Up Close with Tom Konz, Head of Global Payments

1. Tell us a little bit about yourself and your experience!

I've spent the last 20 years in payments, running various global credit card acquiring portfolios for WorldPay and Elavon. I have also run an integrated payables division for FIS. In those experiences, I have gained an in-depth knowledge of customer pain points as well as the various payments and money movement solutions that solve their primary issues.  

 2. Why did you decide to join JOOR?

As a global leader in B2B commerce, I saw a unique opportunity in JOOR to provide an embedded payments solution that could address many of the challenges facing buyers and sellers today. Solving both cash flow issues as well as inefficient back office process flows for JOOR's customers by integrating a global checkout solution represented an opportunity I could not pass up. While JOOR's base platform provides everything that established and emerging brands need to grow their sales, I knew that when we add the integrated checkout to that market-leading solution, we could create even more value for our clients.

3. What are the biggest issues facing the global B2B industry currently?

A key objective for brands is to access global buyers in order to increase sales. For retail buyers, they need access to more wholesale brand options. That presents both with several challenges. First, brands want to get paid as soon as possible before shipping products, and buyers want to hold onto their money because they need time to receive the goods and sell them at retail. This puts their cash flow at odds. In addition, having to deal with foreign currency exchange issues is both costly and time consuming.  Finally, the brands need to consolidate and streamline their back office processes and systems.  

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4. What was your motivation behind helping develop and launch JOOR Pay?

From my experience, B2B platforms lack the ability to offer a wide array of payment options to buyers, while being able to seamlessly convert currencies within the transaction. Additionally, offering buyers payment terms in various countries is generally not available for various reasons. I knew that if I could combine the right partners and their related technologies, we could build something truly unique and market-leading.

5. What specific issues does JOOR Pay solve?

First of all, cash is king. JOOR Pay solves cash flow issues for our brands by offering their buyers choice of payment modalities, accepting and processing those payments quickly, while settling the net funds to the brands. Second, JOOR Pay makes it easy for buyers and sellers to transact in a single, integrated solution. This helps streamline reporting and settlement for the brands, helping them save time and money in their back office. Finally, with JOOR Pay acting as the Merchant of Record, we handle all regulatory and compliance accountability, taking on all risk of fraud and related transaction loss.

6. How is JOOR Pay different from the technology that's currently in the market?

JOOR Pay is unique in that it is the most comprehensive embedded checkout solution on the planet. No other solution today can offer local card acceptance, bank transfers, PayPal and offer 60 day net terms across 135 currencies and countries.

7. Where do you see JOOR Financial Services in 5 years?

I see a tremendous opportunity to offer a host of financial services solutions to our buyers and sellers alike that will help them grow their businesses globally, like helping clients borrow funds to invest in their business. Our goal is to continue to identify critical business needs and create opportunities to meet them with innovative solutions to help our clients’ businesses grow.

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Interested in learning more about JOOR? Request a demo today.

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