Does Your Digital Banking Experience Deliver for Small Business Owners?
Attract and retain small business customers by offering integrated financial management solutions
Today’s consumers love digital banking, with the overwhelming majority preferring to do their banking on a mobile app or from the desktop than walk in to a branch. That makes a high-quality online banking site and a serviceable mobile app absolute necessities for financial institutions that want to grow.
Now, what about the needs of business – specifically, small and midsize businesses (SMBs)? They love digital banking, too. But they’re not always getting the digital services – including financial management solutions – they want and need from their primary institution.
The small business segment is crucial as a source of deposits, loans and card relationships. But these dynamic, productive enterprises are increasingly tech-savvy, and they’re always looking for new and better tools to get the job done.
That’s why many SMBs may be shopping for a new financial institution.
A 2024 revealed that more than one-third of SMBs in the U.S. are open to the idea of switching banks if they can find a better provider.
Why the itch to switch? The study found that SMBs are willing to change banks or add a bank to handle certain business functions because of insufficient digital capabilities at their current institution. Small businesses would like to get all their banking services from one provider; many seem willing to go to the hassle of switching banks to gain more robust financial capabilities.
Addressing the digital banking gap
To be most useful, digital banking platforms should be built with the unique requirements of SMBs in mind. Unfortunately, many aren’t – and that makes for a missed opportunity to drive loyalty and revenue.
At ݮƵ, we’ve bridged this gap by combining what we’ve learned from our most successful small business banking clients – and the expertise gained from serving millions of small businesses – and infused it into three ݮƵ solutions: Experience Digital, for digital banking; CashFlow Central℠, our all-in-one billing and payments platform; and Clover, our point-of-sale (POS) and business management system for SMBs.
Experience Digital
Experience Digital from ݮƵ is a comprehensive digital banking platform designed to meet the evolving needs of both consumers and SMBs. Financial institutions currently using Experience Digital already know about its versatility.
Experience Digital provides a single digital solution for consumers and SMBs, providing robust features for both the web and mobile channels. The solution is designed around a set of digital journeys that are mapped to real-world needs. These journeys combine complimentary groups of data-rich, intelligent tools and features that can help deliver a better and more consistent experience to small business users. It’s a simple ecosystem that unites a variety of digital financial functions – from opening accounts to managing money, making payments and more.
Importantly for the SMB segment, the solution offers a seamless, user-friendly interface that readily integrates with various financial management tools – including CashFlow Central.
CashFlow Central
CashFlow Central is a powerful solution to offer your small business customers. It provides real-time cash-flow visibility with automated accounts payable/receivable processes and other value-add capabilities, which are crucial for SMBs to maintain financial stability and make informed decisions.
CashFlow Central is suitable for financial institutions of all sizes and is designed to meet the growing demand, from both financial institutions and the small businesses they serve, for more integrated and automated payments and invoicing solutions. And these functions are readily accessed from within the digital banking environment your SMB customers already know and use.
Clover
Clover, our all-in-one solution for payment processing and business management, is used by a wide range of SMBs across various industries, including restaurants, retail and service-based businesses. The Clover system generates abundant transaction and business operations data.
Your financial institution can give SMB customers better visibility into this data and the overall health of their businesses by integrating Clover into your digital banking platform. Clover’s transaction data can flow directly into financial dashboards, enabling more accurate cash flow forecasting, budgeting and even dynamic lending decisions.
Integrating Clover embeds your institution into the daily operations of SMBs – through POS, inventory and employee management – making your institution a true business partner, not just a bank. Clover increases customer stickiness and opens new revenue streams through processing fees and value-added services, while reducing reliance on third-party fintechs.
A powerful combination
If your financial institution already uses Experience Digital as its digital banking platform, integrating CashFlow Central and/or Clover to better serve your SMB customers’ billing and payments needs is a logical and cost-effective next step. If you don’t yet use Experience Digital, the combination of the three solutions is certainly worth investigating. Implementing these tools can not only streamline operations but also build trust and deepen engagement with SMB customers.
With CashFlow Central, Experience Digital and Clover integration working together, your SMB Customers will:
- Optimize cash: Get paid faster, make payments using a credit card, identify potential cash flow shortages in advance
- Save time: Automate routine tasks, reducing manual effort and minimizing errors; focus on strategic growth rather than administrative burdens
- Improve financial management: Gain a holistic, up-to-the-minute view of financial health – track expenses, manage budgets and forecast future financial needs
- Gain 24/7 digital access: With mobile and web access, SMBs can collect payments, make payments and manage their finances anytime, anywhere
- Pay and get paid faster: Automatically send payment reminders, collect payments electronically, pay suppliers faster
Increase deposits and business card use: Having all needed SMB services in one place will boost deposits and help achieve deposit primacy, and also encourage use of business cards and loans issued by your financial institution.
Last year, WaFd Bank, a Seattle-based institution with 210 branches in nine western states, adopted CashFlow Central to enhance their already robust small business banking offerings. Jill Boyle, Senior Vice President and Head of the Commercial Product & Treasury Solutions Group at WaFd Bank, was enthusiastic. “Our small business customers appreciate our practical and reliable approach,” she said. “Ready access to funds keeps small business opportunities flowing, and CashFlow Central will enable us to help our customers simplify and streamline billing and payment processes, so they can save time and maximize their money.”
Benefits for your financial institution
By adding CashFlow Central to Experience Digital, financial institutions can unlock the hidden potential of their existing digital platforms, generating new revenue streams through fees for premium transactions and services, as well as card interchange. CashFlow Central also drives increased wallet share by preloading customer credit cards issued by your financial institution, and by encouraging the enrollment of new cardholders.
Small businesses are a vibrant and growing part of the economy – and financial institutions like yours can be central to their success. By creating intentional digital experiences that address specific needs, you’ll cultivate a loyal customer base that grows with you.
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