minutes to buy a stamp.[/caption]

06 Feb

Posted at 15:07h in Financial Supply Chain Management, Supply Chain Finance by
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I'm old enough to remember the pioneering days of the internet and the growth in the use of internet technologies in the B2B landscape and about 18 months ago, I caught up with an old friend and erstwhile colleague, Mike Zealley, who I worked with during those exciting times. We spent a lunch time recalling the predictions we made in the late 1990s about what could be done, what was possible and how different the world would be. The disillusionment of the dot com crash may have taken the sparkle off but today, many of the things that we predicted have come to fruition - some in an uncannily accurate way. So it was it was uncanny last week when I went to visit Oxygen Finance in London that the first thing Roberto Moretti, their European CEO, said to me was “Mike Zealley sends his regards.” The second thing he said to me was “Pete, let me introduce you to Mark Hoffman”.

05 Feb

Posted at 14:08h in e-invoicing, Electronic Invoicing, Financial Supply Chain Management, Supply Chain Finance by
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This is an important piece of research. For the first time, independent evidence points to a rapid growth in the adoption of e-invoicing and a significant change in the motivation for implementation. A wide range of organizations, from SMEs to large global businesses were surveyed in 2012 to understand their experiences and aspirations for payment technologies. Some of the results of the research  are, to be frank, predictable, while others were a surprise. Overall, the research paints an optimistic picture for technology vendors and their clients who are benefiting from their solutions.

01 Feb

Posted at 06:34h in Financial Supply Chain Management, Supply Chain Finance by
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One of the interesting things about the debates around financing models is the notion of paying “early” and the use of paying “early” as a negotiating tactic to secure a discount. The obvious question is “early” in relation to what?  The answer is usually “early” in relation either to existing terms and conditions or to custom and practice. It may possibly be “early” in relation to an uncertain payment date – I heard recently of one company which simply settles accounts on an annual basis.

29 Jan

Posted at 13:44h in Financial Supply Chain Management, Supply Chain Finance by
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In 2012, the supply chain finance debate became louder and more relevant to more businesses. It’s been described as the perfect storm – the combination of constrained liquidity and very low interest rates means that the gradient between the business “haves” and “have nots” has become steeper – and banks and investors love steep gradients. Supply chain finance is not new but new approaches are emerging based on new and innovative use of technology. In the past, the banks were the only players and they would only play with the big boys. For it to be profitable, the numbers had to be big and the cost of entry was high. But now, as collaborative supplier networks and the associated technology have matured more complex deals can be managed and the cost of entry has plummeted. Increasingly, businesses as well as individuals are turning not to the banks, but their peers for financial support.

12 Dec

Posted at 13:29h in Financial Supply Chain Management, Supply Chain Finance, The Rest by
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This week we're delighted to welcome John Mardle as a guest writer. John delivers CashPerform’s working capital optimisation programme and brings a new perspective to the supply chain finance discussion. The level of trade finance required today globally outstrips what can be achieved even by syndications that pull together all the banks. The pool is just not big enough in terms of the figures needed to support global trade. Could pension funds plug the gap?

10 Dec

Posted at 14:42h in Dynamic Discounting, e-invoicing, Financial Supply Chain Management, Supply Chain Finance by
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Some companies in our industry might encourage you to “hurry up” while you’re in the procurement phase but maybe it’s because there’s something they don’t want you to stop and think about. For example, the question of business models. In what we do, you have two options. The first is pretty simple: make your money from enterprises in proportion to the value you create for their business. That means putting in a solution that makes their supply chain more efficient and accompanying it with the processes and technology that makes suppliers want to use it too. The second is a bit more old-fashioned, a bit less elegant, indeed, somewhat parasitic. This way involves using the enterprises you’re supposed to be helping as a direct sales route to their suppliers, where you’ll make most of the money. Basically turning your customer into your sales channel and pushing the majority of the financial burden down the supply chain to the guys it’s going to hurt most.