• Brandon Spear, CEO at TreviPay


• 08.12.2025 11:45 am
#TreviPay #B2BPayments

What 2025 was all about

"Over the past few years, businesses have accelerated digitization, automation, and global scaling, yet in many cases, B2B payments remain largely manual. However, in 2025, we can finally see payments becoming embedded, intelligent, and proactive. That’s a shift that is fundamentally transforming how businesses buy, sell, and manage cash."

What we’ll start to see in 2026

"The most important innovations in e-commerce won’t be about faster checkout buttons or sleeker portals, but about making payments so seamless that buyers hardly notice them. Welcome to the age of invisible payments where processing transactions no longer disrupts workflows or impacts customer satisfaction. Gradually, and across the board, payments will stop being a separate step and instead operate invisibly, integrated directly into the systems and workflows businesses already use.

“Here I’m thinking of the observation by IDC’s Kevin Permenter, who notes that we will soon need to visualize POs that, once approved, automatically trigger instant payments, or hitting a project milestone that effortlessly releases funds. As he says, ‘This level of embeddedness is blurring the lines between operations and financial transactions. It’s a game-changer.’

"The data backs him up and confirms the momentum: driven by open APIs, ERP integration, and customer demand for zero-touch, seamless experiences, the invisible-payments market is projected to grow at an 18.2% CAGR, surpassing $2.27 trillion by 2034. In practice, this could mean reconciliation disappearing as workflows and payments merge, cash cycles accelerating with funds released instantly upon predefined triggers, and—perhaps most importantly for your CEO—ease of buying becoming a strategic advantage, not only a convenience.

"The takeaway for CFOs, CPOs, and B2B payments leaders is clear: if you still view payments as a standalone back-office function, you’re already behind. Embedded finance will soon be an expectation, not a differentiator—and the businesses that adopt invisible payments now will set the benchmark for efficiency and customer experience not just in 2026, but throughout the rest of the decade."

The real business magnifier AI will soon be

"It’s no longer a cliché to say 2025 marked the shift of AI from buzzword to business driver. In finance, its real impact is only just beginning, with the next twelve months set to be about using it as the engine that radically accelerates your credit, invoicing, and collections work.

“It’s also important to recognise that this contribution goes far beyond automation, important as that is, and represents true intelligence that anticipates risk, prevents revenue leakage, and strengthens your customer relationships. Again, IDC has struck this theme, noting, ‘AI won’t simply automate tasks; it will transform credit and collections into strategic profit centers. Collections will move from debt recovery to relationship preservation.’

“In practical terms, that means you and your stakeholders, partners, and customers need to get set for smarter credit, real-time optimization of credit limits and terms, far better invoicing processes and proactive collections. I think we’ll see AI helping you understand your customers so well through their payment histories you’ll be enabled to identify churn risks before they turn into defaults. Think what a difference that could make!”

What needs to change on the global scene

"Despite some upheavals, global commerce remains strong, yet cross-border payments can feel like navigating a maze. Fragmented platforms, compliance hurdles, and FX complexity make these transactions one of the biggest sources of friction in B2B. McKinsey recently found 40% of surveyed brands experience friction in cross-border payments due to compliance, currency, or tax issues.

“We can’t wish these issues away,they need to be addressed. In 2026, the best approach will be to take every step possible to make cross-border payments feel as seamless as domestic ones. By investing in compliance-ready, multi-currency platforms, businesses can eliminate growth barriers, reduce risk, and unlock every opportunity available."

Moving to hyper-personalized, truly dynamic payment terms

“We can all be glad yesterday’s rigid net-30 or net-60 terms are increasingly relics of the past. Empowered by technology and heightened expectations, B2B buyers want payment schedules that flex in real time with their cash flow, project cycles, and market conditions.

“So this means you need to be ready to offer hyper-personalized, dynamic payment terms that adapt to your buyers’ real-time financial requirements. In 2026 and beyond, as IDC’s Senior Director of Enterprise Applications Research at IDC, Kevin Parmenter, has noted, ‘Forget rigid terms: suppliers must proactively offer flexible, tailored options. The expectation won’t be flexibility, but the perfect flexible option for me, right now.’

“Why we hope the research firm is right is simple: flexible terms turn negotiations into opportunities to build trust. Every day, we see buyers reward suppliers that anticipate and adapt to their needs.”

The world is changing, and we must flex with it

"We can’t ignore the wider economic realities behind persistent inflation, supply chain volatility, and geopolitical fluctuations. Healthy, well-capitalized suppliers are essential for resilient supply chains. I expect in 2026, digital tools, cards, and financing solutions will increasingly help suppliers protect cash flow while meeting buyers’ growing expectations for flexibility."

Your data-driven modernization journey is only beginning

"The big picture: the next wave of finance modernization can’t focus on automating more steps, it must unlock intelligence from data. In 2026, finance teams will rely on what we’re starting to hear our customers call truly ‘augmented finance intelligence’ to forecast economic shifts, optimize terms, and strengthen customer engagement. As IDC’s Kevin Permenter notes, tools for scenario planning, liquidity forecasting and a 360-degree customer financial view will be essential as ‘these capabilities allow finance teams to engage customers from a place of deep understanding’.”

And finally, ERP and API-first integration will become standard 

"My final recommendation is to recognize that the API-first era has arrived. In 2026, businesses won’t expect platforms to connect, they’ll demand seamless integration across ERP, CRM, and finance systems as the default. This shift to API-first will support your company’s mission by reducing reconciliation errors through system-to-system syncing, speeding up credit and invoice workflows, and moving you closer to a fully connected, integrated view of all customer and cash positions.

“In other words, by embracing the digitization, AI, and API wave, B2B payments is set for a hugely exciting 2026."