Generation instant: How digital natives will reshape B2B Payments

Jessica Cheney is vice president of strategic solutions at Bottomline Technologies.

U.S. businesses operate in real time. Their payments don’t.

Despite a decade of innovation in consumer fintech, B2B payments are still lagging – stuck in batch-based processes, siloed systems and fragmented infrastructure. But that’s beginning to change. 

As platforms like FedNow expand and embedded finance moves from buzzword to baseline, we’re approaching an inflection point. Not just technologically – but generationally.

A new generation, a new set of expectations

A new cohort of finance leaders is reshaping expectations from the inside. Gen Z and younger millennials are moving into roles across procurement, treasury and operations and they are pushing their organizations and banks to catch up. They’ve grown up in a world of instant everything. They expect payments to work as seamlessly as their favorite apps. 

On a recent coffee run, my daughter — a millennial and a marketing research data scientist — and I walked into a Starbucks and encountered a long line. I said, “Well, we’ll just have to wait for a bit.” But she had a different idea and immediately pulled out her phone and mobile-ordered from five feet away. I was more than content to stand in line and wait. She wasn’t.

Gen Z don’t understand why business payments should be any different from this.

Here are a few data points that illustrate this perspective:

• A 2024 Federal Reserve survey found that 53% of Gen Z (ages 18–25) would like faster or instant payments, highlighting an expectation for speed and convenience.

• More than half of Gen Z now use digital wallets, and 80% say mobile payment capability is important, per research from the Federal Reserve.

• Most Gen Z consumers (85%) prefer contactless payments, according to a PYMNTS study.

This is more than a UX critique. It’s a strategic shift. These professionals don’t just prefer seamless workflows — they assume them. When payment tools don’t integrate, their question isn’t “How do I fix this?” It’s “Why is this still a problem?”

They’re not wrong to ask. Today’s fragmented B2B payment ecosystem wastes time, introduces risk and limits visibility — the exact opposite of what modern finance teams need. In a world where data is king and agility is currency; delayed payments are a liability.

From inefficiency to opportunity, the shift to embedded payments

Modern teams want payments to be as fast and embedded as every other part of their workflow. They expect approvals to move in parallel, not sequentially. And they assume payments can be initiated, reconciled and analyzed without ever leaving the systems they already use.

That expectation is no longer aspirational. It’s market reality. Instant payment rails like RTP and FedNow are creating the foundation. APIs and embedded payment layers are enabling execution directly within enterprise platforms. 

What’s driving adoption isn’t just convenience, it’s outcomes. Embedded and real-time payments improve working capital visibility, unlock early-pay discounts and strengthen supplier relationships. They reduce manual overhead, cut error rates and shift the finance function from a reactive cost center to a proactive value driver.

Data is central to this evolution. Real-time payments generate rich, structured metadata that powers liquidity analytics, fraud detection and forecasting. With standards like ISO 20022 gaining traction, even mid-market firms can start running treasury playbooks that were once the exclusive domain of large corporates.

And the expectation of real-time data is non-negotiable. Lagging indicators and siloed systems aren’t just inefficiencies anymore — they are risks. 

The next generation of finance leaders doesn’t just want transparency. They demand it. And they’re building processes that reflect it.

Transparency, trust, and tech will define the future

Critically, trust in business relationships is now reinforced by transparency. When suppliers can see exactly when a payment was initiated  — and when it will land  — disputes go down and flexibility goes up. That visibility enables more credible negotiations, better discount terms, and stronger trading relationships. Here, trust isn’t just relational. It’s operational.

For banks, this creates both challenge and opportunity. The challenge: meet customers where they are. That means embedded capabilities, not standalone portals. Seamless API connectivity, not clunky integrations. And an experience that mirrors the mobile-first, always-on mindset of modern teams. The opportunity, though, is to become indispensable.

Financial institutions that enable instant, embedded, insight-rich payments aren’t just service providers. They’re infrastructure — quietly powering the liquidity, transparency and trust that businesses need to grow. 

The push toward instant and embedded payments may be driven by younger generations, but the benefits will be felt by all. 

Younger professionals expect immediacy, integration and insight in every aspect of their financial lives. Businesses and banks that meet those expectations will thrive. Those that don’t risk being left behind — still standing in line while their competitors mobile-order ahead.