At SAP’s flagship regional conference, SAP NOW, the enterprise application software provider announced a line-up of solutions in collaboration with customers and partners—we are talking about big name brands SAP headlined on stage with like Petronas Digital, ST Logistics, Metro Pacific Investments Corporation (MPIC), VISA, Google Cloud, B Capital, and Petrosea.

But what is also exciting is what these partnerships can enable for the larger ecosystem.

Take VISA, for example.

With SAP, VISA unveiled simplified and streamlined B2B payments via embedded technologies into the SAP Business Technology Platform (BTP), while CxOs from MPIC, ST Logistics, and Petronas Digital, shared about the business benefits they experienced on their journey with SAP.

Visa Technology, SAP Platform

SAP’s APJ President, Paul Marriott, and Visa’s Head of Commercial and Money Movement Solutions in APAC, Chavi Jafa, took to the stage to talk about their initiatives together. Chavi kicked things off with her observation about pain points and payment challenges that businesses across the world actually have – these challenges tend to be similar all around.

She also said, “A fun fact about me which I haven’t shared yet… for over a year I also ran a small business.

“So, I lived through some of the pain that is required to run a business, and the things that that you need to deal with, whether it’s financing, or payments, or business processes.”

Who Is It For, and What Does It Mean?

What does the collaboration mean for businesses that want to drive financial transformation, supply chain transformation, or are simply looking to be more agile and to make better financing decisions?

Both ends of the supply chain could benefit from working capital efficiencies, which are now possible via a single platform, that is the BTP, or SAP’s Business Technology Platform.

Chavi also pointed out that the procurement process that happens today is a little fragmented. The embedded technologies into the Business Technology Platform (BTP) can achieve two things – one, digitize the process so that the payment is completed at the time when the actual invoice is ready to be paid.

Second, provide a 16-digit credential (which could come with a credit line) to the buyer, so they will be able to make the payment.

“Suppliers will also get paid faster because that is the benefit of using credentials,” she said, adding that both ends of the supply chain could benefit from working capital efficiencies, which are now possible via a single platform, that is the BTP.

“Almost 99% of the world’s largest companies use SAP solutions to run their daily operations, and now these enterprises can use their Visa cards, a payment method they trust, directly on the SAP BTP, an enterprise solution they rely on.

“Enterprises will no longer need to grapple with the various payment methods accepted by their suppliers, as Visa’s payment solutions that are integrated into SAP BTP will route commercial card payments to all suppliers, whether they accept card payments or not,” Chavi said.

Now, that’s enormous convenience and real-time value for you.

SUMMARY

Visa considers itself a network of networks with financial institutions and financing capabilities, while SAP works with many businesses that have business processes, and supply chains and with different ecosystem players. The SAP- Visa partnership that brings all these different players together can be instrumental in making the process of payments as smooth as the movement of goods and services that follow that process.