By Inez Berkhof-Hollander is EMEA Vice President for TreviPay, the global B2B payments network
Payments technology expert Inez Berkhof-Hollander shares how AI is already proving its worth in at least one key B2B process
Skepticism around AI’s impact is widespread; has it really delivered results yet? I can’t speak for all aspects of enterprise workflows, but many finance teams are already using AI and automation to help optimize purchasing and payments.
What’s clear is that AI delivers the most value when it enhances decision-making, manages risk and reduces manual work; not when it attempts to replace human judgment. The real opportunity in B2B lies in embedding AI into the back office to drive scale, resilience and growth. That shift is set to define B2B payments in 2026.
AI is no longer an add-on in B2B payments
Going forward, AI will power credit, invoicing and collections—and not simply through automation, but by anticipating risk, curbing revenue leakage and helping strengthen a brand’s relationship with its customers.
The promise that AI could personalize experiences, power dynamic pricing and enable smarter decision-making is becoming reality. As we enter 2026, it’s no longer an add-on in B2B payments; AI is becoming core infrastructure that underpins how companies sell, get paid and manage risk.
One of the most immediate and practical uses of AI in B2B is fraud prevention. As bad actors increasingly use AI to impersonate buyers, spoof invoices and exploit payment workflows, traditional manual controls simply cannot keep up. AI can continuously analyze patterns, flag anomalies and adapt in real time, allowing us to use it to fight AI-powered fraud.
Beyond defense, AI is transforming payments into a strategic growth lever. Payments are no longer a back-office function or a standalone module; they are becoming a foundational layer to connect finance, sales and the point of sale into a single, frictionless experience.
AI now enables a B2B brand to offer more personalized and dynamic payment experiences, such as tailored credit terms, transaction-level purchasing controls and even dynamic pricing based on customer behavior and risk profiles. That level of customization was once impractical; today, it is a competitive expectation.
Data is the fuel to this personalization. B2B payments providers sit on vast amounts of transaction, spend and behavioral data, and AI turns this into actionable insight, improving underwriting decisions, strengthening compliance checks and predicting outcomes that were previously invisible.
For example, AI models can analyze thousands of data points to assess credit risk in ways that go far beyond static credit bureau reports. They can even predict when a customer is likely to go dormant, enabling proactive commercial outreach instead of reactive damage control.
Not more robotic. Quite the opposite
AI also plays a critical role in compliance and invoicing accuracy, particularly in complex regulatory environments. Automated checks can ensure invoices meet tax, mandate and regulatory requirements before they are sent, reducing disputes, accelerating approvals and increasing the likelihood of on-time payment. For buyers, smarter validation on receipt improves trust and processing speed; for sellers, it directly improves cash flow predictability.
The greatest value of AI comes from using it to remove repetitive, low-value tasks, so teams can focus on higher-impact work—building relationships, solving problems and making better decisions.
AI should never make B2B interactions colder or more mechanical. Instead, it can create a space for organizations to be more proactive, more personal and ultimately, more human. And that’s what we’ll see more of throughout 2026.
