Helping SMBs With Cash Flow Management — And PPP — On The Go

For small- to medium-sized businesses (SMBs), better cash flow management through mobile app?

To that end, Monit said last week that it is rolling out its mobile finance platform to help give smaller firms more visibility into cash flow management.

The app works across browsers deployed across tablets, mobile devices or desktops.

In terms of mechanics, enterprises using the platform can receive cash flow predictions with dynamic cash flow views and customized suggestions how best to use funding extended through Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loans, PYMNTS reported previously.

In an interview with PYMNTS, Steve Dow, Monit’s co-founder and CEO, said that the platform model addressed pain points specific to smaller firms.

“In the broad category of FinTech, we see Monit as part of the emerging [non-wealth] advisory space. Robo-advisors [which were effectively asset allocation models with minor tuning] aside, there is tremendous opportunity to leverage data and machine intelligence to counsel SMBs to make better decisions about their complex financial situations.”

“SMB owners lack the financial capabilities of middle market companies,” he said, while pointing to the difficulties traditional financial institutions (FIs) have in serving those clients.

“Banks have really struggled to serve SMB customers largely due to products that miss the mark and high sales gearing,” he said.

The pandemic, he said, also has shone a spotlight on the fact that SMBs are the lifeblood of the economy, and cashflow remains the lifeblood of SMBs.

“By supporting SMBs to make better decisions about their financial future, Monit can contribute to a better, more robust economy,” he said.

The pandemic, he added, has also helped illuminate that banks and credit unions need to better support corporate customers with tools that help improve cash flow management.

Intelligence Plugin

He likened Monit’s offering to “an intelligence plugin to QuickBooks or other accounting software.” That plugin enables financial services companies to serve their corporate customers more efficiently through contextually relevant offers. Those insights (and a key numbers dashboard), he contended, “are driven by insights into the true financial picture of their customer base.”

The mobile conduits through which the platform is offered motions a nod to some of the biggest challenges facing SMB owners today, Dow maintained.

“It’s well-established that business owners are constantly on the go,” he said. “However, there are very few mobile-first experiences for business owners provided by traditional financial institutions.”

Delving Into PPP Loans

The PPP component of the mobile financial platform, said Dow, represents a bid to eliminate confusion surrounding the program. The more than $660 billion PPP program was part of the CARES Act passed by Congress earlier this year. Amid the initial goals: to give smaller companies (including sole proprietorships) the funds needed to keep paying workers.

Monit automatically detects if users have PPP loans and offers suggestions on how those SMBs can garner maximum loan forgiveness — monitoring transactions in real time to see how loan forgiveness may be impacted.

“Ultimately, business owners want to focus on recovery, not PPP,” said Dow.

Monit’s forgiveness optimization module provides owners a real-time view of their estimated forgiveness levels, which in turn can help them make better decisions about deploying those PPP funds.

“The recent digital acceleration coupled with proprietary offerings from the mega-banks will only serve to reinforce the importance of customized, digital advice,” Dow told PYMNTS.