Hello Alice Launches Business Health Score Tool for Small Businesses

Hello Alice has launched a Business Health Score to help small businesses access investment, capital and credit.

The new assessment tool is designed to support small businesses seeking to increase their financial and business health and to help Hello Alice and its ecosystem partners better understand the needs of these businesses, Hello Alice said in a Wednesday (April 5) press release.

“We are providing unparalleled visibility through the Business Health Score that will empower small business owners to make more strategic decisions and optimize their growth while giving partners and institutions the insight to best help them through personalized service and product recommendations,” Hello Alice Co-Founders Elizabeth Gore and Carolyn Rodz said in the release.

The Business Health Score is based on a self-assessment questionnaire that provides a number based on financial and business management practices, financial performance and position, and credit history. The program also includes a real-time recommendation engine that helps small businesses improve their financial performance, according to the press release.

The score also can be used by Hello Alice and its partners to develop financial offerings, educational content and other solutions tailored to the business.

“Over the last two years, Americans have applied to start 10.5 million new businesses, leading to a surge in the small business economy and more entrepreneurs who need support to properly grow their businesses,” Gore and Rodz said in the release. “We recognized data was missing from the market that would give enterprise partners and financial institutions a clearer picture of the potential that small business owners possess for massive growth and investment.”

PYMNTS research has found that two-thirds of Main Street small and medium-sized business (SMB) owners — whose operations have less than $10 million in annual sales — anticipate a recession.

At the same time, about 40% of these firms highlight inflation as their most relevant challenge, according to “Main Street Health Q4 2022: SMBs Brace for a Recession.”

The report also found that some recognition that investing time and money in technological innovations can help make companies more efficient — and, by extension, might help alleviate some of the pressures that have been felt among these firms.