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Capita
International business process outsourcing and professional services company Capita outlines how Lloyds’ commercial card solution helped generate efficiency and accuracy improvements across the organisation.
Read time: 3 mins Added: 17/06/25
Outsourcer Capita has gone through a transformative few years, introducing a raft of changes designed to make itself more efficient and competitive, including revolutionising the way it pays suppliers.
Edward Boyns, Group Transformation and Operations Director at Capita, identified an opportunity to overhaul the group’s purchasing, which used physical commercial cards and one-time suppliers being set up on the vendor system to be paid.
Recognising the potential for virtual cards to overcome inherent inefficiencies, he began shopping around for a solution.
And it was Lloyds commercial cards that came up trumps, offering a solution that provided improved payment performance, efficiency, accuracy and oversight.
Edward said: “Lloyds won the tender on the basis that they listened to what our objectives were and articulated how they could support us in achieving them.
“For us, it was about reducing the amount of red tape and time it takes people to buy things at Capita. The key is using proportional controls for the payment needed.
“The harder we make it for colleagues to complete transactions, the longer it takes them, and that’s time they're not spending generating value for the organisation.”
The solution involved a multi-tiered approach. Phase one involved implementing a virtual card batch upload process for one-time purchases to be raised, approved and purchased without creating a new vendor ID. Phase two targeted embedded payment cards with the suitable suppliers to receive payments on receipt of electronic invoices in real time using a third-party payment service provider.
This in turn reduces the high volume/low value invoices from the accounts payable function by using purchase order numbers to reconcile the payment with the invoice.
Easier and more efficient
Edward said: “For one-time vendors, using virtual cards in this way is far more efficient than setting up new suppliers and raising purchase orders, and has been transformational.
“It makes colleagues’ lives so much easier. They only have to fill out a form with 10 fields of information and within two hours, they'll get a card via email that they can use to make a purchase.
“The time associated with managing and administering every purchase order was around £50, whereas with transactions through the card channel, that cost is reduced to £5.”
Additionally Capita has embarked on the use of embedded payments to pay suppliers more quickly in exchange for the electronic invoice data. This is particularly important to Capita as it is committed to being a responsible business and complying with the Fair Payment Code.
That’s particularly true where there may be discrepancies on invoices.
Edward adds: “One of the key requirements for any payment system is how we ingest invoice information.
“That for me, is where cards can make a really big difference, because we invest so much time looking at and correcting faulty invoice information.
“So, if we can standardise the invoice data coming into Capita it enables us to do it more accurately and quickly with cards, then we can pay people much more efficiently and it’s a win-win situation for everyone.”
It makes colleagues’ lives so much easier. They only have to fill out a form with 10 fields of information and within two hours, they'll get a card via email that they can use to make a purchase.
Edward Boyns Group Transformation and Operations Director, CapitaAnother priority for Edward was to simplify the supplier onboarding process, which can be onerous and time consuming, particularly for one-time vendors and SMEs.
He said: “Supplier onboarding processes can involve a lot of due diligence for both sides, so we were keen to find a solution that was more supportive of our SME suppliers.
“The whole idea behind using a payment card is that suppliers have already been through all that due diligence with their bank, so we can be confident that we don’t need to repeat that process.
“Not only that, it enables more prompt payments because as you provide a card payment to somebody, they'll receive the funds in four to five working days, which is good for them and it supports our fair payment targets as well.”
A strategic partnership
And Lloyds' payment solution incorporates OPTIMA, a tool that enables Capita to analyse all the firms in its supply chain to understand which are already set up to accept embedded payments and so can bypass the onboarding process.
The tool has also identified a number of other business cases for cards, which are being advanced through the partnership with Lloyds.
Not surprisingly, the new system has been warmly welcomed by Edward’s Capita colleagues, especially as it utilises platforms that were already used in the firm’s previous payment solution and that they were already familiar with.
And, with an ongoing relationship with Lloyds now in place, the potential for further efficiency gains is very real, with ongoing support and consultancy provided by Lloyds, which helps Capita continually optimise its card program and explore new opportunities.
Andrew Pearl, Director, Commercial Cards at Lloyds, said: “Capita is going through a period of transformation and there was clearly an opportunity to introduce card payment solutions into the procure-to-pay process to meet the client's objectives.
Introducing card payments has generated clear benefits both for Capita and its suppliers in terms of payment performance, efficiency, accuracy and security. Through our ongoing strategic partnership, we’ll continue to finesse the service we provide for Capita as it works to drive efficiencies throughout the organisation.
Andrew Pearl Director, Commercial Cards, Lloyds Corporate & InstitutionalLet's help you get to the right person
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