Using virtual corporate cards can help to optimize your business’s spending habits in a variety of ways.
These tools can also be used to improve spend management solutions for global companies, meaning you can have full control and visibility for all your global spend, on one local dashboard.
In this article we will outline some of the best practices for using virtual corporate cards and how they can help your business and its finance team become more effective.
What are virtual corporate cards?
A virtual corporate card is a 16-digit unique card which, hence the name, is not a physical object. It’s a digital payment solution, designed to help modernize traditional processes, reduce errors, and save time.
The main aim of this type of payment system is to improve security, accountability, and to increase the efficiency of your accounts processes.
This payment method is viewed as a quicker, smarter and more systematic way of handling finances, as there is no room for human error, time-consuming tasks and no physical data collection.
How can virtual corporate cards benefit a business?
There are numerous reasons why a virtual corporate card can improve your business’s financial running.
1. Accountability
One great thing about virtual corporate cards is that there is an increased element of accountability. By assigning virtual payment cards to specific employees and suppliers, you can track expenses to a whole new level.
This eliminates the need for manually tracking payments, which effectively means no more chasing for paper receipts or comparing transactions to purchase orders.
2. Monitoring in real-time
With the virtual corporate card platform, it is easy to view any spend, in real-time. Your business will be able to receive increased visibility with instant alerts via email and text, making monitoring easier than ever before!
3. Increased Security
Due to advanced technological features, when a member of staff is using a virtual card, you can be sure every payment is 100% secure. Alongside real-time notifications of spending, you can see who has spent money and on which card. Meaning you have full visibility.
4. Approval Systems
It can be a long-winded process to gain approval for a payment, but with virtual corporate cards, this process has been made easy. With a simple online approval system, you can directly contact the person, or team, needed to approve a payment in one click.
This eliminates any time wasting and leaves a traceable approval process for all payments made by a company.
5. Expense Reports
What’s more, this tool allows for employee receipts to be collected and automatically matched, saving your finance team hours in closing every month. Additionally, invoices can be scanned so they are visible at any time.
6. Reducing Costs
Using this tool means your account will never process payments for any amount higher or lower than what you’ve pre-set. This type of financial control eliminates the possibility of short paying or overpaying your vendors.
Conclusion
You can now see how virtual corporate cards can have a beneficial impact on your business and financial forecast – making tasks easier and less vulnerable to human error. Avoid spending money where it’s not needed and implement virtual cards into your business today.
