Manufacturing: Centralized purchasing with virtual card APIs

Virtual Card Spend

• Equipment & materials
• Freight shipping
• Office supplies

Summary

A regional manufacturer integrated Extend into their purchasing order system to automate virtual card distribution for employee purchases within the company’s existing procurement platform.

Challenge

To keep a close eye on cashflow, a regional manufacturer used one card to manage purchasing across the entire business. Because the same card was left on file with hundreds of suppliers, it led to occasional instances of fraud. When this happened, “contacting vendors and updating our information became a full-time job,” said the Chief Finance Officer.

Solution

Now they use virtual cards to mitigate fraud. When an employee needs to buy supplies, they submit a request through their purchasing order platform. The approved request generates a unique virtual card for an employee to use. While other solutions required using multiple systems, the company turned to Extend’s APIs to integrate into their P.O. requisition software, “giving employees one place to go to for purchasing.”

Outcome

Secure vendor payments. Fraud and wrongful billing now rarely disrupt business operations. Virtual cards protect the primary card number and control how much vendors can charge.

Maximized rewards. Requesting a virtual card makes it easier for employees to utilize the company’s credit line and helps the business earn more money back in rebates.

Convenient access. Connecting to Extend’s API embeds virtual cards in the platform employees already use, keeping purchasing activities centralized in one place.

Custom configuration. Using Extend’s API made it easy to create a custom solution for the company’s payment process. They integrated a few lines of code and launched in just weeks.

“Instead of forcing us to change, Extend flexibly integrated into our existing process.”