CausewayOne Trading: AI-enabled construction finance

Over this series, we've covered a lot of ground. We looked at why construction finance is at a turning point, how AI tackles fraud, risk and compliance, why generic AI tools fall short, and three practical steps finance leaders can take now.

So to close out the series, let's look at what all of this actually looks like in practice. This is where CausewayOne Trading comes in.

What makes CausewayOne's AI different from generic tools?

Every hour saved, every invoice cleared, and every smarter payment decision we've talked about across this series depends on one thing: a connected platform where trading data, workflows and finance decisions all live together in one place.

CausewayOne is Causeway's connected, AI-first platform, and CausewayOne Trading is what makes AI-enabled trading possible at scale. Built specifically for construction, it already connects thousands of companies, creating a shared environment where information flows freely between teams, systems and trading partners.

What makes it different isn't just what it does. It's what sits beneath it: 25 years of construction domain experience and insight, covering transaction processing, invoice patterns, supplier and customer relationships, payment behaviours and commercial outcomes. That means the AI running on CausewayOne isn't starting from scratch. It's grounded in the reality of how construction businesses actually trade.

How do AP and AR journeys work inside CausewayOne Trading?

CausewayOne Trading is designed around two parallel journeys that sit at the heart of construction finance.

For Accounts Payable teams in main contractors, housebuilders and trading buyers, that means support across the full cycle:

• Receiving purchase orders

• Processing invoices

• Validating and matching

• Routing queries and approvals

• Reconciling statements

• Making payments, with fraud signals and fair payment compliance built in throughout

For Accounts Receivable teams in suppliers, subcontractors, merchants and plant hire businesses, that means support for:

• Creating and submitting invoices that meet each customer's rules the first time

• Tracking status in real time

• Chasing intelligently

• Reconciling payments quickly and accurately

The numbers behind these journeys speak for themselves:

• Invoice processing time cut by 60-70%

• Query volumes reduced by 50-70%

• Up to 80% of invoices auto-cleared without manual intervention

• Manual chasing on the AR side dropped by an estimated 35-55%

• Days Sales Outstanding improved by two to five days

Why is the CausewayOne network so hard to replicate?

Here's the part that's genuinely hard to replicate: the network beneath the platform.
CausewayOne Trading already connects thousands of companies, with a 95% supply chain adoption rate. That means new contractors join an established community rather than an empty platform, giving them compliance readiness at scale, and fast.

A network built over 25 years can't be recreated overnight. That head start compounds every day, as every new participant and every new transaction enriches the shared data available to everyone already connected. No competitor starting today, however good their AI, can match that depth, maturity or reach.

That network also unlocks value beyond the individual transaction. When thousands of companies trade through one structured environment, additional data services become possible at a scale and accuracy that isolated platforms simply can't match, from accurate carbon and product data to project benchmarking, payment performance and supplier risk insight.

Which three outcomes does CausewayOne Trading deliver?

Strip away the detail, and CausewayOne Trading comes down to three outcomes for finance teams.

1.  Save time. Automation across receipt, matching, approvals, chasing and reconciliation drives faster, cleaner payment cycles for both AP and AR, freeing finance teams from repetitive manual work.

2.  Reduce risk. Digital exchanges and AI-supported processes highlight anomalies, underpin compliance and reduce risk right across the process, from purchase order exchange through to payment.

3.  Make better decisions. Connected trading data and AI-surfaced insight sharpen cash forecasts, improve visibility, and keep finance, procurement and trading partners aligned around a single source of truth.

The cost of waiting on AI-enabled trading

Construction and manufacturing already account for 25% of all UK invoice fraud incidents, and from April 2029, every VAT-registered business will need to exchange invoices electronically. The opportunity to reduce risk, save time and make better decisions is hard to ignore, and it's available now, not in some distant future.

The businesses that benefit most will be the ones that move early: connecting their workflows, strengthening their data, and adopting platforms built for the realities of construction trading rather than retrofitted from generic tools. Those who act now will be best placed to pay suppliers faster and more accurately, collect from customers with greater confidence, and reduce risk on both sides of every trade.

That's the thread running through this whole series. AI isn't a bolt-on feature for construction finance. It's becoming the foundation for how the best AP and AR teams will work, and the businesses that connect early will keep pulling further ahead.

Ready to see what AI-enabled trading looks like for your business? Get in touch to find out how CausewayOne can support your finance transformation.