Why Tearing up the Paper Check Could Be the Best Thing You Do for Your Business

Why Tearing up the Paper Check Could Be the Best Thing You Do for Your Business

There’s no denying that the payment world has gone digital. From ordering on websites to paying friends when going out for dinner, we don’t think twice about making digital payments these days. For many, however, our business lives have not yet caught up with our personal lives. While online payments for business are on the rise, by most accounts, many companies still pay by paper check even though it takes longer and costs more.

There are multiple reasons why businesses still pay by paper checks. Some companies may have a sense of security with the physical presence of a paper check or have the perception that paper checks are guaranteed money. Others may not understand how digital business payments work, or worry the payment will not be posted correctly in the absence of the check stub, or actively embrace the idea of “if it isn’t broken, don’t fix it.”

If you don’t fully understand electronic payments (or epayments) and how it has evolved to better handle business payments and remittance details, you’re not alone.

Four Benefits of Online Payments for Business

The benefits of digital business payments far outweigh the hassle, inefficiency, and ambiguity of paper check payments.

1. Digital business payments save you time. It is much faster for you to make a digital payment than to process a paper check. Think of the labor involved with reviewing and approving a bill, cutting a check, getting it signed and mailing it with the correct invoice. The process takes some companies weeks or even months to complete. An epayment moves the entire cycle to the cloud. A long, complicated process is cut down to a few, auditable clicks.
2. Digital business payments give you more control. Imagine being able to track every step of a paper check payment, including each person who touches it within the company and outside of it—every postal worker, everyone at the vendor’s office, even the teller at the bank where it’s deposited. Then imagine knowing the exact moment the paper check will be cashed. That’s impossible for a paper check, but that’s just what you get with online payments for business. You select when the money leaves your bank account. The entire process is completely trackable from payer to payee. At any moment, you can determine the status of that payment. There’s no guesswork, only precise documentation of bill review, payment and receipt. This control also supports healthy cash flow management. You’re no longer guessing when a check might be cashed or trying to keep track of outstanding payments.
3. Digital business payments offer much more information than paper checks. While a check gives you an amount and date, the payee, and memos/notes, an epayment gives you all the remittance information of the transaction. That means invoices, invoice numbers, statements of work, and exact date and time stamping. It shows who approved the payment and who made the payment. Finally, digital business payments automatically sync with accounting software, so information is never entered twice. This transparency makes paying and reconciling payments much simpler.
4. Digital business payments bring more convenience. With online payment systems for businesses, you can pay electronically from any internet-enabled computer or mobile device. On the road for work? You can review a bill, payment history, and vendor contract from the backseat of a Lyft/Uber or use your smartphone to pay a vendor while you wait for your flight. Payments won’t be held up, protecting your company from late fees and disgruntled vendors. Accepting digital payments is easier as well since vendors can authorize business payments to land directly in their bank accounts.

If you’re ready to quit using paper checks, learn how PayMaker by FNBO can help you simplify your business payments.