Ease Your Cash Flow & Vendor Management With Discounting Platforms

Small and medium businesses often find themselves in cash flow crises and debacles of improper resource management. Often these arise due to lengthy credit periods to customers.  Thus, more businesses are embracing invoice discounting as a viable means to bolster working capital. Resultantly, discounting platforms are gaining momentum, striving to streamline and simplify the process as they move forward. The platforms are now looked at as a means to simplify cash flow management and improve business-vendor relationships. Let's read on to understand the intricacies in detail.

How Do Bill Discounting Platforms Work?

These discounting platforms serve as a meeting place for businesses and investors – entities who purchase the invoices. These pointers below highlight how discounting platforms function and assist both sellers and suppliers –

• The first step involves businesses signing up on the invoice discounting platform and providing required documents to initiate verification.
• After verification, businesses get onboard on the platform.
• Businesses proceed to upload unpaid invoices to raise funds against them.
• Accredited investors present on the discounting platforms skim through the invoices and purchase them accordingly. 
• Following the purchase, a percentage of the invoice amount is disbursed to the concerned business's account. 

Usually, the disbursal time varies from one fintech company to another. You should note that invoices with high credit rating are more likely to get preferred over others.  On that note, let us now proceed to find out the impact of bill discounting platforms on cash flow and vendor relation to evaluate its role.

Impact Of Discounting Platform On Cash Flow

Invoice discounting platforms come in handy for businesses who wish to resolve their cash flow crisis without increasing their existing debt burden.  As discussed, to access funds through such platforms, multiple formalities are not necessary. A quick upload of the invoices will help you initiate the process in no time. Here's how discounting platforms help a business's cash flow –

• There are more than 42.5 million MSMEs in India, but only a small percentage of them are eligible to receive formal credit. To remedy the need for liquidity and include more MSMEs in the lending scenario, several fintech companies now extend cash against invoices at simple terms.
• With these platforms' help, businesses who engage in credit sales can spread out the accompanying risk of default. They can further unlock the tied-up funds in their invoices before the maturity period and, as a result, bridge the working capital gap.
• Most fintech companies do not require businesses to provide any asset as collateral. It helps small and medium enterprises with insufficient assets to raise funds without any hassle. Also, you do not need to worry about losing high-end assets in case of default. 
• Unlike most business loans, funds raised against invoices do not have any end usage restriction. It means you can use the money raised to meet any cash flow, debt, or working capital-related requirements. 
• Leading fintech companies provide quick access to capital that helps meet urgent capital requirements quickly. For instance, bill discounting platform like KredX helps obtain funds within 24 hours to 72 hours*.

Above all, most discounting platforms provide service that does not impact a business's balance sheet and does not complicate the accounting process. 

Impact Of Discounting Platform On Vendor Management 

It is as essential for all types of businesses to coordinate with vendors as it is to listen to customers. Bill discounting platforms help enhance the process of vendor management in these ways –

• Businesses can now pay their vendors on time due to a shortened working capital cycle.
• They can take the risk of agreeing with their vendor for a short credit period.
• Businesses opting for invoice discounting can maintain confidentiality about their funding arrangement. This helps to retain both customers and vendors.

Bottom Line

Invoice discounting has paved the way for many small and medium businesses to resolve their cash flow crisis successfully. Similarly, with quick and unrestrained access to working capital, companies can also provide agreeable terms to vendors, thus, facilitating cordial relations.