Digitalize, centralize, and monitor

How companies use virtual cards

for smarter, simpler online and ad hoc purchases

Table of Contents

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Ad hoc and online purchases | Challenge and opportunity for companies

Why to take a closer look at your ad hoc and online purchases

The virtual credit card Jack of all trades with huge growth potential

Your marketing department wants to buy a video jingle on the internet, the IT department has to pay online for software licenses, and the strategy team needs a study for their work. No problem – except that most online providers of software, image materials, studies, training sessions, and many other products demand immediate online payment. Purchases like these are generally impossible to handle within a company’s existing procurement system. Employees often turn instead to their company card - or even private ones - which has many disadvantages for their companies.

There is no big-picture view of this kind of spending, there is hardly any way to monitor these purchases, and there is a lot of time and effort involved in reimbursing expenses after the fact – employees and accounting alike.

Virtual credit cards can be the solution for these kinds of business spending. They make it possible to digitalize, centralize, and monitor online and ad hoc purchases, plus they can have a positive impact on a company’s cash flow. This ebook takes a closer look at virtual cards and the possibilities they offer for smarter, simpler corporate payment.

Ad hoc and online purchases

Challenge and opportunity for companies

nline Purchases

Why to take a closer look at your ad hoc &

Ad hoc purchases, though only 20% of the total volume, cause 80% of the administrative costs for indirect purchases. These minor expenditures from many suppliers generate numerous invoices, incurring high administrative costs and complicating supplier management.

Cleaning services, tools, catering, IT hardware, and office supplies | Most companies manage recurring purchases like cleaning services, tools, catering, IT hardware, and office supplies efficiently through organized agreements, resulting in significant savings. However, ad hoc and one-time online purchases by employees from both the office and home are hard to control due to the lack of a central payment system, no spending overview, and inefficient approval processes, which negatively impact cash flow and increase costs.

Hidden costs for ad hoc expenses (EUR)

Supplier referencing

Processing costs for payment by invoice

Costs for advance payments

Annual review of supplier data

TOTAL COSTS

151

65

54

52

322

Virtual Cards

Virtual Cards

Virtual Cards

Ad hoc purchases offer tremendous potential for cost reduction across a wide range of areas of the company. But is there a solution that actually meets the needs of all stakeholders (employees, the purchasing department, accounting and finance, treasury) and solves the challenges discussed above?

Virtual cards, which are digital credit cards in the Mastercard® network, are accepted
virtually anywhere around the world.

YES!​

What is virtual credit card

A virtual credit card is a 16-digit number with a CVC, generated as needed, and ideal for online and ad hoc payments.

There are two types :

Single-use

Multi-use

for one-time use

for recurring payments with the same supplier

Virtual credit card these are its characteristics

Global acceptance

Extremely secure

A single collected statement instead of many individual invoices