Why To Use These Banking Services...Now

Bankers Answered: The Services to Use Now
What banking services are businesses not using or underusing that could be helping them or saving them money?

The hot topic today is fraud. Fraud costs business owners numerous amounts of time and money to resolve. A product called positive pay helps to combat fraud. My suggestion is that every business owner look into adding positive pay to their accounts. ACH block is another product that eliminates debits that aren’t authorized by the business owner.
From a lending standpoint, I don’t believe business owners think about obtaining an operating line of credit until they are in need of one. My suggestion to business owners is to apply and obtain an operating line of credit for their business even if they don’t think they will ever need one. Growth of a company always spurs the need for cash, and having an operating line of credit available is a good backup to have in place.
-Stacia Peterson, senior vice president, commercial lending, The Business Bank of St. Louis

One of the best services that can help businesses save money is the use of commercial cards. Commercial cards are often times confused with business credit cards, but, in fact, they offer more services that can help businesses simplify their operations and improve the bottom line.  One example is a purchasing card, which can be used for monthly purchases of raw materials, recurring monthly payments and much more. The cards streamline complicated purchase order processes, simplify the payment process, reduce the number of checks and invoices issued, and provide timely payment to suppliers. Another option is a commercial card that helps manage employees’ travel and entertainment expenses, monitor vendor expenses, and control cash flow more effectively.
-Dave Bauer, senior vice president, region manager of business banking, UMB Bank St. Louis

Generating cash flow is crucial for every business – new or existing, small or large. Businesses need it to survive and grow. Think about how your customers pay you and how you pay suppliers and employees. Consider the methods and frequency of how your cash flows in, out and through your business. Can your customers pay you using a credit or debit card? Can they pay you online or on a mobile device? Is your data secured? Do you receive checks? If so, how long do you hold on to them before making a deposit? How do you pay your suppliers, make purchases or manage daily expenses? All of these questions are important to the success of your business. Banks offer a number of different products and services to help you get paid faster – including merchant services, remote deposit capture and electronic invoice presentment. In addition, they offer electronic bill payment options to pay your suppliers, employees and daily expenses, saving you valuable time and money by no longer cutting paper checks.

Leveraging financial technology is another time-saving best practice for small-business owners that is often underutilized. A number of different options exist, all of which will help keep your financials organized and easily available. Instead of spending time creating income statements, balance sheets and cash flow statements, business owners now have available to them a number of technology solutions that can be easily synced with business checking accounts to provide valuable financial insights and help you make better decisions. Solutions like these can save you money at the end of the year when your tax specialist doesn’t need to incur additional time and expense in organization.
-Debi Enders, vice president, small business banking, Commerce Bank

Despite the fact this approach is far more common today than it once was, there are still too many companies not taking advantage of electronic payments. Checks are a high-cost payment for most companies: Generally, the all-in cost is $3 or more per check. Not only do clients eliminate these costs by utilizing an all-inclusive credit card payment platform or ACH payment network, they also generate revenue from the payment process. Creating a payables optimization strategy around e-payments will help a company maximize working capital, extend days payable outstanding (DPO), generate income, and eliminate paper.
-Brandi Craig, vice president, treasury management, Fifth Third Bank

What services will businesses be using more of in the future, and how do those services work?

Mobile banking will continue to grow as a popular product because not every bank offers it yet. The wave of the future is technology, which only prompts the mobile banking product into the market. Many businesses already use remote deposit capture to make deposits, and popularity continues to grow. In banking we also noticed that more credit card processing is between business to business these days as checks are becoming more obsolete.
-Peterson

With recent innovations in technology and the convergence and scale of data, it’s become increasingly easier for small businesses to access financial tools previously only available to larger companies, such as online accounting software. Also, new technologies like robust mobile banking applications, accounts payable automation and remote deposit allow small-business owners to spend more time focusing on their business and less time making trips to the bank. Using mobile banking is often as simple as downloading the app – then you can view account balances, transfer funds and even make deposits with a few taps. Remote deposit solutions are often just as easy to use with a simple scanner to install that will scan and deposit checks right from your office, any time of day or night. Funds are typically available the next business day.  
-Enders

More and more businesses are outsourcing key parts/portions of their professional team needs to help them manage their businesses. For example, outsourced controller/CFO services to provide timely services for monthly financial statements, budgeting or to monitor and prevent theft within their organization. The need to have strong relationships with a business’s professional team, from their CPA, insurance agent, attorney and their banker, should be managed and evaluated as a consistent part of their annual strategy no matter the stage or life cycle of the business.
--Sean McKenna, St. Louis market president/commercial banking group, The Bank of Edwardsville

Payables optimization utilizes a range of solutions. A commercial card program has an all-inclusive payment platform to manage AP and provide better access to information and security. Migrating check payments to card will improve cash flow by extending payment terms and mitigate risk by enforcing tighter controls for cardholders and workflow. Next, an ACH payment network gives clients the ability to make repetitive payments to vendors and generate income from the network fees which vendors pay to receive payments on the network. Businesses will also utilize solutions to optimize their financial supply chain. Client-centered solutions like dynamic discounting, which accelerates payments to vendors for a discounted price, and supplier financing, when the bank pays client vendors earlier than AP terms, will represent key components of a payables strategy.
-Craig