A Supplier’s Perspective: Saying Goodbye to the Black Hole of Payment Processing

For suppliers, the most obvious benefit of supply chain finance is accelerated cash flow. Getting paid faster is a pretty powerful thing – especially in today’s business climate. But the cash flow improvements provided by supply chain finance aren’t just about speed. It turns out that visibility into the payment process can be just as beneficial for suppliers. Here’s why.

Historically, suppliers have encountered a scenario we like to call the “black hole of payment processing.” You send an invoice to one of your largest customers and…well, things go dark. Did the customer receive the invoice? Did they input it into their financial system correctly? Was it approved for payment? If so, was the correct amount approved? Was payment sent?

With PrimeRevenue’s supply chain finance platform, these questions are answered immediately. Buyers upload an invoice directly onto the platform and suppliers are notified when the invoice is approved. Any discrepancies in the invoice, including the amount due, can be addressed right away by the supplier.

Suppliers have visibility into the payment amount whether they decide to trade the invoice on the buyer’s supply chain finance program using the participating funder or wait until the maturity date for the payment to come through.

ALRO Group, a Belgium-based automotive supplier to OEMs like Audi, Mercedes and BMW, is one supplier that has greatly benefitted from this kind of visibility. In addition to experiencing cash flow challenges caused by a tough economic climate, the company struggled to track the status of invoices once they were sent to customers. ALRO had no way of knowing if there were issues until an invoice was overdue.

PrimeRevenue was an unexpected solution to the problem. Since joining a customer’s PrimeRevenue supply chain finance program five years ago, the company has traded over $110 million in invoices with an average of $54,000 per invoice. On top of getting paid 104 days early, on average, the company is able to track invoices online and remedy any issues or discrepancies before there is an impact on cash flow.

“Prior to using PrimeRevenue, it would take us two to three months to find out whether an invoice had a problem,” said ALRO’s Controller Bert Bammons. “Now, approved invoices are available on the PrimeRevenue platform within two to three days from the invoice date. We are able to follow up on missing invoices and take corrective action much faster.”

Electrical Components International, a supplier to some of the world’s largest home appliance manufacturers, echoes this sentiment.

“If you have 30 day terms with someone, and you get to the 40th day, you start asking why they haven’t paid their invoices. With supply chain finance, you know much earlier in the cycle if they are going to pay the invoice on time or not,” said Mitch Leonard, the company’s CFO. “We are also able to clear up any discrepancies much earlier in the order to cash cycle.”

The benefits of having visibility into payment processing are bountiful – from better forecasting and planning to risk avoidance. Just ask any supplier that has chased down a late payment only to hear that the invoice was never received. It can be the difference between being paid in 60 days or six months. For some suppliers, it can also be the difference between having the capital to move forward with a strategic initiative (e.g. equipment upgrades) or hitting the pause button. Fortunately, PrimeRevenue’s supply chain finance platform removes this blind spot.

Read ALRO’s case study.

By Matt Doorley
Published November 9, 2017

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Stephanie Wargo

VP, Global Head of Marketing

Stephanie joined PrimeRevenue in 2015 and oversees the company’s global marketing team and strategy. With a data-driven approach, Stephanie focuses on demand generation and thought leadership to drive brand awareness, strengthen client/partner relationships, and generate new sales opportunities. Stephanie has guided PrimeRevenue through new technology releases and an evolving FinTech landscape. In addition to leading PrimeRevenue’s internal and external communications, she implemented innovative demand generation and marketing strategies to enhance the company’s overall sales pipeline.

Stephanie has extensive experience in marketing and customer success. She previously served as Vice President of Marketing and Communications at BitPay and Vice President of Client Relations and Marketing at FirstView Financial. Stephanie earned a B.A. degree in Political Science from Agnes Scott College in Decatur, Georgia.

Brian Medley

VP, Global Head of Sales

Brian joined PrimeRevenue in early 2012, after more than 20 years of sales leadership, executive-level consultant and business growth experience. As VP, Global Head of Sales, Brian leads a growing team of fintech sales professionals with a focus on developing strong customer relationships, improving sales predictability and helping PrimeRevenue enter the lucrative mid-market.

Prior to PrimeRevenue, Brian honed his enterprise software sales leadership skills at Clarus Corporation. He also served as an operations and IT management consultant for Kurt Salmon Associates. In addition to his sales and consulting background, Brian has deep experience in the financial industry having founded a successful residential mortgage broker and lending business. He is a graduate of the Georgia Institute of Technology having earned a B.S. in Industrial Engineering and Economics and M.B.A. in Global Business.

Jason Green

SVP, Global Customer Success

Jason joined PrimeRevenue in 2021 following more than two decades in the fintech/financial services industry. He brings a strong background is sales leadership due to his impressive relationship building capability as well as a successful track record in creating structure and process improvements. In his role, Jason uses his keen attention to detail to strengthen the customer experience and enhance the company’s solutions to deliver more value to clients.

Prior to joining the company, Jason held several senior level and executive roles with a focus on building and scaling sales and support organizations at both large and small companies. Jason graduated from Murray State University with a B.S in Marketing.

Matt Ford

SVP, Global Product Innovation

Matt joined PrimeRevenue in early 2015 and is responsible for overseeing all commercial, strategic and operational aspects of PrimeRevenue’s supply chain finance offerings throughout EMEA, based in Prague. He has been instrumental in gaining global alignment and developing supplier enablement processes for the region.

Matt joined PrimeRevenue following a 15-year career at Morgan Stanley, where he worked in fixed income operations covering debt syndication through bonds, EMTNS, corporate loans and other debt securitization. Notably, he set up non-core location operations in Europe (Budapest) and all lending operations in Baltimore from scratch.

Matt, who was born and raised in South East England, earned a B.S. in Sports Science at University of Teesside where he mastered the art of TEAM development and accountability as a youth international rugby player.

Dominic Capolongo

EVP, Global Head of Funding

Dominic joined PrimeRevenue in 2016, and is responsible for leading our bank and capital markets funding strategies and execution. He focuses on building global, scalable and highly efficient funding structures that maximize options for supporting PrimeRevenue’s programs. Dominic began his career as an attorney and was a partner with Kaye Scholer before joining DLJ as a senior banker. Dominic brings tremendous strategic and capital markets experience in all areas of finance having held senior positions at, among others, Credit Suisse and RBC Capital Markets in addition to DLJ. Dominic earned a JD from Fordham University School of Law and a BA from SUNY Binghamton.

Gavin Cicchinelli

Chief Operating Officer

Gavin joined PrimeRevenue as Chief Operating Officer in 2021. With more than two decades of leadership and executive experience along with a deep understanding of the payments space, Gavin provides a unique focus on improving and strengthening operational strategies and implementing GTM growth execution. He is responsible for leading transformation across corporate and operational strategies as well as building a repeatable and scalable commercial growth strategy that aligns with PrimeRevenue’s core business while delivering key adjacent growth opportunities.

Prior to joining PrimeRevenue, Gavin served as President and Chief Revenue Officer of Integrated Solutions at TSYS, a global payment processing services company acquired by Global Payments (NYSE:GPN). There, he also served as Head of Product and divisional COO. Throughout his career, Gavin has held multiple leadership positions including VP of Sales, SVP of Business Development, and President of Financial Institutions. Gavin graduated from the University of Northern Colorado, Greeley.

David Quillian

Chief Legal Officer

David joined PrimeRevenue as General Counsel in 2007. He and his team have been instrumental in successfully creating the unique legal structures that support PrimeRevenue’s multi-funder model and global funding capabilities. David is also the lead named inventor on PrimeRevenue’s two patents for Electronic Time Drafts, which allow PrimeRevenue to manage supply chain finance programs using electronic negotiable instruments as opposed to accounts receivable. Prior to PrimeRevenue, David was General Counsel at Harbor Payments, which was acquired by American Express (AXP) in 2006, and Magnet Communications, which was acquired by Digital Insight (DGIN) in 2003. He holds degrees in Economics and History from Duke University, and Juris Doctor and M.B.A. degrees from the University of Georgia.

Nathan Feather

CEO

Nathan has successfully ushered PrimeRevenue from our very early days as a visionary startup, through the financial crisis to today’s position as a thriving mid-sized leader in the cloud-enabled supply chain finance marketplace since joining PrimeRevenue in January 2006. He was instrumental in recapitalizing the company with an $80M investment led by BBH Capital Partners in 2015. Prior to PrimeRevenue, he held various financial management roles with Ariba, Freemarkets and PriceWaterhouseCoopers. Nathan holds a BS in Accounting from Pennsylvania State University.

PJ Bain

CEO

PJ has an impressive and accomplished track record as an enterprise software entrepreneur and executive. PJ has built a solid record of success with PrimeRevenue since being appointed Chief Executive Officer in July of 2009. The company has received numerous awards for growth, customer service, innovation, along with being recognized as a top employer.

PJ is a life-long software and technology entrepreneur having been involved in numerous firms in the roles of founder, executive, advisor and investor. Immediately prior to PrimeRevenue, PJ was the VP and General Manager of Exact Holding N.V. (NYSE/AMS: EXACT), a leading global provider of business software solutions. He was previously Founder and CEO of Inspired Solutions, an Atlanta-based, B2B software and services firm that grew to be the largest reseller of Exact Software in North America, later acquired by Exact. PJ holds a Bachelor of Industrial Engineering from Georgia Institute of Technology.