Table of Contents
- AP Teams Aren’t Fraud Fighters
- Payments Plus Complements Your Existing Card Program
- Premium ACH Can Extend Rebate Opportunities Beyond Virtual Cards
- Rebates Strengthen the AP Business Case
- Scale Gives AP a Faster Start
- ACH Still Carries Payment Risk
- Payments Plus Fits Existing AP Processes
- Day-One Acceptance Helps AP Move Faster
- Suppliers Benefit from Faster Payments
- Spend Analysis Reveals Hidden Opportunity
In Brief
Manufacturers have an opportunity to rethink accounts payable as more than a back-office cost center. In this webinar, MHC and Bottomline discuss how supplier payments can help reduce fraud risk, improve efficiency, expand electronic payment adoption, and create rebate opportunities through MHC Payments Plus by Paymode. The biggest takeaway: AP modernization becomes easier to justify when it can strengthen security, support suppliers, and uncover revenue potential from payments the business is already making.
Top 10 Webinar Insights: How Manufacturers Can Turn AP Into Revenue
Blaine Sanderson 
July 2nd, 2026
Accounts payable has long been viewed as a cost center. Payments go out, invoices get cleared, suppliers get paid, and the business moves on.
But in a recent MHC webinar, How Modern Manufacturers Turn Accounts Payable Into Revenue, I had the privilege of speaking with Kevin Monroe of Bottomline about how to make supplier payments a more strategic part of AP operations. The conversation focused on how organizations can reduce payment risk, improve efficiency, expand electronic payment adoption, and uncover rebate opportunities through MHC Payments Plus by Paymode.
While the webinar was created for manufacturers, the challenges are familiar across industries. AP teams are under pressure to do more with fewer resources. Supplier payment fraud is becoming more sophisticated. Manual payment processes still create risk and friction. And many organizations are looking for ways to modernize AP without disrupting the processes they already have in place.
Here are the top 10 insights from the webinar.
In Brief
Manufacturers have an opportunity to rethink accounts payable as more than a back-office cost center. In this webinar, MHC and Bottomline discuss how supplier payments can help reduce fraud risk, improve efficiency, expand electronic payment adoption, and create rebate opportunities through MHC Payments Plus by Paymode. The biggest takeaway: AP modernization becomes easier to justify when it can strengthen security, support suppliers, and uncover revenue potential from payments the business is already making.
Table of Contents
- AP Teams Aren’t Fraud Fighters
- Payments Plus Complements Your Existing Card Program
- Premium ACH Can Extend Rebate Opportunities Beyond Virtual Cards
- Rebates Strengthen the AP Business Case
- Scale Gives AP a Faster Start
- ACH Still Carries Payment Risk
- Payments Plus Fits Existing AP Processes
- Day-One Acceptance Helps AP Move Faster
- Suppliers Benefit from Faster Payments
- Spend Analysis Reveals Hidden Opportunity
01
AP Teams Aren’t Fraud Fighters
Payment fraud is becoming more difficult for AP teams to manage manually. Fraudsters and bad actors are getting more creative, especially as AI-supported tactics become more common. That creates more pressure on AP teams to spot suspicious activity, validate supplier information, and make sure payments are going to the right place.
But fraud prevention should not depend on AP teams becoming full-time fraud fighters. As Kevin Monroe of Bottomline explained in the webinar, protecting supplier payments requires stronger controls, better validation, and a trusted network model.
MHC Payments Plus by Paymode helps address that challenge through a closed network approach. Paymode vets both payers and suppliers, performs KYC checks, verifies vendors, and uses hundreds of data and security checks to help reduce fraud risk before payments are made.
02
Payments Plus Complements Your Existing Card Program
Many organizations already have some form of card program in place. That does not necessarily mean the full supplier payment opportunity has been captured.
During the webinar, Kevin explained that Payments Plus can often complement an existing virtual card program rather than replace it. In many cases, existing programs may only cover a small portion of total AP spend. The bigger question is what is happening with the rest.
That is where Payments Plus can help organizations look beyond the payments they are already monetizing. By analyzing the remaining supplier spend, organizations may be able to identify additional opportunities to increase electronic payment adoption and generate more rebates.
03
Premium ACH Can Extend Rebate Opportunities Beyond Virtual Cards
Virtual card programs are often associated with payment rebates, but they are not the only opportunity. One of the important differentiators discussed in the webinar was the ability to generate rebates through Premium ACH.
Premium ACH gives organizations another way to monetize supplier payments, especially when a supplier may not be a good fit for a virtual card payment. Because Premium ACH can carry a lower supplier cost than a credit card payment, it may create more flexibility and help increase payment adoption.
This expands the AP revenue opportunity. Instead of looking only at virtual card acceptance, organizations can evaluate multiple payment types and identify where additional rebate potential may exist.
04
Rebates Strengthen the AP Business Case
AP modernization is often competing with other business priorities. Even when teams know that payment processes need to improve, projects can be difficult to move forward if the value is framed only as operational efficiency.
Rebates can change that conversation. When supplier payment modernization can support fraud reduction, improve efficiency, expand electronic payments, and generate rebate revenue, the business case becomes stronger.
This was one of the key themes of the webinar. AP transformation does not have to be justified only as a cost-reduction project. With the right payment program, it can also create measurable financial value that helps the organization prioritize the initiative.
05
Scale Gives AP a Faster Start
Supplier onboarding is often one of the hardest parts of payment modernization. It can take time to contact suppliers, validate payment preferences, collect banking information, and move vendors to electronic payment methods.
That is why network scale matters. Paymode has a large network of vetted suppliers already prepared to receive electronic payments. In the webinar, Kevin explained that a significant portion of supplier spend may already be connected to the network on average, giving organizations a faster starting point.
Scale also matters from a trust and reliability perspective. Paymode processes high payment volume each year and applies rigorous security practices across the network. For AP teams, that combination of supplier reach, payment volume, and fraud-prevention controls can help accelerate transformation.
06
ACH Still Carries Payment Risk
Moving from checks to ACH is an important step forward, but it does not remove every payment risk. When organizations manage ACH internally, AP teams may still be responsible for gathering, storing, maintaining, and validating supplier banking information.
That creates exposure. If banking details are entered incorrectly, validated inconsistently, or changed fraudulently, the organization still carries risk.
Payments Plus helps address this risk by shifting more of the vendor validation and payment security process into the Paymode network. Instead of AP teams managing sensitive supplier bank data on their own, the network can help place stronger fraud and security controls around those payments and supplier relationships.
07
Payments Plus Fits Existing AP Processes
Modernizing supplier payments does not have to mean rebuilding AP from the ground up. One of the important implementation messages from the webinar was that Payments Plus is designed to fit into existing processes.
For organizations that are not using MHC NorthStar, the process can be as simple as creating a payment file or payment batch. For existing MHC NorthStar customers, Payments Plus can be integrated into familiar payment workflows, helping teams begin realizing value from payments they are already making.
This matters because AP teams are busy. A solution that requires major process disruption can create hesitation. A solution that works with existing AP routines can be easier to adopt and easier to justify.
08
Day-One Acceptance Helps AP Move Faster
Payment transformation often slows down when every supplier has to be enabled one at a time. That is one reason day-one network acceptance is valuable.
In the webinar, Blaine Sanderson of MHC explained that matched vendors can become visible quickly in the NorthStar payments portal. Once those vendors are identified in the network, organizations can continue creating payments from the ERP as usual, while Payments Plus helps direct payments through the right streams.
That helps reduce friction between analysis and execution. Instead of waiting for every supplier relationship to be built from scratch, organizations can use network matching and day-one acceptance to move faster.
09
Suppliers Benefit from Faster Payments
Supplier payment modernization is not only about the payer. Suppliers also benefit when payment processes become faster, clearer, and easier to reconcile.
The webinar highlighted several supplier-side benefits, including faster payments, flexible remittance options, and self-service payment visibility. Suppliers can choose remittance formats that work for their processes, including EDI, CTX, or custom AR formats. They can also access payment information more easily, which may reduce the number of “where is my payment?” inquiries sent back to AP.
That supplier experience matters. Better payment visibility and richer remittance detail can help reduce friction and support stronger supplier relationships.
10
Spend Analysis Reveals Hidden Opportunity
One of the most practical insights from the webinar was how organizations can begin evaluating their own opportunity. A spend analysis can help identify which suppliers, payment types, and transaction patterns may be good candidates for rebate generation, stronger security, and electronic payment adoption.
The starting point is straightforward: review the organization’s trailing AP spend and analyze where payment opportunities may exist. From there, organizations can better understand which payments may be monetized, which suppliers may already be part of the network, and where current processes may still create risk or manual effort.
For AP teams, this turns the conversation from general possibility into a more specific business case. Instead of asking whether supplier payments could create value, organizations can begin asking how much value may already be hidden in their own AP spend.
See What AP Payment Modernization Could Mean for Your Organization
Supplier payments do not have to remain a purely administrative function. With the right approach, AP teams can reduce payment risk, improve efficiency, support suppliers, and identify opportunities to generate revenue from payments the business is already making.
Watch the full on-demand webinar, How Modern Manufacturers Turn Accounts Payable Into Revenue, to hear the full discussion from MHC and Bottomline.
Key Takeaways
- AP can be more than a cost center. Supplier payments are often treated as a back-office function, but they can also support rebate generation, stronger security, and measurable financial value.
- Fraud prevention should not depend on AP vigilance alone. As payment fraud becomes more sophisticated, AP teams need stronger controls, supplier validation, and network-based security to reduce the burden on internal teams.
- Existing card programs may leave opportunity behind. A virtual card program may already monetize part of AP spend, but the bigger opportunity may be the remaining supplier payments that have not yet been evaluated.
- Premium ACH expands the rebate conversation. Rebate potential does not have to stop with virtual cards. Premium ACH can give manufacturers another way to generate value from electronic supplier payments.
- Scale can accelerate payment modernization. A large, vetted supplier payment network can help manufacturers move faster by identifying suppliers that are already prepared to accept electronic payments.
- ACH still carries risk when banking data is managed internally. Moving away from checks is important, but in-house ACH can still leave AP teams responsible for gathering, storing, maintaining, and validating sensitive supplier banking information.
- Payment modernization should fit existing AP workflows. AP teams are more likely to adopt new payment strategies when they can keep using familiar processes, files, batches, and ERP workflows.
- Supplier value matters too. Faster payments, flexible remittance options, and self-service visibility can reduce supplier friction and help preserve strong vendor relationships.
- Spend analysis turns possibility into a business case. Reviewing trailing AP spend can help manufacturers identify where rebate potential, payment security, and electronic adoption opportunities may already exist.
Blaine K. Sanderson
Blaine K. Sanderson is Senior Product Manager for Procure-to-Pay solutions at MHC, where he leads product strategy and innovation for accounts payable automation. With more than two decades of experience in enterprise content management, workflow automation, and ERP integration, Blaine has deep expertise in helping organizations modernize financial operations across SaaS and on-premises environments. Before joining MHC, he held product management and architecture roles at Bottomline Technologies and 5280 Solutions, shaping AP automation offerings used by leading enterprises.
