TORONTO,
February 19, 2009 – Recent economic forecasts suggest the
current recession may be deeper and last longer than originally estimated.
In that context, BMO Spend & Payment Solutions, a division of BMO Financial
Group (NYSE, TSX: BMO) offers its Annual Spend and Payment Strategies for
Business Survival for 2009.
“In difficult economic times, roles like procurement and sourcing
can truly shine,” said Terry Wellesley, Managing Director, BMO
Spend & Payment Solutions. “Companies that leverage these functions
to generate and manage strategies to eliminate waste, tighten loopholes
and create a sound financial footing will emerge stronger and with more
opportunities.”
BMO Spend & Payment Solutions,
which works with customers around the world to help them eliminate
inefficient processes and to improve
their business practices and controls, has identified three strategies
to drive optimum levels of efficiency and the accountability organizations
need to weather the current economic challenges:
- Tear down
the silos between operational and financial supply chains
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By eliminating divisional silos between these two critical backbones,
organizations can improve visibility and control over spending and investment
and optimize working capital and cash flow. Inter-departmental collaboration
streamlines the entire process from sourcing to payment for everything
from raw materials to IT consulting services. This drives immediate benefit
by reducing direct and indirect costs.
- Make Travel and Entertainment management a leading standard for cost
management excellence
- Ensure that travel spend aligns with corporate travel policy.
Mandate the use of corporate card products for all travel spend
in order to capture
rich data from each transaction. With the resulting increased transparency,
organizations can monitor policy compliance more effectively, drive
efficiencies and identify savings opportunities. This is a quick
win with immediate bottom-line benefits.
- Leverage technology to automate processes and improve control
- Technology makes it possible for organizations to reduce the number
of human touches to any part of the operational and financial
supply chain. E-sourcing, spend analytics, electronic invoice presentment
and payment (EIPP) and contract lifecycle management deliver advantages well
beyond cost cutting. This includes increased spend visibility
that drives
best practices, improved process control to ensure compliance
and the flexibility needed to navigate uncertain times.
A Holistic Approach to Spend & Payment
BMO Spend & Payment Solutions delivers a uniquely integrated offering
that breaks through the traditional boundaries between finance and supply.
CFO’s and CPOs require critical information and knowledge about
each step in an organization’s procurement and payment process
in order to make timely and intelligent decisions about how best to manage
their working capital. BMO integrates its existing banking solutions
such as credit cards, lines of credit, lending, cash management, wire
payments, trade finance and foreign exchange, for example, with a comprehensive
spend-management suite to create a superior, one-stop offering that keeps
both the finance and supply side connected and communicating in real
time, enabling them to more effectively execute their spend strategies.
With operations throughout
North America, BMO Spend & Payment Solutions
helps customers save money and improve productivity by eliminating
the need for paper invoices, purchase orders and checks, while strengthening
expense controls, broadening payment terms to vendors and enhancing
management
reporting.
To learn more, download
the webinar, “Do You Have the Right Spend
Management Tools to Survive the Economic Crisis?” at: www.bmospendandpayment.com/index.html.
About BMO
Spend & Payment
Solutions
A division of BMO Financial Group, BMO Spend & Payment Solutions
is a leading commercial card, spend and payment solutions provider in
North America. BMO Spend & Payment Solutions’ products are
widely used by Corporations, non-profit and government sector organizations
to manage, control and gain better visibility into their commercial spending.
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