Global freight solutions provider Cass Information Systems Inc. has launched Amplify by Cass, an addition to the Cass Financial Suite that helps enterprises and their freight carriers improve working capital levels.
According to a press release announcing the Wednesday launch, Amplify by Cass bridges the gap between a shipper’s efficiencies and desire to increase working capital with carriers’ need for timely payment. By adopting Amplify by Cass, shippers can provide carriers with an expedited payment option.
“By adding things like Amplify by Cass, now we provide working capital benefits,” Jeff Carlson, Cass vice president of global sales and marketing, told FreightWaves. “So now we’re bringing millions of dollars of true demonstrated value to large shippers and providing a lot better opportunities for early payment to carriers at a very competitive rate.”
Cass’ fully integrated freight payment solution blends invoice lifecycle management, optimized cash flow and payment options, deep spend visibility, and market intelligence to create a complete solution used by many of the world’s largest shippers.
How Amplify by Cass works
Let’s say a shipper asks a carrier to make a move. The carrier makes the move then sends an invoice to the shipper.
“Typically, what we’ve seen historically is that payment terms were somewhere around 30 days or so,” Carlson said. “What’s happening, though, even now in the transportation industry, is a lot of large shippers and large companies are trying to push out to say 60-, 90- or 120-day terms. A lot of carriers are just not built for that sort of cash-to-cash cycle being extended that far.”
Carlson explained that those carriers end up looking at alternatives ranging from factoring to going to their bank line of credit – something they could have been using instead for fuel or paying drivers.
Because Cass works with $40 billion worth of data from companies in over 185 countries per year, it has a finger on the pulse of the global supply chain. This better prepares Cass to make quicker payments to carriers on behalf of shippers while waiting up to nearly 60 days for returns.
“We know who these shippers are, and I can credit qualify them here too,” Carlson said. “We understand, going back to the data, what they do and how they do it … . Basically, we’ll take that invoice in and process it normally going through the audit process. If a shipper is signed up for Amplify by Cass as a shipper, then we’ll also work with them to bring on their carriers [as] a carrier for Amplify by Cass. Once a carrier is signed up for one shipper, they sign up then for all shippers that are also on the Amplify network. So basically, we’re building out a network effect here.”
For an Amplify carrier, Cass will make the payment two business days after the invoice has been processed and approved.
“Instead of the carrier being paid in say 60, 90 or 120 days, they’re going to see their funds in the bank in about two to four [business] days,” Carlson said. “For them, it’s a lower cost typically than what they’re going to be able to obtain from a factoring company or from their bank.”
(Source: Cass Information Systems, Inc.)
Following several rounds of beta testing for the program, Carlson said that about six shippers and fewer than 100 carriers are currently enrolled in the Amplify by Cass network, but that “we’re excited to now scale it on a much larger scale.”
“It generates significant value, literally in the millions of dollars of working capital benefits to the shipper here,” Carlson said.
“As Cass evolves, we are staying laser-focused on improving our clients’ financial performance through enhanced cash flow options, increased visibility to both spend and market data, and operational excellence,” Tony Urban, president of Cass’ freight payment organization, said in a press release. “We have teams focused on all of the above. This is an exciting addition to our service portfolio.”
St. Louis-based Cass is uniquely supported by Cass Commercial Bank. A wholly owned subsidiary, Cass Commercial Bank provides financial exchange services to the parent organization and its clients.