A clunky payment process can create complications for small to medium-sized businesses (SMBs). When payments are at the core of your operations, or you make thousands of payments every month, that struggle threatens your growth. It doesn't matter if you run a commission-based business, a wholesale operation, an agency, or something else; taking a more innovative approach toward payments can help you scale. 

There are three ways you can do that by leveraging the power of APIs (application programming interfaces) to streamline payments via virtual cards and fuel better spend management in your organization. 

1. Integrate card payments into core business applications

There are a handful of applications you probably use in your business, from ERPs and CRMs to finance and marketing automation tools. Although these core business applications are necessary to ensure your business runs smoothly, switching back and forth between them throughout the day only creates inefficiencies.

What if there were a way to connect these tools, allow them to talk to each other, and benefit from a unified experience? Well, that's where APIs come in, and although they have been around for decades, they have never been as accessible to smaller businesses as they are now. 

Previously, it was quite a challenge to integrate payments via APIs in a small-to-medium-size organization. This is because the traditional payment solutions provided by many financial institutions rarely offer open APIs. When they do, these are often complex and created for enterprise-level users. As a result, most SMBs have been forced to keep using manual and offline processes that reduce their ability to limit fraud, efficiently create spend controls, and improve reconciliation. 

Today, you can easily integrate your payment processes through open APIs created to make and manage card payments. Once implemented, these allow you to streamline workflows, work seamlessly between existing systems and applications, boost productivity, and simplify essential finance processes, like bookkeeping, by working within an interoperable environment. 

‍Take one of our clients, for example, who exchanged the use of one credit card for all business purchases and the persistent fraud instances that came with it for a unified experience that integrates with their existing systems and applications. Now, when employees need to buy supplies, they can easily submit a request. Once approved, the system automatically generates a unique virtual card with an adequate spend limit and validity date for each employee. This approach saves a significant amount of time and headaches spent on reconciliation every month and limits fraud and misuse simultaneously. 

2. Automate payment processes at scale

With integration comes automation, and with automation comes more time, less human error, and an enriched customer experience. 

For example, suppose you integrate your business applications with payment-facing APIs that allow you to create unlimited virtual cards from your existing physical corporate card. In that case, you can instantly gain a fast and automated way to pay vendors, manage a high volume of transactions through tags and accounting codes, and simplify the bookkeeping and reconciliation processes that follow any transaction you make in your business. 

This means the long days of employees manually matching transactions through multiple applications and spreadsheets are long gone, and so are the errors that can come with that process. Through API automation, you can turn your business card into a spend management machine, which, in turn, gives you and your finance team the gift of time - time you can put toward enhancing the customer experience and growing your business. 

3. Implement a strict and secure payments strategy 

Security and fraud prevention are important factors to keep in mind when thinking about your payment strategy and how you make and manage card payments in your business. Especially when your team makes various purchases throughout the work day, pays multiple vendors, and uses one single line of credit for all business necessities. Fortunately, by implementing APIs as part of your payment strategy, you can gain a higher layer of security and control that allows you to:

• Stop sharing credit card numbers across your organization;

• Send unique card numbers and instantly match transactions to payment records;

• Set custom card controls and spending limits to prevent overcharging; 

• Get real-time visibility, authentication, and clearing; and

• Deactivate/activate virtual cards as needed and on the go. 

Modernize your payment processes with Extend's open APIs

Through Extend's open APIs, you can seamlessly integrate payment capabilities directly into existing workflows and instantly leverage the power of virtual cards without leaving the bank you already know and prefer. As a result, not only can you save time and run your business processes more efficiently, but you can do so while retaining the customer service, rewards, relationships, and credit lines you already enjoy from your preferred bank. 

Learn more

Want to implement spend management APIs in your business? Learn more here and visit our developer docs. 

‍