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Category: Connected Capital Blog

  • Capital On-Demand: A New Model for Working Capital Resilience 

    Capital On-Demand: A New Model for Working Capital Resilience 

    In uncertain times, companies need more than just traditional bank lending, they need speed, optionality, and creative solutions. At the webinar, “When the Heat is On: Working Capital as a Strategic Advantage in High-Stress Situations,” GSCF’s Lori Sternola discussed a next-generation solution: Working Capital as a Service. 

    This model combines capital access, technology, and expert services into a flexible offering tailored to today’s volatile environment. As Sternola explained, GSCF funds over $70 billion in transactions annually and supports companies across 75 countries, helping them pull the right levers, when and how they need to. 

    Key benefits of GSCF’s model include: 

    • Connected Capital: Access to both bank and non-bank funding, including AR financing and synthetic DPO extensions that don’t require supplier participation. 
    • Integrated Platform: Real-time visibility, automated workflows, and dynamic reporting provide agility and control, even under pressure. 
    • Expert Services: GSCF’s seasoned team supports clients in originating, managing, and optimizing working capital programs  

    Sternola emphasized that companies don’t need to choose between flexibility and control. “We built this model for moments like these,” she said. “Our clients can enhance liquidity, improve governance, and extend runway, without overhauling their existing banking relationships or internal processes.” 

    She also encouraged companies to challenge their providers. “You might think you’re out of time, but with the right team, we can assemble a solution in as little as two to four weeks.” 

    Catch the full story: Watch the webinar here. 

    GSCF Insight: Whether you need working capital to fund growth or stabilize operations, GSCF’s Working Capital as a Service model delivers fast, customizable, and frictionless access to liquidity. When the pressure is on, we help you move fast and stay in control. 

  • From Fragmentation to Control: Ingram Micro’s Working Capital Transformation

    From Fragmentation to Control: Ingram Micro’s Working Capital Transformation

    Ingram Micro, operating in over 75 countries, faced a challenge common to many global enterprises: a patchwork of local working capital programs that lacked cohesion. In the webinar, “When the Heat is On: Working Capital as a Strategic Advantage in High-Stress Situations,” Assistant Treasurer Brad Banga shared how this fragmentation limited visibility, delayed funding, and complicated compliance during high-stress periods like the COVID-19 pandemic. 

    Without a unified platform, each country team managed its own receivables financing programs using different processes and tools. The lack of standardization created hurdles in calculating costs, assessing risk, and delivering reliable reports to internal stakeholders or auditors. 

    By partnering with GSCF, Ingram Micro was able to: 

    • Centralize its global working capital data into one system of record. 
    • Standardize processes for invoice uploads, approvals and reporting across all markets. 
    • Improve governance and auditability, ensuring compliance and reducing operational risk. 
    • Enhance agility, allowing the treasury team to respond more quickly to changes in funding needs or market dynamics. 

    Banga emphasized the importance of future-proofing working capital programs: “Even if you’re just starting out with one or two programs, you need to build with scale and efficiency in mind.” 

    Want to learn more? Watch the webinar recording here. 

    GSCF Insight: Our technology and servicing platform helps corporates unify and scale their working capital programs globally. This can lay the groundwork for the Office of the CFO to move from tactical to strategic working capital. 

  • Strategic Planning in a Trade-Constrained World: Turning Risk Into Opportunity

    Strategic Planning in a Trade-Constrained World: Turning Risk Into Opportunity

    When tariffs rise or trade policies shift unpredictably, the ripple effects across the supply chain are swift and severe. For finance leaders, this isn’t just a compliance challenge – it’s a strategic inflection point.

    The Office of the CFO’s Imperative: Adaptive Capital Strategy

    Increased tariffs act like a tax on inputs, which tightens margins and complicates cash flow forecasting. This forces a shift in working capital strategy – from reactive cost containment to proactive capital reallocation. CFOs who treat tariffs solely as a line-item cost miss the broader picture: tariffs impact inventory positioning, supplier relationships, sourcing decisions and even customer pricing structures.

    This is where financial agility becomes a growth lever.

    By reassessing your capital structure and taking a connected capital approach, finance can realign liquidity to where it has the highest strategic impact – such as prepaying key suppliers to lock in price stability, investing in nearshoring to mitigate risk, or increasing access to alternative capital to bridge timing gaps in a volatile sourcing environment.

    Liquidity Under Pressure: Building Cushion Without Drag

    Tariffs, trade restrictions, and shifting geopolitical alliances strain liquidity in two key ways:

    • Longer lead times and higher landed costs: Capital gets trapped in transit or held in warehouses.
    • Disrupted supplier terms: Counterparties may demand faster payment or shift risk downstream.

    In this context, traditional metrics like DPO and DSO no longer tell the full story. Savvy finance strategists are building liquidity buffers not just to survive tariff-related disruption, but to deploy them as competitive advantages – allowing their companies to secure preferred vendor status, meet customer demand faster, or capitalize on distressed asset buys when competitors falter.

    Tariffs as a Catalyst for Strategic Reinvention

    While the immediate response to tariffs may be defensive (e.g., rerouting supply chains or raising prices), the long-term opportunity is offensive: transforming your capital allocation model to favor agility over rigidity.

    Ask yourself:

    • How quickly can your organization pivot sourcing or pricing strategies?
    • Do you have the right funding partners in place to flex when trade winds shift?
    • Is your working capital trapped in the wrong parts of your value chain?

    The companies that win in a tariff-laden future won’t be the ones that simply absorb costs – they’ll be the ones that translate those pressures into liquidity-backed decisions that fuel innovation and market share expansion.

    Contact us to see how GSCF can support your working capital needs.

    Explore our latest playbook for finance leaders navigating trade uncertainty.

  • Tariffs, Tension, and the Office of the CFO’s Competitive Edge

    Tariffs, Tension, and the Office of the CFO’s Competitive Edge

    The reintroduction of 25% U.S. tariffs on multiple countries is more than political posturing, it’s a macroeconomic shockwave that reverberates through every balance sheet. CFOs don’t have the luxury of waiting for trade policy to stabilize. The Office of the CFO must act now – to protect liquidity, preserve margins, and turn volatility into value.

    A CFO’s Reality Check

    The latest round of tariffs is forcing leadership teams to reassess supplier relationships, pricing strategies, and financing structures in real time. These aren’t theoretical risks – they’re immediate cash flow events. Procurement teams may be renegotiating contracts, but the lag between strategy and execution can be fatal to liquidity.  Unfortunately, the changeable nature of these tariff mandates doesn’t negate them – it actually increases the need for CFO’s to be nimble and prepared to respond quickly.

    That’s why GSCF offers a proactive approach with our Connected Capital model with alternative capital channels and integrated working capital programs to strengthen customers’ financial position and gain real-time control.

    Why This Isn’t Just About Trade

    Tariffs act as a slow-moving liquidity crisis. Margins compress. Suppliers become stressed. Cash conversion cycles elongate. If you’re waiting for your bank to offer more credit, you’re already behind.

    GSCF’s hybrid model has allowed us to:

    • Deploy alternative capital without increasing our leverage ratios
    • Maintain strong supplier ties by offering early payments without weakening our own liquidity
    • Access dashboards that model risk exposure across regions in real time

    This is not about riding out the storm. It’s about using the storm to reset how we finance growth.

    The Strategic Window Is Open, But Not Forever

    The 90-day pause before tariffs fully take effect isn’t a grace period – the run-up periods to implementation are a countdown. We’re using this window to help customers hardwire resilience into their working capital model. GSCF is a key partner in enabling that shift.

    If you’re still viewing working capital as an operational task, you’re missing the bigger play.

    This is finance’s moment to lead. Contact us today to see how GSCF can support your working capital needs.

    Contact us to see how GSCF can support your working capital needs.

    Explore our latest playbook for finance leaders navigating trade uncertainty.

  • The Connected Capital Blueprint

    The Connected Capital Blueprint

    Download the new GSCF eBook

    CFOs and finance leaders are under pressure to fund growth, exceed metrics and stay agile – all at once. Traditional financing strategies often can’t.

    That’s why we built the Connected Capital Blueprint – a practical guide featuring 7 real-world examples of how companies are transforming working capital into a competitive advantage.

    What you’ll find inside:

    • Alternative capital models that work in today’s environment
    • Flexible solutions for every working capital scenario – from M&A to chargebacks, large orders and more
    • Off-balance-sheet strategies that protect ratings and ratios

    If your current capital structure is slowing down your growth strategy, it’s time to rethink the model.

    Read the Connected Capital Blueprint

  • Fuel Your Next Acquisition with Smarter Capital

    Fuel Your Next Acquisition with Smarter Capital

    Why today’s M&A-focused CFOs are using Connected Capital to move faster without loading the balance sheet

    You’ve identified the perfect acquisition. Synergies are clear, timing is ideal – and then the funding friction begins.

    Traditional financing can be slow, restrictive, or balance-sheet heavy, especially in today’s rate environment. But deals don’t wait. And for serial acquirers, deal velocity is everything.

    Chapter 6 of the Connected Capital Blueprint explores how CFOs are unlocking acquisition-ready capital by leveraging receivables and payables. With AR Purchase and AP Finance, finance leaders can fund deals without tapping revolvers, raising equity, or compromising KPIs like leverage and ROIC.

    This is working capital that aligns with M&A strategy – fast, flexible and invisible on the balance sheet.

    See how top CFOs are accelerating M&A with Connected Capital

  • Need Capital to Ramp Up? How to Fund Growth Without Slowing Down

    Need Capital to Ramp Up? How to Fund Growth Without Slowing Down

    How fast-growing companies unlock immediate liquidity to fuel production – without balance sheet friction

    The big order finally lands. It’s the kind of customer you’ve been courting for months, maybe years.

    But now comes the hard part: funding the ramp-up.

    Fast-growing companies often find themselves caught in a liquidity paradox. Demand is soaring, but capital is stuck in AR. Bank credit lines are tapped, equity is too slow or dilutive, and internal approvals can delay execution.

    Chapter 5 of the Connected Capital Blueprint explores how treasurers and finance leaders are solving this mismatch by adding a new layer to their capital stack. With AR Purchase, you can unlock liquidity based on invoiced revenue, turning accounts receivable into flexible, production-ready capital.

    It’s fast. Off-balance-sheet. And it doesn’t require you to rework your banking relationships.

    So, when the next big order hits, you don’t scramble; you scale.

    Discover the Blueprint for Growth Corporates

  • When Plans Change, Liquidity Shouldn’t Be the Problem

    When Plans Change, Liquidity Shouldn’t Be the Problem

    Why forward-looking finance leaders are using Connected Capital to absorb shocks – without harming credit or investor confidence


    When your five-year plan meets a global curveball, do you pivot or pause?

    For investment-grade corporates, volatility isn’t hypothetical. It’s constant.

    Whether it’s a margin squeeze, supply chain disruption, or a sudden drop in demand, the imperative for the Office of the CFO is the same: preserve optionality, protect the balance sheet, and keep moving forward.

    But that’s easier said than done when liquidity is locked up in receivables or tied to strict covenant terms.

    Explore how finance leaders are using off-balance-sheet working capital to navigate uncertainty without breaching covenants or risking a downgrade. With AR Purchase, treasury teams gain rapid, non-dilutive access to liquidity, unlocking capital quickly and seamlessly.

    This isn’t emergency funding. It’s a resilience strategy designed for today’s volatile macro environment.

    So when the next disruption hits, you don’t delay your roadmap. You accelerate it.

    See how top CFOs are building resilience through recalibrated working capital. Download the Connected Capital Blueprint eBook to learn more.

  • Unlock Liquidity and Hit Your Metrics – Without the Balance Sheet Burden

    Unlock Liquidity and Hit Your Metrics – Without the Balance Sheet Burden

    For the Office of the CFO, every quarter brings new challenges: meet cash conversion targets, support growth, reduce cost of capital – and do it all without weakening the balance sheet.

    Traditional tools like receivables discounting or delayed payments can help, but they often create strain elsewhere.

    Instead of borrowing against receivables, companies can sell them outright—transferring risk and accelerating cash flow. With GSCF’s platform, this becomes part of a transparent, tech-enabled process that:

    • Improves DSO without straining customer relationships
    • Increases cash flow predictability
    • Supports strategic goals like M&A, R&D, or expansion

    It’s a smarter way to fund operations – quarter after quarter.

    Read the Connected Capital Blueprint to learn how your peers are using AR Purchase to unlock liquidity.

  • Strengthening OEM Supply Chains with Alternative Capital

    Strengthening OEM Supply Chains with Alternative Capital

    In a volatile supply chain environment, OEMs are under increasing pressure to support both upstream suppliers and downstream customers.

    That’s where Connected Capital comes in. With the right partner, OEMs can unlock liquidity throughout their supply chain ecosystem, without adding risk or cost to their own balance sheet. From vendor pre-shipment funding to customer-side payment flexibility, working capital programs can be designed to:

    • Accelerate production by funding key suppliers
    • Boost sales by giving customers more time to pay
    • Maintain visibility and control via centralized analytics

    This alternative capital model, enabled by GSCF’s platform and expert services, supports business growth, strengthens critical partnerships, and ensures continuity when traditional financing might not be an option.

    Download the Connected Capital Blueprint to see how OEMs are future-proofing their ecosystems.