Overcoming payment and receipt management hurdles for SaaS companies

In this article, we'll look at how SaaS companies can benefit from using virtual credit cards as a payment method.

Read on!

SaaS in a nutshell

SaaS (software-as-a-service) companies deliver software applications and services to customers over the Internet.

Rather than selling traditional software products that must be installed and maintained on individual computers or servers, they offer their software as a subscription-based service.

This way, customers access and use the software applications through a web browser and typically pay a recurring fee for the duration of their subscription.

Common payment challenges faced by SaaS companies

Just like any other business, SaaS organizations face specific pain points when it comes to payment processing and receipt management.

Here are some examples:

Payment friction

Managing a high volume of payments from clients, partners, and suppliers can be extremely daunting for SaaS companies. On top of that, they often face complexities related to late payments, billing discrepancies, and payment reconciliation. This can lead to payment friction and potential cash flow disruptions.

Subscription invoice management

As mentioned above, they typically operate on a subscription-based model. This certainly adds complexity to billing and payment processes. Managing recurring billing cycles, pro-rated fees, upgrades, downgrades, and cancellations can become complicated, especially when dealing with a large customer base.

Dealing with incomplete or missing receipts

Collecting and organizing receipts for various expenses, such as paying vendors and reimbursing employees, can be a time-consuming and challenging task.

As a result, they often struggle with incomplete or missing receipts. This can hinder accurate financial reporting, expense tracking, and tax compliance.

Old-fashioned manual invoice handling

The traditional approach of manually processing receipts creates a significant administrative burden.

Plus, it can lead to inefficiencies, delays, and errors as finance teams manually match receipts to corresponding transactions, enter data into accounting systems, and reconcile payment records.

Audit and compliance 

SaaS companies must maintain an audit trail of financial transactions, including payments and receipts, for audit and compliance purposes. Demonstrating compliance and responding to audits can be challenging without a streamlined process for capturing and documenting payments.

Multiple payments with a single credit card

They also deal with multiple payments that can become cumbersome to manage with a single card.

Reconciliation of expenses

For SaaS companies, tracking and reconciling expenses across multiple departments and teams can be complex.

Without an efficient way to manage receipts, finance departments may find it difficult to match expenses to the appropriate projects, departments, or budget categories, making it difficult to gain accurate insight into spending patterns.

Pliant's payment and invoice reconciliation solution for SaaS businesses

Instant virtual credit cards (VCCs) at the touch of a button

Our solution allows companies to create a separate virtual card for each type of expense or member in their organization at lightning speed.

Improved expense tracking

With traditional payment methods, it can be challenging for SaaS companies to keep track of expenses accurately, especially when multiple transactions are taking place simultaneously.

But since Pliant's virtual credit cards can be assigned to different departments or purposes, this provides greater control and flexibility in expense management across the organization and makes it easier to track and reconcile payments.

Enhanced security

Security is paramount for SaaS companies, but restricting 2-factor authentication to the CEO can definitely create vulnerabilities.

Fortunately, our solution enables 2-factor authentication for each virtual card individually. Which means that, regardless of the user or employee initiating the payment, each transaction made with a virtual card requires additional authentication.

Also, VCCs can be easily deactivated or modified, providing instant control in case of any unauthorized or suspicious activities.

More information on this topic here. 

Receipt collection and reconciliation made easy

Chasing receipts can be a time-consuming and frustrating task for the finance team!

Luckily, Pliant's VCCs automate the receipt collection process by providing features that automatically capture and associate receipts with each transaction. This eliminates the need for manual receipt collection and simplifies the reconciliation process, saving time and reducing administrative burden.

Additionally, we offer integration options with finance and accounting software, allowing seamless transfer of transaction data, further simplifying the payment reconciliation process.

Greater control over financial transactions

Maintaining control over financial transactions is crucial for SaaS companies to manage their cash flow effectively.

Pliant’s VCCs provide granular control by allowing companies to set spending limits and define the specific parameters for each card. This prevents overspending and ensures adherence to budgetary constraints.

Increased operational efficiency

Since SaaS companies often deal with a large volume of transactions, manual processing of transactions can be time-consuming and prone to errors.

Pliant's virtual credit cards streamline this process through payment automation and elimination of manual intervention. 

Once the cards are set up, recurring payments can be scheduled, reducing administrative tasks and giving SaaS companies valuable time to focus on core business activities. 

To sum up

In short, virtual credit cards offer enhanced security, improved expense tracking, increased operational efficiency and greater control over financial transactions, making them an invaluable tool for the SaaS industry.