Right now, CFOs are under pressure to do more than manage the books. They’re expected to optimize liquidity, forecast with precision, and unlock working capital to fuel growth, all while overseeing overworked teams. The recent PYMNTS Intelligence Time-to-Cash study confirms what many finance leaders already know: accelerating the cash cycle is necessary.
Yet while many CFOs are investing in better dashboards, AI solutions, and automation, one critical enabler of faster time-to-cash is often overlooked: the business payments network. Bottomline has statistical evidence that supports the idea that networks can be the key to transforming the cash cycle. Our business payments network, Paymode, connects hundreds of thousands of businesses to exchange secure, automated payments, solving the fragmentation that can otherwise slow cash flow across receivables and payables.
CFOs Need Integration
The Time-to-Cash Score from PYMNTs, built on 12 performance indicators, reveals that even high-performing firms struggle with late payments, manual invoice approvals, and disconnected finance systems. These issues are strategic risks that simply cannot be ignored.
Fragmented payer and supplier ecosystems mean finance teams are constantly scrutinizing invoices for errors, chasing remittance data, reconciling mismatched formats, and manually applying cash payments. This slows down accounts receivable, inflates DSO, and clouds visibility into liquidity. That hits AR teams particularly hard.
A robust business payments network addresses this by providing standardized, secure, and intelligent payment infrastructure, ensuring payments are processed securely, arrive when they should, and include the necessary data to apply cash. CFOs want to gain real-time visibility, automated processing and reconciliation, and predictable cash flow without the inefficiencies that come from one-off integrations and multiple payment systems. A network like Paymode delivers this flexibility and simplicity, making it possible to achieve these goals without compromising.
The Network Advantage: Faster Onboarding, Richer Data, Smarter Decisions
CFOs are also seeking time-to-value for their accounts payable function. A good business payments network delivers that by connecting companies to a network of pre-enrolled, fully authenticated suppliers and customers who already accept digital payments. The result is faster onboarding for electronic payments and immediate access to secure payment rails like Premium ACH and virtual cards. It also offers vendors richer remittance data, including CTX/EDI 820, which speeds cash application and keeps customer relationships healthy and strong.
Take the Paymode customer SPI, for example. By joining Paymode, they transitioned away from issuing paper checks and managing AP manually, tapping into our pre-built supplier network. By doing so, SPI achieved faster payments, reduced processing costs, and improved cash visibility. They were able to do so without having to stretch their AP team by asking them to call and onboard suppliers one at a time. The dedicated Paymode enrollment team took care of that for them, speeding up their time-to-value significantly.
Receivables: Where Time-to-Cash Begins
The Time-to-Cash study shows that cash flow management automation starts with receivables. High-performing firms have 27% higher AR automation rates, and the small but mighty slice of those businesses using AI tools effectively are leading the charge. But automation alone isn’t enough. Without clean, structured remittance data, even the best solutions and AI tools can’t auto-apply payments reliably.
The right network solves this by delivering consolidated, normalized remittance data tailored to each customer’s ERP. Whether it’s CTX, custom AR files, or portal-based delivery, Paymode ensures that payments arrive with the data needed for straight-through processing, automating a traditionally cumbersome part of the reconciliation process.
One large medical device manufacturer, for example, achieved 100% auto-application of payments after switching to Paymode, surpassing even their own international benchmarks, and outperforming other U.S.-based providers.
Payables: From Manual to Intelligent
On the payables side, networks should help CFOs move from paper checks and manual approvals to intelligent, secure digital payments. With built-in fraud controls, audit trails, and treasury-aligned workflows, Paymode supports everything businesses need to achieve compliance while accelerating payment cycles.
Why does this matter? Because time-to-cash isn’t just about getting paid; it’s also about paying smart. Faster supplier payments can unlock early payment discounts, strengthen vendor relationships, generate new rebates, and reduce supply chain risk.
Forecasting Confidence Starts with Visibility
The Time-to-Cash study found that 97% of high-performing firms are confident in their cash flow forecasts, compared to just 77% of those with less automation and slower time-to-cash. That confidence stems from visibility with integrated, real-time data.
A smart payments network centralizes payment activity across suppliers and customers alike to provide visibility. With real-time dashboards, predictive insights, and ERP integration for easier at-a-glance visibility in the system of record, CFOs can forecast with precision and respond to liquidity challenges proactively.
The Road Ahead: Automated Cash Flow Management
Nearly 9 in 10 top performers expect a 15%+ boost in cash flow cycles next year thanks to advanced AI tools. But AI needs infrastructure. Bottomline’s vision is to pair intelligent automation with a robust business payments network, creating a foundation for autonomous cash flow management that speeds, secures, and streamlines time-to-cash.
For CFOs, the question is not only “What tools do we need?” but also “What network are we part of?”
In light of the outsized need for automation, a business payments network is the necessary strategic lever for CFOs who want to lead with confidence, improve liquidity, and future-proof their finance operations.