How Small Businesses Can Benefit from Financial Technology
Owning a small business is not all about designing logos and latte lunches. It’s actually all about spreadsheets and emails, and scouring high and low to find that missing invoice. The administrative aspect can be a full-time job before you even get to the actual thing you work on. Luckily, there’s a growing range of online tools that can take a huge amount of that burden away from you.
It’s about financial technology – yes, fintech – and no, not only for trendy startups with venture capital backing or crypto bros. It’s for regular folks, too, like the proprietor of a small coffeehouse, an online retailer, or a solo operator working freelance from the kitchen table.
4 Benefits of Financial Technology within Small Businesses
Let the Machines Do the Boring Stuff
Do you remember bookkeeping in the good old days when you used to have to dig through crumpled-up receipts and work through the wee hours to reconcile your accounts? Things have surely come a long way since then. Software like QuickBooks, Xero, and FreshBooks don’t just come in the form of electronic spreadsheets. They think for you instead.
If you have ever missed a tax deadline or left a business expense off the return, then this type of automation is worth its value.
Getting Paid Doesn’t Have To Be A Nightmare
Payment systems like Stripe, Square, and PayPal have made it easier than ever before for small businesses to get paid. From candle makers with hand-poured wax to graphic designers, these tools allow transactions to be swift, professional, and secure.
Managing Cash Flow
It is not only about earning and spending money – these fintech apps are about being aware of it, too. Fintech apps like Float and Pulse allow you to forecast your cash flow so you won’t be in a panic when a massive bill comes along.
Say Hello to Better Banking
Now comes the best part. Banking used to be a bit clunky in the traditional way. But with new online banks like Wise, Revolut Business, and Mercury, the process has become faster, smarter, and less agonizing. Opening accounts, sending international payments, setting up sub-accounts to budget – it’s all done from your laptop or mobile device.
And here’s something that’s worth mentioning: Platforms now use an open banking API to consolidate data from multiple financial institutions so you can see all your accounts in one dashboard. It’s the type of thing that quietly reduces hours from your administrative time per week – and you don’t even realise it’s happening. That’s the holy grail, in effect.
Financial Technology – Finding Sense in It All
If all that’s too much to absorb, don’t worry about it. You don’t have to use all the tools in the world. The thing to do is to find where you’re stuck at the moment and then pick one or two tools that will take care of that specific pain spot. Maybe it’s invoicing. Maybe it’s doing payroll. Maybe it’s just not being the person who forgets to send the receipt.
Begin small and see what sticks. Many tools have free trials or low-level plans at an affordable cost so that you don’t commit to anything. And when you find one that’s working well, you’ll wonder why you ever didn’t have it before.
Photos by Jakub Żerdzicki
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