New research from American Express has found that 78% of UK businesses are planning to improve their payments processes, with 39% doing so as part of strategies to drive growth in 2025.
The ‘Amex Trendex: B2B Payments Edition’, which surveyed 500 decision makers at businesses in the UK, revealed that the majority (94%) agree that “easy, streamlined, and secure payments create happy customers”, and 89% believe they stimulate growth.
Nearly one-third (30%) of respondents identified late or slow payments as a common reason they have stopped working with a specific business, while fraud also affects trust levels.
Amex’s research showed that a single fraud incident relating to payments could significantly impact businesses’ trust in their relationships with buyers (79%) and suppliers (80%).
Of those surveyed, 27% said they spent too much time managing payments and recognised that automation could deliver a range of benefits, including faster payments (49%), reduction in errors (34%) and time savings (25%).
Among those businesses yet to automate their payments processes, cost and security were cited as the main reasons for not yet doing so.
Craig Barclay, vice president, commercial at American Express, said: “Optimised payments are key to strong commercial relationships and overall business success.
“Businesses can gain greater visibility into their cash flow, reduce errors, streamline processes and keep both buyers and suppliers happy.”
He added: “While it can feel like a daunting task to make changes to payment processes, the reality is that the time and cost to automate can be less than expected – and provide benefits both for the short and long term.”
Further reading: UK fintech Ryft partners with American Express
