Saket Sarda, C2FO’s Head of Enterprise Sales for the APAC region, outlines some of the new and innovative ways in which companies like C2FO are helping buyers and sellers manage their working capital during the current crisis.

Supply chain finance (SCF), reverse factoring or payables financing, has become a buzzword in recent times, and more relevant in the time of the Covid-19 pandemic. SCF has grown in popularity as corporates are taking pragmatic steps to maintain business continuity and provide suppliers with an option to receive payments early on their receivables.

 

A season of disruption for SCF

Traditional SCF models, while popular, have had their limitations in terms of scalability, penetration and applicability to large swaths of corporates’ supplier bases. However, with disruptions like Covid-19, such vulnerabilities have come to the fore and enterprises are actively looking at ways to mitigate these risks. For many suppliers, the SCF model is too rigid and non-responsive, especially in times of crisis, requiring extensive paperwork on KYC and establishing credit worthiness. With all of these requirements in place, many SMEs do not get covered, leaving them permanently out of the buyer’s SCF programme, with top-tier suppliers often the only ones that can benefit from the advantages thereof.

Buyers and their shareholders are also increasingly looking at addressing their environmental, social and governance or corporate social responsibility requirements, which the traditional SCF models are not able to cater to.

C2FO also helps the buyer in value-added services to better KYV (‘Know Your Vendor’).

Fortunately, there’s a new wave of working capital finance that is already addressing these issues for corporates, both buyers and sellers alike. In this article, we examine the following:

  • Innovative solutions in helping buyers manage accounts payable while helping suppliers’ cash flow.
  • A new approach to managing receivables that benefits corporates and their customers.
  • The ease and accessibility of having all of these solutions on a single, secure digital platform.

 

 

A different approach to accounts payable

C2FO’s unified, cloud-based Dynamic Supplier Finance (DSF) gives both buyers and suppliers more flexibility in addressing their working capital goals. Suppliers have input on how much discounting they will accept to get paid early. Buyers have the option to pay from their own balance sheets or from C2FO’s network of funders.

The following are the new features and advantages that DSF provides buyers and suppliers:

  • Scalability – The amount of funding suppliers can access through DSF increases as more suppliers get connected to C2FO.
  • Flexibility – Each supplier decides which invoices to accelerate, at times and discounts that work best for them.
  • Ease of use – For both buyers and suppliers. The buyer’s invoices are automatically uploaded to the C2FO platform and can be accessed by the suppliers at no cost to them.
  • Multiple sources of liquidity – When using a DSF programme, the buyer can choose to use its own balance sheet, or C2FO’s network of funding sources.
  • Heavy lifting by C2FO – Implementation of a DSF programme is managed and executed by the C2FO pool of over 225+. Dedicated supplier relationship manager to each supplier.
  • Environmental, social and governance – Meeting buyers’ ESG metrics via C2FO DSF solutions.

 

DSF engages at all levels of suppliers (small, medium and strategic) and is able to provide competitive pricing, control on pricing and flexibility of invoices to accelerate payment. For buyers, paying to their entire base of suppliers early addresses supply chain sustainability. All of this is backed by C2FO’s worldwide network of more than one million companies across 180+ countries.

 

An innovative way to manage your receivables

C2FO understands the requirement of an enterprise to manage its working capital holistically, and we have introduced the latest set of innovative solutions to provide control and flexibility over working capital between a seller and its customers.

Compared to traditional account receivables (AR) solutions, which generally pay a fee to collect early, these new solutions allow the seller to go beyond in using their own treasury and bank AR purchase programmes to turn the entire AR collection process into a profit function.

Dynamic Customer Finance (DCF) from C2FO provides tools for seller corporates to accelerate or extend their own accounts receivable, allowing for more flexibility to manage working capital and a quicker response to changing market conditions. DCF enables companies to manage receivables on a continuum, activating early invoice payment when needed to build more cash flow, or accepting later payment from customers (in exchange for a premium) at times when cash flow is already strong.

The following are the new features and advantages that DCF provides sellers and their customers (including the sales channels):

  • Greater control over receivables – When your company needs cash flow, you can accelerate payment on invoices of your choice, at pricing that works for your company. If you have ample cash, you can delay outstanding payments from your customers, in exchange for minimum dynamic premium.
  • Multiple sources of liquidity – When using a DCF programme, the buyer can choose to use its own balance sheet, customers’ liquidity sources or C2FO’s network of funders.
  • Customer connectivity – The DCF programme provides seamless reconciliation, collection and settlement with no delay.
  • Stronger relationships – Offering a programme that can help your customer with its own management of working capital can lead to greater trust and an improved relationship with that customer.
  • Penetration – The flexibility and control over cash flow that DCF provides leads to a higher participation rate among corporates and their customers.
  • Heavy lifting by C2FO – Implementation of a DCF programme is managed and executed by C2FO’s pool of over 225+ dedicated customer relationship managers.
  • Ease of use – The seller’s receivables invoices are automatically uploaded to the C2FO platform and can be accessed by the customers at no cost to them.

 

Through C2FO’s DCF, toggling between acceleration and extension of your receivables is seamless and simple, with just a few clicks on your dashboard. This on-demand flexibility gives you greater control over working capital and allows you to respond quickly to changes affecting your business, without any awkward customer negotiations.

If your company needs more cash flow, this solution provides an option of requesting acceleration of the receivables from the customer on a full non-recourse or as per tradition via a bank on a limited recourse basis.

If you have ample/excess cash, you may find it beneficial to delay outstanding payments from your customers. With DCF, you can extend payment on your receivables, in exchange for an agreed-upon premium. In other words, you will be paid more to be paid a little later, while helping your customers enhance their own cash positions.

 

One platform, many dynamic AP and AR solutions

You may even suffer from “portal fatigue” – a condition caused by working in too many financial technology portals – from password management to establishing connectivity.

Wouldn’t it be ideal if there was one place where you could address the working capital needs for your company, your suppliers and your customers?

The C2FO platform can be that single hub where you manage the flow of all your accounts payable and accounts receivable.

At C2FO, we understand that older models like SCF and factoring are too rigid for companies and the supply chains of tomorrow. In contrast, our platform, global network and dynamic solutions enable you to do the following:

  • Convert your payables and receivables into dynamic assets, helping you meet KPIs and improve metrics like days payable outstanding (DPO), days sales outstanding (DSO), EBITDA and cash balances.
  • Tap into a global network that connects the AR and AP of more than one million corporates worldwide.
  • Achieve greater control of your working capital, while also helping suppliers and customers meet their financial goals.
  • Connect with your suppliers and customers.
  • Use your balance sheet or funders in C2FO’s network to manage your working capital be it your AP or AR.
  • Utilise C2FO’s dedicated supplier management and customer management teams to bring in process efficiencies and help in achieving your company’s financial goals at any time.

 

To benefit from the working capital solutions C2FO can provide your company, visit https://c2fo.com/enterprises/our-platform/