In a perfect small business world, the bank around the corner that serves the local community would provide small business owners with all the tools they need to manage finances, payroll, accounting, and payments — the services SaaS platforms are now providing. Unfortunately, most of those local brick-and-mortar institutions have focused on larger commercial customers and left their small business clients struggling to find the services they need.
What I hear from small business owners, and what the Cornerstone Advisors report New Revenue Opportunities From Embedded Accounting confirmed, is that they want to have all their business tools in one place, including their accounting and finances. They don’t want to have to log in to multiple platforms to manage their small business.
Traditional banks haven’t done anything compelling to serve their small business customers, and those customers are tired of being treated like second-class citizens.
Who is stepping in?
Out of this lack of attention was born a multitude of SaaS fintech solutions targeting overworked and under-resourced small business owners challenged by the amount of time managing finances takes away from the time they need to devote to growing their businesses.
Nearly 6 in 10 business owners from the 750 surveyed for the Cornerstone Advisors report said their accounting functions are manual and labor-intensive. One in 5 said their accounting functions are poorly integrated with other financial functions.
Approximately 6 in 10 small businesses use vertical SaaS offerings like Shopify, Toast, or Jobber to manage their operations. Although some platforms offer finance management, most users are not fully satisfied. Nearly 75% of business owners reported they are likely or somewhat likely to seek another industry-specific software provider in the next 12 months.
The opportunity here is for these providers to make their platforms indispensable to customers by giving small business owners what they want: everything in one place.
Focus on the roadmap
Building an indispensable platform is not something that is accomplished overnight. But the right messaging and engagement with customers may convince many of them to stick around while new features are added.
The focus needs to be on creating a roadmap that, at the highest level, creates the customer-desired one-stop shop. While the report makes it crystal clear that this roadmap should include simplifying accounting for your small business customers, your roadmap needs to be dictated by your customers.
Every platform needs to survey its customers regularly to determine the key functions they desire and then set a timetable for when those functions will be added.
But platforms don’t need to waste time reinventing the wheel or raising the cash to do it. With APIs like Hurdlr, new fintech features can seamlessly be added to an industry vertical platform. Focus on the components that are most important to customers. We frequently hear a need for embedded payroll, finance, accounting, payments, and invoicing.
There should be no debate over giving customers what they need and want. The only reasonable discussion might be the priority order. After you establish that priority order, research the best API companies to partner with. It’s not just about the technical solution they offer but the ongoing partnership they can provide to serve your customers best.
To learn more about what small businesses need and want and the opportunities for industry vertical platforms, download and read this recent report by Cornerstone Advisors: New Revenue Opportunities From Embedded Accounting.
To learn more about Hurdlr’s API and how we help SaaS platforms deliver seamless and robust financial tools to their customers, check out our website or ping me. I love talking to people about how easy it can be to upgrade their platforms to serve their customers better.
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Make money off renting out your home, car, boat, tools, or almost anything with these sites like Airbnb. If you are out of town, make money while you are away. If you have free space in a home you live in, you can leverage that too. You can also choose specifically who you would like to rent to – say, a college sports fan. Check these hosting companies out below.
Gig Economy Delivery Jobs Like Postmates
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As an independent contractor, driving for an on demand economy company gives you the ability make money with your extra time. Drive during your lunch break, at night, or during busy weekends – it’s up to you. However, these companies don’t only provide taxi-style services; companies like HopSkipDrive enable the driver to chauffeur kids to their activities around town, similar to a nanny. Other rideshare companies allow the individual to use their vehicle to make extra cash by renting it out or sharing a ride to work. If you have a car, then there’s an on demand economy opportunity out there for you.
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Delivery jobs vary in their specific functions, but they all allow independent contractors like yourself to travel, create a flexible schedule, and deliver goods (as opposed to passengers). Jobs like Postmates give you the ability to work short gigs during times like your lunch break or at night, while others like Roadie allow you to use space in your car for somewhere you are already going to deliver a package.
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