COVID-19 Amplifies Supply Chain Complexities. Quartix Unties Them
By now, we’re all aware of the impact COVID-19 has on global trade and businesses. Uncertainties in the markets rise, operating risks are elevated, and the items that are at the top of your priority list are impacted.
On this post we’ll share our perspective on how COVID-19 impacts commercial operating priorities, how it amplifies existing supply chain complexities, and how Quartix can help untie them by augmenting real time data and external liquidity, in a collaborative way.
COVID-19 brings liquidity and business continuity issues to the forefront
If you’re a manufacturer, distributor, or retailer, the following are probably high on your agenda today:
- Staying liquid- During times of uncertainty, cash is king.
- Ensuring business continuity- This has many facets, but it is most important to make sure your supply chain continues to deliver – especially to the more critical vendors.
- Backing up your bank credit lines- As the economy slows, banks will likely begin to limit/reduce exposure to small/mid-sized enterprises.
Of course, these situations are always important, but when an event such as the COVID-19 occurs, they gain special prominence.
COVID-19 amplifies conflicts that impact these priorities
Paying vendor invoices later is one of the key ways to stay liquid. It significantly improves a buyer’s cash position.
Keeping vendors liquid, resilient and satisfied is one of the key drivers for business continuity. A buyer wants to make sure goods and services are delivered as expected. Vendors that are critical to your operation are especially important.
Payment terms between a buyer and their vendors are today a zero-sum game. Increasing a buyer’s liquidity by extending a vendor’s payment terms might conflict with the need to guarantee business continuity, since this will negatively impact the vendor’s own business. A dollar paid later by a buyer is a dollar collected later by a vendor.
This conflict is not new, but as both buyers and vendors want to stay close to their cash balances now more than ever, and the likelihood that banks will soon begin to limit credit exposure to small/mid-sized enterprises, the trade cycle dilemma becomes increasingly important, and a source of potential friction and risk in the supply chain relationship.
Quartix can help untie these conflicts quickly
Quartix brings external liquidity to the table and uses real-time data to increase transparency while optimizing the cost of borrowing.
This changes the game. If you signup as a buyer on the Quartix app, and on-board your selected vendors, all parties win.
Your vendors can collect faster by discounting approved invoices. They get optional discount offers at attractive rates, thanks to the fact that you share your payables data with Quartix.
You can pay later since we make it easier for you to extend payment terms (by providing early payment options to your vendors), and also allow you you to pay beyond current invoice terms without any impact on your vendors (they'd get paid on time by Quartix).
Quartix is considered a collaborative platform – your payables data help optimize rates for your vendors, which in turn increases your flexibility to pay later. This way, both you and your vendors increase liquidity and business continuity together.
Join quickly, whether you’re a buyer or a vendor
No one knows how long COVID-19’s impact will last, but we can definitely share how long it takes to on-board Quartix!
If you’re a buyer, you’d be up and running in about 2 weeks:
- The service agreement is unsecured, co-existing with your bank credit facilities
- Credit check takes only a few days, to make sure you qualify.
- ERP integration is not required.
- Quartix on-boards your selected / approved vendors.
On-boarding Quartix as a vendor is even simpler, via a non-recourse invoice purchase agreement that takes 10 minutes to read and execute.
Right now, many employees are hunkering down at home. No worries. On-boarding and using the Quartix app can be done completely remotely, as long as you have internet access!
Already on Quartix as a buyer? You can start enjoying ‘vendor’ benefits too, by referring us to customers (“buyers”) you’d like to collect faster from.
Already on Quartix as a vendor? You can collect more invoices faster if you refer other buyers to us, or become a buyer yourself by on-boarding your own selected vendors!
Not on Quartix just yet? Schedule a demo and let’s see how we can work together!