Uncertainty Is Complicated, but Working Capital Strategies Should Be Simple

For the past few years, the business landscape has been defined by two words that rarely coexist comfortably: uncertainty and innovation.

Across sectors, volatility in supply chains, capital costs and customer demand continues to test the resilience of mid-sized enterprises. Yet paradoxically, the same turbulence has accelerated a new wave of B2B innovation that promises to rewire how companies buy, sell and finance their operations.

B2B commerce has absorbed more technological change over the past five years than perhaps any period since the invention of double-entry bookkeeping. Procurement platforms have gone digital; supply chains have become algorithmic; credit assessments are powered by machine learning. For mid-sized firms that are often squeezed between the scale of global enterprises and the agility of startups, this has created opportunity and overload.

Technology has made liquidity more visible but not necessarily more manageable. The result, ironically, is that many finance teams can find themselves drowning in options rather than making data-driven decisions.

Amid the noise, however, a pattern is emerging. The mid-sized companies navigating today’s volatility most effectively are the ones focused on simplifying, not complicating, their working-capital strategies.

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Working capital is no longer a line item. It’s a resilience strategy. At its core, simplicity in working capital management means clarity about where liquidity sits, how quickly it moves and how it supports operations. This approach allows companies to respond faster to shocks, from sudden supplier disruptions to rate fluctuations.

“The Growth Corporates Working Capital Index 2025-2026,” a Visa report published in collaboration with PYMNTS Intelligence, found that working capital efficiency can unlock $19 million in average savings for middle-market companies.

The most transformative financial technologies now gaining traction are the ones that make processes less complicated, not more. Virtual cards and embedded finance stand out.

“The really progressive companies are getting in front of [the transition to virtual card],” WEX President of Corporate Payments Eric Frankovic told PYMNTS in April. “… They have to cut costs, they have to control costs, they have to keep a healthy supply chain.”

“We’ve been talking for years about … working capital management where dynamic discounting was at play,” Frankovic told PYMNTS in a separate discussion published Friday (Oct. 10). “I think one of the things that I’m really excited about is that next evolution … which is how do we make the buyer-supplier relationship strong and sticky.”

Virtual cards, or digital equivalents of traditional corporate cards that can be tied to specific transactions or suppliers, have become a preferred instrument for managing payables. They streamline reconciliation, enhance control over spending, and can extend payment terms without damaging supplier relationships. For suppliers, they enable faster settlement and predictable cash flow; for buyers, they preserve liquidity while maintaining goodwill.

As Abhishek, global head of B2B Acceptance at Visa Commercial Solutions, told PYMNTS CEO Karen Webster in September, virtual cards can soothe some of the pain points that exist between buyers and suppliers.

“Late payments are a universal drag on businesses of every size and sector,” with some firms seeing 3% to 5% of their working capital eroded by delayed receivables, Abhishek said.

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With interest rates remaining elevated and working capital tied up in longer supply cycles, mid-sized firms are under pressure to improve liquidity without increasing leverage. Tools that directly free up cash, by accelerating receivables, extending payables or reducing administrative lag, can deliver immediate impact.

The adoption of embedded finance, or the integration of payment, lending or insurance products directly into business software, is also expanding across B2B verticals. By embedding credit options within procurement or sales platforms, companies can access or offer financing at the point of transaction. This reduces reliance on external banks and shortens approval cycles.

The PYMNTS Intelligence report “Platform Power: The Growing Importance of Embedded Finance to SMB Success” found that about 90% of small- to medium-sized businesses (SMBs) said access to embedded finance is essential to their daily operations.

The emerging benchmark around working capital management is straightforward. It’s a technology that must clearly improve liquidity by shortening payment timelines, improving forecasting accuracy or reducing administrative friction. If the value is indirect or theoretical, adoption slows.

Many successful mid-sized firms frequently tend to describe their progress less as a digital leap and more as a process refinement characterized by eliminating redundant steps, enforcing accountability and maintaining visibility across the enterprise.

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