The Design Advantage: Outpacing Competitors in B2B Payments
The companies that have redefined industries didn’t just build better products—they built better experiences. Let's take a look at some shining examples:
Apple has fundamentally transformed the way technology integrates into everyday life. By designing a seamless ecosystem—where devices like the iPhone, iPad, Mac, Apple Watch, and AirPods all work harmoniously together—they set a new standard for connectivity and user experience.
Features like iCloud ensure that data flows effortlessly across devices, while intuitive interfaces simplify even complex tasks.
Apple’s design philosophy extends beyond hardware and software; they’ve created a lifestyle where technology doesn’t just work—it enhances how people live, communicate, and create.
Amazon redefined e-commerce by designing for ultimate convenience. They created an entire system that prioritizes speed, simplicity, and reliability. From the ease of one-click purchasing to the transparency of real-time tracking and the efficiency of their logistics network, Amazon simplifies how people shop.
With Prime’s next-day delivery, intuitive product recommendations, and even Alexa-enabled shopping, they’ve made the experience feel almost effortless.
By thinking holistically, Amazon turned convenience into their most powerful differentiator and reshaped the way the world buys and receives goods.
IKEA goes beyond just selling furniture; they create an end-to-end customer experience that transforms how people buy and use home furnishings. From their intuitive store layouts (yes, the "maze" is intentional) to their minimalist, flat-packed designs that make shipping and assembly affordable and efficient, IKEA consistently puts design at the heart of everything.
The common thread? They were all design-led. They used strategic design, which means working backwards from a commitment to a holistic user experience rather than just adding UX as an afterthought.
Now, consider B2B payments.
For decades, the industry has focused on functionality over experience. Payment systems were built with compliance and back-office efficiency in mind, but not with the user in mind.
As a result, onboarding vendors is a painful process, initiating payments is filled with unnecessary steps, resolving issues is frustratingly opaque, and reconciliation feels like a never-ending manual task. But this is changing.
The leading financial institutions and fintechs today are embracing strategic design—the same approach that transformed other industries—and using it as a competitive advantage.
Strategic design in B2B payments means thinking about the entire experience holistically, from the moment a vendor is onboarded to the moment their payment is reconciled.
It means working backward from the user’s needs, not just layering UX on top of existing systems.
It’s about designing for simplicity, trust, and efficiency at every touchpoint.
Key Principles of Strategic Design
Strategic design is not an add-on or something that is done "after all the real work is done". It IS the real work.
In other words, it needs to be a commitment to serving your customers with the best possible experience with your and company at every touchpoint.
- User-Centered Thinking – Start with the user’s needs and work backward, ensuring that every design decision enhances the overall experience.
- Simplicity – Reduce complexity at every touchpoint, removing unnecessary steps and making processes intuitive.
- Holistic Planning – Consider the entire journey, from onboarding to reconciliation, ensuring a seamless experience across all interactions.
- Measurable Outcomes – Design with business impact in mind, tracking key metrics like onboarding conversion rates, payment efficiency, and issue resolution speed.
By embedding these principles, companies create payment experiences that drive efficiency, build trust, and improve adoption.
Getting Started with Strategic Design
Strategic design is built on collaboration and unity, creating solutions that bring teams and ideas together seamlessly. It's far more approachable than many might assume.
The biggest challenge? Committing to truly understanding and serving your customers. Once you embrace that mindset, the rest falls into place more naturally than you'd think.
For companies looking to implement strategic design, here are the first steps:
- Identify and Map User Journeys – Understanding the full experience often reveals unexpected pain points, like CFOs struggling to approve payments due to lack of transparency.
- Conduct User Research – AI can assist in collecting and analyzing patterns, but human empathy is essential in distilling those insights into simple, actionable solutions.
- Build Cross-Functional Teams – Collaboration between design, development, and business teams ensures that UX improvements are feasible and aligned with business objectives.
- Start Small with Pilot Projects – A/B testing new payment workflows can uncover surprising inefficiencies and guide broader implementation.
1. Designing for Frictionless B2B Payment Onboarding with Progressive Disclosure
If you’ve ever signed up for a consumer app like Airbnb or Uber, you’ve probably noticed how smooth the onboarding process feels. You provide just enough information to get started, and the app guides you through the rest as you go.
That’s progressive disclosure, a core strategic design principle that keeps users from feeling overwhelmed.
Now apply that to B2B payment onboarding.
A vendor signing up for a new payment system shouldn’t have to fill out 20 fields right away. A design-led company works backward from the vendor’s experience and asks: What is the absolute minimum required to get them started?
The system collects basic company details first.
As AI runs background checks in the background, the next steps—bank verification, KYC/B, tax details—are revealed only as needed.
Smart document recognition speeds up submission. The entire process feels effortless.
This isn’t just good UX—it’s good business. Faster onboarding means vendors can start getting paid sooner, increasing adoption and reducing churn.
2. Designing for AI-Enhanced Payment Initiation and Authorization
A purchasing manager should not have to manually enter vendor details for every payment. A design-led system uses AI to pre-populate payment details from approved purchase orders. This eliminates data entry errors and speeds up transactions.
Authorization workflows should be intelligent, not bureaucratic. Instead of requiring manual approval for every transaction, AI should route payments based on spending limits and historical data. Payments to trusted vendors should be auto-approved, while high-risk transactions trigger additional verification.
The result? Faster, more efficient payment flows that maintain security without unnecessary bottlenecks.
3. Designing for Proactive Issue Resolution
The best-designed products anticipate problems . In B2B payments, a design-led company takes the same proactive approach to payment delays and disputes.
Instead of waiting for a supplier to complain about a late payment, AI should predict potential delays based on historical patterns and notify all parties with clear explanations and resolution timelines.
If there’s a discrepancy, the system should highlight mismatched amounts, suggest fixes, and allow self-service dispute resolution.
4. Designing for Secure and Transparent Reconciliation
At the end of a payment cycle, an AI-driven system should automatically match payments to invoices and purchase orders. It should flag any discrepancies and suggest resolutions.
The system should generate reports that are clear, actionable, and tailored to the needs of different stakeholders.
For ultimate transparency, some companies are leveraging blockchain or similar technologies to ensure payment records are tamper-proof and auditable. But the key is not just having secure data—it’s making that data usable and accessible for decision-makers.
Common Challenges in Strategic Design
Adopting strategic design isn’t without its obstacles. Organizations face several challenges, including:
- Legacy Systems – Many financial institutions operate on outdated infrastructure that limits design flexibility.
Tip: Gradual modernization and API-driven integrations.
- Resistance to Change – Employees and executives often resist new processes.
Tip: Strong executive buy-in and clear communication of design benefits.
- Lack of User Insights – Many firms rely on assumptions rather than real user data.
Tip: Conduct regular user research and usability testing. Use mixed methods and involve users into he evelopment process early and frequently
(For example, "power users" can shape the next version of your payment solutions).
Overcoming these barriers requires commitment, but the rewards are immense: greater efficiency, increased adoption, and a market-leading user experience.
Why Design-Led Companies Win in B2B Payments
Companies that prioritize strategic design in B2B payments see:
- Faster vendor onboarding → More suppliers onboarded, quicker revenue realization.
- Smarter payment flows → Reduced errors, lower processing costs, and increased efficiency.
- Proactive issue resolution → Fewer disputes, stronger supplier relationships, and higher trust.
- Seamless reconciliation → More accurate financial reporting and better decision-making.
Partner with WDIR: The Best in the World at B2B Payment UX
At WDIR, we help financial institutions, fintechs, and payment providers implement strategic design that drives real business outcomes.
