VICOR Corporate Payments Progress Index (CPPI)

The inaugural 2006 CPPI stands at 55 on a 0-100 scale. That level indicates a generally satisfied corporate payments environment with transaction costs under control and investment in payment systems evenly distributed among the four major payment methods: electronic-funds transfer, or ACH; check, wire transfer, and purchasing card. The index indicates that 40 percent of business-to-business transactions are handled by electronic-payment systems.

The CPPI also estimates that in 2008, the index will stand at 65, with ePayments forecast at 55 percent of B2B transactions. The 65 level indicates the industry is approaching a major milestone which is characterized by high satisfaction, low costs and a larger investment in ePayment systems.

“We’ve known for a while that the payments industry is progressing, but we had no method to determine where the industry stands today or a method to determine the direction and rate at which the industry is moving.” said Robert F. Kirk, VICOR president. “With the CPPI, we now have vital, quantitative data on the state and progress of payments to share with such key stakeholders as financial institutions, technology providers and corporate payment managers.”

The CPPI uses a sophisticated model that incorporates three major business drivers: cost per transaction, ePayment investment plans and satisfaction level. Each of these three drivers are calculated based upon a weighted average across the market share of the four major payment methods.

Among the findings of the inaugural CPPI:

• Major drivers of the 2006 CPPI are the Cost and Satisfaction Indices - with each contributing 42 percent of the CPPI.
• Major drivers of the 2008e CPPI show a more even distribution among three sub-indices with: cost at 37 percent, ePayment Investment at 25 percent, an upward projection from 16 percent in 2006, and satisfaction at 38 percent
• As a shift occurs to electronic payments from paper, check-system investment is expected to decline with reallocation of capital expenditures to ePayment systems.
• Straight-through processing, or end-to-end automation of the payments process, is seen as six-to-eight years away.

The CPPI, conducted with assistance from Celent LLC, comprises data from more than 200 corporate payment managers who represent a broad range of industries and participated in the comprehensive survey.