Fraedom
Unlocking the True Value of Card Payments

The banking sector is experiencing extensive changes and consumerization of technology, particularly driven by the consumer-focused retail banking experience. “However, it is surprising that many banks still trail behind in providing their commercial card customers with the basic ability to view statements or manage their card programs online,” begins Kyle Ferguson, CEO, Fraedom. Many banks are looking to the retail banker sector and its focus on the customer experience to build out their corporate and business card strategies. This is where Fraedom comes in. “We help banks make commercial cards the payment tool of choice,” says Ferguson. Fraedom can help to unlock the true value of card payments to their customers— through online statementing and card management, automated invoice payment, virtual card solutions, and advanced reporting. “Digitization is where our banking partners receive a real value-add from our services,” adds Ferguson.

Incubated within Deloitte 15 years ago, Fraedom started out as “myPcard. com” and provided customers with oversight of purchasing card expenditure through a web-based platform. Fast forward to today, Fraedom is now a wholly owned part of the Hogg Robinson Group, and is benefitting thousands of businesses with its payments technology and expense management platform. The core element of Fraedom’s offering in the payments space is online card management, a functionality that empowers businesses to easily manage all aspects of their card program and optimize the use of available credit. Cards can be managed online, in just a few clicks, without having to contact the issuing bank. Fraedom also provides automated invoice payment, for which the company works alongside businesses’ existing invoice approval process, streamlining their business payments. “This way, firms keep hold of their money longer and creditors get paid more quickly,” states Ferguson. To make payments more secure, controlled, and easier to reconcile, Fraedom’s virtual card solutions enable users to create unlimited digital cards that exist only for single transactions. The Fraedom platform is completely modular and integrates all major finance, ERP, and HR tools.

We help banks make commercial cards the payment tool of choice

“We can deliver these technologies either directly to end customers, or white labeled through our banking partners,” asserts Ferguson.

On the expense management side, Fraedom utilizes powerful technologies like Optical Character Recognition (OCR) to offer a mobile optimized expense solution that is easy to use. Businesses can snap a photo of their receipt with their smartphone, upload it into the Fraedom portal, and the company’s OCR technology will seamlessly read the key details of the transaction—simplifying expense submissions. Alongside this, Fraedom’s powerful suite of reporting tools provide key insights into a business’s spend, from the big picture right down to the tiny details, helping them make smarter business decisions. “Our mobile app is comprehensive and makes managing business expenses on the go simpler,” says Ferguson.

“I believe banks need to offer more benefits to their commercial customers than just financial rebates as commercial spending presents a massive growth opportunity,” expresses Ferguson. “It is not just a necessity, but a priority to secure and retain commercial customers.” Being uniquely positioned in this space, Fraedom’s value-add technology provides banks with a competitive edge, alongside delivering the insight their customers need to grow their business.

Moving ahead in this dimension, Fraedom is leveraging the available APIs and plugins to tap into non-core technologies such as receipt scanning to create a better user experience. For the coming years, Fraedom is determined to further refine and develop its payments offering for banking and corporate customers.