Why Contract Management is Crucial to Supply Chain Success

Contract management is the drafting, executing and overseeing of agreements between buyers and suppliers. These contracts set clear expectations on delivery schedules, quality standards, payment terms and the allocation of risk. 

Done well, contract management enforces compliance with legal and regulatory duties, holds suppliers to their obligations, mitigates operational and financial exposure, controls costs, tracks performance and provides routes to resolve disputes. The result is a stronger supply chain with greater clarity, lower risk and the resilience to meet business objectives.

Mastercard applies this through a blend of digital and automated tools that streamline procurement and payments end to end. The company simplifies supplier onboarding, strengthens compliance workflows and accelerates settlement using virtual cards and straight-through processes.

Tulsi Narayan, who heads Mastercard’s Commercial and New Payment Flows business, is focused on transforming how money moves through supply chains and enabling organisations of all sizes to make payments more efficiently and seamlessly.

Previously, Tulsi led Mastercard’s Europe Security Solutions team, where she advanced AI-driven fraud detection and scam prevention. With a background spanning consulting and banking, she was drawn to payments because it sits at the intersection of technology, commerce and human behaviour.

At Mastercard, she brings these threads together to help shape the future of corporate payments across Europe, championing solutions that make supply chains more transparent, compliant and resilient.

In what ways are digital payment solutions transforming processes within supply chains? 

Data-driven decision-making is now essential for effective supply chain management – and digital payment solutions are playing a critical role in driving this transformation. Tools like virtual cards and embedded finance solutions deliver key benefits: reducing manual intervention, accelerating transaction speed and increasing security.

These innovations support near-real-time or early payments, improving liquidity for both buyers and suppliers while reducing administrative overheads. Automating these financial workflows also frees up working capital and strengthens supplier relationships by ensuring more predictable, reliable payment cycles.

By modernising how money moves through supply chains, digital payments are improving speed, transparency and resilience across critical business functions. The result is a more agile, collaborative supply chain that’s better equipped to scale, adapt and grow.

In what ways can embedded payment technologies improve efficiency and transparency between a company and their suppliers?

As consumers increasingly turn to digital tools to simplify and enhance their daily lives, businesses similarly are seeking more streamlined, integrated payment solutions. Embedded payment technologies are at the forefront of this shift, enhancing efficiency and transparency by seamlessly integrating payment processes into existing systems like ERP and procure-to-pay platforms. 

This integration automates data exchange between buyers and suppliers, reducing manual tasks and streamlining operations. Payments are uniquely identifiable and directly linked to detailed transaction data, enabling finance teams to audit and reconcile quickly without relying on paperwork. Faster, more predictable payments improve cash flow visibility and reduce friction, helping to strengthen supplier relationships and build trust.

With near-real-time visibility into spending, companies can better monitor contract compliance, track payment schedules and resolve discrepancies promptly. This transparency reduces errors and strengthens financial controls across the supply chain. 

Additionally, embedded payments enable automated approval workflows, allowing teams to focus less on administrative tasks and more on fostering stronger supplier relationships and strategic initiatives.

What are the key challenges in integrating digital payment solutions and how can they be overcome? 

One of the key challenges in integrating digital payment solutions is dealing with legacy systems that aren’t designed for modern payment technologies, leading to manual processes and fragmented workflows. This makes adoption difficult for many companies. In recent research from Mastercard, 69% of procurement leaders surveyed in Europe cited technical complexity as the main barrier to adopting embedded finance solutions for procurement.

At Mastercard, we’re helping businesses overcome these challenges by embedding payments within existing ERP, P2P and AP platforms that many corporates are already using today, meaning no additional, custom development is required. 

Ease of integration, as well as one to many connections, is critical. We recently announced our Commercial Connect API, currently being piloted in Europe, which will further simplify integration for B2B payments by offering a single, scalable connection, simplifying onboarding and reducing go-to-market timelines for embedding payments.   

Another major hurdle is supplier onboarding, which traditionally involves lengthy, multi-department processes that slow adoption. We’re tackling this with our Supplier Enablement & Activation Service which provides end-to-end support, enabling faster and more efficient onboarding of suppliers and helping businesses scale their digital payment programmes smoothly.

How do you see collaboration between finance, procurement and contract management evolving with new payment innovations?

Payments have traditionally been viewed as a back-office function, but that’s changing.

Collaboration between finance, procurement, contract management and other business areas is evolving as payment innovations shift these roles from siloed operators to strategic partners managing the same workflow.   

Digital tools, such as embedded finance and virtual cards, are enabling teams to work more closely, with shared visibility into cash flow, supplier relationships and contractual obligations. 

For example, embedded payment capabilities within enterprise platforms streamline approvals, improve transparency and allow cross-functional teams to jointly manage spend and ensure alignment with contract terms. Innovative payment tools are ultimately supporting more integrated decision-making and operational agility across the business.

What emerging trends in commercial payments should supply chain professionals watch to better manage supplier contracts and relationships?

As businesses face increasing pressure to operate more efficiently and remain resilient, the demand for modernised, intelligent payment solutions is accelerating. Much like embedded payments are streamlining the consumer experience, Mastercard, alongside our partners, is delivering integrated technologies that bring greater speed, simplicity and automation to B2B transactions.

We’re seeing a clear shift toward more advanced automation tools that enhance supplier reconciliation and make virtual card payments more powerful and accessible for supply chain leaders. 

These innovations are setting the stage for a new era in B2B payments; one where embedded, secure and data-rich solutions help companies better manage supplier relationships through faster payments, optimise working capital and reduce friction across the contract lifecycle.

At Mastercard, we’re continuing to invest and collaborate to expand access to our commercial payments technology. This includes more sophisticated virtual card controls and aligning strategic infrastructure with user expectations – all with the goal of bringing consumer-grade convenience to the corporate world, helping businesses build smarter, more connected supply chains and tackle the complexities of commercial payments head-on.