How a communications technology company increased commercial card utilisation from under 10% to 100%

The challenge

A global communications technology solutions provider wanted to improve how it used commercial cards for business-to-business payments across Asia Pacific.

The company already used purchasing cards, but fewer than 10% of its approved suppliers accepted cards. That limited the proportion of supplier spend that could be placed through theprogramme and reduced the working-capital value of the company’s existing card facility.

The company needed a way to broaden supplier participation without requiring suppliers to introduce card acceptance or disrupting their established payment processes.

‍The solution

The company worked with ipaymy and its commercial card issuer to deploy a supplier payment programme across Singapore, Malaysia and Australia.

More than 120 suppliers were onboarded through a one-time digital enrolment process. The programme used a supplier-funded model in which the service fee was positioned as an early-payment discount. Participating suppliers received payment notifications digitally and continued receiving funds through their bank accounts.

For this implementation, the programme did not require integration with the company’s procurement
or financial systems.

How the supplier payment programme worked

The outcome

The programme expanded the company’s ability to use commercial cards across its supplier base while offering participating suppliers an earlier-payment option.

• Commercial card utilisation increased from under 10% to 100%, based on the metric used in the supplied case study.
• More than 120 suppliers were onboarded across Singapore, Malaysia and Australia.
• The buyer’s reported days payable outstanding increased from 30 to 69 days.
• Participating suppliers’ reported days sales outstanding reduced from 30 to 15 days.
• Payment notifications and supplier enrolment were handled digitally.
• No integration with procurement or financial systems was required for this implementation.

Why the approach worked

The programme gave both sides a reason to participate. The buyer could use more of its existing commercial card facility, while suppliers could choose an earlier-payment arrangement and continue receiving funds through a familiar bank-transfer route.

Digital enrolment and payment notifications reduced the operational effort needed to add suppliers. The collaboration between the company, its issuer and ipaymy also allowed the payment model to operate without replacing the company’s underlying procurement or financial systems.

The result: broader card utilisation without changing supplier acceptance

The company moved from limited supplier card acceptance to a broader supplier payment programme across three Asia Pacific markets.

More than 120 suppliers joined the programme, commercial card utilisation increased and the case study reported improved payment timing for both the buyer and participating suppliers. The outcome shows how the funding method and the supplier’s receipt method can be separated: the buyer pays by commercial card, while the supplier receives a bank transfer

Results basis

The utilisation, supplier onboarding, DPO and DSO figures are drawn from the supplied customer case study. Results are specific to this implementation and may vary depending on supplier participation, issuer terms, card eligibility, payment timing and programme design.

Customer confidentiality note

Customer details have been generalised to respect confidentiality. The results described are specific to this customer and should not be interpreted as a guarantee of outcomes for other businesses.

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