In the Global Cybersecurity Outlook 2026 report from the World Economic Forum, 73% of respondents said that cyber-enabled fraud had affected them directly, or someone they knew, in 2025. Cyber-risk concerns are generally dominated by fraud and the new capabilities AI gives to those with nefarious intentions.
Accounts payable teams have never been more at risk. What can you do?
Trusting your platforms to keep you safe is no longer an option. When AI deepfakes have already cost companies huge sums, it takes more than 2FA to stay safe. Process is your friend, and with it, understanding your weakest points of vulnerability.
Process + automation = security
For organizations still relying on emails and spreadsheets, maintaining the status quo can feel like a safety blanket. But the reality is those systems are too vulnerable when emails are easily infiltrated.
Having updated processes that then allow for automation of those processes are what will protect your AP function. Removing email conversations entirely from the vendor onboarding process will not only protect you, but your vendors as well. When using NetSuite to handle your financials, taking advantage of the full suite of capabilities will then ensure that all your financial information, including sensitive banking details to handle payments to your vendors, are kept safe and secure, all in one location. No emails with bank details, no keeping track of different payment methods, no going back-and-forth, and missing payments because information was copied incorrectly.
Understanding business email compromise
The biggest source of fraudulent attacks come from your email – often phishing. This is otherwise known as business email compromise (BEC).
And realistically, in this day and age, it can be almost impossible to keep your emails safe.
Between increasingly advanced phishing attacks, AI-created deepfakes impersonating executives, phone number spoofing to crack two-factor authentication, and all the nefarious ways hackers can gain access to your organization, there is simply too much to stay vigilant against. Both technology and social engineering have become too sophisticated to battle against with anti-phishing training from your IT departments.
So how do you fight it?
Fight technology with technology
Using your ERP, like NetSuite, to bypass email exchanges entirely is one of the safest ways to import vendor information and sensitive banking details with Charted Advanced Vendor Onboarding. By using automation embedded within NetSuite to onboard vendors with custom forms ensures there is no email back-and-forth, and vendors can input their own information directly into your NetSuite instance. This format is crucial to maintain security; there are no easily accessible emails with bank information, and by having vendors input their own information, the information is more likely to be entered correctly.
By creating a one-stop-shop for vendors, inputting information is easily handled and kept safe throughout the entire onboarding process. Vendors also don’t need to set up their own passwords, and by relying on an embedded tool like Charted, there is no third-party organization managing the vendor information. Everything is available to your team, ensuring you own your vendor relationship from the very beginning.
