[Infographic] Why small business owners struggle with efficiency
We recently found a survey in which business owners provided insight into the many roles they play in a given day when running their businesses. The not-so-surprising part is business owners don’t have enough time in a day to accomplish all of their business management tasks, which means they certainly don’t have time to get out of the weeds and think about their businesses from a strategic standpoint.
Even worse, they are spending hours of their days covering roles they don’t enjoy.
PaySimple at Finovate
I normally don’t like to blog about our accomplishments — at least not on the company blog — but I was especially excited about our presentation at Finovate in San Francisco this morning, where our CEO – Eric Remer – and VP of Product Development – Jenae Wiegert, showcased our latest technology platform.
Finovate, deemed to be the showcase of the future of financial and banking technology, handpicks companies to present, in 7 minutes or less (no slides allowed), what makes their technology a needle-mover. Our team gave an awesome presentation and showed to the financial world the technology we’re so excited about: Camp.
With Camp, large enterprises with small business customer bases can offer a custom-branded, turnkey receivables automation technology for their small business members with very little startup time and capital.
How debit card processing fees have changed since the Durbin amendment
Small credit unions can rest assured with the recent study posted by the Federal Reserve on the effects the Durbin amendment has had on debit card processing. The data reveals that, as was intended, credit unions with less than $10 billion in revenue (who were exempt), have been barely effected.
Why all the fear and speculation, even with the exemption? With almost double the average interchange fee of a larger bank, credit unions feared that merchants and consumers would start preferring debit cards with lower fees—making credit unions unable to compete with large banks.
However, it seems that the bill has had little to no fallout, which is such a rarity that everyone seems almost stumped by its effectiveness.
How payment processing can change your business
Last week, I walked out of our office to see Blake Street buzzing with people adorned in purple and black jerseys. As is standard this time of year, being located three blocks from Coors Field, we get to witness fans heading over to the game and all of the hot dog, peanut, and ticket sales that proliferate in the blocks surrounding.
Walking past a ticket “broker,” I overheard him talking to man wearing a Cincinnati jersey (even though we were playing the Mets) discussing the option of accepting credit cards for his ticket sales.
“I’ve thought about getting one of those things,” he said. I can only assume he was referring to a mobile credit card reader. “But cash is so easy for me right now.”
Friday Funnies
Did you know that for every 100 monthly-billed customers that are converted to electronic invoicing and payment acceptance, we save 37 pounds of paper and 50 gallons of gas per year? As more businesses adopt it, at 1,000 customers, we save 500 gallons of gas and 375 pounds of paper.1
This week’s comic is in honor of Earth Day. Be friendly to the environment, save some expenses (and even a headache) by switching to electronic invoicing.
Comic by Sarah Jordan. Illustration by Kristi Siedow-Thompson.
3 reasons why some businesses only accept ACH payments
Whether choosing between cash, paper checks, credit cards, or ACH payments, some businesses choose to go ACH all the way. Here’s why:
1. Cost
When businesses choose to accept ACH payments, many do so because ACH payments are typically the lowest cost option for accepting electronic payments. Most ACH payments are billed using a flat fee of between 25 and 75 cents per transaction.
So, let’s compare a typical ACH payment (lets use a median 50 cents) with a typical credit card charge (lets use a representative 25 cent authorization fee + 2.5% of the total amount) for the same $500 transaction.
Electronic invoicing now sought by 42% of businesses
Reducing costs on accounts receivable processes and speeding payment time are the primary drivers behind 42 percent of businesses now seeking electronic invoicing solutions, according to a recent survey performed by PayStream Advisors and jointly sponsored by Syncada from Visa.
“Our latest research demonstrates that e-invoicing is no longer just a best practice but rapidly becoming a driver of dramatic efficiency gains,” said Henry Ijams, Managing Director of PayStream Advisors.
