Enterprises have been using corporate cards for a considerable period, however, recent technological advancement has paved the way for new-age corporate cards. These modern cards are driven by technology making them more dependable and secure. 

The transition toward these new-age corporate cards is making modern businesses efficient, and agile; giving them a competitive edge over others in the market. 

Traditional Corporate Cards

The traditional corporate cards are different from personal credit cards as they are designed for business usage only. Often managed by the company’s finance department, these conventional cards are given to businesses for business-related expenses.

Features of Traditional Corporate Cards

Issuance: Often issued by banks and financial institutions, traditional corporate cards are linked to the company’s bank account. 

Limited Controls: The traditional corporate cards have limits defined up to a certain extent. For instance, there can be specified restrictions on certain merchant categories but they do not provide minuscule control for managing expenses.

Focus: These cards primarily work as a payment method with limited features for expense management.

Tracking: These cards provide basic tracking information by giving access to monthly statements that provide detailed transaction information. It lacks real-time tracking and integration with accounting software.

Credit-based System: The conventional corporate cards function on a credit-based system enabling employees to make purchases within a pre-approved credit limit defined by the organization.

Reimbursement Process: Employees have to pay for their expenses upfront and then submit receipts for reimbursement, leading to administrative burdens and potential delays.

New-Age Corporate Cards

The new-age corporate cards have been designed keeping the needs of modern businesses in mind. These cards can be integrated with spend management software to enable effective spend control and real-time visibility with no hidden charges.

Features of New-Age Corporate Cards

Issuance: These new-age cards are issued by fintechs or banks within minutes and can be activated immediately, providing quick access to funds. They can be both physical and virtual depending on the need.

Focus: These modern-day cards have built-in functionality for real-time tracking, budgeting, and automated reporting.

Tracking: These cards provide automated and real-time tracking with all transactions automatically captured and synced with the platform.

Reconciliation: Businesses can enable automated and seamless reconciliation transactions against receipts and expense reports.

Visibility & Control: All teams and their respective departments can have complete visibility and control over employee spending.

Management & Security: Businesses can easily set spending limits, restrict card usage to certain merchants or categories, and even block cards, if required.

Integration: These cards usually come with expense management software which can be easily integrated with accounting software enabling real-time spending dashboards, spending controls, and automated workflows.

Difference between New-Age Corporate Cards & Traditional Corporate Cards 

The inefficiencies and loopholes of conventional corporate cards have been replaced by the new-age corporate cards.

Ease of Use

New-age corporate cards come in both physical and virtual formats which makes them easy to handle. The easy feature to toggle between on and off switches makes it secure and helps keep in control. These cards are compatible with finance, accounting, and expense management softwares. The advent of virtual cards has mitigated issues like loss of cards and fraud. This ease of use also enhances the user experience helping them build trust.

Better Optimization

The modern-day corporate cards help streamline financial processes. They offer efficient spend control, and automated workflows with real-time insight into spending helping in optimal fund utilization. 

Better Transparency

Unlike traditional corporate cards, modern corporate cards provide transparency to the cardholders. Often, the conventional cards have hidden charges which is not the case with new-age corporate cards.

Long-Term Benefits

These new-age corporate cards help refine accounts payable by optimizing spend control. Businesses have end-to-end spend visibility which allows them to cut down on administrative overheads and thus help improve liquidity management. This brings long-term benefits to the business. Apart from this, automatic reconciliation, compliance automation, and zero expense frauds also lead to savings.

Ideal for startups, SMBs, and growing, modern businesses that would like to take the more automated and tech-savvy approach to expense management, these new-age cards are here to stay and break the mold for the better.