SAP and VISA Announce B2B Payment Collaboration for Asia-Pacific Region

⇨ SAP announced a recent collaboration with Visa that aims to streamline payment solutions across the Asia Pacific region.

⇨ The collaboration should also help add automation into payments services, adding additional efficiency and security into their payment processes.

⇨ The program will begin in a few selected countries, but SAP has plans to launch in other markets in the future.

SAP announced a recent collaboration with Visa that aims to streamline payment solutions across the Asia Pacific region. The two globally-recognized brands are teaming up to embed payments into SAP systems via SAP’s Business Technology Platform (BTP). This allows organizations of all sizes to make B2B payments more simply and efficiently.

This new initiative allows many businesses in the Asia Pacific region to accept card payments for the first time. Before this, many smaller companies did not have the technological capabilities to accept digital B2B payments. The collaboration should also help add automation into payments services, adding additional efficiency and security into their payment processes.

“The movement of money is becoming increasingly digital, but the bulk of transformation has been focused on the consumer space. Our collaboration with SAP is an exciting step in making B2B payments simpler and more intuitive as organizations can make payments immediately on SAP software platforms with their Visa corporate cards, instead of having to leave their existing enterprise ecosystem and navigate the different payment methods that their vendors accept. B2B payments need to be intuitive and fuss-free, so organizations can maximize time and resources on other aspects of their businesses,” said Stephen Karpin, Visa’s President for the Asia Pacific Region, in a press release.

Benefits

SAP BTP will aim to provide users of this program with a secure platform on which they can innovate and bridge gaps in their supply chains. Users will be able to send payments to all suppliers, even those that do not already accept cards. Businesses that are Visa cardholders will also be able to utilize their benefits both domestically and in other countries.

This partnership could fill a significant need for organizations in the Asia Pacific region. According to SAPinsider’s SAP S/4HANA Finance and Central Finance: State of the Market 2023 research report, 50% of respondent organizations from the region said they were working to improve visibility into cash, liquidity, and working capital, making it the most commonly-selected response.

When organizations are able to utilize SAP BTP, they will gain increased visibility into their cash and liquidity. Also, by cutting down on the time that companies will have to spend on manual payments like cash and checks, business will be able to spend more time on value-add work.

“Our collaboration with Visa endeavors to streamline and simplify the B2B payment process and drive further efficiencies for our joint customers. Embedding Visa payment solutions into the SAP ecosystem aims to scale and accelerate digital commerce, together empowering enterprises – from small businesses to government agencies and nonprofit organizations – to make secure payments quickly, transforming the last mile of procurement,” said Paul Marriott, SAP’s President for the Asia Pacific region.

The program will begin in a few selected countries – Australia, India, Japan, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam. SAP said it has plans to roll out solutions into further markets later on.