The next BIG thing: Expanding your program through an epayable Solution

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1 The next BIG thing: Expanding your program through an epayable Solution Presented by Tracye Eades Mickle Florida International University 2015 PCards on Campus Conference

2 Topics Covered in Today s Session: About FIU & our various card programs Introduction to epayable Solutions Overview on how an epayable program works Pros/cons and other things to consider Merchant enrollment/implementation Industry trends & impact on program growth

3 About FIU: Home of the Golden Panthers Founded in 1965 With a student body of over 46,000 we are one of the 25 largest public universities in the nation. We employ 5,000+ Employees We have campuses in Doral, Downtown Miami, Broward, South Beach, and Biscayne Bay. Our Colleges and Schools offer over 180 Bachelor, Masters & Doctorate Programs including the Herbert Wertheim College of Medicine and the Rafael Diaz-Balart College of Law. Division I-A Athletics Conference USA

4 About FIU The Food Network & Cooking Channel South Beach Wine & Food Festival presented by FOOD & WINE is a national, star-studded, four-day destination event showcasing the talents of the world s most renowned wine and spirits producers, chefs and culinary personalities. Hosted by Southern Wine & Spirits of Florida and Florida International University (FIU), the Festival benefits the Chaplin School of Hospitality & Tourism Management's Wine Spectator Restaurant Management Laboratory and the Southern Wine & Spirits Beverage Management Center at FIU. To date, the Festival has raised more than $20 million for the School.

5 About FIU Card Programs Established in 1999 Our Programs include: 1. The Departmental Card- University liability 2. The Travel & Entertainment (T&E) Card- Joint Employee and University Liability 3. The SUA (epayable) Card Program- University liability 900+ Cardholders 40MM+ combined spend in 2013/2014 Visa Platform PeopleSoft 9.2

6 Welcome to the next BIG thing

7 What is an epayable Card Solution? An epayable card program can be established to facilitate any payment currently being paid by check or EFT/ACH. This product varies from ghost/virtual cards, where a static card number is issued to a participating merchant. Single use accounts generate a new and unique card number for each purchase.

8 About FIU ecard Programs FIU has participated in epayable Programs since 2007 We have implemented both vendor issued ghost cards and Single Use Account cards After a change in banking service providers in 2012, we converted our small epayable Program to a larger SUA Program. We currently have 180+ vendor partners actively enrolled in our epayable program Initial Implementation/conversion took approximately 4 months to complete. Average monthly SUA spend 850K-1MM

9 How Does It Work?

10 Vendor Payments When a merchant payment is processed, they are sent a remittance advice via that notifies them that the payment is ready. This remittance advice will contain important details that your merchant will need to reconcile and apply your payment.

11 According to RPMG Research Corporation, 2012 Purchasing Card Benchmark Survey (Including SUA), 67% increase in spending on nonplastic card accounts to pay on invoice receipt. Industry Trends

12 According to that same study, higher value transactions are moving to card payables type solutions. Industry Trends

13 Industry Trends Source: Results of global payment types study, , published in PayStream Advisors, Global Electronic Invoicing: The State of AP Automation Worldwide Q12013.

14 The Pros There are numerous benefits to adding an epayable solution to your existing card program, including: Allows for all internal controls to remain in tact, since the payment follows your regular PO and A/P processes and review. Cost reduction postage to send remittance. advices/checks via snail mail. Decreased paper consumption. Allows your institution to extend you re A/P float 30+ days. Spend captured can result in increased rebate/incentive payments.

15 The Pros Additional Merchant Benefits included improved efficiencies: Early payments improve days sales outstanding (DSO) Card payments help reduce credit risk and collection costs Control features help prevent employee fraud Check processing can be minimized Remittance data delivered electronically Source: JP Morgan Chase SUA Overview

16 The Cons Merchants may be resistant or hesitant to change from check or EFT/ACH methods of payment due to additional fees Program requires follow-up and monitoring to ensure that payments are drawn in a timely manner and that merchants are not drawing the payment multiple times

17 Security & Controls One-to-one relationship of account numbers to payments The account credit limit equals the exact payment amount Each account is active for a defined time period (i.e. 5 or 30 days) The account authorizes for specific merchant category codes No cards are distributed to employees (AP controlled) Inherent controls can reduce the incidence of fraud compared to traditional card payments

18 Things to Consider Setting up zero tolerance on cards, this helps to ensure that vendors can only pull the exact amount that your AP team enters for payment. Request the ability (if possible) to create a manual SUA payment. Think about how you will handle vendor credits; set up your remittance advices accordingly. Dedicate a team member to monitor your program on a daily basis. This person should monitor that transactions are drawn down in a timely manner and be the point of contact to direct merchant payment inquiries.

19 Beware of Double Dippers Monitor your account closely for duplicate vendor draw downs. If a duplicate drawdown occurs, try to resolve during the same billing cycle. Ask your banking provider if they can set up an alert for unmatched transactions

20 Getting Started: The Implementation Process Implementation is a shared process between the University and Banking Service Provider. The process begins with providing the bank with a spreadsheet containing vendor spend. This data is used to analyze to determine the target vendors for your enrollment campaign. Implementation progress should be monitored via regular update meetings.

21 The bank made the pitch calls to our selected merchants on behalf of the university. You may be required to provide the bank with the scripts to use for your enrollment campaign. You may decide to contact high dollar spend merchants directly, for a high touch approach.

22 As a follow-up to the merchant enrollment, the university sends a welcome to the target merchant with the additional program details. The final step to successful vendor enrollment is to setup the merchant in the ERP system; changing the setup from check or ACH to SUA. SUA are set up as another vendor location. As an incentive for participation, we change the vendors payment terms from net 30 to immediate pay, this update is made at the time of the vendor setup.

23 Keep the Momentum Going!! Program growth is optimal for success! 18 months after our initial campaign, we held second campaign to engage additional participation. During the campaign, the merchant solicitation remains the same and implementation. More merchants enrolled=increased spend volume

24 Keep the Momentum Going!! Regular monitoring of your spend will help track trends and manage growth. When your spend starts to plateau, it might be time to request another enrollment campaign. Our purchasing team regularly offers participation in the epayable Program when completing a merchant enrollment.

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