Recent reports from Bottomline and 11:FS are shedding light on the latest tech trends in B2B payments. The short of it? B2B payments have not kept up with consumer payments, which have become the baseline expectation in terms of customer experience.
Continue reading below to learn:
What are experts saying about B2B payments?
SMBs with under 20 employees account for 98% of all businesses in the US, and the majority are turning to alternative, digital service providers to help them with a variety of needs as banks are not keeping up with the level of user experience and services provided that alternative platforms are able to provide. Duena Blomstrom, Co-Founder and CEO of People Not Tech offers her opinion on this matter saying, "Business banking interfaces and processes remain frozen in time. The gap between digital best practices and banking realities continues to grow."
"Banking is still very much a transactional institution focusing more on selling products and services instead of providing that transformational customer and user experience." - Jim Marous, Co-Publisher, The Financial Brand
Alan Koenigsberg, Global Head of New Payment Flows for Visa Business Solutions says that this development, offering tailored solutions with exceptional customer experience, comes not just from demand by large multinationals, but rather by businesses of all sizes. Smaller, digitally native companies are looking at B2B payments and asking why they are so hard to conduct and expensive. These organizations are used to simple payments in their consumer lives, so why is there not the same standard in their work lives?
What do SMB owners want from financial services?
In their report, 11:FS states there are 4 categories of 'Job's to be Done' to meet the needs of SMB's where, as explained above, banks are falling short. They are:
Setting up the business
Financial support to turn ideas into business.
Reconciling past business activity
Getting paid on time and staying on top of account reconciliations.
Managing day-to-day finances
Tracking cash flow, making payments and having access to financial data.
Planning for the future
Forecasting, strategy and creating business budgets.
One of the key things to remember is that business owners and finance teams don't want to spend their time on monotonous tasks that don't move the company forward. They are better served by tools that can automate and expedite these processes so they can spend more time on planning for the future and scaling their business.
Exploring financial tools outside of those offered by a bank opens up a new realm of possibilities for SMB's that offer the user experience they expect, with purpose built solutions to meet their 'Job's to be Done', at prices that make sense for their business.
Automation a solution for SMB B2B payments
There are many solutions available to help small businesses get things done more efficiently but also provide new kinds of benefits that were previously unobtainable without large investments in technology or expert human advisory.
Available solutions provide SMB's with the tools to optimize and automate their payables and receivables management to enhance financial controls and improve their cash flow visibility. This flexibility to choose when and how payments are made give a better grasp on cash flow forecasting while decreasing manual errors and mitigating fraud. It is now also possible for these SMB's to gain better control and visibility, at a lower cost, outside of what banks currently offer.
Plooto helps SMB's manage cash flow, reconcile payments, manage finances and plan for the future all in one easy-to-use online platform that integrates directly with your bank and accounting software. Try Plooto now, free for 30 days!
