Amex Acquires Center to Bolster Small Business Expense Management

American Express is set to purchase expense management software firm Center.

The deal is aimed at helping American Express (Amex) bolster its services for small businesses, according to a Thursday (March 6) news release.

“As a leader in corporate and small business cards, it is our job to deliver innovative products and services that help customers run their businesses more efficiently,” Raymond Joabar, president for global commercial services at Amex, said in the release.

“By integrating Center’s outstanding talent and technology, we can save our customers time and money and strengthen our leadership position in commercial card payments.”

According to the release, Center’s software is designed to give businesses real-time visibility into employee spending, automating manual accounting tasks, streamlining expense submissions and reporting, and helping finance teams optimize decision making.

PYMNTS explored some of Amex’s small to medium-sized business (SMB) efforts earlier this year in a conversation with Tessa R. Dooley, the company’s executive vice president of U.S. merchant marketing. She noted that small businesses need to balance customer demand and seamless operation.

“It’s important that businesses make sure they’ve got the right technology in place to ensure that their front-end checkout experiences, as well as their back-end processes, are operating as efficiently and as effectively as possible,” said Dooley.

She said operational agility and cutting-edge payment technologies can help SMBs succeed, meaning that offering multiple payment options has become a strategic imperative. The company says its research shows that surveyed merchants estimate that a third of their sales are made with digital payment options like mobile wallets and contactless payments.

“Businesses should take a cue from these industry trends but also analyze their own customer data to tailor payment options that best meet their customers’ preferences,” Dooley said. “Offering different payment options to customers, especially during high sales periods like the holidays, can help give businesses a leg up on the competition.”

In addition to payments, operational preparedness is crucial during busy seasons. SMBs need to streamline inventory management and simplify returns across multiple sales channels.

“Prioritizing tools to automate and streamline your payment processes helps to make [a busy] sales period manageable,” Dooley said. “It can help businesses to manage their cash flow, save employees time that they might have spent on more manual processes, and help ensure that transactions stay secure.”