The real problem with data nowadays is how to make sense of it. That’s why Visa and Amazon have partnered together to enable more transparency in transaction data for Amazon Business account holders.
Amazon announced the launch of the enhanced data tool today, which will allow business clients to gain more visibility into their transaction data, especially as the tool can be integrated with “popular expense reconciliation tools,” according to Amazon.
At the moment, however, this enhanced data transparency will not be offered across all of the businesses holding Visa cards.
Rather, the tool is open to those Amazon Business clients making purchases with Bank of America Merrill Lynch, Citibank, or PNC-issued Visas. These are currently the only banks participating, though more banks are expected to sign up for the service in the near future.
The tool is reminiscent of the Swift gpi network launched earlier this year.
Amazon Business, as the name suggests, provides a B2B marketplace where clients can access its over 45,000 sellers to purchase IT services or company supplies and education.
Visa, which also announced the launch of the tool today, handles a massive amount of payment volume from day to day—according to the company, Visa is capable of processing about 65,000 transactions per second.
For many banks, reconciliation and audit processes are a time drain–so having the data available to cut that time in half is sure to be appreciated. Some industry players suggest that blockchain could help with the process in the future; but in the meanwhile, Amazon should do.