Payments Efficiency

Microsoft on Improving the Customer Experience with the Exchange Framework

Exchange Framework Profile: Microsoft

Businesses of all types gain efficiency from the modernization of business-to-business (B2B) payments. The migration from manual to digital processes brings many benefits, such as lower costs, better cash management, error reduction, risk mitigation, and increased transparency. And if you ask Jayna Bundy, general manager in Global Treasury & Financial Services at Microsoft, she will tell you the top benefit of this B2B payments digitalization is delivering a better experience for their customers.

As a member of the Business Payments Coalition’s E-invoice Exchange Market Pilot, Microsoft is on the front lines helping to implement and test a virtual network, often referred to as an exchange framework, to enable businesses to share electronic invoices (e-invoices) with one another without changes to their systems.

“I want to help drive the standards to improve the industry. I think the work we’re doing with the e-invoice exchange framework will help pave the way for a more efficient B2B payments process across the board and create a better way for businesses to exchange information.”

Jayna Bundy, general manager in Global Treasury & Financial Services
Microsoft

An exchange framework is a set of standards, policies and guidelines that enables businesses to connect once and exchange electronic documents with anyone, independent of the platform, system, or application. To be successful the framework requires four types of participants, often referred to as corners – the supplier, two access points otherwise known as solution providers, and the buyer.

In this four-corner network, Microsoft represents corner one as a supplier, sending and exchanging a large volume of invoices in the U.S. market, which gives them, and Bundy who has oversight of global accounts receivables, a unique view into how the exchange framework can improve their customers’ experience. The Federal Reserve recently sat down with Bundy to talk about Microsoft’s experience in the market pilot and the future of the B2B payments ecosystem.

Q: Why is improving the efficiency of B2B payments necessary for Microsoft?

Jayna Bundy: The modernization of B2B payments and acceleration of the collection process is dependent on the speed and accuracy of an invoice being delivered. Microsoft has grown organically across product lines and businesses, new technology platforms and through acquisitions. While we strive to digitize and have done much work in the electronic invoicing space where it is required or mandated, we still face challenges inherent with multiple billing engines and millions of invoices per year using various delivery methods. This leads to more manually intensive processes which may result in higher cycle times, overall delays in the order-to-cash process and more work for our accounts receivable team. All of this can have a negative impact on our greatest asset: our customers. For us, our customer experience is the ultimate priority when it comes to the need for B2B payments modernization.

Q: What are the top benefits of the exchange framework?

Bundy: There is so much value in this framework primarily because it is delivering end-to-end efficiency at scale. It helps enable on-time and faster payments in an agnostic way and brings lower costs, better cash management and a reduction in errors.

Specifically for Microsoft, however, it helps us to improve our customer experience and customer satisfaction by allowing us to exchange e-invoices between parties in a seamless fashion. I think it will change the way businesses exchange information – in a more efficient manner – and it will change B2B payments in general.

Q: How beneficial is ease of implementation in adopting the exchange framework?

Bundy: Ease of implementation is absolutely key for both buyers and suppliers. We don’t want more complex processes that require customization or costly, large-scale engineering efforts in order to create a solution.

In the exchange framework, suppliers and buyers will be able to connect through their access points, or solution providers, in the same way they do today. There is no customization and little or no engineering effort. A standard framework, such as the e-invoice exchange framework, that is easy to adopt is critical for success.

Q: What is your long-term vision for the framework?

Bundy: At Microsoft, we want to help drive industry standards for automation and adoption. We believe common standards and protocols are the best way forward to build a more effective and seamless experience for everyone within the network.

Our north star is a scalable e-invoicing strategy through broader adoption of this framework. At Microsoft, we want to be able to deliver all invoices through this exchange framework, so we need to showcase how it is delivering end-to-end efficiency at scale. The long-term vision also needs to help enable the on-time and faster payments initiatives in an agnostic way.

Q: How might the exchange framework be a platform for innovation where we can build solutions for other business problems outside the current e-invoice and e-remittance (Off-site) initiatives?

Bundy: I always think there are opportunities for any framework built on a set of standards to help solve additional business problems. I think connecting the payments piece through the framework versus as a separate process as it is today, is important.

For the benefit of the broader industry, we need to continue to push these connections. I worry about getting too siloed in thinking about it from one perspective, so we need to pull in other partners, such as the remittance data and payments, to make it successful. I’m hoping that we can solve the broader B2B efficiency challenge, which includes e-invoicing, a faster payment and the ability to send the remittance data through the exchange framework.

In this profile series, hear from engaged businesses and service providers, like Microsoft, active in the E-invoice Exchange Market Pilot and committed to transforming B2B payments.

Stay tuned for additional profiles and the latest B2B payments modernization news by joining the FedPayments Improvement Community (select “E-invoicing” and “Electronic Payments and Remittance” under the interest preferences) and connect with the Business Payments Coalition (Off-site).

Learn More

In this profile series, hear from engaged businesses and service providers, like Microsoft, active in the E-invoice Exchange Market Pilot and committed to transforming B2B payments.

Stay tuned for additional profiles and the latest B2B payments modernization news by joining the FedPayments Improvement Community (select “E-invoicing” and “Electronic Payments and Remittance” under the interest preferences) and connect with the Business Payments Coalition (Off-site).