Dive Brief:
- SAP announced a new payments service Tuesday as part of a broader expansion of the software company’s finance automation portfolio.
- SAP Pay, powered by Tereina, an SAP company, is embedded directly in SAP Cloud ERP and executes payments when an invoice is due, while also reconciling the transaction within the same workflow, according to the announcement. SAP said the service is designed to reduce manual bank-file handling, reliance on external payment processing and reconciliation delays.
- “This will basically give our customers access to a wide variety of payment methods, whether it's old-fashioned bank transfers or stablecoin transactions,” David Imbert, head of finance product marketing at SAP, said in an interview, describing it as a “new and strategic space” for the company. “You’re in your ERP, you’re approving a payment to your supplier — why wouldn’t you just directly execute and pay them?”
Dive Insight:
SAP is not the only ERP provider looking to bring payment capabilities into finance workflows.
ERP systems are evolving from traditional financial-management platforms into “payment command centers” as instant payments, treasury functions and financial automation move into day-to-day business workflows, according to a July white paper from the U.S. Faster Payments Council, an industry group.
Embedding instant payments into ERP workflows can give CFOs and treasurers more timely visibility into cash and liquidity while helping optimize working capital and reducing reliance on bank portals, manual uploads and reconciliation tools, the council said.
But instant payments also change the risk profile for companies. Because some payments are irrevocable, companies need stronger fraud controls, authentication frameworks and stop-payment protocols, according to the paper.
The paper cites Oracle and Microsoft Dynamics as examples of ERP platforms integrating payment capabilities directly into enterprise workflows.
“What differentiates SAP Pay is that by embedding payment execution directly into SAP Cloud ERP, we’re bringing payment execution, reconciliation, controls and auditability into the same workflow and the same business context,” an SAP spokesperson said.
SAP said its new payment feature supports electronic funds transfers including automated clearing house payments, wires and checks, as well as stablecoin-based settlement for cross-border transactions. The service is generally available in the U.S. and U.K. A global distributor of networking and wireless broadband solutions is already using the service for supplier and treasury payments, SAP said.
SAP Pay was unveiled alongside a suite of new AI assistants designed to automate workflows across finance and other business functions. The rollout included a pricing assistant designed to help finance and commercial teams adjust prices to meet revenue and margin goals, as well as a disclosure assistant that automates parts of the financial reporting process.
SAP said it is planning to launch additional specialized AI agents for other processes, including financial close, planning, treasury, billing, tax and receivables management. Early adopter programs for these assistants are planned for the first quarter of 2027, the company said.
