Mitigating digital fraud risk to drive B2B business growth

Looking back over the past two years, the global B2B payments landscape experienced notable changes in sales channel strategies as e-commerce accelerated. B2B buyers became more digitally influenced – akin to their B2C preferences – which required merchant payments offerings and capabilities to evolve to better secure the sale. Without a digital commerce channel, B2B sellers now risk being left behind as their competitor offerings provide easy opportunities for buyers to shift their loyalty. According to Gartner, B2B organizations with digital commerce offerings will see 30% more revenue and a 20% reduction in costs by 2023, compared to competitors without B2B digital commerce sites.

But this rapid shift to digital also brought about a rapid increase in fraud. More than 60% of payments decision-makers within merchant companies cited their most urgent customer concerns include increased scrutiny on security and fraud prevention, more digital payment options, and more flexible payment terms. But while companies are recognizing the need for technology-driven advantages, they must also consider the risks. Businesses using manual processes to underwrite and make determinations as to which businesses deserve credit and which do not, have had to make a shift with the increase in remote workforces and digital technology has pushed businesses to boost their digital interactions and acquisitions as well. This is an area that is ripe for digital fraud because so much business information is searchable by the public.

Understanding the risk and resilience around digital identify theft and other forms of digital fraud will continue to be a priority for us to ensure our clients, and their customers, are protected. TreviPay recently conducted research to survey 150 businesses across three sectors to learn how they’re planning to boost their fraud-fighting approaches. Confirming the need for sophisticated anti-fraud measures, 98% of B2B retailers, manufacturers and marketplaces surveyed had experienced financial losses (averaging 3.5% of a B2B business’s annual revenue) due to successful fraud attacks last year. This loss increased to 5% for small businesses, the likes of which feel an even greater sting. Businesses that reported using proactive, automated anti-fraud solutions tend to see fewer fraud impacts, as automated anti-fraud technology tends to increase onboarding efficiency and speed.

Beyond revenue, slow and inefficient anti-fraud methods can also have a negative on customer experience. In fact, almost half (46%) of organizations using manual anti-fraud solutions reported that fraud concerns made it difficult to work with them. This can lead to unsatisfied customers and lost new business.

Read the full story, originally written by Brandon Spear for Customer Think.