New payment platform targets freight industry

Browser-based multi-purpose payment provider PayAnyBiz said it wants to make inroads in the maritime, trucking and logistics service provider industries to bridge the gap between payment and operations.    The founders of a cloud-based, general purpose payment portal that has made headway in the general aviation market have designs on penetrating the freight transportation industry, the company said in a recent conversation with American Shipper.
   The platform, called PayAnyBiz, is targeting shippers and logistics companies that receive maritime, trucking, rail, warehousing, and other related freight invoices. The company’s founders said the uniqueness of its system is that it “matches the flow of finances to that of operations.”
   “Today, the recording of invoices, gathering of documentation and payment process are time-consuming and disjointed,” the company said in a statement. “For example, the process of booking a freight container from Shanghai to Long Beach can involve multiple invoices and payments to and from multiple parties over four to eight weeks, big folders with piles of physical paperwork, paper checks or ACH (automated clearing house) initiated by phone. In short, many opportunities for mistakes or misunderstandings, and major inefficiency.”
   The PayAnyBiz system is based on allowing payers and payees to transact quickly via electronic check, credit card or ACH through a user interface designed to be easy to navigate.
   Founder and Chief Executive Officer George Reyes said that while the PayAnyBiz platform is targeting companies involved in freight transportation, users of the system can pay any invoice or receive payments, not just shipping-related invoices.
   “All invoicing and payments are digitized, and all documents reside in one easily accessible portal, through which invoicing and payments are initiated and sent,” he said. “Check payments, which research has found takes 22 minutes of staff time to execute, require only a minute to complete. Costs go down, efficiency rises, and everybody wins.”
   The platform includes different tabs for payables and receivables, and can be used on mobile devices or integrated in e-commerce environments.
   PayAnyBiz also offers credit to qualified users to allow service providers to get paid early and let payers keep hold of cash longer. This model is used by some freight payment providers, notably U.S. Bank.
   The portal seems designed especially with companies that struggle to process payments in a timely or cohesive fashion.
   In their discussion with American Shipper, Reyes and Executive Vice President Jose Quesada emphasized the lag between when invoices are issued and payment actually comes through, noting that this time prevents more efficient movement of freight.
   Quesada most recently served as head of ocean freight for the freight forwarder and 3PL SEKO Logistics, and before that, held roles at Kuehne + Nagel and Exel.