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A credit team sends a PDF authorization form to a new customer. The customer prints it, writes down their credit card information, signs it, and emails or faxes it back. The credit team then deciphers the handwriting, manually keys the payment details into an ERP, and files the document somewhere on a local drive.
This is still how many B2B suppliers collect payment authorization — and it is costing them more than they realize.
Beyond the time delay, exchanging sensitive payment data through unencrypted email or fax presents a direct security risk. Credit managers spend hours managing paper files and chasing missing signatures instead of reviewing credit lines, analyzing risk, or managing accounts. Updating this process from a manual document exchange to a secure digital workflow reduces wait times, protects sensitive data, and accelerates invoice close.
The process of acquiring payment authorization involves too many distinct steps and too many manual handoffs. Each one introduces delay.
A customer receives a form by email. They print it, fill it out by hand, scan it, and send it back. The credit team receives it, reads the card numbers, enters them into a payment gateway, and files or destroys the document. When a card expires, the cycle starts again from scratch. Every loop in that process adds days to the collection cycle — and every manual step is an opportunity for error.
This isn't a niche operational quirk. It's a systemic problem in B2B finance departments that have inherited workflows designed for fax machines and physical filing cabinets.
Emailing PDFs relies on the customer to act outside their standard billing workflow. There's no direct link between the open invoice and the payment method. The customer must leave their accounting system, open an email, fill out a form, and return it. That broken handoff guarantees delay.
Processing a paper or PDF form requires a human to read card numbers, enter them into a gateway, and then securely store or destroy the document. When order volume spikes, the credit team becomes a bottleneck — not because of a strategic failure, but because they cannot type fast enough.
Handwritten card numbers are frequently misread. A single incorrect digit fails the authorization. The credit manager contacts the customer again, restarting the cycle and pushing cash flow further out.
Sending card copies over email violates standard data security protocols. Email is not a secure medium for transmitting primary account numbers (PAN). Storing these PDFs on local drives or in physical cabinets creates liability in the event of a breach — and that liability is entirely avoidable.
Many ERP systems were designed to manage inventory and general ledgers, not to serve as customer-facing payment portals. Because the ERP cannot securely collect payment data directly from the buyer, teams use external PDF forms as a workaround. That workaround creates the entire problem described above.
1. Digital capture. Replace PDFs with hosted, secure online forms. Customers enter payment data directly into a secure web page rather than writing it on a document, removing the supplier's internal network from the direct data flow.
2. Tokenization. Once the customer enters their data, the system generates a secure token representing the payment method — but containing no usable card data. The credit team uses the token to process payments, keeping the supplier outside of PCI compliance scope.
3. Automated invoice linking. Link the authorized payment method directly to the customer's account and open invoices. When a new invoice generates, the system applies the tokenized payment method without requiring the customer to resubmit.
4. Self-service management. Provide customers with a secure link to update their own payment methods. When a card expires, an automated notification goes out — removing the credit manager from the update process entirely.
Step 1: Audit current document exchanges. Count how many paper forms or emails containing payment data your team processes each week. Identify where these documents are stored and who has access to them.
Step 2: Implement a secure portal. Set up a web-based portal for customer payment entry that complies with PCI-DSS requirements. Bectran's invoicing and payments platform provides a PCI-compliant environment for digital payment capture, eliminating the need for email-based form exchanges.
Step 3: Update customer communications. Standardize outbound messaging. Update invoice templates, onboarding emails, and credit applications to direct customers to the digital portal. Remove all instructions asking customers to email or fax forms.
Step 4: Establish data retention policies. Create a strict policy for legacy paper forms. Destroy physical card copies and delete unsecured PDFs from email servers once data has been digitized and tokenized.
Step 5: Monitor adoption. Track how many customers have transitioned to the digital portal. For those who resist, provide clear instructions explaining that the new process protects their financial data more effectively than email does.
Removing raw card data from email inboxes and physical desks reduces breach exposure. Tokenizing payment methods ensures that even if internal systems are compromised, attackers cannot access usable financial data.
When customers can click a link to authorize payment, funds process faster. Waiting for a signed form adds days — and sometimes weeks — to the collection cycle. Digital authorization removes that lag entirely, improving days sales outstanding (DSO).
Credit teams regain the hours previously spent managing paper files, chasing missing signatures, and manually entering card numbers. That time can shift toward high-value work: resolving complex deduction disputes, reviewing credit limits for key accounts, and analyzing portfolio risk.
B2B buyers expect the same secure, digital checkout process they use in their personal lives. A secure link is easier for them than printing, signing, and scanning a document. Improving this touchpoint makes the supplier easier to do business with.
Reducing data entry errors reduces failed payment authorizations. A failed payment often delays order release, which frustrates the customer and delays revenue recognition. Accurate digital capture ensures the payment clears the first time.
Still chasing signed authorization forms by email? Still manually keying card numbers into your ERP? Bectran's invoicing and payments platform includes a PCI-DSS-compliant customer payment portal that eliminates paper-based authorization entirely, tokenized payment capture that stores zero raw card data, automated invoice-to-payment-method linking so authorized cards apply to new invoices without additional customer action, self-service payment update workflows triggered by expiration notifications, and bi-directional ERP sync that posts payment records without manual re-entry — reducing authorization delays, eliminating data entry errors, and accelerating DSO across the AR cycle. See how invoicing and payments automation works.
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