A new study from American Express shows a striking contradiction inside Australian businesses:
91% of business leaders believe streamlined payments are essential for growth — yet only a small fraction have actually automated their payment workflows.
This “belief vs reality” gap is becoming one of the biggest operational risks for wholesalers, manufacturers, and distributors in 2025. The pressure to shorten cash cycles, control credit risk, and reduce admin time has never been higher. But despite this urgency, most businesses are still relying on a patchwork of manual processes, spreadsheets, PDF forms, and staff re-keying payments between systems.
And the cost of this manual approach is increasing every quarter.
The Cost of Manual Payments in 2025
While leaders know automation is crucial, the numbers show that payment processes remain messy and labour-intensive:
- Staff still manually key credit card numbers into ERP systems.
- Customers still complete PDF credit applications that must be re-entered by hand.
- Invoices still go unpaid for 30–45 days or longer.
- Credit risks aren’t captured early enough.
- Collections teams waste hours chasing missing or incorrect payments.
These inefficiencies aren’t just “admin problems”, they directly affect cash flow, cash certainty, and the ability to scale.
When 91% of leaders agree payments matter but adoption remains low, one thing is clear:
Businesses know what they need to do, but the tools to get there haven’t been accessible or integrated… until now.
Why Businesses Aren’t Automating Payments (Yet)
The same report highlights three barriers that stop companies from automating:
1. Complexity inside existing ERP systems
Many businesses don’t realise they can automate payments inside MYOB Acumatica, Cin7 Core, or other ERPs. They assume the feature doesn’t exist or requires expensive custom development.
2. Fear of disrupting existing workflows
Accounts teams are stretched — introducing new systems feels risky, even when the status quo is inefficient.
3. Tools that don’t talk to each other
Most payment providers sit outside sales orders, inventory, or dispatch. That means more manual handling, not less.
These are exactly the barriers PencilPay was built to remove.
Why This Gap Is an Opportunity and How PencilPay Fits In
The divide between what leaders want and what they currently do creates a perfect landscape for a purpose-built workflow tool like PencilPay.
Here’s where PencilPay closes the gap:
Embedded Payments at the Sales Order Stage
Collect credit card payments before dispatch, directly inside MYOB Acumatica or Cin7 Core.
No switching screens, no double entry.
Automated Customer Onboarding & Digital Credit Applications
Replace PDF forms with a simple, digital application that syncs credit data into your ERP instantly.
Store Cards on File for Fast Rebilling
Customers approve their payment details once — you can charge automatically when orders are ready.
Auto-Billing for Repeat Orders
Turn manual invoicing and follow-up into hands-off workflows with automated reminders and payment retries.
Full Audit Trails and Reduced Risk
You know exactly which customers approved credit terms, which cards are stored, and which orders are paid before dispatch.
Instead of patchwork systems, PencilPay offers a single workflow from customer onboarding → credit terms → payments → dispatch.
What This Means for Wholesalers Moving Forward
With economic pressure rising and late payments becoming more common, automation is no longer optional.
It is becoming a competitive advantage.
Businesses that automate:
- Reduce debtor days
- Increase cash flow reliability
- Remove manual admin from finance teams
- Protect margins
- Speed up order processing and dispatch
Businesses that don’t:
- Continue leaking hours in admin
- Carry higher credit risk
- Deal with unpredictable cash flow
- Lose customers who expect convenience
The direction of the industry is clear — automation will separate the wholesalers who grow from those who get stuck managing their own bottlenecks.
Closing the Gap Starts With One Workflow Change
The American Express study shows that leaders know the truth: payments are the heartbeat of business growth.
But belief won’t move debtor days or fix cash flow. Action will.
Whether it’s collecting payment before dispatch, auto-billing regular customers, or digitising credit applications, even one step toward automation can create a measurable cash flow win.
And PencilPay is built to make that step easy.