Modern payment systems are digital. So why are we still asking people to decide whether a critical payment instruction can be trusted?
Peresoft has recognised a fundamental weakness in the payment process: when critical supplier information changes, the person processing the payment can still become the last line of defence against fraud.
Through its integration with Realm ID, Peresoft Cashbook can bring supplier identity and bank-account validation into the payment process – reducing reliance on emails, documents, phone calls and human judgement to establish whether critical supplier payment information can be trusted.
The integration is complete. The capability is available. And the timing matters.
Fraudsters are attacking the human
Businesses have digital accounting systems, digital cashbooks and digital banking.
Yet something as simple as an apparently legitimate email can still put the payment process at risk:
“Our banking details have changed. Please use the new account for future payments.”
The supplier may be real.
The invoice may be real.
The amount may be correct.
The fraudster only needs the person processing the change to believe the instruction is real.
Business Email Compromise and payment-redirection fraud exploit this gap. And as AI makes convincing emails, documents, voices and other forms of impersonation easier to produce, asking employees to identify every sophisticated attempt becomes increasingly difficult.
The question is no longer simply:
“Did the employee follow the process?”
It should also be:
“Could the process itself have provided stronger protection?”
One changed bank account can be enough
A South African court case illustrates the consequences.
A fraudster impersonated a long-standing supplier and informed its customer that its banking details had changed. Supporting documentation, including a bank confirmation letter, was provided.
The customer subsequently paid R866,726.25 into the fraudulent account.
The genuine supplier had never changed its banking details.
The customer was ultimately ordered to pay the genuine supplier the money it was still owed.
The payment process worked.
The trust process failed.
The answer cannot just be “be more careful”
Fraud awareness and employee training remain important controls.
But sophisticated fraud is deliberately designed to exploit human trust.
Where technology can help establish identity and validate critical information, the software should support the person making the decision rather than leaving them to make that judgement alone.
That is the problem Peresoft has addressed.
Bringing stronger controls into Peresoft Cashbook
By integrating Realm ID into Peresoft Cashbook, supplier identity and banking information can become part of the digital process.
This provides an opportunity to strengthen controls around the supplier and the information on which payments depend.
Instead of relying solely on an email, document or phone call when important supplier information changes, organisations can introduce additional validation into the process itself.
The objective is simple:
Reduce unnecessary human trust decisions around critical payment information.
Not because employees are the problem.
Because they are the people fraudsters are deliberately trying to deceive.
An opportunity for the Sage 300 community
For Sage 300 customers, this does not require waiting for a future integration.
Peresoft has already built it.
For Sage 300 ISVs and VARs, that creates an opportunity to start a different conversation with customers about payment fraud and supplier controls.
Ask:
How are changes to supplier banking information currently validated?
How much of that process depends on an employee deciding whether an email, document or caller can be trusted?
What would one fraudulent payment cost the business?
And, importantly:
If stronger controls can be introduced into the software they already use, why leave the user to make that decision alone?
Modern payment software should do more than process the payment.
It should help protect the process that creates it.
Protect the user. Protect the payment. Protect the customer.
The Realm ID integration for Peresoft Cashbook is available now.
If you are a Sage 300 customer, ISV or VAR and would like to understand how the integration works, speak to the Realm team.
Request a proposal and get up and running fast. One conversation. Simple onboarding. Ready to go.
Learn more about the Peresoft Integration here.
Jen Harris
jharris@my-realm.co.uk | +27 83 384 5056
Ash Web
awebb@my-realm.co.uk | +27 82 376 6446
Tiny Mokgautsi
tmokgautsi@my-realm.co.uk | +27 72 053 8376