top of page

CPO Advantage

Expense Defence is proud to introduce CPO Advantage (Chief Payments Officer) program—a consultative, executive-level engagement that embeds our industry expertise directly into your organization to oversee, optimize, and future-proof your entire payment operation.

​​

Expense Defence – Specialists in finding significant savings in multiple expense management categories to improve your company’s cash flow and operational efficiency

CPO
Advantage

CPO (Chief Payments Officer)

A Chief Payments Officer is a strategic resource responsible for overseeing and enhancing every element of how your business accepts, processes, and manages payments. As your outsourced CPO, Expense Defence serves as your internal payments leader—working directly with your finance, IT, operations, and procurement teams to deliver cost savings, operational efficiency, enhanced sourcing strategies and superior customer experience across all payment channels.

How we work with your organization

CPO Advantage operate as an extension of your executive team, bringing 30+ years of payments expertise to manage and improve:

  • Internal alignment across finance, operations, compliance, and IT

  • Direct oversight of all payment vendor relationships

  • Execution of a payment strategy that matches your business goals and objectives

  • Transparent reporting and performance monitoring of payment partners

  • Risk mitigation strategies and PCI compliance frameworks

  • Payment workflow optimization and system integrations

  • Reduction of internal resourcing requirements
     

We collaborate closely with internal stakeholders to diagnose gaps, design efficient systems, and implement measurable improvements across the entire payment lifecycle.

“Expense Defences CPO Advantage™ service has been an invaluable service for the growth of our business.  The payment strategies that we have employed have reduced costs, reduced operational expenses and greatly improved our customers buying experience. ”  - COO of Large Retail Brand

Business Consulting

What CPO Advantage Oversees

Vendor & Processor
Oversight

  • Evaluation of existing providers and fee structures

  • RFP management and contract renegotiation

  • Consolidation of vendors where beneficial

  • Ongoing vendor performance tracking

Compliance & Risk Management

  • PCI DSS scope reduction and certification support

  • Monitoring of evolving compliance (e.g., Canada’s Code of Conduct, Surcharging laws)

  • Chargeback and fraud mitigation strategies

Payment Technology & Integration

  • Integration of gateways, processors, ERPs, and CRMs

  • Streamlining of omnichannel and cross-border payment solutions

  • System architecture for scale and future readiness

  • Payment device integration

Strategic Reporting & KPI Monitoring

  • Regular executive-level dashboards on cost of acceptance, authorization rates, and payment mix

  • Insight into missed savings opportunities and data-driven recommendations

  • Support for board-level reporting and audit readiness

Workflow Optimization
& SOP Mapping

  • End-to-end payment lifecycle analysis

  • Identification of friction points or inefficiencies

  • Creation or refinement of Standard Operation Procedures (SOP) for payment processing, refunds, disputes, etc.

Card Brand Programs & Management

  • Card brand program registrations

  • Card brand program integration strategies

  • Industry trend analysis

  • Payment revenue programs and opportunities

This is not a consulting session. It’s embedded, executive oversight tailored to your business goals.

Technology

Service Offer & Pricing

Typical Use Cases Include:

  • Optimizing internal payment strategies

  • Improving the customer payment experience 

  • Launching new payment methods or systems

  • Major vendor renegotiations

  • Omnichannel payment rollouts

  • Compliance audit preparation

  • M&A payment system transitions

Our fractional CPO Advantage service is available on a flexible retainer basis tailored to your business size and complexity and includes:

  • full executive support, meeting participation, project management, and strategic oversight

  • Hours can be used flexibly across a rolling 60-day window

  • Custom reporting and deliverables included

bottom of page