The State of B2B Payments
In the highly competitive field service market, many companies are challenged to deliver high-value customer service while driving strategic growth initiatives throughout the organization.
Inside the changing landscape of B2B payments
The way small and midsize businesses (SMBs) manage payments is undergoing a profound shift. Finance leaders are managing more complexity than ever, facing pressures to improve operational efficiency, cash flow visibility, and fraud prevention while supporting business growth.
To better understand how businesses are responding, we partnered with Logica Research to survey more than 700 SMB finance decision-makers across the US. The result is The State of B2B Payments report: a timely snapshot of the trends, tools, and challenges shaping the future of financial operations.
What we found is clear: digital payments are no longer a nice-to-have. They're essential. SMBs are embracing modern platforms to move faster, reduce risk, and gain more control over how money flows in and out of their business.
From managing risk in an era of rising fraud attempts to tackling cash flow challenges with more flexible tools, finance leaders are rethinking their tech stacks and making smarter, more strategic decisions about the platforms they rely on to run and grow their businesses.
B2B payments platforms
When considering which payment methods to use for business-to-business (B2B) payments, SMBs consider digital payments platforms for their ability to provide increased efficiency, speed up payment timing, protect against fraud, track payments in real time, and integrate smoothly with existing systems and processes.
Overall, SMBs tend to leverage multiple solutions to make and receive their B2B payments, which most often take the form of ACH payments, wire transfers, and peer-to-peer (P2P) payments.
Cash flow management
Over the past 12 months, half of SMBs mentioned issues with their cash flow, though most did not need to take action to address it. Looking forward to the next 12 months, a third of SMBs expect to have cash flow concerns.
SMBs that did act to address cash flow concerns typically chose to reduce or delay expenses, use a credit card, negotiate terms with their vendors, incentivize early customer payments, or increase prices.
Payments fraud
Payments fraud is the top financial security concern for SMBs in 2025, with half not feeling very confident in the security measures their companies have implemented. These security measures also come with pain points, such as taking up too much time and being too expensive.
Half of SMBs experienced an attempted or confirmed case of payments fraud in the past 12 months, and 1 in 4 report that the case resulted in the fraudulent transfer of funds out of their company. Among those that did experience confirmed payments fraud, common actions included reaching out to their banking partner for assistance, implementing stricter security measures, and reviewing their payment methods.
Future growth
Most respondents said their companies grew over the last three years. Some reported needing to switch payment solutions as a direct result of that growth to get access to additional security and fraud protection.
When looking ahead, SMBs expect their future B2B payment solutions to offer enhanced security, faster processing and turnaround times, and improved payments tracking.
For finance teams, real-time cash flow transparency and segregation of duties top the list of financial controls that help direct decision-making and maintain data integrity.
SMBs favor digital solutions for making and receiving B2B payments
When processing B2B payments, SMBs tend to use digital solutions. Online bank portals and digital payments providers are the most common methods for both making and receiving B2B payments. Other common methods include physical credit cards, money transfer apps, and paper checks. On average, SMBs use four different payment solutions to make and receive all of their B2B payments.
When using solutions that allow multiple payment types, such as online bank portals, the top payment types made and received are ACH, wire transfers, and peer-to-peer payments.
When they occur, B2B payment delays are caused by internal issues
Most SMBs report always making their B2B payments on time, though 1 in 3 admit to sometimes being late. Short payment terms and bank account overdraft concerns are two of the biggest reasons SMBs report being late to make a B2B payment.
Issues with internal workflows and payment methods—such as bottlenecks, slow processing times, and poor navigability—also contribute to making late B2B payments. SMBs that use paper checks as a top payment method report the highest rate of making late B2B payments.
Digital payments platforms: Users consider them essential
Among the SMBs that use them, digital payments platforms play a critical role in operations. More than 4 in 5 SMBs say their digital payments platform is important or essential to their company’s ability to make or receive B2B payments, as well as important to their company’s ability to successfully grow and scale.
SMBs want digital payments platforms that fit needs and budget
Efficiency, speed, and fraud protection are top of mind for SMBs when choosing a digital payments platform. Alongside increased efficiency and faster payments timing, SMBs also consider “a good value for the money” a top attribute when choosing a digital payments platform, indicating they’re keeping costs top of mind.
The most important features that SMBs are looking for include fraud protection, real-time payments tracking, and seamless integration with existing systems.
Cash flow concerns are common and can last months
Half of SMBs have experienced cash flow concerns, though most did not have to take action to address them. Over a third of SMBs that had cash flow concerns in the past 12 months reported their concerns lasting three months or longer.
Among the SMBs that did need to act on their cash flow concerns, the most common responses were to reduce or delay expenses or pay with a credit card. Negotiating longer payment terms with vendors, offering discounts for early customer payments, and increasing prices were other common approaches to alleviating cash flow concerns.
Future cash flow concerns can be solved with speed and flexibility
One-third of SMBs expect to have concerns about their cash flow in the next 12 months. Among those anticipating future cash flow issues, 1 in 3 expect to need to take action to address them.
When considering different methods to combat potential cash flow concerns, SMBs believe faster and instantaneous payments, flexible acceptance options, business credit cards, and improved visibility into spending would be the most effective.
Payments fraud is top of mind for 2025
Payments fraud is one of the top financial security issues for SMBs in 2025. SMBs say they are most concerned about payments fraud this year, above vendor fraud and employee theft. Given their concerns, nearly all SMBs report that their company has implemented some form of security measures specifically to combat B2B payments fraud.
Despite being ubiquitous, half of SMBs are not very confident in the efficacy of the B2B payments fraud security measures their company has implemented. This suggests an opportunity to help SMBs feel better protected.
Security measures are common but not without issues
SMBs are proactively implementing measures to combat B2B payments fraud, but they do come with pain points. The most common security measures include regularly monitoring transactions and limiting the sharing of sensitive financial information. Leveraging digital payments platforms and identity theft monitoring are also common tools.
In comparison, AI-powered tools are not yet widely used to combat B2B payments fraud.
At the same time, most SMBs report at least one pain point with their B2B payments fraud security measures, typically saying they are too time-consuming and expensive.
In the last three years, most SMBs experienced growth
SMBs are more likely to report that their company grew rather than shrank over the last three years. Among the two-thirds of SMBs that reported growth, the average growth rate was 22% over the last three years.
Three in 10 SMBs report switching their payment solution as a direct result of their company’s growth, typically due to a need for enhanced security and fraud protection, access to additional features, and faster processing speeds.
In the future, SMBs will still prioritize security and speed
Security, followed by speed and efficiency, will continue to be important as SMBs consider the future of B2B payment solutions. Over the next three years, SMBs will need their B2B payment solutions to deliver enhanced security, faster processing and turnaround times, and improved payments tracking capabilities.
They expect B2B payment solutions to offer improved convenience, followed by better cash flow management, access to new features, enhanced security, and AI-powered tools.
About the study
The State of B2B Payments was based on a market survey fielded by Logica Research in March 2025. We surveyed 746 small and midsize business executives in the US who have significant or final decision-making authority over their company’s financial software.
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