Enabling Structured B2B Payments Through Digital Invoicing
The Irembo invoicing platform - transforming B2B payments with structured workflows
Irembo’s e-payment platform made it easy for Service Providers to collect payments online. But when it came to B2B customers, something wasn’t working. Businesses needed official invoices to get approvals, stay compliant, and keep their financial records straight. Without them, payments stalled, post-paid clients went untracked, and managing finances became a headache.
"Invoices are mandatory for B2B approvals and audits — without them, payments stall."
Irembo’s e-payment platform made it easy for Service Providers to collect payments online. But when it came to B2B customers, something wasn’t working. Businesses needed official invoices to get approvals, stay compliant, and keep their financial records straight. Without them, payments stalled, post-paid clients went untracked, and managing finances became a headache.
"Invoices are mandatory for B2B approvals and audits — without them, payments stall."
To understand the problem deeply, I conducted structured interviews with procurement officers, finance teams, and service providers. Here are the key questions that revealed their challenges:
What does your current invoice creation process look like, and how do you currently track payment status for B2B transactions?
How does the lack of digital invoices impact your approval workflow, audit compliance, and financial reporting?
What emotions do you experience when dealing with manual invoice tracking, and how does it affect your team's productivity?
How would automation and real-time payment status visibility change the way you manage B2B payments and client relationships?
The research revealed that B2B users valued clarity, compliance, and status visibility above all else
Procurement Officer
Organization: Mid-sized Construction Company
Experience: 6+ years
Context: Internal approvals, audits, monthly reporting
Claudine needs to ensure all payments are audit-ready but struggles with manual reconciliation and missing documentation that slows approvals.
Clear invoice status tracking • Historical invoice access • Structured workflows • Compliance-ready documentation
Head of Finance
Organization: Internet Service Provider
Experience: 10+ years
Context: Cash flow and post-paid customers
Eric needs predictable cash flow but deals with fragmented tools and manual tracking that cause delays and missed follow-ups.
Centralized invoice management • Real-time status visibility • Team collaboration features • Financial reporting tools
Procurement Officer • Audit & Compliance Focus
Head of Finance • Cash Flow Management Focus
Through research and empathy mapping, four main problems emerged that were preventing B2B payments from working smoothly:
Service providers couldn't create formal invoices within the platform
Invoices were scattered across emails and physical documents
Unable to track which invoices were paid or pending
Missing structured workflow for B2B payment processing
To solve these problems, I designed a comprehensive B2B payment workflow that guides users from invoice creation to payment completion.
B2B Payment Invoicing Flow: From invoice creation to payment completion. This flowchart illustrates the structured workflow for Service Providers and B2B customers through the Irembo invoicing platform.
Initial design exploration through sketches and wireframes - exploring different approaches to invoice management
The sketching phase helped us explore different interface approaches. We tested table layouts, card-based designs, and various status indicator systems before settling on the final solution.
High-fidelity designs following Irembo's existing visual language with table-based invoice list, color-coded statuses, and simple invoice creation forms
Familiar spreadsheet layout that B2B users recognize and trust for financial data
Instant visual recognition of payment status (pending, paid, overdue)
Essential fields only - no unnecessary complexity for B2B users
To validate our designs, I conducted usability testing with 8 B2B users. We wanted to ensure the system was intuitive and met their real-world needs.
Usability Testing Session • Duration: 45 minutes
Usability testing session showing users interacting with the Irembo invoicing platform
Create a new invoice for a B2B client with specific payment terms and line items. Users were asked to complete this task within 2 minutes.
Find and identify the payment status of 3 different invoices (pending, paid, overdue) from the invoice dashboard.
Locate and download an invoice from 3 months ago for audit purposes, then share it via email.
Assign invoice follow-up tasks to team members and set reminders for payment deadlines.
87% task completion rate across all testing scenarios, with highest success in invoice creation (94%).
Average invoice processing time reduced from 15 minutes to 4 minutes with the new system.
Manual data entry errors decreased by 73% through structured form fields and validation.
4.8/5 satisfaction score for payment status visibility and audit trail features.
The invoicing extension transformed Irembo's platform for B2B users. Here's what changed:
Formal invoice creation and payment tracking within the platform
Clear payment status tracking for both service providers and customers
73% reduction in manual tracking and spreadsheet dependency
Digital record keeping for audit compliance and financial reporting
This project taught me several important lessons about designing for B2B users:
The key insight: For B2B users, efficiency and compliance are more important than entertainment or novelty. Good design helps them do their job better, faster, and with fewer errors.